This was a Tuesday rehearsal because of the Monday Bank Holiday – attendance was good.

We started as usual with warm up exercises. These included the men practising the ‘fffoo’ and ‘ffweee’ etc wind sounds at the start of ‘Goodbye until we meet again’. Be careful to count the beats in the bar, observe the dynamics and the crescendo and diminuendo for each phrase.

We then practised the following pieces:

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

• We started again this week with V4 at Bar 56. Use ‘choral breathing’ (each person takes a short breath as and when with overall effect of an uninterrupted line and no obvious breaks/breaths).
• Coda – Listen to each part for entries and count beats accurately for a clear canon effect in ‘Let the Amen’. Note the 3 upper parts in last Bar. 
• 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. ‘Choral breathing’ for long phrases and for meaning. For men, breath after Bar 27, but no breath after ‘seen’ in Bar 28 and ‘been’ in Bar 30. Sops and altos sing two part harmony ‘descant’ at mp
• In V3, no breath after ‘Ponder anew’ Bar 43 but breathe after ‘can do’ Bar 45

Goodbye until we meet again

• We practised opening section for wind noises. Watch out for when the basses at Bar 10, tenors at Bar 13 and finally altos at Bar 16 pick up the words and musical notes
• We practised section A-B to revise notes, rhythms and how parts fit. Beware of page turn Bar 28/29
• We practised section C and how parts fit together.
• Coda. Count beats accurately for Bars 48/49. Final phrase Bar 50 to end, sing legato, no breaks, observe dynamics and rit   

For the beauty of the earth (Rutter Anthems p12)

• We practised Section A p14 to check notes and parts. Sing through the long lines smoothly and hold the semibreves for full value. Observe the rests eg Bar 46. In Bar 51, sing through dotted minim and no breath after ‘all’
• Sing the phrase ‘This our joyful hymn’ gently eg in Bar 29 and elsewhere
• We practised Section B with men singing the melody and women learning the notes and rhythms of descant above

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

• We revisited V2 (Bar 20 to Bar 33). Keep ‘s’ sounds as quiet and short as possible (eg Bar31). Sing this section in long flowing lines
• 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’.  Sops and altos, use ‘choral breathing’ for long flowing lines with no breaks

The Rose

• We sang through the entire piece initially for notes, parts, rhythms and structure
• Check which parts have the tune and sing these out eg sops and altos in Section A. Tenors and Basses take over at Bar 12 Section B
• Check when any part is accompanying the tune and sing these down in volume