Chorus Notes #9 - Chapter Meeting February 26, 2008

Special Thanks to Dean Rust for this week's Rehearsal Notes!

General

- Always be ready to perform, lot to do in coming months, stay with Joe, be focused while on the risers.

- You should have only 3 points on the ground when performing.

Craft

- Review: sing with the whole instrument (all resonances), most effectively done with openness and raised soft palate such as the feeling when you smell your favorite childhood dish. Keep the sound connected and stomach taut.

- I Love You Truly: Be ready when you're switching registers within your part. Practiced by humming to get the feel for the connected sound as you change registers. Bass has big challenge on "tears" swipe in m 24.

- Kirk Young concepts of subdivision, and full metrical value also apply to ballad. Subdivision is the pulse of the music, try to think of underlying eighth or sixteenth note pulses as you sing quarter, half and whole notes in the ballad. Full value means singing all the way out to the very end of these pulses for each note.

- Chorus needs to be in receive mode and anticipating even before the Director steps up to begin song.

Clap Yore Hands

- "Oh, whoa" (Intro): remember subdivision, and full value.

- Bass, "I mean the" (m 11, pickup): swing it.

- "But you can chase the hoodoo" (ms 16-17): Lead, no "ch" in "but you can" pickup; All: word fart #1 - "chase the hoodoo", not "chase that hoodoo."

- "Let me lead the way" (ms 21-22): smooth and mysterious, quarter notes don't swing.

- "Come along and shake yore shoe time" (ms 40-41): word fart #2

- it's "shake yore shoe time" not "#^&@*". [Recall Kirk Young admonition that it's beneath the Harmonizers to be fumbling with memorization weeks after we were asked to be off the music.]

- "Send him to the devil": first time is eighth notes, second time quarter notes; notes are also different.

- Bass solo (ms 63-70): All parts, make it spooky; Bass, break before pickup "and we will" (m 66) and make sure it's swung; Non-basses, You get a big breath after singing "oh" (ms 63-66) and before coming back in on "lose that evil..." (m 67); non-bassesalso get stronger during "Voo" whole note (m 69) while basses are coming up on the quarter notes.

- "Send him to the devil" (ms 78-79): bass, too much weight on "send", take off some pressure.

- "Come a-long, rest, come a-long, rest" (ms 84-87, just before tag): make sure the 2nd" come a-long" gets up that half-step. New Tag

- All: Good strong "K" on "Come"; confident but not loud.

- "Come a-long and": full duration on "and".

- Lead, "C'mon": stick it right before the other parts come in on the downbeat

- Bass, "C'-mon you children" (first time): easy on high note, baris are doubling, but then be strong as you peal off.

- Baris: sing out with confidence, big and full.

- Bass, "gather around" (3rd time of 5, C-flat octave jump): not getting high enough on upper octave. Don't get heavy on higher notes.

- All but leads: "clap your hands" (last three notes of tag): this one is "your" not "yore." - "Hands": good "nds" on the last chord.

I Love You Truly

- Watch Joe's hands: don't go off any note unless he does. Learning track is slow.

- "Coming home..." (ms 1-2): let's hear the "k" but in the style of the song, target is "oh" of "home", warm and expressive, connect all the word sounds (e.g. m and ing in "coming), a little louder on "home", don't decay on "oh" of "home".

- Lead, "Coming home to you" (ms 1-3): be ready for change of register on "to", lighten up on that note, don't raise your chin.

- "is my life" (ms 7-8): short "f" on cutoff.

- "I love you truly" (ms 15-16): bite the apple on "ah" of "I."

- "Ah yes tis something" (ms 33-34, first time): break after "yes" (it's not written as a break).

- "Gone" (m 41): Bari and bass hit all the notes in the slides, both start at the same time but baris go slower. Leads and tenors, back off as other parts begin to slide and then come back (go from a 7 to 6 to 8).

- "Gone is the sorrow" (ms 41-42): break after "Gone", come back in at the same level on "is".

- "sorrow" (m 42): lead - don't slide around, sing accurate notes; bass - let's hear it.

- "gone" (m 43): another break after bass slide on "gone."

Ed Sullivan

- "da, da, da, da, da, da, da" (beginning): make it clean, stays in tempo, don't speed up.

- Next chorus entrance "bum" (m 43): Quartet bass sings "bum" (m 41) on the tonic (F) , chorus entrance is on "So" in octaves (C). Sit out if you're not sure of the note.

- "Yah, da, da...and yah, yah, yah..." (ms 57, 65, 73): these are novelties and need to stick out. Sections between them should be "elegant" to further emphasize the contrast.

- "Dum duh dah..."(3 times, slight break in Lady of Spain solo, ms 80-82): each "dum, duh dah" crescendoes into the next one.

- Bass: don't move your chin on the "bum, bum's"

If I Ruled the World

- Provide full expression from the gitgo (see last note under craft above).

- "And we'd sing of the joy every morning..." (ms 14-15): big holy-moly "oh" vowels on "joy" and "morning"

- "If I ruled the world" (ms 17-18, 2nd chorus): Don't sit on "If; lead and bari have to energize their sustained "world" to support tenor and bass repeat of "the world" - "Every voice..." (m 20): Don't milk the "v", get right to the vowel.

- "My world...(m 25, 1st time): slight "m" with pitch before downbeat, solid "ah" on downbeat.

- Lead: "dreams. My world" (ms 28-29): crescendo through the whole note on "dreams" (as other parts cut off and sing "sudge dreams") and into "My".

- "My World" (m 29, 2nd time): Joe loves this spot; make a statement. Crescendo on "world from a 5 to an 8.

- "would wear a smile on its face" (ms 29-30): don't turn vowel on "smile" as we get softer.