The warm up activities focused on breathing, watching, and listening exercises.  We practised the following:

• In the bleak midwinter
• Take care to sustain the minims and dotted minims.
• Crescendo or (depending on position in the phrase) decrescendo smoothly through the long notes to create a legato effect.
• First time: altos and basses begin Bar 2 to Bar 10, sops and tenors sing Bar 10 – Bar 14, all sing Bar 14 – 1^st time Bar 22, sops and tenors pick up ‘snow had’ in Bar 22 and go back to repeat Bar 11-14 and all sing again Bar 14 – 2^nd time Bar 22.
• Second time – the Canon round: alto 1 and bass 1 start in Bar 2 (‘in the bleak’) and sing to Bar 10, alto 2 and bass 2 start to sing (‘in the bleak’) from Bar 2 immediately after alto 1 and bass 1 and sing through to Bar 10. At Bar 10, sop 1 and tenor 1 start to sing ‘snow had fall..’ and carry on to Bar 14, sop 2 and tenor 2 start to sing ‘snow had fall..’ immediately after sop 1 and tenor 1 and sing through to Bar 14. At Bar 14, choir 1 (sop, alto, tenor and bass) start to sing ‘in the bleak’ and continue to 1^st time Bar 22, choir 2 (sop, alto, tenor and bass) start to sing ‘in the bleak’ at Bar 14 immediately after choir 1 and continue to 1^st time Bar 22. Repeat this Canon pattern once more from Bar 11 to end Bar 22.

• Ring the Bells
• We worked on v4 to check the notes, rhythms and how parts fit together.  
• Note particularly Bars 30/31 and Bars 32/33 where each part is singing a different rhythm on the word ‘majesty’

• Sleep away my gentle child
• Sing this piece ‘tenderly’. We sang through to revise notes.
• Note the simpler accompanying lines for tenor and basses underneath the sops and altos and how they fit together.
• In v2 sing mp and in v3 mf
• Final section – for the word ‘lull’, extend the middle vowel (u) sound and delay the final consonant (ll)

• Jazz Gloria
• We practised the 4 parts, A, B, C and D separately in unison to check notes and rhythms.
• Sing part A in a strong spirited style. In part B, in Bar 2 pronounce ‘the’ as ‘thee awaited’. In parts C and D be careful to observe the rests.
• Refer to the table at the top of the sheet for who is singing what in each of the 5 verses.

• I’m Dreaming
• At B altos to sing ‘Doh doh etc’ like sops
• On p3 – Bar 15 onwards, add in second verse words for basses – ‘see for miles’ etc
• We sang from the beginning to check out notes and rhythms. Check out how word ‘sm-iles’ fits the notation in Bar 18.
• Note the tied notes for how to phrase ‘of a white’ in Bar 98
• Note different words for tenor/basses and sops/altos in last section.

• The Gift
• We looked at the chorus sections of the 4 verses.
• Chorus 1 – Bar 5 sustain word ‘bring’ and join to the next phrase – no breath here
• Chorus 2 – slow crescendo through to Bar 37
• Chorus 3, top 2 parts to breathe after ‘sing’ in Bar 60, tenors and basses do not breathe after ‘sing’ in Bar 60
• Chorus 4, Bar 82 onwards – we practised how parts fit together for this section with the ‘Ah’ accompaniment in top 2 lines.