Rehearsal comments 03/11/24

Matt continues to emphasize pronunciation; see previous posts. He is also emphasizing proper note duration. Some of this seems to be related to notes on syllables where the note lengths are different from the lengths of syllables that we would use in normal conversation. For example, in Forever Young, Page 4, Measure 17, second time, ‘cou-ra-geous’ would normally be pronounced with syllable lengths of short, long, short. However, the music calls for syllable lengths of long, short, long. SILTMS – Sing It Like The Music Shows.

We are nearly at the time when we start moving the piano to Matt’s right side for rehearsals to prepare us for the piano placement in concerts. Expect more problems with proper timing when this happens. Moving the piano will lengthen the average time for its sound to reach the sopranos by 3/100 of a second and shorten average time for its sound to reach the altos by 3/100 of a second. It will not change the average time for the piano’s sound to reach the men, so they will bumble along as usual. The answer is WTFL, Watch The Fearless Leader. (As we are all aware, Matt spent a lot of time watching cartoon shows. In ‘Rocky and Bullwinkle’, Boris and Natasha, the villains who tried to thwart the flying squirrel and the moose, reported to a boss called Fearless Leader.)

Sunrise, Sunset – Well, we finally wore Matt down. In the word ‘sunset’, ‘set’ is supposed to be sung on a quarter note. According to Fearless Leader, about ninety-five percent of us persisted in singing it on an eighth note, so he has said that we should continue to sing it on an eighth note, although he is not happy about it.

Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In – You saw it here first (See the comments for the 2/5/24 joint rehearsal). Matt does indeed want us to do the optional hand claps in Let the Sunshine In. Buck up, Buttercup, this is not rocket surgery. The words consist of “Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in, the sunshine in.” These words are sung six times by the sopranos, altos, and tenors. The basses don’t sing the first time, so they sing only five iterations, starting when everyone else is on iteration number two. Before anyone starts singing these words, the piano has six measures to play starting at Measure 71. While the piano is playing, do something with your music so that your hands are free. Beginning with the third iteration for the sopranos, altos, and the tenors, and the second iteration for the basses, clap on beats 2 and 4 of each measure, and continue clapping until beat 2 of the measure where ‘=shine’ occurs in the last iteration of ‘Let the sunshine in’. Do not clap on the final iteration of ‘the sunshine in’. Clap precisely on beats 2 and 4.

You Make Me Feel So Young – Page 9, Measure 63, circle the rest in the first beat or do something so you don’t come in too soon. This is at least the third time Matt has mentioned this, and he is starting to sound testy. 

Comments on Music 03/07/24

Matt is now focusing mostly on ‘musicality’. There are two main subdivisions, pronunciation and moving forward.

The type of pronunciation he is looking for seems to be the pronunciation dialect used by the most uppity upper class in the area around London. It goes by several names; “received pronunciation”, “Queen’s English”, and “BBC English”. London is a seaport, so it is also home to some other dialects that are very difficult for outsiders to understand.

Vowel pronunciation is a concern of Matt. Vowels should be ‘tall’ with the chin dropped so that the inside of the mouth is ‘tall’ and the lips should be circular and almost in a duck-lips configuration. Drop your jaw and open your mouth to avoid a nasal twang. On longer notes, do not close to an ending consonant until the end of the note. This is particularly important with an ending ‘s’ to avoid the dreaded snake pit sound. In longer notes containing a diphthong (long ‘I’, actually ‘ah-ee’, or ‘ou’ in ‘hour’, pronounced ‘ow-uh’) don’t change to the second vowel sound until the end of the note. Don’t chew ending ‘r’ but just barely pronounce it. ‘The’ is never pronounced ‘theh’. Before a word beginning with a consonant, it is pronounced ‘thuh’; before a word beginning with a vowel sound, it is pronounced ‘thee’ (note that ‘hour’ begins with a vowel sound). ‘Our’ is pronounced like ‘hour’, not like ‘arrh’. ‘Your’ is pronounced to rhyme with ‘tour’, not like ‘yore’ or ‘yer’.

Moving forward includes techniques to make the music sound like a conversation, not like a robotic recital of the words. The text in the music is hyphenated like it would be in a dictionary but it may need to be sung differently. For example, ‘forever’ is hyphenated as ‘for-ev-er’ but it should be sung as ‘faw-reh-vuh’. Volume should be fairly constant as indicated by the music (or our Fearless Leader} but it should vary slightly as it does in normal speech. For example, in the word ‘volume’, ‘vol’ is slightly louder than ‘ume’. Typically, don’t break in the middle of a long phrase unless indicated by the music or our Fearless Leader. If you need to sneak a breath, it is better to omit a syllable to take the breath so that you don’t come back in later than the rest of the chorus.

Comments on music 02/15/24

Matt wants us to achieve proper choral pronunciation. Expect to hear this repeatedly. Following are things to practice. ‘The’ is never pronounced ‘theh’. Before a word beginning with a consonant, it is pronounced ‘thuh’; before a word beginning with a vowel sound, it is pronounced ‘thee’ (note that ‘hour’ begins with a vowel sound). Vowels should be ‘tall’ referring to the shape of your mouth. Drop your jaw and open your mouth to avoid a nasal twang. On longer notes, do not close to an ending consonant until the end of the note. This is particularly important with an ending ‘s’ to avoid the dreaded snake pit sound. In longer notes containing a diphthong (long ‘I’, actually ‘ah-ee’, or ‘ou’ in ‘hour’, pronounced ‘ow-uh’) don’t change to the second vowel sound until the end of the note. Don’t chew ending ‘r’ but just barely pronounce it. Don’t overstress schwa sounds, such as ‘a’ in balloon, 'e' in problem, 'i' in family.

Stand By Me – Page 12, Measure 81, rit. to end, WTD.

Heading Home – ‘the’ is pronounced ‘thee’ at Page 3, Measure 8, Page 5, Measure 33, Page 9, Measure 64.

Blue Moon – Basses, learn the ‘bom, ba ba bom’ string of words starting at Page 4, Measure 11, and at Page 5, Measure 20, and at Page 9, Measure 53; if everyone is not together, it sounds like mush in the mouth singing.

Sunrise, Sunset – the dim. and rit. at Page 7, Measure 69, does not apply to the first time through, only the second time when the end of the song is coming up.

Go in Peace, Walk in Hope, Live in Love – Vera used a very useful technique in our sectionals to help us memorize the words by having us work on the words of the chorus first. A study of how professional musicians memorize music found that about 15 to 20 percent start at the end, and gradually work their way forward. Their rationale is that as they start moving toward the beginning, they are always headed toward something they know. They are less stressed and find it easier to work on memorizing new material because they will be coming to something that is less work. YMMV. I think the sheet Vera handed out is easier to use than the one that was distributed by email.