Hello once again this week. Time is flying by and it’s hard to believe that we are just 6 rehearsals away from our Spring Concert on May 9. We hope Milana’s accompaniment CD is a big help to you as you practice the music at home over the next 2 weeks.
Bruce handed out a REMINDER: No rehearsal next week, March 24th. SPRING BREAK! If you know someone who wasn’t here this week, please let them know.
Tonight we reviewed 6 of the first 7 songs of the program that we are to have memorized. “Ha Shalom” was the one missed. In addition we also practiced, “There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today” & “Abide With Me; ‘ Tis Eventide”. Then we did a quick run through of “A Psalm of Life”.
At this point this is the order of songs in the Concert, and they have asked us to have the first 7 memorized:
1. “I Feel a Song Comin’ On”
2. “Home of My Heart”
3. “Ku-Ku”
4. “Loch Lomond”
5. “Ha Shalom”
6. “April Showers”
7. “Embraceable You”
8. “There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today”
9. “Abide With Me; ‘ Tis Eventide”
10. “Pie Jesu”
11. “A Psalm of Life”
Enjoy Spring Break and we’ll see you on March 31.
REMINDER: If you must miss a rehearsal because of illness, emergency, or any other reason, please call Linda Walker ahead of time. (208) 230-4344. There should be no unexcused absences.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
March 10, 2009 Rehearsal
This week we spent much time going over some tricky harmonies and timing on some of our songs. We reviewed “Ku-Ku”, “Pie Jesu”, “April Showers” and “I Feel a Song Comin’ On” as well as “Loch Lomond”.
Correction: Last week regarding “Loch Lomond”… I said to drop the 'g' on sleep-ing and com-ing and gloam-ing. Linda has decided that she wants us to sing as written on sleeping and coming and to drop the 'g' only on gloam-ing. We also learned that ‘gae’ is pronounced gee (long e) and ‘take’ is pronounced tyke. Just sing the way we might hear the true Scottish sing.
On “April Showers” there is a potential problem twice near the end of the song where the altos I & II sing the word a-long . The tendency is to sing the ’ng’ too soon making a not so pretty sound. As we have 3 notes to cover in the word ‘-long’, it might be better to sing ‘la-ah-ah’ and only at the very end add the ‘ng’ , or just forget the ‘ng’ altogether. Also, as this is a barbershop harmony, we should not sing with a vibrato especially at the very end of this song.
This brings our repertoire to 11 songs, the first 7 they would like us to have memorized:
“I Feel a Song Comin’ On”
“Home of My Heart”
“Ku-Ku”
“Loch Lomond”
“Ha Shalom”
“April Showers”
“Embraceable You”
“There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today”
“Abide With Me; ‘ Tis Eventide”
“Pie Jesu”
“A Psalm of Life”
Have fun memorizing. And thanks to Milana for making practice CD’s available for $5.
See you next week.
Correction: Last week regarding “Loch Lomond”… I said to drop the 'g' on sleep-ing and com-ing and gloam-ing. Linda has decided that she wants us to sing as written on sleeping and coming and to drop the 'g' only on gloam-ing. We also learned that ‘gae’ is pronounced gee (long e) and ‘take’ is pronounced tyke. Just sing the way we might hear the true Scottish sing.
On “April Showers” there is a potential problem twice near the end of the song where the altos I & II sing the word a-long . The tendency is to sing the ’ng’ too soon making a not so pretty sound. As we have 3 notes to cover in the word ‘-long’, it might be better to sing ‘la-ah-ah’ and only at the very end add the ‘ng’ , or just forget the ‘ng’ altogether. Also, as this is a barbershop harmony, we should not sing with a vibrato especially at the very end of this song.
This brings our repertoire to 11 songs, the first 7 they would like us to have memorized:
“I Feel a Song Comin’ On”
“Home of My Heart”
“Ku-Ku”
“Loch Lomond”
“Ha Shalom”
“April Showers”
“Embraceable You”
“There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today”
“Abide With Me; ‘ Tis Eventide”
“Pie Jesu”
“A Psalm of Life”
Have fun memorizing. And thanks to Milana for making practice CD’s available for $5.
See you next week.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
March 3, 2009 Rehearsal
This week in addition to reviewing several songs, we added our last two songs to our repertoire, a beautiful arrangement by Bruce and Linda Walker of a well-known traditional Scottish song “Loch Lomond” and the stirring and magnificent “A Psalm of Life”.
FYI: Loch Lomond is a freshwater Scottish loch, lying in Central Scotland. It is the largest lake in Great Britain, and a popular leisure destination.
Bruce and Linda’s arrangement of the song finds the melody interchanging between the sopranos and altos and many times we will find 4 part harmonies. We are reminded to pronounce the words as the Scottish would by dropping the ‘g’ in words like sleep-in or com-in or gloam-in. (which by the way means twilight; dusk)
“A Psalm of Life” reminds us that what we say and do should always be to lift and love and brighten the life of another. Technically, as there are many phrases that end in ‘er’ (like light-er, bright-er, sweet-er, fleet-er, an-oth-er, oth-er, strong-er, long-er) watch that you drop the r so that the sound is not harsh.
This brings our repertoire to 11 songs, the first 7 they would like us to have memorized:
“I Feel a Song Comin’ On”
“Home of My Heart”
“Ku-Ku”
“Loch Lomond”
“Ha Shalom”
“April Showers”
“Embraceable You”
“There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today”
“Abide With Me; ‘ Tis Eventide”
“Pie Jesu”
“A Psalm of Life”
Have fun memorizing.
FYI: Loch Lomond is a freshwater Scottish loch, lying in Central Scotland. It is the largest lake in Great Britain, and a popular leisure destination.
Bruce and Linda’s arrangement of the song finds the melody interchanging between the sopranos and altos and many times we will find 4 part harmonies. We are reminded to pronounce the words as the Scottish would by dropping the ‘g’ in words like sleep-in or com-in or gloam-in. (which by the way means twilight; dusk)
“A Psalm of Life” reminds us that what we say and do should always be to lift and love and brighten the life of another. Technically, as there are many phrases that end in ‘er’ (like light-er, bright-er, sweet-er, fleet-er, an-oth-er, oth-er, strong-er, long-er) watch that you drop the r so that the sound is not harsh.
This brings our repertoire to 11 songs, the first 7 they would like us to have memorized:
“I Feel a Song Comin’ On”
“Home of My Heart”
“Ku-Ku”
“Loch Lomond”
“Ha Shalom”
“April Showers”
“Embraceable You”
“There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today”
“Abide With Me; ‘ Tis Eventide”
“Pie Jesu”
“A Psalm of Life”
Have fun memorizing.
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