Gabi's rehearsal report - and some hints

After some amusing action-packed warm-ups Merel started us off with ​Up Good Christen Folk then went onto Lullay my Liking and The Shepherds’ Farewell, ending the first half with Hark the Herald.

AmyBeth took over and we then went through I heard the Bells and she confirmed composer instructions which really adds to the piece and did herself out of her initial solo by gifting it to the choir!   We finished on Mary’s Magnificat, which is sounding really lovely.

Key instructions. 

If you didn’t make it to the rehearsal please mark up your score and check for part specific instructions with someone from your own part.

Up Good Christen Folk and Listen:
- emphasise the ‘d’s on the ding dong (esp Sops)
- remember at end to go back and do the ding-dong refrain to finish the piece.
- sops watch the undexpected rhythm on last couple of bars of third and fifth line
- anyone who can roll ‘r’s please do so and emphasise  (to cover for those who can’t)

Lullay my Liking:
- bases v2 is written in treble clef, transpose down an octave

The Shepherds’ farewell:
- Good ‘sh’ on shepherds
- Respect dynamics, esp the last verse

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
- Initial solo to be done by all -  everyone must learn this so it can be sung as one voice and watch Merel
- Soloist to sing sop part on Verse 4; sops to sing altos and rejoin sop line on chorus
- In all cases where there is ‘a chant sublime’ should be changed (at composer’s instruction) to ‘a chant SO sublime’
- bars 51-53, 112-114 and 132-134 replace tied note with quaver rest to create a break after ‘day’, ‘voice’ and ‘chime’ (composer’s instruction)
- ensure you sing only forte on the chorus on p7 so we can blow people away with ff on the chorus on p9 when it is a capella.  Diminuendo from ‘ a voice’ at bar 132 to achieve mf by bar 136 then follow dynamic instructions.  

Mary's Magnificat
First verse:
- Third system first page, no break between ‘wakeful’ and ‘ever’
- Fourth system at end, no break between ‘her’ and ‘King’

In the Bleak Midwinter (we didn’t go over this)
- Tenors to do the solo 

7S, 3A, 3T, 2B attended

A reminder that whilst we have the printed booklets we all need to own or have hire or library copies of the relevant Carols for Choir Books (1, 2 and 3) to comply with copyright law. It's not necessary to carry them with you!
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