Chorus Notes #13 - Chapter Meeting March 25, 2008

Special Thanks to Dean Rust for this week's rehearsal notes.

General

- Focus; on top of your game every second of rehearsal; no talking on the risers.

- Have the instrument ready when the Director raises his hands.

- Good singing posture.

- Off the music by April 8 on "From This Moment On"

Climbin' Up the Mountain

- Word change, Lead (m 9): "Climbin' up the mountain" NOT "Climbin' in the judgment"

- Word change, Bass, (m 17): "Jonah" NOT "Hannah"

- non-basses: "Hal-le-lu" is on the beat in ms 18, 26,34, and on the off-beat in ms 20, 28, 36.

Side By Side

Bass, "Sing-in' a song" (ms 51-52): easy on the upper octave on "in", let Bari handle it.

Music of the Night

- learn the words

- follow the Director

- Intro: Lead - More of the lyric line, need to understand the words; non-leads - back off a little.

- "Night time sharpens, heightens each sensation" (m 11), first Bass solo: Bass, more emotion (here and in other solo passages), breathless quality; non-basses, more support.

- "darkness of the Music of the Night" (ms 45-46): more on "Night"

- last measure: only section leaders put "t" on "night"

From This Moment On

- Off the music by April 8

- "Hang on baby" (m 89): return to tempo.

Great Day

- Remember dynamic plan at the beginning.

- Bass, "...there's a Great Day." (ms 23-24): review the entire line (after the dms), there are 2 beats on "Day" before the octave jump.

- " Ta, ta, ta, ta, It's not far ..." (ms 36-37): Carry over to "It's", no break.

Happy Feet

- Keep the choreo moves small and crisp.

- Choreo move on the last chord: knees bent, move slowly out to audience first with knees still bent, and then straighten up.

- "Wha-da-dance, do we do" (ms 1-2): Keep "Wha-da-dance" smooth and connected; crescendo on "dance" and carry that volume over to the first "do".

- "Lordy" (m 3): the swipe is fast, as is the move with the hat.

- "Happy Feet..." (ms 13-14): remember to increase energy through "Feet-2-3" and also on "beat", "those", "toes", "blues", "shoes", "refuse".

- Don't speed up the quarter notes during Happy Feet, i.e. on "I got those", "give them a", "ten li-ttle", "and when they", "I can't con-trol my", "to save my soul", "can't get in", "be-cause my".

Clap A Yore Hands

- Intro: duration

- Lead, "Come on you children": tell the story.

- "Clap a yore hands" (m 29): lighter, but with energy, let the rhythm tell the story.

- Lead, "slap a yore thigh" (m 30, etc.): don't change your vocal instrument as the notes go up.

- Non-leads, "Come join the jubilee" (ms 35-36): emphasis on "join" and "ju" of "jubilee".

- Tenor-Bass, "Don't lose time" (ms 39-40)": with drama, make each note go somewhere.

- "Come on you children gather around", bass melody (m 63): Bass, make it swing, not heavy, tell the story, don't make it stale, put a vocal inflection on "gather"; Non-bass, nice clean "oh", lots of resonance; Tenor, a little punch as you move to the next "oh"; Lead/Bari, spin the sound as the tenors move.

- "Clap a yore hands", 4th time (m 80): Bass melody, let's hear it; non-Bass, lighter.

- "Come a-long and", new tag, (ms 88-90): smooth and connected.

- Bass, "C'mon you children" (m 92): cool it, yield to Bari on high notes on "C'mon".

- Bass, "gather a-round" #2 of 4 (m 94): upper octave
C-flat tends be under the pitch. Fix it.

I Love You Truly

- Follow the Director (for the umpteenth time)