Thursday, April 10, 2008

Chorus Notes # 15 - Chapter Meeting April 8, 2008

Thanks to Dean Rust for this week's rehearsal notes

General

- two weeks to Spring Tonic; be very attentive and ready to sing; lots to cover.

- Please learn the songs for the reunion chorus (Place on Risers, Side-by-Side, Climbin' Up the Mountain); Former Musical Directors Bud Arberg and John Hohl will be conducting.

Craft

- "I Love You Truly" gives judges many opportunities to determine how well we sing in tune.

- Must remain faithful to the tonal center; know where "doe" is as you sing your part.

- Don't "short-change" yourself on the "cents" between 1/2 steps.

- Recall the drill on the verse; sing-lip sync-sing-lip-sync; practice at home with a pitch-pipe.

Place on the Risers

Side-by-Side

Climbin' Up the Mountain

- recall the rhythmic traps: (i) non-leads, "climbin" (m 9) is off the beat; (ii) non-basses, "ha-le-lu" is on the beat, then off the beat; (iii) "never more" is off (m 5), on (m 13), off (m 45); and (iv) "for to" is on the beat (m 43, after key change).

- last three measures: learn the notes; basses, some of you were not going high enough on "judge."

Lift Up My Head

Almost Like Being in Love

-Watch Joe; he's giving lots of interpretive direction.

- "Maybe the sun...": smooth and connected, a little more on "sun".

- "for I could swim Loch Lomond...": sing lighter.

- "What a" (pick up to the chorus): back off a little on "a" and don't change your mouth posture (don't go wide).

Drunken Sailor

- Leads to be tested individually next week on ms 122-128; baris are next as a group.

Great Day

- Lots of interpretion in the verse is not being performed; instead of squaring off at the beginning, go to center audience and keep your peripheral on Joe.

- Focal goes to Joe for the refrain "When you're down and out..."

- Focal goes back to center audience at the Tag.


Clap Yore Hands

- Performance with choreo has led some to oversing; be careful.

- Intro - duration (again), start with a purpose, good oh vowel

- "Clap-a-yore-hands, Slap-a-your-thigh": crescendo on "hands" and "thigh"

- "Hallelujah, hallelujah, everybody...": Sing through it, don't let the choreo move on "jah" cause you to break the flow of sound.

- "On the sands of time...(first time)": eyes on Joe for choreo direction; smooth singing

- "Join the Jubilee Oh me Oh my Oh me Oh" (ms 58-62): turn out (along the risers) on "lee", keep facial focal to CA, break after "lee", no break through the rest of the phrase with a little extra push on "my" as you make the key change, sustain support after the key change to help set up the bass solo.

- "Everybody come along" (ms 83-84, near the end after the 4th Clap-a-yore hands): the turn to the left starts on "everybody"

- ripples near the end: make the turns quick, flash your hand with spread fingers.

- Movement on last chord: 12 (4 + 8) count starts from a crouch; 1-4 arms up slowly, bring hands together, still in crouch; and then on a new count from 1-7 slowly stand up and slowly spread arms, 8 recover.

- Last chord "Hands": emphasize "nds" on cutoff.

I Love You Truly

- Feel the song, show it in your vocal and visual presentations.

- You need to be in a solid singing position to start the song; get a good breath; take responsibility for being on top of the pitch when you start the song.

- Bari: too thin at the start, need all your resonances.

- Lead, "Coming home to you" (ms 1-3): make sure you're on top of the pitch on "you".

- "Coming home to you is...": feel and show the musical tension on "is" (m 3); ditto for the first chord on "life" (m 7).

- "I love you truly, truly dear" (ms 17-20): no sliding from note to note.

Happy Feet

- Keep moves small, even smaller, all the time

- "Charle-ston, Charle-ston, and even the rhumba": crescendo on "ston" both times, and have a good face on "rhumba".

- "Weary blues don't get into my shoes" (reprise, ms 77-79): faces, there are no choreographed moves for a few measures and the faces tend to drop out.

Mona Lisa

- Interpretation to be used on the Tonic will be sent to you. Please study it.

- Watch Director. It goes much better when you do this; otherwise there is a tendency to go too slow.

Jezebel

- Watch Joe at the end, "Night and day, every way etc."