Notes 2-18

Dear Singers

Excellent rehearsal. I appreciate everyone’s preparation. It makes a big difference.

Some notes…

Notes

O Lovely Night

• It is very important to do a clear cutoff on the word “night” each time
• Some call the slurred staccato on “tip-toe” a legato-staccato. So…somewhere between full value and short. I think the best way to think of it is eighth note-eighth rest, or gentle staccato.
• One of the great things about Brahms’ music is that he pours love into all the voice parts. Be sure to enjoy the beautiful lines that you find within this piece. Examples: Tenors 49 – 50, Basses 56 – 57, Altos 55 – 58, Sopranos 57 – 58. I could go on.

Big Yellow Taxi

• The most thrilling part of the rehearsal for me was our work on this piece. Be sure to review mm 11 – 13 and then apply it to the rest of the piece. You will find that particular rhythm repeated and variations of it throughout.

Little Birds

• The tonality is not your standard major/minor. This makes it tricky. The next pitch may not be what you expect.
• Check mm 18 – 20. Each voice part has a different rhythm.
• The best way to create a “higher” vowel, as I asked for in rehearsal, is to sing the vowel but think a different one. In this particular case I want a higher “ah” vowel. To do that, think “eh” while singing “ah”. Of course, this can be applied in many different stylistic ways.
• Here is a link to the translation: Little Birds – Music Catalog – Eric Whitacre

Kasar mie la gaji

• When you sing the glissando (the line between two notes) be sure to start changing pitch immediately. It is hard for us to sing in between the notes but that is what really needs to happen. Work on it.
• A note change for ease of singing: m 25 second note, sopranos sing G, altos sing A. The parts cross, but we all sing the melody we are used to. It is in the Bandlab recording that way.
• Throughout this section notice the crescendo on the third beat.

Break, Break, Break

• Please make mm 4 – 10 as legato as possible. Do this by connecting “k” to the next “br” (“kbr”)
• This section is in G Dorian. What is G Dorian, you say? Play a scale on the white notes of your keyboard starting on D (starting on C would be C major). Notice that it sounds like a minor scale except the 6th note is major.🙂 In G Dorian the notes would be G A Bb C D E F G. That note is the note the sopranos have to enter on–it’s hard!
• Tenors, some wrong notes: m 14 the F should be F#, m 45 the B should be B natural.

Earth Song

• Excellent work last night!

Mark