Rehearsal time was cut short by 30 mins so that we could hold the AGM. We then worked on several pieces which we will now leave and pick up again for the Spring concerts. The rehearsal next week, 17 October, will start on the Christmas repertoire.

The warm up activity was based on ‘The Beat of a Different Drum‘.  We then practised the following:

• West Side Story
• ‘Somewhere’.  From p54 Bar 10 to the end, we learned the notes for SATB parts. Note the significant changes in dynamics
• At Bar 18, sops and alto sang only in 2 not 3 parts (at the moment?)
• At Bar 26, avoid scooping.  Delay and soften the ‘s’ of ‘There’s’ 

• God so love the world
• Place the consonants crisply in right place eg in phrase ‘God so loved’ etc – delay the s of ‘so’
• Bar 17 – control and shorten the sh sound in ‘should’ and ‘perish’. Give an accent to perish and crescendo through Bar 19. No breath after ‘perish’ in Bar 20
• Watch the entry on 2^nd beat of Bar 30 at A
• Bars 60 onwards – note how parts fit together – each has different pattern of notes
• Bar 64 – Sops put the ‘ing’ of ‘everlasting’ on the crotchet at end of Bar 66

• Speed Your Journey (Nabucco) – in English
• We revised the notes for the section from letter B – note the 2 part soprano line
• In Bar 24, hold and crescendo through the minim
• Add mf at Bar 37
• We sang from letter C to end revising notes and how parts fit together

• The Beat of a Different Drum
• Sing the ‘dum tikka’ sections very precisely and with punch.
• Sing legato for the sections with words from Bar 17
• We learned the T&B notes from Bar 54, alto notes from Bar 57 and soprano notes from Bar 65. Then we sang section from Bar 54 – Bar 80 to check how parts fit together.
• All parts – watch the transition at Bars 81/82