Saturday, December 31, 2011

hey choir

happy new year<3



thank you for making 2011 special, i had a great time with everyone this year (i hope you all enjoyed the year too :/ )
love ya'll to the moon and back<3
have a fantastic 2012 everyone!

much love,
aly

(apologies if it isn't actually midnight yet)

Sunday, December 25, 2011



MERRY CHRISTMAS CHOIR :) I hope you all have an amazing day :) God Bless :)

Friday, November 25, 2011

CHOIR AUDITIONS on 27th

HELLO!
This is a reminder to everyone, there is now practises on the 27th December from 1.15pm to 6pm. The practise on the 28th December is the same. On the 29th of December, come at the same time. There will be a lunch break and we’ll end at 5pm. J
And the practise on the 27th is an AUDITION for the guide recording, so if you don’t turn up, I’m afraid you won’t be allowed to sing for the guide track. L And one condition to be even qualified for the recording is to have come for at least 3 out of the practises since October (there has been 6 practises so far.) If you aren’t sure, please check with your SLs or with me.
Revise your scores, and the audition songs are…
1.     The World Song (Verses One and Two)
2.     TAPS (both verses)
3.     Our Chalet Song (both verses)
4.     If You’re Happy and You Know It (verses 1,2, and 5)
5.     My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean (Chorus)
6.     Rasa Sayang
7.     Chan Mali Chan
8.     Kookaburra
9.     International Camp Song (Australia)
Please revise these scores and practise SUPER HARD! Cause we really would like EVERYONE to sing for the track. J And do be very disciplined during the recording for one little blunder will cause a whole restart.
GOOD LUCK, GOD BLESS AND MERRY CHRISTMAS IN ADVANCE! :D
Love,
Josephine <3

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Hello Choir,

I hope you enjoyed practice today with all our activites :D


Here's the changes in the schedule.


There is now choir on the 27th of Dec (Tues) from 1.15pm to 5
pm

Dec 28th remains the same as on the schedule
On the 29th of Dec (Thurs), you now come at 10.30 am. (there will be a lunch break and we'll end at 5pm)

Please make sure you come on the 27th as that's when we'll be choosing our recording choir (only recording choir will get CIP hours for rehearsals and recording).


In other news, we officially have a new comm!


Music Comm

Ally-student conductor
Meme-Asst student conductor
(Fiona to understudy student conductors)

Fiona
-pianist
Denise-Asst pianist

S1
Wen jen- SL Samantha-ASL
S2 Weng lin-SL Janine-ASL
A1 Meesh-SL Nicolette-ASL
A2 Ally-SL Fiona-ASL.

Admin Comm

Anjali-President
Jo- Vice president
Judith -treasurer
Ruijun-secretary

If you have any problems (not being able to come for practice/dont understand the score/etc.) you can always ask the SLs and ASLs. Hope you'll support the new comm :D


In conclusion, we now have a new comm, and you need to come on the 27th at 1.15pm and on the 29th at 10.30am.


Enjoy your hols and keep practicing your scores :)


Love,

Anjali

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Choir update! :) 10/11/11


Hello everybuddy! :) 

well here's an update on what we did on the 10/11/11 for those who were not around - around 20+ people. D: 

TAPS
·         Please write Evening Taps for the one with the score so you won’t get confused
·         Watch for all cut offs and do cut off together
·         Be careful on the 2nd and 3rd bar of the 2nd system (All is well, safely rest) cos it  tends to get messy
·         We are singing both verses

Brownie Bells
·         Rather all right J
·         Watch all phrase endings
·         Try to sound HAPPIER J cos singing properly makes us sound serious
·         In the second verse, watch the Ses and Cs and end off nicely.

CAMP CHRISTINE SONG
We are doing this next week so do be prepared. Ms Tham will be playing the accompaniment on the piano.

