Since last Monday, we're keeping going an extra 30 minutes to prepare for Christmas gigs. The next THREE Sundays each have a gig for Freedom Train. Christmas is the "high demand" time of year for choirs I guess. We could do more gigs but I think keeping it light & fun for the group is the best policy. At the same time, I am looking forward to getting out there in the community to share the joy!
Tonight we did heaps, as per last week. Our energies were a little lacklustre compared to the high excitement of last week (which was a really FAB night). Perhaps we're tired from the choir party last Friday night at Ferrones - and all the parties this time of year.
New member Lee-Anne came along for her first night. However Lee-Anne is no stranger to singing or working in a "Cath Mundy directed choir". She's been a founder member of Mixed Beans at Beenleigh Library since we started in July last year. She has a strong female tenor range and will be a fab addition to our star Tenor section. Welcome Lee-Anne!
The session notes:
Dona Nobis is such a beaut old traditional round, in Latin meaning Give Us Peace - and a nice way to warm us into group mode.
Christmas Time, my Chrissy-fied arrangement of Tony Backhouse's 4-part gospel piece One More Time, is sounding tres funky. Nikki and Karen are taking solos in the verses and doing an awesome job.
Angels We Have Heard On High: our most ambitions new Chrissy song this year, in fairly complex SATB harmony (part from the sweet 2-part harmony in the verses). Keeping it quiet and slow enough in the verses is a challenge. But the opening "bell ringers" canonic verse & the 4-part Gloria choruses are starting to really work now. Jay suggested NOT repeating the chorus at the end and he's right - we don't need it. So Chorus 4 is OUT! LOL! Practised getting the coda building up nicely with each phrase getting louder in the canon between the Sops/Altos and the Tenor/Basses. The final "Deo" then fades away after the Basses gracefully slide down to low G. We decrescendo-ed gradually to an "ng" sound. Bit tricky for some, but I think it'll work. Noice.
Aside: Wow, I just realised that I have been arranging this Traditional French carol for 4-part harmony since I was 14 - well on & off. It's a long-standing relationship.
Lake of Stars (Silent Night): somehow, this original song (with Silent Night as the chorus) has so much magic. It's a bit of a "Mundy-Turner duo with Freedom Train" production, Jay on guitar, and this will be its third Chrissy with the group.
After my own little solo to set the scene in the 1st verse, the choir comes in UNISON with "Silent Night". This is a vital part of the story - we are listening to the carollers at Carol by Candlelight by Canoe on a velvet tropical night on Lake Eacham in Far North Queensland. Jay takes it further in his second verse about cicadas and "the Yungaburra moon" backed by the women lulling along on "ooo".
The choir also brings a unison swell to Verse 3 to really lift things off: "A thousand feet high on a rainforest lake, We praise God's perfection with the music we make..."
I've changed it slightly since last year - can't help always working to improve arranagements. The choruses are now Unison (instead of 2-part) for the choir. There are little three part moments at the end of Verse 2 & 3 that that everyone joins in on too. Very simple and oh so goosebumpy.
Happy Christmas (War Is Over): we learned this great Lennon number last week for the first time. It was such a hard on to find the right key/s to arrange it for the group, and for Jay to sing lead on, that I almost gave up on it. Sooooo glad I didn't though as it sounded fantastic last week with not much effort.
It's deceptive - sounds simple but it's not really. Lennon changes key from verse to verse and back again in the most artful way. Then there's the overlapping between the backing line "War is over" and the main line to work out between al the parts. But we've got it and it's sounding the business with Jay backing on waltzy guitar.
Special rehearsal coming up this Thurs and the fist gig this Sunday at Chatswood Hills. Gonna be fun!
Tonight we did heaps, as per last week. Our energies were a little lacklustre compared to the high excitement of last week (which was a really FAB night). Perhaps we're tired from the choir party last Friday night at Ferrones - and all the parties this time of year.
New member Lee-Anne came along for her first night. However Lee-Anne is no stranger to singing or working in a "Cath Mundy directed choir". She's been a founder member of Mixed Beans at Beenleigh Library since we started in July last year. She has a strong female tenor range and will be a fab addition to our star Tenor section. Welcome Lee-Anne!
The session notes:
Dona Nobis is such a beaut old traditional round, in Latin meaning Give Us Peace - and a nice way to warm us into group mode.
Christmas Time, my Chrissy-fied arrangement of Tony Backhouse's 4-part gospel piece One More Time, is sounding tres funky. Nikki and Karen are taking solos in the verses and doing an awesome job.
Angels We Have Heard On High: our most ambitions new Chrissy song this year, in fairly complex SATB harmony (part from the sweet 2-part harmony in the verses). Keeping it quiet and slow enough in the verses is a challenge. But the opening "bell ringers" canonic verse & the 4-part Gloria choruses are starting to really work now. Jay suggested NOT repeating the chorus at the end and he's right - we don't need it. So Chorus 4 is OUT! LOL! Practised getting the coda building up nicely with each phrase getting louder in the canon between the Sops/Altos and the Tenor/Basses. The final "Deo" then fades away after the Basses gracefully slide down to low G. We decrescendo-ed gradually to an "ng" sound. Bit tricky for some, but I think it'll work. Noice.
Aside: Wow, I just realised that I have been arranging this Traditional French carol for 4-part harmony since I was 14 - well on & off. It's a long-standing relationship.
Lake of Stars (Silent Night): somehow, this original song (with Silent Night as the chorus) has so much magic. It's a bit of a "Mundy-Turner duo with Freedom Train" production, Jay on guitar, and this will be its third Chrissy with the group.
After my own little solo to set the scene in the 1st verse, the choir comes in UNISON with "Silent Night". This is a vital part of the story - we are listening to the carollers at Carol by Candlelight by Canoe on a velvet tropical night on Lake Eacham in Far North Queensland. Jay takes it further in his second verse about cicadas and "the Yungaburra moon" backed by the women lulling along on "ooo".
The choir also brings a unison swell to Verse 3 to really lift things off: "A thousand feet high on a rainforest lake, We praise God's perfection with the music we make..."
I've changed it slightly since last year - can't help always working to improve arranagements. The choruses are now Unison (instead of 2-part) for the choir. There are little three part moments at the end of Verse 2 & 3 that that everyone joins in on too. Very simple and oh so goosebumpy.
Happy Christmas (War Is Over): we learned this great Lennon number last week for the first time. It was such a hard on to find the right key/s to arrange it for the group, and for Jay to sing lead on, that I almost gave up on it. Sooooo glad I didn't though as it sounded fantastic last week with not much effort.
It's deceptive - sounds simple but it's not really. Lennon changes key from verse to verse and back again in the most artful way. Then there's the overlapping between the backing line "War is over" and the main line to work out between al the parts. But we've got it and it's sounding the business with Jay backing on waltzy guitar.
Special rehearsal coming up this Thurs and the fist gig this Sunday at Chatswood Hills. Gonna be fun!