HEY IT'S KEETS!
runs: can y'all please please please run properly? this means:
1. hurry up and line up in twos AS FAST AS POSSIBLE when jane (or whoever's leading runs) calls for it
2. trying YOUR VERY BEST to RUN for the WHOLE TIME. if you really, really cannot, then you can run a little slower or even jog or something but just DON'T STOP
3. this goes without saying, but you have to run the entire distance. meaning that you can't just skip the last round because you came late and everyone's already a lap ahead of you and because you THINK we won't notice. we do. everyone does. All the time.
Warm-ups
Don't decrescendo too fast. Decrescendoing at the last third of the (line? Phrase? PHRASE!) phrase is a pretty good guideline for doing this.
Terms to google: golden proportions and tenor syndrome
Mr Tay explained a bit about the second one. He said that it was something like 'tilting your head back gives the illusion of being able to reach high notes but you're actually just hurting yourself. SO it's just better to tilt your head forward as if you're trying to make a double chin so that you're actually made taller and there's more space for the air to circulate around and makes the higher notes sound better and more rounded
Ecce:
At the very beginning of the piece, we're supposed to get our note from the G that'll be played on the pitchpipe
Sop 1s, at C, please be more 'wayang'
A few sop 2s were moved up to the sop 1.2 note at the very last bar.
BREAKING NEWS: there's a change in the rhythm before part E
Ave Maria
We worked on the musicianship part of the piece today. Such as: dynamics, which section has to be louder at a particular time, etc.
Remember to phrase off. Meaning that you can't just end really abruptly. You have to let the note ring in the air for a bit.
GOOGLE GREGORIAN CHANTS. Or search for it on YouTube. They sound kind of creepy. But in a nice way.
We also got 4 new scores: dona nobis parcem, laudate, the heavenly aeroplane song (heehee) and let there be peace on earth. If you don't have them, come to me :)
❤Ankita
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
Practice on 14 Feb
So here's what went down on our Valentines' Day practice!
Mr Tay taught us a simple warm-up piece that he composed that very morning, sung to the lyrics "Won't you be my Valentine" throughout.
DDR MF MR MF MR MF MR D
ti-te-te ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ta
MMF SL SF S L SF SL SF M
ti-te-te ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ta
S S S SS SD DD S
ta ta ta-ah ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ta
D D D SS SLT DD D
ta ta ta-ah ti-ti ti-te-te ti-ti ta
Nope, the ti's and te's and ta's aren't some aboriginal language, they represent rhythms. Look it up under the rhythm section of your choir booklets :)
So first we started off reciting the rhythm alone using the metronome. This is called metronome practice (wow who would've guessed it) and fosters a common sense of pulse. Then we added in the solfege, lyrics and finally sung the song in canon. The whole point of this exercise was to sharpen our rote learning (learning by ear and repetition), internalisation and dictation (translation of what one hears into notation) skills.
Next, we (tried to) put these improved musicianship skills into practice as we worked on improving our ensemble in the SYF set piece. The main problem was that we didn't keep internal subdivisions resulting in inaccurate offbeat rhythms. Remember that the vowel of a word always comes before the main beat (e.g. 'moon' at bar 31), and at the bars where we sing in unison our hearts must beat as one, to quote Mr Tay. We also worked on the last two bars, as we tended to break in between 'our home', did not bring out the cobra strike enough and were inaccurate in our tuning. We also need to be more conscious of phrasing, especially at bars 18-19 where the expression marking is 'legato, very intense'. This piece, along with Ave Maria, is to be memorised by 14th March.
For Ecce Crucem Domini, we managed to cover the entire piece with the soloists! The A section is especially difficult (namely for sop 1s who have to belt out high Gs) as our ensemble has to be perfect, with clean and precise entries and cut-offs, whilst maintaining a 'sempre f' dynamic and bringing out the tension. We worked quite a bit on section H, polishing up on the tuning of the two chords. This section should evoke an other-worldly atmosphere, and the soloists represent angels in heaven while the chorus represents the men on earth. The final chord of the piece also required some fine-tuning (pun intended). Sop 1.2s, be bold and don't be afraid to clash. On the whole, we have yet to bring out a lot of the dynamics and expression that is required of this piece, but now that we have the notes and tuning sorted out we are well on our way! This piece is to be memorised by the start of choir camp. :D
-Quianna
Mr Tay taught us a simple warm-up piece that he composed that very morning, sung to the lyrics "Won't you be my Valentine" throughout.
