Dear Singers and Parents,
Welcome to the Cantabile Youth Singers 20th anniversary season! We've had a very exciting week, with our first rehearsals of the year displaying the largest Ensemble and Vocalise choirs in Cantabile history! To those of you who are returning this year, thank you for your dedication, enthusiasm, and leadership. To those of you who are new to Cantabile, we extend a heart-felt greeting and are thrilled to have you join our Cantabile family.
This season promises to be full of great performance opportunities and challenging new repertoire! Of course, the (not-so-)secret technique for any successful choir is practice, practice, practice! Here's what you can do at home this week:
What to Practice
ENSEMBLE
The Angels Will Guide You Home: we worked mostly on the first two pages, and peeked at the three-part sections. We talked about how the time signature 6/8 has two groups of three eighth notes per bar. You'll notice that some of the groups consist of three even eighth notes, while other groups contain a dotted rhythm. Go through the music and speak the rhythm, taking care to differentiate between straight and dotted rhythms. Circle in your score any dotted rhythms that you may accidentally sing straight as a helpful reminder!
Check you this youtube video of the piece and sing along:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABjRX5ybxPE
Jingle Bell Swing: a jazzy version of a classic carol that will make sure you all know how to count to five! Speak the words in rhythm to get in the "groove" of this piece before you start practicing the notes.
Here's the piece:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU7zcKFf8Kw
VOCALISE
Vivos Voco: this piece is in SSSAAA divisi! Remember that you were split in the following manner for the six-part divide:
S top line - all S1s in the front row
S middle line - all S1s in the back row
S bottom line - S2s on right side (facing conductor)
A top line - S2s on left side (facing conductor)
A middle line - all A1s
A bottom line - all A2s
Look carefully through the score and put an asterisk or arrow beside all lines where you sing so that you can keep track of your part - it may not always be on the same staff!
Watch this youtube video of the piece a few times, and then try singing along on your part:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=103b5rUY4BY
For anyone who did not get a music binder on Monday, you can practice with this online copy until next week:
http://www.sbmp.com/STM.php?CatalogNumber=615
Salve Regina: the lack of time signature in this piece evokes the time period in music where there were no barlines in scores. Phrasing for this piece is determined as it was back then: by the phrase breaks in the poetry and the natural stresses of the words and syllables. Practice speaking the text in rhythm and think about which syllables are heavy or light.
Use the youtube video below of a gregorian chant with the same text to help you understand the musical style needed for Busto's arrangement. Listen in particular for the agogic accents of the words (SAL-ve, re-GI-na, dul-CE-do):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5p_U8J0iRQ
And here's a video of Busto's Salve Regina:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvE_w-AkArI
Night of Silence: a lovely twist on a long-standing Cantabile tradition. Read over the text of all three verses and think about how the words relate to Silent Night. What kind of emotion might you want to convey when singing this piece?
Check out this video of a university choir performing the Night of Silence/Silent Night combo with some audience participation - exactly how Cantabile will perform this at the Holiday Concert:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmgnx5OgvsI
Happy practicing, everyone! See you next week!
