Rehearsal Blog Update 11/27/2013

Dear Ensemble and Vocalise Families,

Happy Thanksgiving! We’re just one and a half weeks away from our big concert! We see each other one last time before the dress rehearsal.

PARENTS: Cantabile still needs volunteers for Dec. 5th and Dec. 7th! You can sign up here:

Dress Rehearsal: Thursday, December 5
Concert: Saturday, December 7

December Schedule

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

Attire: IN UNIFORM – please come fully dressed in your Cantabile uniform with hair/make-up done. We are taking photos and we need you looking sharp!

Call time: 5:30pm for Ensemble and Vocalise

Dismissal for Ensemble: 7:00pm

Dismissal for Vocalise: 8:30pm

Dismissal for Aria: 9:00pm

Pick-up instructions: If you are picking singers, you must park your vehicle and meet them in the lobby of the church sanctuary. You will not be able to pull up outside the church and wait in your car, and singers will not be able to go and find you outside.

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

Attire: in uniform
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

BOTH CHOIRS: everything should now be memorized!

Noel: Review the choreography and the form of the piece:

Solos

Intro (eh ma ma eh) x 8

Noel… x 4 -- STEPS

Kana nge… x 2 -- BABY

Noel… x 4 -- STEPS

Interlude (hom bwom) – SIDE STEPS (right first)

Noel… x 4 -- CLAPS

Kana nge… x 2 –- TURNS (one part at a time: S1, S2, A1, A2)

Noel… x 4 – CLAPS à turn to face front on final “Yesu me kwisa”, hands together on final syllable “to”, open hands and look up with head and eyes on final percussion “boom”, freeze in position!

                                   

Call of Wisdom: Always sing on the vowels, not the consonants (i.e. “juuustiiice”, not “jusssticcce”).

Silent Night/Night of Silence: Keep reviewing the words. Remember – you have to sing this in the dark, so you need to know it very well!

ENSEMBLE:

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:

Mass: Check notes on page 20 (last page of Gloria). Sopranos: fix the c natural in measure 95. Soprano 2s: go over the notes in measures 97 to the end. Altos: go over measures 93-94 for tuning accuracy.


Angel: Make sure you know what notes you’re singing in the chords added on the last page.

Happy Practicing!

Rehearsal Blog Update 11/22/2013

Dear Ensemble and Vocalise Families,

We're down to the wire now - just two weeks away from our big Holidays With Cantabile concert!

Vocliase/Aria – you are performing this weekend on Sunday, November 24^th, at the Pier 39 Tree Lighting Ceremony in SF. Please see below for important concert information!

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 *please allow extra time for parking, and the heavy traffic expected on the Embarcadero and in the area surrounding Pier 39

Meeting location: “Choir Staging Area” - behind Aquarium of the Bay on Level 1

Performance: 1:00pm

Dismissal: 2:00pm

Repertoire: 40 minutes of music including The Snow, When Christmas Comes To Town, Winter Wonderland, Seal Lullaby, Night of Silence, 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! If it’s warm, wear your Cantabile t-shirt. If it’s cold, a plain black sweater/top is fine.

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

Pick-up instructions: If you are picking singers, you must park your vehicle and meet them in the lobby of the church sanctuary. You will not be able to pull up outside the church and wait in your car, and singers will not be able to go and find you outside.

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

Memorized for next week: EVERYTHING!

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

Silent Night: Make sure you know this very well – you’ll be singing it in the dark so you won’t be able to see a conductor mouthing the words to you!

Noel: Review the choreography and the words, and practice saying them in rhythm at a faster tempo. 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.

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!

Noel: Review 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: All movements must be memorized for next week along with everything else!

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

Musicianship:

Ensemble A: There are no new pages assigned. Please continue to 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 next term.

Ensemble B: Sonicfit is now on hiatus until January. No more assignments, tests, or re-tests will be posted. If there is anything that you have not completed, forget about it for now. Instructions will come to you in an email and on a future blog post about what to do before the start of next term.

Vocalise: Sonicfit is now on hiatus until January. No more assignments, tests, or re-tests will be posted. If there is anything that you have not completed, forget about it for now. Instructions will come to you in an email and on a future blog post about what to before the start of next term.