2 September 2025
Dear Singers,
Thank you for a great 'opening night' yesterday, wonderful to see everyone again and to welcome some new members. A hearty 'hello' to Matt Cann, who unexpectedly found he had a lovely new upright piano to play! Thank you to the committee team for processing paperwork and issuing scores so efficiently at the start. All looks set for a good term ahead.
A word about attendance, for new members and a reminder to everyone else. The expectation is no less than 75% as a guide. I encourage everyone to make it 100% of course, but being realistic this may not happen. Congratulations to anyone who manages that! It's not so much about percentages but how prepared you are. We all have a responsibility to be concert ready by December, and need to do what's necessary to perform confidently. Only YOU can monitor your individual progress, so if you are in any doubt, do talk to me.
How do we learn? We all learn differently. Every choir like ECS has a spectrum of learning types - at one end people who can read the notes, at the other people who learn aurally. I aim to run rehearsals in a way which captures all of this 'mixed experience', and over time we all get there! Please make use of your own practice time to support your progress. At the very least just listening to the music is extremely helpful as it contributes to building the 'sound world', which comes to life in rehearsal, and builds confidence. If you are affected by any of the issues raised here (as they say after harrowing TV documentaries!), I'm happy to help.
WHAT WE DID ON 02.09.25
We started with some substantial warming up, which will happen each week in a shorter form. All effective rehearsals require that we focus - be in the moment, leaving the world outside - and prepare our voices and concentration for the work ahead. Try this at home: Stretch, find a comfortable grounded posture, take some good breaths and exhale slowly, gently massage your jaw/cheeks and loosen the tongue.
Do this even if you are only going to listen - it gets you in 'choir mode'!
We began by learning the melody from Movt 5 of Navidad Nuestra (Los reyes Magos) by heart. See below for a full recording
We had a look in detail at the Kyrie (p7) from Misa Criolla and basically covered all of the notes. The challenge in this one is to stay in tune - good breath and support + listening, we will nail it!
We also 'busked' our way through the Fantasia on Christmas Carols (henceforward to be known at FoCC). The carol tunes are easy and familiar, what Vaughan Willaims does with them is quite challenging, in particularly around p15 which is high for sopranos.
It takes a while to get back in the zone, adjust the pace from a long hot summer, and get voices back in trim This was a great opening rehearsal - well done everyone and thank you.
WHAT WE WILL DO ON 09.09.25
Navidad Nuestra: Revisit No. 5 (Los Reyes Magos). Here is a good recording which is exactly the same as our scores. You don't have music yet, but listening will be fruitful...
https://open.spotify.com/track/1RhOsDZNz58RfFtsUSujxC
No. 1 (La Anunciacion) I have written out the whole melody as one piece (see attached). We will sing this to get familiarity, then look at how it works in the score. Here is a recording:
https://open.spotify.com/track/0ezFrO8E6vMp507oX8q4je
Misa Criolla: Kryie - Revisit and improve.
Here is a recording:
https://open.spotify.com/track/2JVfufoNSMxGK88qIQMHpl
I will research other recordings, plus any Learning Trax that can help with individual lines.
Happy singing & listening
Peter Hunt