Many thanks to Jan and Jane for these rehearsal notes. Please make sure to read them each each. Please also note the memorization notes.
Deck the Hall
- Memorize for 10/19
- Breathing – there is a lift at commas, between two bar phrases
- At end of each fa la la, the last note is a full quarter note.
- At the end of each verse, sing a full half note, then cut off on the downbeat. There will be an empty measure before going to the next verse.
- Altos- note that your line skips down, not stepwise like the soprano line in measures 1, 5, and 13
- Remember – one “hall,” not “halls.”
Wexford Carol
- Memorize for 10/19
- No need to memorize verse 1
- In verse 3, the beginning is children; we may add some teens and younger adult treble voices. all S & A will sing the last half of the verse in a three-part split (we will check the balance)
- Be sure to place the final consonants of phrases right on the following rest, and do a small crescendo into the rest.
- Altos- in the phrases where you don’t break (mm. 20, 24, 32, 52, 56), sing through the phrase strongly so it does not sound like you are taking a lift before the last note of the measure. m. 32 sounded particularly like a break was being taken after “all”.
- Altos – m. 64. Sing “Lah” instead of putting the “f” on “life” and cut off right away. Then come in strongly on “who” on beat 4 – we are the only ones singing on that beat.
- Altos and Tenors: mm. 29 and 61 – make sure the last note of the triplet (beat 1, second note) lines up with the Soprano and Bass triplet.
- Altos: Verse 2, mm. 20 and 21 and verse 4, mm. 52 and 53 are slightly different than Verse 2 mm. 24 and 25 and verse 4 mm. 56 and 57.
- Sopranos – Be careful not to overshoot (go too high) on the F natural in mm. 27, 43, and 59
- In the words told, behold and similar, minimize (or don’t sing?) the “L”
Alleluia
- Memorized
- There will be some introduction similar to the chant shown in the music.
Amazing Grace (audience sing)
- Review before next rehearsal
Kentucky Wassail
- Listen to the recording and work on the words – we will be singing faster than we rehearsed this week.
Didn’t Leave Nobody But the Baby
- We’ll be doing this in a folky style – listen to the recording for style.
While By My Sheep
- Review your parts.
- A small group will sing the German verse, and a smaller group will be the “echos”
- Note: there are different versions out there of this very well-known piece. If you have sung/memorized it in the past, make sure you are singing the words and notes in this version.