It was good to be back home at St Stephen’s particularly for the opportunity to chat and enjoy tea and cake at the break!

We started as usual with warm up exercises and then practised the following pieces:

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation

• We started with V4 at Bar 56 – Bar 68 to learn the notes and rhythms for the 3 part harmony.  In Bar 65 pronounce ‘aye’ as ‘I’.
• Sopranos sang through V! – be careful as it’s almost the same as V4 but not quite. Note differences in Bars 13/62, 14/65
• V2 – men have tune and sing mf. Space breathing for long phrases and for meaning. Sops and altos sing two part harmony ‘descant’ at mp
• Coda at Bar 68. Starting at mp and crescendo through to f. Check order of entries (men, altos, sops) and count beats in each bar accurately for canon effect.  Note 1^st alto/2^nd sop part in final 2 bars.  

Goodbye until we meet again

• We practised section A-B for accuracy of notes, rhythms and how parts fit. Beware of page turn Bar 28/29
• We practised section C- Coda. Read carefully – underparts are not the same as in section A.
• Coda – Count carefully. Note Bars 48/49 decrescendo and change to 3/4time. Bar 50 to end, sing legato, in one continuous phrase and observe 2 bars of dotted minims and crescendo at end

Over the rainbow

• We practised sections A and B (Bars 21 to 52) for notes and rhythms. Read notes carefully and be sure to observe the rests. No breaths in Bars 49-52
• Coda – Bar 72, observe the commas (why, Oh why can’t, I).

Calm and deep peace/Simple Gifts (Blue book p25)

• We practised V2 (Bar 20 to Bar 33). Keep ‘s’ sounds as quiet and short as possible (eg Bar31). Sing this section legato
• We practised V3 Bar 33 – Bar 49.  Men have tune sing mp, flowing and clear.                            Put in commas and only breathe in Bar 35 after ‘simple’, in Bar 37 after ‘free’, in Bar 41 after ‘be’, in Bar 45 after ‘right’.