I am really enjoying singing in the university choir this quarter, especially since we are preparing for our Christmas concert! Our conductor is really great. She is very organized and has great methods for keeping the choir members on task and prepared to sing. We hardly have any "note plunking" during choir at all. Choir members are required to come to rehearsals already familiar with their singing parts, so we spend our time in rehearsal working on phrasing and dynamics. Our conductor also has a background in vocal pedagogy, so she spends about 20-30 minutes doing various vocal exercises with the choir at the beginning of each rehearsal. She's quite a character, too, so it's fun to work with her.
I already feel like my voice is getting into better shape. I'm glad to learn new vocal exercises and methods from this conductor; I felt like my private vocal lessons as an undergraduate were rather unvaried for several years, since all of my graduate-student teachers were trained in the same BYU vocal method. Some of the suggestions that were given to me never worked, even though they were taught to me over and over for several years. Hopefully these new exercises and tips will help me to work out some of the trouble spots with my voice.
Here are some audio clips of the pieces that we are rehearsing right now:
"Adam Lay YBounden" by Boris Ord (.PDF of sheet music available online)
"In the Bleak Midwinter" by Harold E. Darke (.PDF of sheet music available online)
"Salvation is Created" by Pavel Tschesnokoff (.PDF of sheet music available online)
"Magnificat" by Donald Kendrick (listen and see sheet music online)
"Tyrle, Tyrlow, Tyrle, Tyrlow (So Merrily the Shepherds Began to Blow)" by Healey Willan (You can listen to a preview of this song online)
I keep thinking of my friend ixoj when I am at rehearsal almost every day. I miss singing with her in choirs, and I know that she would love to sing the music that we are singing. Plus, we are also singing the "Hodie" chant from Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols, which specifically makes me miss singing with ixoj in the Christmas Chorus with Martha Sargeant.
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3 comments:
We are excited to hear you sing in the choir. These pieces are lovely. This arrangement of In the Bleak Midwinter is my personal favorite. What a treat to watch the choristers at King's sing with the students. This brings back many happy memories of sitting there, listening to services, special concerts and evensong. Bliss. Thanks for these musical samples. It's fun to know what you are working on. We are happy you are singing again and learning new vocal skills.
Sweet lusty mother. Those are lovely songs! Suh a selection! I'm very jealous and it really makes me miss singing wih you!
Make sure to give us the date for your concert! We'd love to come.
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