2nd Rehearsal February 10

We passed out rehearsal CD's.  The singers have been asked to practice at least 3 different times during the week.  This is crucial for our success--especially for Footnotes.  One practice slip turned in can be redeemed for a mini-candy bar.  Please encourage your child to practice.  This week practice:

• Part 1 tracks 1,4,6
• Part 2 tracks 12, 13, 17
  

Children's Chorus--Fun rehearsal.  Robyn Folsom is going to sit in on rehearsals and help me teach harmony to the kids.  I'm glad to have the assistance, as we are learning a lot more harmony this season.  One way that kids can learn a melody or harmony is to add some physical gestures that match high and low pitch.  For "You Got a Friend in Me" there are many phrases that are the same words with similar melodies, but the last 2 or 3 notes are different each time. So I had the kids use patterns of gestures to help them remember the differences.  We will continue to refine them over the weeks to come, and then eventually take the gestures out and work on other elements of the music. 

We also used the same techniques with the "Dream Seeker Song".  So if you see your kids doing some funny movements that don't really look like good choreography moves, it's because it isn't choreography, it's melodic contour gestures!  In our vocal warm ups they are learning vocal technique, doing 'ear training' by matching random pitches, they clap rhythms, and are learning to hold their own part by singing dissonances and reading hand signals for solfege (do re mi fa sol...).  So there's a lot happening in our one hour rehearsal!  Good times are rollin'!

Footnotes--we had a very productive rehearsal.  There is a lot of music to learn, and a lot of home practice to do to to make it happen!  I hope your daughter has taken advantage of her rehearsal CD and is practicing the assigned tracks.  I dug around the Senior Center and found the overhead projector that we got donated from Intel a few years ago! Yae it was still there.  It's old stuff, but hey it still works!  I put up a rhythmic exercise which was a direct quote from Swingin' With the Saints.  We clapped it and counted to prepare for a tricky section of the song before we sang it.   We used the Hershey bar visual aid again, and now we need to move on to equating the concept with real musical symbols.  The girls are so capable, and so eager to sing and meet the challenge.  We have a HUGE challenge ahead, but I'm confident that they will rise to the level of the expectation.

Chorale--We had a lot of fun filming video clips as we lip synced  to the song we recorded last week.  This video is for the Sherwood Wins Video contest.  We are using it as a marketing video for the VPA.  I think the clips captured the good fun we have in choir pretty well.  I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.  We had sectional rehearsals and joined together at the end to sing through everything once.  We are off to a great start!  Thanks to everyone for wearing their white Sherwood Chorale polo shirts.  You looked great!

Setting up for the video