DDR MF MR MF MR MF MR D
ti-te-te ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ta
MMF SL SF S L SF SL SF M
ti-te-te ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ta
S S S SS SD DD S
ta ta ta-ah ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ta
D D D SS SLT DD D
ta ta ta-ah ti-ti ti-te-te ti-ti ta
Nope, the ti's and te's and ta's aren't some aboriginal language, they represent rhythms. Look it up under the rhythm section of your choir booklets :)
So first we started off reciting the rhythm alone using the metronome. This is called metronome practice (wow who would've guessed it) and fosters a common sense of pulse. Then we added in the solfege, lyrics and finally sung the song in canon. The whole point of this exercise was to sharpen our rote learning (learning by ear and repetition), internalisation and dictation (translation of what one hears into notation) skills.
Next, we (tried to) put these improved musicianship skills into practice as we worked on improving our ensemble in the SYF set piece. The main problem was that we didn't keep internal subdivisions resulting in inaccurate offbeat rhythms. Remember that the vowel of a word always comes before the main beat (e.g. 'moon' at bar 31), and at the bars where we sing in unison our hearts must beat as one, to quote Mr Tay. We also worked on the last two bars, as we tended to break in between 'our home', did not bring out the cobra strike enough and were inaccurate in our tuning. We also need to be more conscious of phrasing, especially at bars 18-19 where the expression marking is 'legato, very intense'. This piece, along with Ave Maria, is to be memorised by 14th March.
For Ecce Crucem Domini, we managed to cover the entire piece with the soloists! The A section is especially difficult (namely for sop 1s who have to belt out high Gs) as our ensemble has to be perfect, with clean and precise entries and cut-offs, whilst maintaining a 'sempre f' dynamic and bringing out the tension. We worked quite a bit on section H, polishing up on the tuning of the two chords. This section should evoke an other-worldly atmosphere, and the soloists represent angels in heaven while the chorus represents the men on earth. The final chord of the piece also required some fine-tuning (pun intended). Sop 1.2s, be bold and don't be afraid to clash. On the whole, we have yet to bring out a lot of the dynamics and expression that is required of this piece, but now that we have the notes and tuning sorted out we are well on our way! This piece is to be memorised by the start of choir camp. :D
-Quianna
Monday, February 11, 2013
8FEB2013
HI ERRYONE
during practice on 8th Feb we mostly cleaned up and polished what we'd learnt for Ecce and Ave Maria, especially the rhythms for Ecce.
Warmups:
remember the ribcage exercise! you need to have the muscles to push your ribs out so that you can breathe better and sing better. you should be exerting the same pressure as when you had your partner to help. It will help you get the right amount of tension and air flow so you can keep the air spinning and get a nicer, fuller sound!!! woohooooo!!!
Ecce:
sforzandopiano - spit the consonants out, and then go soft, then loud.
the trio shouldn't be blasting, instead just creating a sortuv sound texture. choir - take note that your words ARE IN CAPITALS SO YOU SHOULD BE LOUD LIKE HOW YOU'RE (hopefully) READING THIS IN YOUR MIND
remember to put in the fixed up rhythms and dynamics!!
Ave Maria:
open up vowels, and remember to tone down during the "windows" for the soloists to *~SHINE~* through.
again, remember to put in the dynamics as written.
stagger your breathing, don't breathe between syllables of the same word, or all at once.
SOPS remember to sortuv draw an arc to the high notes, so you hit it from the top instead of straining from the bottom.
for both of the songs, remember that it's not enough just to have the correct notes and rhythms, we also need musicality - the songs' meanings need to be carried across to the audience too. this applies to all songs!
woohooo okay I think that's it! If I missed anything out feel free to let me know. As far as I can tell I think we've been having pretty productive rehearsals lately! Yay! Keep it up y'all (:
lurrrrve,
anthea
during practice on 8th Feb we mostly cleaned up and polished what we'd learnt for Ecce and Ave Maria, especially the rhythms for Ecce.
Warmups:
remember the ribcage exercise! you need to have the muscles to push your ribs out so that you can breathe better and sing better. you should be exerting the same pressure as when you had your partner to help. It will help you get the right amount of tension and air flow so you can keep the air spinning and get a nicer, fuller sound!!! woohooooo!!!
