After the warm up exercises we practised the following pieces:

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 in Bars 37/38.
• Observe the rests eg Bar 42 and Bar 46.
• Be ready for page turn into Bar 51, then sing through dotted minim with no breath after ‘all’
• In Bar 56, Basses sing lower of the two notes. For sops and tenors, no breath after ‘hymn’ – dotted minim.
• 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 singing the notes and rhythms of descant above.
• Bar 101 – take a breath after ‘all’
• From Bar 112 to end, observe rall and decrescendo

Zadok the Priest

• Section 3 – God save the King. We sang through this section to practise notes and rhythms. Note altos are in 2 parts. Keep all the quavers (Amen Allelujah) short and detached
• We sang through sections E-F to learn notes and parts. Keep quavers detached

Goodbye until we meet again

• Omit opening section, start at Bar 9.
• Basses at Bar 9 start with ‘Good’, tenors at Bar 10 on ‘Bye’ and altos at Bar 16 on ‘Good’
• We practised section B to end to revise notes, rhythms and how 4 parts fit.
• Bar 35 observe the rest after ‘not’
• Bar 36, sops take a quick breath after ‘love’
• Throughout hold the long minims and dotted minims for full values
• Bar 50. Last phrase – sing in one breath, rit and crescendo on last dotted minim. Watch Mary!

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

• Bar 11 on p26, no break after ‘gossamers’.  Short break after ‘twinkle’ in Bar 12.
• V2 Bar 20 – tenors and basses no break after ‘woodland’.
• Bar 26 sops and altos join in. Bar 28 breathe after ‘blue’. Bar 30 decrescendo
• 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, Bar 42 no break after ‘gossamers’,  breathe in Bar 43 after ‘twinkle’

The Rose

• We revised the notes and parts.
• At E, sops have tune sing out at mf. Bars 46 – 50, altos, tenors and basses have accompaniment on ‘Ah’ sing quietly on p.
• In Bar 57, no breath and decrescendo to p at the end

Over the Rainbow

• We sang through this piece to check note, parts, rhythms and dynamics

Gypsy Rover

• Note the words for a second verse in Bars 2- 11. These are :

‘She left behind her velvet gown, and boots of Spanish leather. They whistled and they sang till the green woods rang, as they rode off together’