Week of NOV 23

Memorization of text is critical this week.

Order of program--

Suo Gan

Deck the Hall

On to Bethlehem Town

Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day

Mimo Oluwa

Christmas Time is Here

S'Vivon

Ocho Kandelikas

Housekeeping: reminder that there are 2 rehearsals next week--Tues and Wed at Druid Hills Presbyterian Church 4:45-6:15. Recital on Saturday AM -- Dress Rehearsal 9:30 am, concert 11:00 AM. Uniform skirts will be distributed next week.

Week of NOV 16

Mimo -- start working the round (4pt.)

S'Vivon -- independence on parts
Ocho Kandelikas -- memory on verses; choose soloists next week
Suo Gan -- TR work Welsh

Deck the Hall -- independence on part work and memorize text

On to Bethlehem Town - run v. 2 for memory and phrasing
Tomorrow Shall be My Dancing Day - memorize words

Christmas time is here - text and intonation

Housekeeping items: Sing-a-thon NOV 19/20-Tr and IMM time slot is 8:00-11:00 am on Saturday the 20th. Thanksgiving week- all singers come to Tuesday rehearsal, either at Callanwolde (at the "Retreat" house) or Porter Sanford.

Week of NOV 9

Practice divisi assignments this week:

Deck the Hall high=B2/C low=A/B1

S'Vivon

Main Melody=IMMs +B2

Alto=C

1st Countermelody=A

2nd Countermelody=B1

Deck the Hall high=A/B1 low=B2/C

Ocho Kandelikas high=B2/C low=A/B1 start to hear soloists on v. 3

Suo Gan unison. TR only on Welsh verse

Tomorrow Shall be My Dancing Day unison; select no more than 3 per choir to sing descant

On to Bethlehem Town unison

Mimo African Round Order of Entrances=C, B2, B1, A

Recital is less than 1 month away. Start to work memory on all songs.

Housekeeping items: Pull out those agendas!! Workbook on Saturday 10-12 Emory Pres. Sing-a-thon NOV 19/20-Tr and IMM time slot is 8:00-11:00 am on Saturday the 20th. Thanksgiving week- all singers come to Tuesday rehearsal, either at Callanwolde or Porter Sanford.

Week of NOV 2

Tuesday, Wednesday choirs at Callanwolde and Thurs Mable House choir focused on listening this week: Listening to each other sing, listening to Instructors model tone and expression, listening to themselves on recording.

Ocho Kandelikas--listened to verses, sang all refrains memorized. Learned the "band" section in the 3rd verse

S'Vivon--reviewed main melody, learned 1st countermelody

Suo Gan--review solfeggio, memory on English verse

On to Bethlehem Town--pure vowel sounds, record and critical listening, re-record to see if anything changes

Tomorrow Shall be My Dancing Day--Thur choir memorized 1st verse and refrain

Week of OCT 26

Mimo (Nigerian round)with solfege sheet

Suo Gan--Solfege through and introduce 1/8 + 1/4 syncopated rhythm

Intro S'Vivon--Introduce parallel minor to Training Choir. Focus on diction with IMMs.

Deck the Hall--continue study of parallel harmony. Everyone learn both melody and hamony.

Tomorrow Shall be my Dancing Day--focus on word stress and its relationship to the rhythm

On to Bethlehem Town--Work with Diction today. Make lists of words in the song that go with pure vowel sounds A, E, i, O, u, but do not have those vowels contained in the word (e.g. "to" has the u vowel sound, but no "u" written. "town" has A+u vowel sounds but neither of them in the word) [A]vowel with 'ow' 'ou' combinations should predominate.

Housekeeping: Pass out any extra folders for those absent last week and have kids sign them out on the green sheet. Remind about Workbook session coming up Saturday OCT 30 at Emory Presbyterian. TEMPO newsletter went out last week, so check for any new info.

Week of OCT 19

Holiday folders today!!

Introduce Mimo (Nigerian round) today with solfege sheet

Camp kids will hopefully remember this

Suo Gan--Solfege through and introduce 1/8 + 1/4 syncopated rhythm

Tomorrow Shall be my Dancing Day--focus on word stress and its relationship to the rhythm

On to Bethlehem Town--Work with Diction today. Make lists of words in the song that go with pure vowel sounds A, E, i, O, u, but do not have those vowels contained in the word (e.g. "to" has the u vowel sound, but no "u" written. "town" has A+u vowel sounds but neither of them in the word)

Pick one other to introduce, time permitting

Housekeeping: Pass out folders and have kids sign them out on the green sheet.

Week of OCT 12

Rehearsal Priorities

1. Preparation for International Dinner
2. Practice getting in to 4 rows. Arrange by height and B, A, C (L to R from conductor's perspective)
3. Touch on Inflammatus and Bist du bei mir, time permitting.