Ecce:
sforzandopiano - spit the consonants out, and then go soft, then loud.
the trio shouldn't be blasting, instead just creating a sortuv sound texture. choir - take note that your words ARE IN CAPITALS SO YOU SHOULD BE LOUD LIKE HOW YOU'RE (hopefully) READING THIS IN YOUR MIND
remember to put in the fixed up rhythms and dynamics!!
Ave Maria:
open up vowels, and remember to tone down during the "windows" for the soloists to *~SHINE~* through.
again, remember to put in the dynamics as written.
stagger your breathing, don't breathe between syllables of the same word, or all at once.
SOPS remember to sortuv draw an arc to the high notes, so you hit it from the top instead of straining from the bottom.
for both of the songs, remember that it's not enough just to have the correct notes and rhythms, we also need musicality - the songs' meanings need to be carried across to the audience too. this applies to all songs!
woohooo okay I think that's it! If I missed anything out feel free to let me know. As far as I can tell I think we've been having pretty productive rehearsals lately! Yay! Keep it up y'all (:
lurrrrve,
anthea
Thursday, February 07, 2013
practice on 6th feb
SALUTATIONS MY LOVELIES
so this is what we did on wednesday:
warm-ups
we were introduced to 'messa di voce' a technique that was apparently used in the stone ages to make italians sing louder. it's basically just a crescendo into whatever you're singing, with your loudest being smack in the middle of the warm-up and decrescendoing (is that a word?) at the end. so it looks like this:
< >
to do this you need to pace yourself REALLY REALLY well.
terms learnt
compass: range of notes
tessitura: where most of the notes are located
GOOGLE them for a clearer explanation.
Ecce
WE MANAGED TO GET THROUGH THE ENTIRE PIECE! AND IT SOUND REALLY NICE! creepy, and weird. BUT NICE.
beware of the rhythm on the second pag, first bar. draw sticks, they help! don't listen to huai jin. they help.
A1s, don't be shy to do your whispering part at part B and everybody else, don't just die off anyhow. keep whispering till you have to come in for the actual singing parts
we also learnt the solo parts until B, and they sound AWESOME. just remember that it's not a competition to be the loudest or whatever, even though it can help when somebody else is blasting into your ear a different part from yours :)
Singapore our home
precise notes when entering please! be strong when you come in! don't be scared! be confident, like a diva
pay attention to dynamics, we've put those in to some extent already.
at bar 10, make sure you sound choppy and rhythmic.
prosody is also really important, PRONOUNCE E-VER-Y-THING CLEAR-LY. with enD consonanTS as well :)
at bar 18, come in WITH AN OOMPH quality
and END WELL! just like this blog post!
bye bye!
ankita
so this is what we did on wednesday:
warm-ups
we were introduced to 'messa di voce' a technique that was apparently used in the stone ages to make italians sing louder. it's basically just a crescendo into whatever you're singing, with your loudest being smack in the middle of the warm-up and decrescendoing (is that a word?) at the end. so it looks like this:
< >
to do this you need to pace yourself REALLY REALLY well.
terms learnt
compass: range of notes
tessitura: where most of the notes are located
GOOGLE them for a clearer explanation.
Ecce
WE MANAGED TO GET THROUGH THE ENTIRE PIECE! AND IT SOUND REALLY NICE! creepy, and weird. BUT NICE.
beware of the rhythm on the second pag, first bar. draw sticks, they help! don't listen to huai jin. they help.
A1s, don't be shy to do your whispering part at part B and everybody else, don't just die off anyhow. keep whispering till you have to come in for the actual singing parts
we also learnt the solo parts until B, and they sound AWESOME. just remember that it's not a competition to be the loudest or whatever, even though it can help when somebody else is blasting into your ear a different part from yours :)
Singapore our home
precise notes when entering please! be strong when you come in! don't be scared! be confident, like a diva
pay attention to dynamics, we've put those in to some extent already.
at bar 10, make sure you sound choppy and rhythmic.
prosody is also really important, PRONOUNCE E-VER-Y-THING CLEAR-LY. with enD consonanTS as well :)
at bar 18, come in WITH AN OOMPH quality
and END WELL! just like this blog post!
bye bye!
ankita
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