So runs on wed was kinda bad because everybody kinda died at
the halfway mark. Haha. (that was some totally insane speed!) However,
considering that you guys actually ran, like really ran RAN, I think it wasn’t
too bad actually. But you guys had fun right? That’s kind of the crux of
everything.
Then was practice. Quoting Mr Tay,“Must chillax kay?” But not
too much.
Warmups
physical warm-ups were quite ok, like people were really
stretching. However, vocals weren’t that good. Ren Ai and Chrystie made us do
the Gaudeamus Hodie exercise and Mr Tay told us to place our ‘s’es just before
we sing the next word and he even demonstrated how it should be sung. But we still took a while before getting it. Can we
aim for as few repetitions as possible next practice? pls? k thanks. Then after
that he gave us a short talk on what we should be looking out for as singers
and as artists. I won’t elaborate on this cos it should already be in your
choir journals. That’s what they’re for.
Ave Maria
Vowel unification. this applies to all the sections. Mr Tay
reminded us to do it again on wed. This isn’t something you can really work on
unless you’re planning to go through and fix all the vowel pronunciations with
your section one by one. (which is not impossible but very time consuming :P)
So right now, the only thing we can do is to REMEMBER that we have to do. As
well as to LISTEN out to how everybody’s singing their vowels. Lastly to
ACTIVELY SING the same vowels every practice and every time you sing it
(unofficial practices) so it’s wired into your brain. Also do not, I repeat, DO
NOT do the fortepiano the first time we sing it!! most of the details should be
in the second time we sing it. it’s cos it will cause more contrast because
we’re starting off softly so if you cresc. or fortepiano it’s more obvious. And
last thing, PLEAD for prayer for us sinners(ora pro nobis peccatoribus) and not
DEMAND. You need to have the text in mind when you sing the song and inject the
appropriate emotions at the appropriate times. That will totally bring out the
meaning of the piece.
Ecce
Actually this sounded really good that day. I could feel the ENERGY. OH YEAH! The
sops and altos were blasting the ECCE CRUCEM DOMINI ECCE!! The solo group was
AWESOME too! It sounded so SCARYYY!! Haha. Things to take note though: Solo
group, the tempo is slightly off. Sometimes the solo sops come in slightly
late, or else it’ll be the mezzos or altos who come in late. If possible, try
to correct it? (OF COURSE it’s possible!) It already sounds great but im sure
it’ll be *woahhhh* if everything is strictly and exactly in time. :D And sop 1s
don’t freak out at your entry at section G. it’s super high and super crazy but
if Mr Tay didn’t think you could handle it, he would NEVER have chosen that
song (although it IS his song). Anyway, that is ay SUPER IMPT ENTRY! It’s a new
day! The evil is GONE! So don’t freak out there.
There was once in Prague where the sops who were to open the
first song of the four songs we were to sing freaked out and didn’t come in
properly. As a result, the whole performance was terrible. You can hear the
story from any senior who went to Prague.
Set Piece
It’s quite good already just maybe add in a bit more of the
dynamics, tune the ending chords, watch out for ending consonants, vowel
unification (yes this isn’t just for Ave), watch Mr Tay for speed and cut
offs(when I mean watch I mean eyes GLUED on him the ENTIRE time), run through
the stomping and tapping cos it’s a bit messy now and I think it’ll be quite
perfect.
Lastly, Mr Tay said to add in the MGS SPARK when we sing ANYTHING.
That will make the piece SPARKLE and STAND out than if you just sing it
according to the score. to add a touch of UNIQUENESS and INDIVIDUALITY into the
piece will make us DIFFERENT from the other choirs. That is the X-FACTOR that
will lead us to APPROVAL from the judges in SYF!! So, with all this advice from
our beloved and most esteemed conductors, LET’S GEAR UP FOR SYF!!
KIMIE