Our Chalet Song
Sing in phrases. There are six sub-phrases
First verse
High up…mountain
We’ve…Chalet
It’s sloping…wide
Shall…care
And each…Guide
Shall…there
Third verse – Each line in printed form is one phrase
Yup, we are singing only verses 1 and 3
Be careful with the us on the first verse, bar 4 of the second system
Careful with that S and the notes



Waltzing Matilda
For verse 2, which we are singing too, at ‘Down came a…glee’ please take note of the rhythm especially ‘grabbed him with glee’. ‘Grabbed him with glee’ is the same rhythm as ‘coo-li-bah’ tree by the way.
I’ve checked that Coolibah tree thinggum. It’s cooLIbah as in spelling. But it’s pronounced koo-luh-bah according to dictionary.com.
And by definition,
coolabah or coolibah (ˈkuːləˌbɑː) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
an Australian myrtaceous tree, Eucalyptus microtheca, thatgrows along rivers and has smooth bark and long narrow leaves
[from a native Australian language]
coolibah or coolibah
[from a native Australian language]
-dictionary.com

This is a swagman :


Land of the Silver Birch
·        We are singing verses 1, 3 and 4
·        Sops until A1s will sing the melody while A2s will sing the echos at the split.
·        Good Job at the dying off! J
·        Do be careful at the rhythm from ‘I will return once more’
·        Please take note of the dynamics and apply them
·        At verse 3, be careful of the rhythm too. And at ‘canoe…bark’, there is no the. It’s just ‘canoe of birch bark’, so please don’t sing ‘canoe of the birch bark’
·        At verse 4, make sure the commas are sung as well – as in the listeners will know there is a comma at the correct places when we sing it.

If you’re happy and you know it
·         We are singing verses 1,3, 5

She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain
·         We’ll be singing verses 1, 2 and 3

My Bonnie lies Over…
·         It’s BONNIE not Bonny (my dear friends and Fiona)
·         We shall be singing verses 1 and 4 on the actual day and 1 and 3 for practise to avoid complaint for a sad sad song
·         When we sing ocean, please sing the cean not like xien but something like shen. Like, with lift.
·         Make your words full
·         Altos please be careful with your notes and don’t sing funny ones
·         We are ignoring the pause at the last system

Rasa Sayang
·         There are new lyrics so for the ones who were not here, please take one from me next week. These are the lyrics (ignore the ones on the score)      …

Rasa Saying Eh! Rasa sayang sayang eh! Eh!
Helihat nona jauh Rasa sayang sayang eh!

Anak Sembilang ditapak tangan (Solfege: d d m s  s f# s s l s)
Putek pauh delima batu (Solfege: l s f m m r d r m)
Hilang dimata dihati jangan( m m m f f m f f s m)
Sunggoh jauh dinegeri satu (r d m r d t r d)

·         Please have very strong and heavy consonants
·         Non-aspirated ts
·         Sing as score and not your own pop version (except for some of the notes. Sing as the solfege above)
·         For the last eh, which is bold above, please hold it longer when on repeat. 
·         We are singing this next week so please be prepared

Chan Mali Chan
·         We are only singing one verse which is the one on the score
·         We are singing this next week, so please be prepared too.

You are my Sunshine
·         We are singing both verses (I think. But you can learn both anyway cos it’s a nice song. J)

Pass it On
·         We are changing the key to E flat
·         Keep pulse and follow the score
·         No parts, only melody
·         We are only singing verses 1 and 2. So at the end, we sing from ‘You…’ and instead of going to the lift-up-bar-thing that has 1.2., go to 3. (I don’t know if you get what I mean but the lift-up-bar thing is at the end of the song, and is above the last system indicated by a line like             )
·         At bar 5-6, when we sing ‘to get’ at the first verse, please follow the score and not add a note in between it
·         At bar 7, at ing, please change the quaver to a crotchet at ‘ing’ so we are holding the ‘ing’ for a shorter time
·         At the first bar of the 2nd system on the 2nd page of the song, please take note of the rest and don’t just proceed on. Remember, at the recording, you cannot afford to be messy.
·         At the same system, for ‘ex-per-i-rienced it’, please change the first two quavers at the 2nd bar of that system to a dotted crochet and the crochet at the ‘rienced’ to a quaver. Instead of ‘ex-per-i-enced’, we are singing ‘ex(crochet)-pe(new dotted crochet)-rienced(new quaver)’ J Okay? Got it?

Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag
·         We are only singing the refrain
·         Sing ‘SMILE J’ not ‘Smell’
·         We are singing  the alternate lyrics at the two last bars of the 2nd system of the refrain
·         Instead of ‘smile boys that’s the style’, we are changing boys to girls
·         At the 2nd bar of the 3rd system of the refrain, at ‘old kit bag’ of the alternate lyrics, the ‘bag’ is sung as the G not a B. Please take note of that because this mistake has been repeated quite a number of times.
·         At ‘What’s the use of worrying’, for ‘wor’ or ‘worrying’, please sing it as an F# and not an F.
·         Do not slide at the ‘So’ at the last bar of the 2nd system of the next page and please add in the accent indicated.
·         For the last few ‘Smiles’ of the song, sing each ‘smile’ with a CHOP.

The Chinese Fan
·         Good Job! J
·         We are singing this and doing the actions as a warm up next week. So B.P!

This little Guiding Light of Mine
·         We are singing only 2 verses which are verses 1 and 2(Don’t you (pouf)  my little light out)

PoKare Kare Ana
·         We are singing this next week B.P!

International Camp Song (Australia)
·         Cancel out 2nd verse. We are only singing the first
·         Do not repeat the same mistakes – take note of the notes and rhythms at bar 6

For the Recording, please know the score at your best. At any little error from anyone, the whole recording for that song might have to be restarted and it will be very annoying. Also, we shall then be taking longer than we would like for each song is only given about TWELVE MINUTES! D: Furthermore, those who cannot sing properly might not be given a chance to sing at all. So please come for your practises!


New Song!
Saging Tundan
·         People who did not come, please collect one copy from me. J
·         Please write in solfege if necessary, doh is B flat)
·         Sing with a graceful accent
·         You must really count in this score, and take note of the rhythm!
·         A2s, please follow the S2s part on when to come in. (You are the melody by the way J)
·         S2s, please take note of your rhythm! J

Phew, that was 1359 words of an update. :P

Love, Josephine <3

PS, dear SLs who have the attendance from the 21st to the 17th , please make sure that they are all compiled properly and pass/email them to me by the 18th of November. Thanks! :D


Thursday, November 10, 2011

Hello hello choir dearies,

There are lots and lots and lots of concerts this month so you guys will be spoiled for choice.

Limelight @Esplanade at 7.30pm ($10)
River Valley High is performing on Wed, 16th Nov
Tanjong Katong is performing on Mon, 28th Nov

Singapore International Youth Choral Festival

 
 So colourful >.<

Right, so if you guys want to order, please send me (Anjali) an email by SATURDAY!!! 

Enjoy your holidays and don't leave your holiday hw till the end of the holidays :)

Love,
Anjali

Saturday, November 05, 2011

Guides Recording for SGGA

Heyall ye mg choir mateys!

Here is an update on our guides scores on our last practise.  

The World Song
1. Please sing the consonants above the note so it will not hinder you from singing the correct note and not go flat. (for example, throughout at bar 8)
2. Do have clear pronunciation. Singing clear as clee.
3. For the first part from Our Way is Clear... do sing with your abbs and with direction. 
4. The part with the semi quavers are potentially messy so please keep it together and take note of it. 
5. At the phrasing at bar 6, cut off together. This also goes for the tiny separations in between 'see!' and 'our flag', 'unite' and 'for' and take note of the commas and other phrasings. 
6. Please also take note of the dynamics and apply them. 
7. No fuzzy notes please. :)

*I am mostly referring to the first verse of the song. :) 

BP Spirit
1. Please take note of the triplets and don't sing it as quavers

Kookaburra
1. We are transposing it down although I'm not sure what key 
2. For the part where it goes 'Koo-ka-bur-ra, Gay your life must be', for the 'Koo-ka-bur-ra' part, please take note of the notes and not sing the version you know. As for the 'your life must' part, please take note that they are the same notes. Yup, so please don't sing your own version but follow the score. :)

Pokare Kare Ana
1. Here are the lyrics since the ones on the score are not very clear

Pokare kare ana 
Nga wai o Ro To rua
Whiti atu  koe hi ne
Mari no ana e
E hine e Hoki mai ra
Ka mate a - ?(we are still not sure) i te aroha e. 

