March 3 Rehearsal

Children's Chorus

It was so great to see the kids, and sing again after our week off.  The thing that tickled me during the warm up section was they wanted to sing a song with "Chinese" music.  True, a lot of Asian music is full of parallel 4ths and 5ths which is how we sang last week.  I had them guess what song I was leading them through with solfege hand signals.  They guessed correctly, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  Then they sang as two groups in solfege again, but with the home note DO, 3 notes apart.  That made for interesting harmony, and the awesome thing is they stuck to their part, and were not pulled away by hearing the other group!  This is so essential for building harmonizing skills!  Another aspect of our warm up that I haven't mentioned yet is the rhythmic reading & skill building exercises.  I learned the concept of 'Patschen" in college, and devised my own exercises a few years ago, which I use with overhead projections.  The kids read the rhythms, AND multiple lines of music at once, teaching them to stretch their field of vision which is very necessary in piano or choral music.  There are 3 lines they follow simultaneously, clapping, knee slapping, and foot stomping.  They keep a steady beat, read accurate rhythm, and use multiple body parts thus engaging both sides of the brain in the activity, AND it's fun. That's the best part, they are gaining music skills, and to them it's a fun 2 minute game!  Here's an example for your viewing pleasure.  Take a minute, and try it out, you might have some fun too!

Footnotes

    We spent the entire hour preparing for our Saturday performance.  I was concerned that things would be pretty rough since we missed rehearsal last week.  I don't think a huge amount of practicing at home happened, but enough happened so that we could progress in rehearsal.   The girls focused well, and even though we spent time a lot more time on the details than we normally would in one practice, the time seem to fly by.  I feel like the performance will be fine on Saturday and will be a good push off for this season.  We will do more for the concert on that piece, but it will be fine. 

     It's hard to sing early in the morning for some people. So here are the tips I gave the girls:  

1. Be well hydrated Saturday morning--drink a glass of water right when they get up, then drink another after they shower and get ready, then eat breakfast and don't forget to go the bathroom!!!  
2. I recommended that they don't drink milk or orange juice for breakfast, instead apple juice or water is a good choice.  I also said to be sure and eat, and not skip breakfast. 
3. Lipstick and lip gloss can be throat drying, so vaseline is the best bet for dry lips.  
4. A good nights rest is a plus too.  
5. My last recommendation is to sing in the car with the CD on the way over, this will help them warm up the voice, and it will wake up their brains, and help them remember the song.  Please don't forget that detail.  

   Thanks for your support.  We are planning on all but 3 of the girls to be there.  Parents can come and watch if they want.  Afterward we are meeting at Shari's in Sherwood for a little socializing.  I'll post a picture of the performance later!  I'm looking forward to it!

Chorale

Thanks to everyone who came out for the solo/duet auditions.  You all did a wonderful job.  I can think of many possibilities to fill the solo roles, so we'll see what happens later.  I will wait until after next week's round of auditions to make the decisions.  

I was pleased at how much of Dream a Little Dream you had memorized.  Were you surprised?  We will keep working toward that end, and begin adding choreography at some point soon on that one.  For 'Lean on Me', I think the new voicings would be a lot less tiring on your voices, but I'm willing to leave it the way it was for the sake of simplicity as per your requests.  We'll see if we stay happy with that!  

Remember auditions are at 7:15 next week, and rehearsals start at 7:45.  Keep practicing!