A Happy New Year to all.

It was good to be back singing and welcoming new faces as well as those members who had been ill at the time of the Christmas concert. It was a good turn out. If you have not already done so then please return Christmas music as soon as possible.

We ‘warmed up’ with vocal and rhythm exercises – necessary after the break. The focus of the rest of the rehearsal was on learning notes, rhythms and part singing by revisiting repertoire from September 2022. We looked at the following:

1. West Side Story
2. We began on p51 at Bar 286 to coordinate the clapping and spoken ‘Aye, Aye Aye’ section
3. We practised the one bar introduction and strong ff entry at Bar 294
4.  We sang through Bar 230 – Bar 238 particularly the notes and rhythms for the men’s voices accompaniment
5.  Hold the last note (unison in top and bottom parts) from Bar 238 through to Bar 241
6. We worked on section IV ‘Somewhere’ – p53 is a solo. We learned notes and rhythms from Bar 10 through to end Bar 37. Notes sections where there are 3 parts in top line. Check with Mary which part you are singing – 4 sops and 4 altos sing middle part.
7. Note the page turn Bar 20 to Bar 21

• Let love shine through
• Initially all voices sang through all parts to familiarise ourselves with the notes and how parts fit together.
• See separate sheet emailed out by Mary for who is singing Melody/Backing 1/Backing 2/Backing 3. In Backing 1 and 3 there are upper and lower notes of the chords 
• We sang through the piece fitting the parts together.
• At first time Bar 35, go back to top p2 Bar 8 for second verse
• First time at Bar 52, sing Harmony 1,2 3 lines through to Bar 59 below the Melody line
• At first time Bar 59, go back to Bar 52. Second time at Bar 52 sing Backing 1/2/3 below the Melody line

• The beat of a different drum
• Observe the handwritten instructions at the start of each line for which part sings which line