We're here for fun:  
1, the key is changed to E flat, 
2. at the lyrics Join (We'll) the note is the same at the previous which is best (syne)[5th last bar],                               3., add a note into the middle of lyrics -  'And' and 'show' (And & days)[last note of 1st bar and first note in teh 2nd bar of the 2nd system], and 'Be' and 'Happy' (last 'For' & 'auld')[last note of thrid last bar and first note of second last bar] so that it will be sung as la soh fah instead of la fah. 

*The words in bracket are the Auld Lang Syne lyrics verse 1 and the words in '_' are the proper lyrics. We aren't meant to sing the lyrics for Auld Lang Syne but just use its tune so please ignore those but sing the lyrics below it with the heading WE'RE HERE FOR FUN. :) 

How Lovely is the Evening
1. Please take note that its Eve... ning and not sing it as E-ven-ning 
2. Also, the lyrics are
When the bells are sweetly ringing sweetly ringing 
so please don't mistake it for singing

It's a Small World
1. Please pronounce your consonants properly and clearly (for example, divide - not divi?e)
2. For the sops, please take note of the low notes and not go sharp or sound strained. You can do it! :) 

Camp Fire's Burning
1. During the four-part round (though we might not be doing that canon), the canon only comes in at Draw nearer and not the second Camp fire's burning. 

Edelweiss <3
1. For Blossom, do not drag the sses. So it's a sweet and short s for Blos. For weiss in Edeweiss, do sing the vowel so the sses are shorter too. We are pronoucing weiss as the proper way and not wise. It's like the way they do it in the Sound of Music. I can't really spell it here so please check it out for yourselves on youtube or watch the whole show cos it's awesome. :) The sses also have to be together and not really staggered. 

International Camp Song (Australia)
1. Please take note of the rhythm and especially the notes at bar 6. 


I guess that's all for now. :) 

See you next week! :) 

Love,
JOsephine

PS. Please take every rehearsal seriously and as the real thing. Our recording might be tough as one small blunder by one person might cause the whole recording for that song to be restarted and we have on average ONLY TWELVE MINUTES PER SONG. D:

Also, after runs, do not sit down, do not drink water, but gather in a circle for warm-ups.

HAPPY SINGING!



Thursday, October 13, 2011

Exams...OVER!

Hi all! Here's the new choir schedule! Please inform you SLs if you can't come. <3, Janine



Month Date Day PT Vocal Warm Ups Rehearsal Venue Conductor Teacher Remarks
Oct 21 Fri 2:10-2:30pm 3:00-3:30pm 3:30-5:00pm Chapel TPW TPW
27 Thur 3:30-3:50pm NA 1:30-3:30pm Chapel JT TPW School dismissal at 1pm
Nov 3 Thur 8:45-9:05am 9:10-9:30am 9:30-12:30pm LT1 JT FL
10 Thur 8:45-9:05am 9:10-9:30am 9:30-12:30pm Chapel JT AN
17 Thur 8:45-9:05am 9:10-9:30am 9:30-12:30pm Audi JT FL Soundcheck for Guides Recording
24 Thur 1:15-1:35pm 1:40-2:00pm 2:00-5:00pm Audi JT AN
Dec 28 Wed 8:45-9:05am 9:10-9:30am 9:30-5:00pm Audi JT TPW Recording for Guides CD
29 Thur 1:15-1:35pm 1:40-2:00pm 2:00-5:00pm Audi JT TPW