Pro forma comments on music before first rehearsal, Fall 2011
Bashana Haba’ah – there is a pronunciation guide inside the front cover. Note that when an apostrophe follows a consonant, the apostrophe is pronounced like “ih” so that d’ becomes dih. Based on several YouTube videos, “to” is pronounced “toe” and “dot” is pronounced “dote”.

Carols Around (And a Round) – this starts out with women only and the men don’t come in until the bottom of Page 3. ‘Pacem’ is pronounced ‘pah – chim’. Measure 33, key change. Starting in Measure 34, other carols are being sung so those singing ‘dona nobis pacem’ should not overpower the other melodies. Measure 71, key change.

Christmas Lullaby – the layout of this music is user-apathetic at best, verging on user-hostile. The piece starts out with two verses using sort of a repeat. On the first verse, the women sing in unison [men are silent] from Measure 5 through Measure 12 and the men sing in unison [women are silent] from Measure 13 through Measure 20. In Measures 21 through 25, we split into four parts but on two lines – S & A and T & B. In Measures 26 through 35, we split into four lines, one each for S, A, T and B. Tenors should note that their part is written in the bass clef when the tenor and bass parts are shown on the same line, but the tenor part is written in the tenor clef when the tenor and bass parts are on different lines. Note that in Measure 26, ‘the’ should be pronounced ‘thee’. In Measures 36 through 40, we go back to two lines. At the end of Measure 40, we go back to what was originally Measure 5 for the second verse – in the second verse, the measure numbers are given in parentheses so what was Measure 5 is now Measure (41). On the second verse, the men sing in unison [women are silent] from Measure (41) through Measure (48). Also, there are some timing changes in Measures (46) and (47) as indicated by the smaller notes with the downward pointing stems. In Measures (49) through (56), the women sing in unison [men are silent]. Then we go back to shifting back and forth between four parts on two lines and four parts on four lines. From Measure (71) – end of top system on Page 5, we jump to the second ending at the top of Page 6. The third verse has some shifting between two lines and four lines, but nothing too complicated. In Measure 98, ‘the’ should be pronounced ‘thee’. In Measures 108 and 109, the B’s split into two parts.

Christmas Welcome – the measures are all numbered, but the numbers are shown below the piano music. We start out in unison, and divide into parts in Measure 25. In three places on Page 3 there are slur markings except with dashed lines. Our Fearless Leader will need to clarify this, but a possible meaning is that we should connect words where we would normally expect a break. Measure 49, key change. At Measure 84, historical markings on the copy of music that I have indicate that, when this piece was performed in the past, we used the alternate ending that starts in the second system on Page 8 – our Fearless Leader will need to clarify this.

Glad Noel – this is another of those pieces that bounces back and forth so much that it should be printed on a Mobius strip. Tenors should note that their part is written in the bass clef when the tenor and bass parts are shown on the same line, but the tenor part is written in the tenor clef when the tenor and bass parts are on different lines. This begins with a staggered start. Altos sing Measures 2 and 3; altos and tenors sing Measures 4 and 5; and all sing starting at Measure 6. From the first ending at the bottom of Page 3, we go back to Measure 2 at the top of Page 2 [no page flipping] and stagger into the second verse. In the second ending at the bottom of Page 3, ‘el’ receives three beats, half the time it receives in the first ending. After the page turn, women only sing in Measure 14 and the first three beats of Measure 15. Tenors join in on the last beat of Measure 15, while basses remain silent. Basses only sing in Measure 18 and the first three beats of Measure 19; all voices sing the last beat of Measure 19 and Measures 20 and 21. Altos only sing Measures 22 and 23, altos and tenors sing Measures 24 and 25, and all parts sing starting in Measure 26. At Measure 33, on the page turn from Page 6 to Page 7, there are both key and time signature changes. Women only sing Measure 33, tenors join in on Measure 34, and basses remain silent for two pages. There is a key change on the page turn from Page 8 to Page 9. There is a time signature change in the middle of the bottom system on Page 9. After the page turn from Page 9 to Page 10,altos only sing in Measures 51 and 52, altos and tenors sing in Measures 53 and 54, and all sing starting in Measure 55. From the first ending on the bottom of Page 11, we go back to Measure 51 at the top of page 10 [no page flipping]. The second time through, ‘the’ should be pronounced ‘thee’ in Measures 52, 54 and 56. In the second ending at the bottom of Page 11, ‘el’ receives three beats, half the time it receives in the first ending. From the second ending at the bottom of page 11 we go back to Measure 14 at the top of Page 4. Once again, women only sing in Measure 14 and the first three beats of Measure 15. Tenors join in on the last beat of Measure 15, while basses remain silent. We sing to the last measure on Page 5 and then go to the Coda, which begins at the top of the last page.

Let It Snow! – this is three parts, so probably all the men will sing Part III. Part III divides in two places, the last measure at the top of Page 6 and the last two measures in the piece. Our Fearless Leader will tell us how to divide, but my guess is that at least some of the baritones may be asked to take the top note.

Peace Has Come Down Tonight – only the women sing for the first two and a half pages. The men start singing in Measure 29, bottom of Page 4, and sing in unison through Measure 46 on Page 6, splitting into parts in Measure 47. In Measure 49, ‘the’ should be pronounced ‘thee’.

Perfect Christmas Night – Measures 13 through 28 are repeated with different words the second time. The different words also include eighth rests in places where there are eighth notes the first time. This occurs in Measures 14, 18, 22, 24 and 25. At the end of the second ending [top of Page 6 going into Measure 34], there is a key change. On the page turn from Page 6 to Page 7 [Measure 37 to Measure 38], the tenor part and the bass part split into separate lines – sopranos and altos stay together, so tenors take the second line. The tenor part goes from being written in the bass clef to being written in the tenor clef. From Measure 38 on, the basses serve as sort of a scat singing continuo while the tenors sing with the ladies. In the last measure of the piece, note the droop on the last note.

Sing For Joy – this is in two parts for male voices, so our Fearless Leader may want some of the baritones to sing the tenor part. Overall, this looks to be pretty straight forward, so SILTMS.

Throw Open Your Shutters! – this appears to be usable for either Hannukah or Christmas, so our Fearless leader will have to tell whether we sing ‘festive’ or ‘Christmas’ in a couple of places. “Psalt’ry” is pronounced “sawl – tree”; the ‘p’ is silent, like p in swimming. This piece is full of repeats, starting at Measure 31; it looks like the purpose is to provide a drawn out crescendo. Note that the second time through each of these repeats is about one notch higher in volume than the first time.

Winter Wind – tenors on the top line, baritones and basses on the second line. On the last note of the piece, probably low basses will take the bottom note, high basses take the middle note, and baritones take the top note.