Rehearsal Blog Update 11/15/2013

Dear Ensemble and Vocalise Singers and Families,

Just three more rehearsals for Vocalise and two more rehearsals for Ensemble until our Dec. 5^th Dress Rehearsal for the holiday concert!

Please Read The Most Recent SCOOP!

IMPORTANT FOR PARENTS: Cantabile needs parent volunteers for several of our upcoming performances. Look for a link to a volunteer sign-up sheet in the SCOOP. If you are a singer reading this, please alert your parents!

IMPORTANT FOR ALL: The SCOOP that came out this week has extremely important information about upcoming concerts and links to crucial sign-up sheets, so please be sure to read it thoroughly!

Special Rehearsals and Concert Reminders

Nov 24^th – Vocalise/Aria at Pier 39 Tree Lighting Ceremony, San Francisco

Call time: 12:00pm

Performance: 1:00pm

Dismissal: 2:00pm

Program: 40 minutes of music including The Snow, When Christmas Comes To Town, Winter Wonderland, Seal Lullaby, and selections by Aria.

Attire: “holiday-inspired” – black pants/long skirts, black top, red/green scarves, Santa hats. The concert is outside, so dress for the weather!

Transportation: Please carpool if you can! Visit http://bit.ly/cantabile-carpools 

to exchange rides with other families. Paid parking is available at the Pier 39 structure.

Dec. 2^nd – Vocalise’s last regular rehearsal before dress - MANDATORY

Dec. 4^th – Ensemble’s last regular rehearsal before dress - MANDATORY

Dec. 5^th – Dress rehearsal for Holidays With Cantabile, St. Joseph’s in San Jose

Call time: 5:30pm for Ensemble and Vocalise

Dismissal for Ensemble: 7:00pm

Dismissal for Vocalise: 8:30pm

Dismissal for Aria: 9:00pm

Dec. 7^th – Holidays With Cantabile concert, St. Joseph’s in San Jose

Call time: 11:30am

Concert: 1:00pm

Dismissal: 3:00pm

                                   

Dec. 11^th – Ensemble rehearses PACO concert repertoire, Foothills Church, 5:00-7:00pm 

Dec. 12^th – Nutcracker dress rehearsal (mandatory for all Nutcracker singers), Center for Performing Arts, San Jose, 7:00pm start time (call and dismissal times to be confirmed)

Dec. 13^th – Dress rehearsal for PACO concert, Cubberley Theatre, Cubberley Community Centre, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto

Time: 6:45pm call time for a 7:00pm rehearsal, dismissal is 8:00pm at the latest

Participants: All Vocalise and Ensemble singers minus the 8 Nutcracker singers

Attire: Cantabile T-shirts and black pants

Dec. 13^th-26^th – Nutcracker performances (8 designated singers per show)

Dec. 14^th – Aria performance at the The Villages Golf & Country Club, 2800 The Villages Fairway Drive, San Jose

Call time: 5:00pm

Rehearsal: 5:15-5:35pm

Performance: 5:45-6:15pm

Dec. 15^th – PACO concert, Center for Performing Arts - Menlo-Atherton Auditorium, Menlo-Atherton High School, 555 Middlefield Road, Atherton

Call time: 1:00pm

Concert: 3:00pm

Attire: TBA

What to practice for the next two weeks:

ENSEMBLE

ALL pieces should be memorized by next week, including Silent Night. An email was sent with recordings of all pieces – please, practice diligently and often. Memorization and note checks will be done during musicianship class time again.  

To “clean up” sections that have been memorized incorrectly, isolate and practice them slowly, and check pitches on the piano or your phone app. 

Noel: Review the choreography that we learned in class last week. Review the words and practice saying them in rhythm at a faster tempo.

Donkey Carol: Altos – keep working on verse 4 (page 41-42). Remember at the bottom of page 42, when you come in you echo the soprano entry by starting on a high E! Listen to the recording emailed to you nail this tough section. All parts – review the last page (45), particularly the pitches and rhythm on “Christ is born today”. Altos, on the last page, second system, second measure, on the “ia” of “alleluia”, you have a Bb, but you are mistakenly singing a B natural! Please circle this Bb and practice singing it in context with the phrase.

Jingle Bell Swing: Check your pitches in measures 42-43 (“jingle bell do bee dit”).

Man With The Bag: Look over the last two pages (7-8). Also, circle the measure that says “To Coda” so that you aren’t surprised when it comes along!

VOCALISE

Memorized for next week: everything except the Mass!

Noel: Next week you will learn the choreography. Make sure that you have not just the words but the entire form of the piece carefully memorized. Please note that we are adding one extra chorus at the very end.

Mass: Make sure measures 75 to the end in the Gloria are solid for next week.

Winter Wonderland: 2^nd sopranos and altos – look over measures 15-16. Those harmonies are unexpected! All parts – look over measures 43 to the end to check that your pitches are correct.

Also remember to keep reviewing When Christmas Comes To Town and Seal Lullaby for Nov 24^th. (These do not need to be memorized.)

Musicianship:

Ensemble A: Memorization checks with Elena are happening during musicianship class. Cassie will continue to take out one singer at a time for a workbook review. This week there are no new pages assigned. Please go back and fill in ALL the blank pages and questions, and correct ALL mistakes that have been circled by a marker. Email cassie@cantabile.org if there is anything you don’t understand. The goal is for everyone to have 100% correct pages before we move on.   

Ensemble B: Memorization checks with Elena are happening during musicianship class. Michael and Cassie will continue to take out one or two singers at a time for sight-singing tests. Please continue to familiarize yourself with the current topics on sonicfit. No new topics will be posted between now and next Wednesday.

Cassie’s B group: Hand in your interval worksheets to Cassie at the beginning of next week’s rehearsal to be marked.

SONICFIT: Due Nov. 20^th

-       Additional scale degree notation practice (optional)

-       Scale degree notation test #1

o   Settings to practice: DIATONIC, movable do, up to three sharps (A+) and three flats (Eb+), no time limit per problem. You will be allowed to write the test twice.

Vocalise: Below are your upcoming sonicfit assignments.

           Due Nov. 18^th

-       Scale degree ear training practice log

-       Scale degree notation re-tests (optional, for anyone who wants to improve their mark)

           Due Nov. 25^th

-       Scale degree ear training test – major

-       Scale degree ear training test – minor