Sunday, October 25, 2009

Fifteenth and Sixteenth Rehearsals

We've spent most of our time in these rehearsals on "woodshedding," as the music folks call it. That means making sure we are all secure on our parts. Ernest particularly likes isolating two parts and having them sing together, e.g., second sopranos and tenors, altos and basses, first sopranos and altos. This way we see how the music fits together. We also get an appreciation for all the parts. Often in these sessions we practice singing each other's parts. This also gives us greater appreciation for the entire work. At the end we put all 5 parts together.

We were having particular trouble with the last movement where we all sing something different, only joining in the last few measures. It is a matter of careful counting and knowing your part cold! At the end of the rehearsal, we did it correctly. Now let's hope we can do it again, at our next rehearsal.

Ernest has been busy lining up instrumentalists and soloists. There will be some students joining us from the Cal State San Bernardino choral program.

December 13 will be here before we know it. It is getting to be crunch time as we prepare for the wonderful Christmas program.

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