In Flagrante is a local amateur choir. However, we are more than capable of giving a professional performance.
Eamonn has set the stage with the purchase of longer cables for the keyboard, so we are now able to stand in our traditional two curved lines. A very professional look rather than the amateur rabble from last week. He has also set the standard with a professionally produced purple bound book of our concert music to place on his lectern.
Now it is up to each of us to look and sound professional.
Hold your purple folders in such a way your head is up and only eyes look down, unless you are looking at Eamonn at all the critical cut off points, and then the audience will see your faces.
Smile. Don’t forget to smile. If you are enjoying yourself, it will be infectious and the audience will enjoy it all the more.
Stillness is essential at the end of each song to give that professional feel. This is a MUST!!!!.
Learn the last page so you can look up at Eamonn for the all-important stops and starts and a clean ending. Then stand absolutely still until the last note is played on the keyboard and Eamonn gives you the nod to move. No excuses - you can do it!
This will guarantee keeping the audience on the edge of their seat enjoying the suspenseful, magical moments.
You do not want to the one responsible for spoiling the magic!
Last minute homework for all. We each know which parts need the work, so concentrate on them.
We are in a good place, according to Eamonn, but if we each work hard to watch, listen and respond as directed we cannot fail to give the professional performance expected by Eamonn and our discerning audience.
This week Jenny joined us on the keyboard and a sound check done as the speakers must be used. Then patience was tested while we were being placed into concert format. A little like learning our parts with the altos placed first, followed by the sops and then the tenors. To fit into the spaces so everyone could have eyes on Eamonn, we had to get up close to each other; something we haven’t done for a few years now!
Eamonn was not happy with the arrangement and said we looked like a rabble! More manoeuvres with the tenors being placed in the corner of the alcove and everyone closing up in front of them. Better, but not perfect.
Lady tenors swapped with altos so facing in a different direction with not the same people standing around made some feel uncomfortable, but we started anyway as time was moving on.
Emphasis is now on:
· Watch – keep your eyes up and watch Eamonn as much as possible
· Perform – engage your audience in the storytelling and emotions of the songs. We don’t want them to go home after the first half!
· Smile – look as if you are enjoying yourself. Your audience will enjoy it all the more!
No Fidgeting:
· keep to your spot so everyone can see Eamonn
· stay perfectly still while solos (vocal or piano) are performed. Don’t move or turn over the page ready for the next song or do so at your peril and get the Eamonn glare!
Let the audience enjoy it to the very last note.
Homework
· Learn as much as possible without having to look at the music
· Learn the last page – there is no more information on the page, so watch Eamonn for the endings.
·
Bridge Over Troubled Water – was good before, but altos need to be confident and all of us need to build up the intensity at the end as this is the final number in our concert. WE want to leave our audience begging for more! Bridge over Troubled Water" was addressed to Simon's wife Peggy, whom he had met that year. The "silver girl" in the song refers to her, and her first gray hairs, and not to a drugged hypodermic needle, as was believed by some in the United States. A Few Tweaks & Squeaks
· The Irish Blessing, which was delightful last week, had a few glitches. Giving Jenny the right music soon resolved this.
· The pedal of the keyboard squeaks and doesn’t add anything positive to our sound. WD40 next week will hopefully give us the sound of silence!
Heads up for next week:
· Patience
· Good memory
· Smiles
We can do it!
The tongue twister ‘Wicked Cricket Critic’ broke the choir last night. The first one to really defeat us.
To REPAIR this:
Practice at home
Simple
In Flagrante also has problems with deflating tyres, especially in The Sound of Silence… sssss!!
Ragged and nasty extra Ss in any song will make us sound dreadful and unprofessional. This needs repairing ASAP.
Keep heads out of the music at critical cut of points. Eamonn doesn’t want to see the tops of heads!
WATCH EAMONN, who will tell you when to finish cleanly. Some phases are longer than you expect.
Simple
Ba das in Only You and The Logical Song need to be fluid and interesting and finishing together.
To repair these:
Learn by heart
Feel the rhythm rather than reading the notes
Sound like medieval minstrels
WATCH EAMONN!
Simple
Well known songs like Scarborough Fair need the audience to listen as if they’ve never heard it before.
Keep the urgency going throughout
Hold the long notes for the right length of time
Give the phrases light and shade
Beware of the dunce hole
WATCH EAMON!
Simple
Eyes on Eamonn!
When the end of the song is concluded, watch and wait while the pianist finishes playing the last notes.
Jenny will be furious if you are looking through your folder for the next song! The lyrics of Scarborough Fair puts forward the concept of unrequited love. The yearning is felt throughout the song, creating a perfect medieval love story in the process. A young man delegates certain impossible tasks to his lover with the condition that she would have to finish those to be able to come back to him.
PERFORM, don’t just go through the motions singing the right notes! Watch Eamonn and he will guide you through each song – it will be worth it.