14 January 2025
Dear Singers,
Greetings to some more new singers this week, which takes our membership to 100 again for the first time in many years! Thank you all for a very productive rehearsal.
Our venues
The increased numbers mean we are filling the Chapel nicely. The swelling ranks of sopranos and altos mean the tenors and basses are retreating further into the distance away from me! In some choirs this might be a conductor's dream (ha ha), but not so ECS, I like you close. Next week I might try something different......
Concerts: We have performed a lot in St David's Church, it is a fabulous venue, and they really look after us. Given our growth in numbers for the Mozart, together with an orchestra, and soloists, space might be tight. We are considering alternative venues for the next concert - if anyone has any suggestions please let me know. We need to be in Exeter or environs, not too far out of our patch.
How do you learn your music?
The weekly rehearsal is where most learning happens, a combination of a group 'singing lesson', blending with others, becoming familiar with the music and discovering what the conductor is aiming for in performance.
There is a lot you can do between rehearsals to help this process and make you a more confident singer.
Try some of the physical and vocal warming up activitie
Listen to recordings
Use Rehearsal/Practice aids online to learn your part in detail, at your own pace
A good FREE source for the MOZART is https://cyberbass.org/Major_Works.htm
Find 'Mozart' and click on 'Requiem (Süssmayr)', then select your voice part in each chorus.
You can control the speed - scroll down for Playback Controls
For the HUMMEL, try
https://johnfletchermusic.org/
It requires a bit more navigation, but simple to use once there!
You will need to sign in and pay £6.60 for 4 months - well worth it. Once a member, go to the home page and enter Hummel Mass in B flat in the 'search' box, select the Mass in Bb. Scroll down a little way and find Click here for the sound files. You can then choose to download or Copy to Dropbox then you have access to each movement.
There are many sites like these but quality varies. Not all are free, and some are a bit fiddly to navigate. Put choral rehearsal aids in your search engine and explore what's available.
WHAT WE DID ON 14.01.25
Finished learning Matthew, Mark, Luke & John and sang it confidently in 3 parts. Why DO we sing rounds? They offer a rich opportunity to make music with something simple, from memory, a quick win. Warming up took a little longer this week as we indulged in a 'lesson', exploring our voices and targeting tone quality - useful techniques to improve the quality of our singing. We also 'warmed down' with a gentle lullaby at the end. I have had many positive comments during and after rehearsals from members who say they find the warm ups useful for their singing, and a relaxed way of engaging in some uncomplicated singing which gets them focused for the rehearsal ahead, and bonding with their fellow singers. Targeted preparation like this for a rehearsal is helping to contribute to the choir's huge improvements in quality of sound, matching tone and vowel sounds, tuning and stage presence.
Hummel: Credo (p29) - Using scat syllables instead of the words we got this faster and more 'fleet of foot'!. Time was given to the tricky passage on page 34, bars 80-84
Mozart: Opening movement - establishing a nice legato (smooth) line for the main melody. Using scat syllables again we tackled the semiquaver runs from bar 34 onwards. Two slurs were put in the scores to indicate joining the phrases without a breath - these were in bar 16 into 17 and 47 to 48
Dies irae (p12) Good work on notes and tone quality (nice and 'fat' and threatening!)
What are Scat syllables and why do we sing them?
From Wikipedia: Originating in vocal jazz, scat singing or scatting is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, the singer improvises melodies and rhythms using the voice solely as an instrument rather than a speaking medium.
They are a useful way for singers to articulate rhythmic passages accurately, focusing on the notes without the words getting in the way. For example, the Hosanna on page 63 - the quaver runs need to be staccato (each note articulated clearly) rather than legato (smooth and running into each other) so the music has energy and drives forward. Scat syllables ('do be do be do' etc) help create the desired effect. When we put the words back in, the musical line keeps the articulated energy - that' the theory!
Follow up work from the rehearsal please:
It is helpful if you consolidate what we did in rehearsal by listening to the movements on a performance recording or learning track when you find one
BAR NUMBERS: The HUMMEL is already numbered every 5 bars.
MOZART: If your score does not have any bar numbers, please work your way through each movement (as time allows!) putting them in. There is a choice of two ways: Either number every 5 bars, OR write the number of the first bar in each block of music (called a 'system'!). Every page has 3 systems, apart from page 27 (4 systems) and 11,12,41,45,53,54 & 61 (2 systems)!
WHAT WE WILL DO ON 21.01.25
Mozart: Kyrie (p6) - sectionals; Lachrymosa (p41)
Hummel: Agnus dei (p70)
Useful preparation would be making sure Mozart movements have bar numbers, and listening to the music if possible.
THE 'INSPIRATION CORNER' RETURNS.....
For Scat Singing, you can't beat Ella Fitzgerald:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkcXxqgFId4
Best wishes, see you next week.
Peter