Comments on music 01-25-24

 Additional comments added after BB sectional on 1/29/24.

General – ‘the’ before a vowel is pronounced ‘thee’; before a consonant it is pronounced ‘thuh’; it is never pronounced ‘theh’. If a syllable sung on a long note ends in a consonant, do not close to the consonant until the end of the note. This is particularly true if the syllable ends in ‘s’, or we wind up with the dreaded snake pit effect. Similarly, if a syllable sung on a long note contains a diphthong such as long ‘I’ (actually pronounced ‘ah-ee’), do not change to the second vowel of the diphthong until the end of the note. Do not ‘chew’ ending “r”s but instead barely pronounce them. ‘Our’ is pronounced like ‘hour’, not like ‘arrh’. ‘Your’ is pronounced to rhyme with ‘tour’, not like ‘yore’ or ‘yer’.

At the Hop – Page 5, Measure 28, Page 6, Measure 30, Page 6, Measure 32, Page 6, Measure 34, Page 6, Measure 36, Page 9, Measure 64, Page 10, Measure 66, Page 10, Measure 68, Page 10. Measure 70, basses sing ‘Oh, baby’ while everyone else is silent.

Forever Young – Measure 8 through first half of Measure 12, men do not sing first time through, only second time through. ETA Page 5, Measures 25 and 30, baritones sing middle note. Pages 7 and 8, men don't sing from second half of Measure 47 through first half of Measure 53.

Sunrise, Sunset – Measures 17 through 24, men sing ‘oo’ like in ‘mood’, not ‘oh’ as in ‘nose’. Everybody sings ‘oo’ like in ‘mood’, not ‘oh’ as in ‘nose’ in the last measure of the song. Page 4, men sing 'oo' in Measure 33 and 34 and then resume words in Measure 35.

Aquarius – men don’t sing until Measure 27. Measures 77 through 82, only tenors sing. Basses join in in Measure 83.

Stand By Me – WTD. ETA Page 6, Measures 30 and 31, 'by' is on two notes. Same thing happens on Page 9, Measures 51, 54, and 55, Page 10, Measure 67, Page 11, Measures 70, 71, and 75, and Page 12, Measures 79, 82, and 83.

Fire and Rain – personal note, I am not a James Taylor fan so I don’t recall ever hearing this song before. Apparently that makes things easier for me because the arrangement we are singing is different from what Taylor sang. Measures 5 through 12, everybody ,TTBB, sing.

Heading Home – Measures 4 through 18, basses sing all measures including those marked for baritones only. However, in pickup to Measure 50 through first half of Measure 53, basses only sing and then baritones join basses starting with last note of Measure 53. Measure 83, sfp followed by crescendo. ETA Page 3, Measure 8 and Page 9, Measure 64, 'the' is pronounced 'thee'.

Evergreen – WTD

You Make Me Feel So Young – Measures 8 through 12, all men sing. Measure 64, no break between ‘I’ and ‘are’. Measure 89, no break between ‘young’ and ‘so’.

And This Shall Be For Music – Measure 20, tenors and bass sing whole notes, baritones sing tied half notes. Measure 33, baritones sing middle note.

Blue Moon – WTD.

Go in Peace, Walk in Hope, Live in Love – this will be sung from memory without music, so learn it. Page 4, Measure 17, and Page 7, Measure 34, ‘peace’ should be sung as an eighth note followed by an eighth rest. ETA Page 6, Measure 28, no break between 'way' and 'with'. Page 6, Measure 30, no break between 'day' and 'to'.