TR/IMM will sing:
Little David

• Sing unison throughout fpr Int'l Dinner. Each rehearsal group choose one soloist for each verse. A, B, and C groups should sing divisi at end. A=S2, B=S1, and C=alto

Tree Toad

• Sing unison throughout. Dynamics, diction, articulation, intonation are big priorities

Singabahambayo

• Singing this with TCC and YC. TR/IMMs sing melody. Swaying same direction on "Halleluya"

Housekeeping Items: Review dress guidlines, distribution of informal uniforms, more dessert auction forms, Holiday folder distributed next week

Training and IMM progress report

TR/IMM Progress to date

ALL TR/IMM singers should:

1. Have a good handle on at least one voice part of the pieces marked with an asterisk.
2. Have been introduced to S2 or alto parts.
3. Have A, B, or C assignment according to birth month
4. Be producing unified pure vowel sounds during warm-ups and consistently moving towards unified vowels in the repertoire
5. Have a working knowledge of Curwen hand signals and use them at many points during the rehearsal
6. Be able to count-sing 3/4 and 4/4 time signatures and execute half-note, quarter-note, eighth-note values and their corresponding rests in a measure
7. Understand basic articulations stacatto and legato
8. Have an introduction to the idea of parallel harmony
9. Know the names of the other singers in the rehearsal group

Repertoire Specifics--
*Alphabet Song

• Working the high registers so they are not pinched. Contrast in articulation.

*Alunda Song

• Counting, parallel harmony, story in the song, Major and minor changes

Baidin Fheilimi

*Bist du bei Mir

• learning about voiced and unvoiced consonants, melody on solfeggio (TR), counting

*Little David

• Articulation, rhythmic accuracy (Halleluia on the beat or syncopated), 3-pt harmony at end, parallel harmony
• Kids know from memory

*Pupu Hinuhinu

• Pure vowels, descending m3, movements on the beat

Stabat Mater
*Inflammatus

• Solfege pattern drills, A E I O U latin vowel drills to decipher text, counting

Amen
*Tree Toad and Lone Dog

• Diction--alliteration, musical articulation, storyline
• Tree Toad memorized

*When You've got an Elephant

• Counting, counting, counting, introduction of extra parts with Part 1, articulate aspirate consonant sounds

*By ear--Singabahambayo

• language and movement

Week of FEB 23

Warm-ups reinforce the PASTA rule: posture, air, shape, tone, articulation (thanks, Brianne!)

Continue teaching bist Du Bei Mir using solfege. Reinforce temporary leading tones Fi, Si (from Gavotte) and introduce Di. Altered tone Te for the flat 7th scale degree as well.

Wind and Amfalula Tree--check-up for each part. Working transitions is a big priority after each section proves they can sing their parts independently.

Triple Play--all singers in satellite locations will learn this song. Central kids will do "take me out to the ballgame" C material and boomwhackers.

Tues/Wed Central kids: film Schooldays!
Wed-N: 10-minute mini-concert for families

Housekeeping: Remind of schedule for March/April. Marking agendas, etc.

FEB 16

Begin work on Bist Du Bei Mir this week. Teach via solfege hand signals for intonation. Keeping the voice free is very important in this piece, so a good pre-teaching on vocal production is essential.

Both parts together on Compere Guilleri

Carve out time for IMM Baseball feature

Review other Schooldays program pieces.

JAN 5-FEB 9

Started rehearsals back after the holidays with a review of the Spring literature. Tasks included reviewing parts and adding in parts, both voice parts and sections of the repertoire omitted for the December performance.

In addition to repertoire review, several new students were added to the roster at the mid-year and auditions were closed as of FEB 6 to new students.

Schooldays recital program:
Schooldays--add movement for verse 2. All A/B1 singers form a row with B2/C singers directly behind them. As they make their "comments", they pop out from behind the A/B1 singers, first stepping out to the right--alternate R/L throughout the verse. If there is a second row of "comment" singers, they should pop out the opposite direction.

Wind and Amfalula Tree--A/B1 sing the alto part; B2/C sing the soprano. Callanwolde singers know both parts (PM error--sorry!)

Music Alone Shall Live--good shape; only needs a review a couple of weeks before the perofrmance

Gavotte--Added thrid section back in. Kids should be memorized on this piece. We've been working hard on getting all the endings straightened out.

Pythagorean Round--rhythm on the final section has been a problem, but is almost completely worked out now. All choirs should be OK singing in a round by now.

Compere Guilleri--part 2 solfeged and memorized.

Eli Eli--tone quality and phrasing are paramount, especially the 2nd phrase--keep the dynamic growing. experiment with louds and softs throughout.