This was an important rehearsal ahead of our first Christmas concert at St Gabriel’s church on Sunday 11th December. Mary took us through most of the pieces we shall sing, rehearsing tricky sections for notes and rhythms, reminding us of articulation of words, practising ‘joins’ between sections, dynamics. Importantly, keep heads up over the top…

We rehearsed again in the church of Our Lady of the Assumption. The arrangement of choir sections and the seating was much better for hearing both Mary and other voices in the choir. The warm up exercises include practising the singing of certain words – to sing through the vowels and keep consonants short eg…

We rehearsed again in the church of Our Lady of the Assumption which was not so warm this week and seating continued to be a challenge in terms of hearing Mary and listening to other sections of the choir. However, there was a good turn out and we made good progress with the pieces for…

We rehearsed in a new venue this week and possibly for the rest of term, the church of Our Lady of the Assumption, which was warmer, very convenient for parking and for other facilities. The acoustics were different and it took some time to adjust.  We practised the following: Angels’ Gloria We confirmed who was…

We started as usual with warm activities. We then practised the following: Ring the Bells From B starting at Bar 12 note the different rhythm for sops, observe the rests in each bar between phrases for sop, alto and tenor lines and crescendo for all. Bar 16/17, be careful in each part to sing the…

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…

Rehearsal taken by Paul in Mary’s absence. Warm Up: 1, 121, 12321 etc. Repeated starting on different notes.                   Arpeggios to Aah In The Bleak Midwinter. Arr. Tom Race             Words spoken to learn correct rhythm             Altos & Basses start and sang to “stone” at Bar 10             Sopranos & Tenors start at…

Warm Up – Vocal Technique Reminded about having an upright posture and not tense. Breathing: In for 4  –  Out for 4,  In for 4 –  Out for 8,  On the out breaths to  ssss,  then to Aahs Chord of C – sing any note in the chord on an ng Random Chords – Sing…

Rehearsal time was cut short by 30 mins so that we could hold the AGM. We then worked on several pieces which we will now leave and pick up again for the Spring concerts. The rehearsal next week, 17 October, will start on the Christmas repertoire. The warm up activity was based on ‘The Beat…

After some warm up activities to practise articulation of words, pitch, listening to each other and watching the conductor, we worked on the following pieces: Speed Your Journey (Nabucco) Put in letters A on p5 Bar 25, B on p6 Bar 28, C on p8 Bar 40 In Bar 24, hold and crescendo through the…