Friday, February 15, 2008

Chorus Notes #6 - Chapter Meeting February 12, 2008

SIGN UP FOR VOCAL STUDIOS: Sun Feb 17 - 2-5pm, Thurs Feb 21 - 7-10pmBe sure to bring a recording device, pencil, and music to the vocal studio.

GUEST NIGHT: This coming Tuesday Feb 19
Don't be the odd man out, bring a guest to rehearsal!

RETREAT/COACHING - Fri. Feb 22 7-10pm, Sat. Feb 23 9am-5pm
Don't miss our special guest coach for the retreat!


Thanks to Dean Rust for this weeks installment of chorus notes!



Clap Yo Hands

- first note singers; be ready

- bass, "Chase the hoo do" (m 17): get the words right

- "You do" (m 20): on the beat, first "you do" in m 19 is syncopated.

- "Clap-a yo hands" (ms 29-30): linear singing; "clap" vowel is like vowel in "at"; make the "C" on "Clap" small and get right to the vowel. No fuzziness.

- "thigh. Hallelujah..." (ms 30-31, 54-55): Be ready to go on the downbeat on "Ha" of "Hallelujah". Entrance on "Ha" is too tentative.

- lead, "Come join me" (ms 35-36): need lots of linear singing, here and elsewhere.

- "send him to the devil. Clap-a yo hands" (ms 52-53): Jump right back in on "Clap..." after "devil." Sing it light, but sing it!

Mona Lisa

- "...or just a cold and lonely, lovely work of art?" (ms 52-56, begins with lead-bari duet): watch the Director, take some time on "lovely", then break after "lovely"; take it easy on "art"; baris: more melodic on "or just".

- "Mona Lisa" (ms 56-57): you are crying out to her, but be restrained the first time, not too much, you should feel like you have more to give.

- Bari, "Lisa" (m 57): open sound with more presence when you jump to the high note. Have plenty of air and ready to give as soon as you hit the high note, then crescendo but don't lose control.

- "Mona Lisa" (ms 58 to the end): give more on 2nd Mona Lisa, but then back off. lead: have plenty of air, let it flow, don't shut down as you get softer, listen to others and match, unit sound.

Looking Back on Feb. 12th Chapter Meeting

Looking Back on Feb. 12th Chapter Meeting

(This message is prepared for your review if you were there, for your information if you had to miss, and as a historical record of the great things going on each week at an Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter meeting. —Ye Ed.)

The chapter met in Jeff Houston School last nite because Durant was being used as a voting place for the Virginia primary.

But to complicate things – an ice storm hit the whole area about 4 or 5 pm. Streets were not too bad, but overpasses like the new ones in Springfield were solid ice and filled with crashes. People walking had to use the streets as brick sidewalks in Old Town were slick too – tough for the guys coming from Metro stop. But as always, the streets were at a standstill.

The record was about 3 hrs. and 45 min. to get to the meeting. And some of the guys who lived closest took a couple hours.

BUT – from a start of 7 guys or so, there were over 50 guys singing when Director Joe told everyone to get home safely at about 9 pm.

He started with a small circle of guys in the school gym and then as the numbers grew, it became two circles. He worked hard on vocal warm up, and offered some great exercises.

When the crowd swelled, he and Tony worked the chorus on some solid singing for “Clap Your Hands” and “Mona Lisa” – including some sectional work.

There were a couple guests present, and Joe Sawyer was back to see us. And some new guys who are making their way thru the membership process were there too. The ranks are growing!

Next week is the official guest nite. Bring some one!! There will be extra refreshments – the cookies each of us are asked to bring. Joe has a plan to entertain and involve the guests. Roger has asked each of us to bring a guest. This is especially true of some of the new men who had not already brought all their neighbors and buddies. And those of you who read this but don’t get down to Durant each week – come on down on Feb. 19th at 7 pm.

The Singing Valentine project was being managed too during the evening. A crew of us wrote the personal messages in cards that would go out with the quartets when they delivered their songs. I think I heard there were 80 Valentines sold. Good job all.

We did have some goodies to share thanks to the Jordans. (And thanks to Dennis Ritchey who made the coffee and set things up for me last week!) Some of the guys gotta turn around and do it all again on Wed. nite for the Board meeting. Thanks to them for making things run smoothly.

Until next time – editorjack!

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Guest Night

Harmonizers!!!

Last nights rehearsal was so unexpected!!! It took me 2 hours and 15 minutes to go 10 miles, and many of you had a much, much longer commute (I need to teach some of you Virginians how to drive in ice and snow, my friends from Boston would've laughed at the mess last night). I thought we would've never had rehearsal, let alone a productive one! We started with a whopping 7 and ended with around 50+ and had a a surprising and very productive rehearsal. I hope that you all got home safe and I can't thank you enough for coming out in that weather and traffic.

I write you this email to remind you that we have guest night on Tuesday. Please be sure to bring a guest with you. It can be a family member, neighbor, former harmonizer, waiter/bartender at your local watering hold, bag boy at the grocery store, stranger on the street that was humming as he was waling past you, anyone!!! Bring a guest! The format of the rehearsal is going to be very different and geared towards the guests for the evening so be ready for a couple of twists and turns and be ready to showcase your best vocal behavior!
Please remember to wear a shirt with the Harmonizer logo and to bring some sort or refreshment, cookies, chips, cake, etc.

We will be performing, at the very least, Great Day and Music of the Night for the guests at the very beginning of the rehearsal so please brush up on those songs before Tuesday so that we can WOW them from the start!

Thanks for turning a horrible night last night into a fun and productive one! It's GREAT to be a Harmonizer!

Retreat Coming Soon!!!

Just a friendly reminder...

We have a local retreat scheduled for Fri Night Feb 22 from 7-10pm and all day Sat Feb 23 from 9am-5pm at our regular rehearsal venue, Durant Center. PLEASE plan to attend, this has been on the schedule for quite some time!

During the retreat we will be covering the following:
- voice placement on the risers for international (mucho importante)- heavy duty work on the uptune
- learning new tag to the uptune
- sectional work on unit sound
- beginning work on the ballad
- introduction of choreo for the uptune
- we will have a coach on Saturday to help us with the uptune so please be note and word perfect!

See you at the retreat!