Great rehearsal tonight!  We went through all of the Gospel Mass to find the areas that need more work.
Starting in April, we will be rehearsing until 9:00pm every Monday to be prepared for our Spring concert.
 
Here are the section notes from rehearsal:

Soprano
American Tapestry
Wartime

• Break between the words shoes & and, hand & and on the bottom of pg 32

• No break between the words lips & when on top of pg 33

Bring Me Little Water

• Reminder Soprano 2 sings the written Soprano line instead of the melody. 

 
 
Alto
Gospel Mass
Credo

• Watch for 4th jump at beginning

• Practice meas 6 + 7; chromatics A2;

 
Acclamation

• Watch for cut-offs; "ought to praise him" 

• Mark repeats and codas in music

 
American Tapestry
Wartime

• Practice transition from page 31 + 32
• Don't breathe after "shoes" at meas. 27 (pg. 32)

• Watch for rit. at top of 33

 
Tenor
No notes submitted
 
Bass
Gospel Mass
Kyrie

• m. 52-53 on the Kyrie song, use a sforzando piano, then crescendo.

• m. 51-53, each note is a fermata.

 
Credo

• m. 1-4 use your head voice when singing and breathe on the "ah" vowel.

 
Gloria

• Make sure the pitches on m. 1-4 sound solid!

 
American Tapestry
Wartime

• Beat 2 of m. 17 to m. 18, don't forget the ritardando.
• m. 37, watch out for the cut time tempo.
• Beat 2 of m. 83, ritardando.

• Beat 2 of m. 104, molto ritardando.

There will be NO REHEARSAL next week for Spring Break.  During the time off, please become a lot more familiar with all of the pieces so you can look up from your music from time to time.   We will run Gospel Mass all the way through at the next rehearsal.
 
We started a new song, "I Hear America Singing" by Andre Thomas.  Here's the official Youtube video for the song, where you can follow along with the music:

Here are the section notes for this week:

​Soprano
I Hear America Singing

• Pay attention to the syncopated rhythms

 
Gospel Mass
V. Sanctus 

• Pay attention to all cutoffs

 
Alto
I Hear America Singing:

• "Don't you" NOT “don’t chew”
• Alto 2s sing with tenor 2s at meas. 30 (middle note)
• Alto 1s sing with tenor 1s at meas. 30 (top note)

 
Gloria Mass:
Sanctus and Angus Dei

• Watch for vowels and changing dynamics
• Pay attention to repeats 

 
American Tapestry:
IV: Expansion West

• Annunciate the words
• “Old yeller dog” not “old yellow dog” on meas. 20
• Be careful of notes of meas. 23; “…evening quite early they…” the “ly” on early goes down.
• Meas. 79 speeds up; watch Michelle

 
Tenor:
I Hear America Singing

• Whenever the men split into three parts
• Tenor 1 takes top, Tenor 2 takes middle

 
American Tapestry
IV: Expansion West

• Measure 20- old yel - ler dog, not old ‘yellow’ dog

 
Gospel Mass

• We are going to try and run it our next rehearsal on the 24th.
• Solos are due by next Monday
• There’s lots of solos throughout Gospel Mass & American Tapestry.

 
Bass
I Hear America Singing

• Say "A-me-ri-cah", not "A-me-ri-cuh"
• When you see the words "don't you", don't say "don't chew".
• Anytime there's a 3-part division, go bass/baritone, tenor 2, and tenor 1 (from bottom to top)
• Examples: Pickup of m. 34 to m. 44 and m. 69-72
• Sforzando piano and crescendo m. 45-48
• Rit. at beat 3 of m. 71

 
Gospel Mass
Sanctus

• M. 44 bring the letter "d" of "Lord" to beat three 

Agnus Dei

• Pickup to m. 6-25, sing only on the 2nd time
• M. 49 on the "men" of the word "amen", sing "men", then sing just on the consonant "n".

 
American Tapestry
IV: Expansion West

• M. 20, sing "old yellow dog" as "old 'yeller' dog".
• M. 34-end, sing with a more traditional choral tone.
• M. 37 and m. 62, watch out for the eighth note rest on beat 4.

• Don’t forget to memorize “Bring Me Little Water, Silvy”
• If you are interested in a solo, send it in two weeks to Michelle through text message, email, or YouTube as a private video.
• Form for Gospel Mass IV. Acclamation
  • M. 1-20
  • M. 1-16, then go m. 21-42
  • Go to the D.S. al Coda to m. 5-16
  • Take the Coda to m. 43
  • Repeat m. 43-50 (as many times as Michelle desires), then go to m. 51 to the end of the song

 
 
Soprano
Gospel Mass
IV. Acclamation

• Flip the 'r' in Praise
• Crescendo 'jah' until the bottom 3 voices break, then decrescendo until cutoff in mm.5-8 & mm.9-12
• Grow on 'praise' and 'with' in mm. 25 & 26
• Watch the cutoff of 'dance' in mm. 32
• Always crescendo 'lord' in mm. 43

III. Credo

• On pg 22 put a small break after 'crucified' & 'died' in mm. 21

 
Alto
Gospel Mass
IV. Acclamation

• lots of repeats; be aware of coda on pg 38
• transition to meas. 25; starting note is the same as sopranos last note; listen for them 

III. Credo

• Watch for timing at the beginning

 
Tenor
No notes submitted by section leader.  See other parts as needed
 
Bass
Gospel Mass
IV. Acclamation

• For any "hallelujah" words, the "jah" must be a tall vowel sound
• Any "div." notes have a bass/baritone split
• The word "praise" has a flipped "r" sound
• M. 11 don't forget the A natural note
• M. 17-18, 21-22, and 43-44, crescendo on the first three beats, decrescendo on the last beat
• M. 25-28 and m. 33-34, crescendo on the longer notes
• M. 35-36, carry the letter "d" on the word "and" to measure 36
• M. 30-36 and m. 39-42, stagger breathe

III. Credo

• M. 21 add breaths between the words "crucified", died, and "and"