The concert is surprisingly only seven weeks away! In reality we have six more weeks of practice before the dress rehearsal on 11 July.
Everyone should now have copies of the music and access to the tracks in Dropbox.
Please bring a pencil to mark the pieces in your scores that need special attention.
e.g. a smiley face when you need to brighten words, dunce holes, do not turn the page at the end of a song etc
Having sung through all the songs in our full repertoire we all know the notes and words, so Eamonn is now taking us through each song piece by piece and fine tuning them to get us to performance level.
Blowing in the Wind is a song all about peace.
The questions asked should be emphatic whereas the answers should be gentle as they are blowing in the wind!
The lyrics ask how many people must die? At the time, the United States involvement in the Vietnam war had many people asking this exact question, wondering when their leaders will listen to the protests.
The important piece and feature of this song is the Scotch Snaps.
The Lombard rhythm or Scotch snap is a syncopated musical rhythm in which a short, accented note is followed by a longer one. This reverses the pattern normally associated with dotted notes or notes inégales, in which the longer value precedes the shorter.
The Altos first note is quite high, so be prepared!
Smile as you sing into the verse.
Verse two is a battle of voices emphasising that ‘too many people have died’ and thinking up as you sing this.
Altos remember that ‘people exist’ is different in the second verse.
Tenors and Altos; the tune is what you make it. If you are not singing your piece on the actual tune of the song, own the notes you are singing and make them YOUR tune.
The Tenors pin all the pieces together by making it chordal. If it’s too easy to sing you are probably on the wrong note!
The Rhythm of Life is a challenging song. No harmonies as such. We all sing the same pieces of phrases, but at different times overlapping with each other making a cacophony of sound. Great concentration is needed to follow the parts you are singing as well as being aware of what everyone else is singing too.
Make it a light, cool sound at the beginning, like a soft shoe shuffle and gradually build it up. As I said before you can never have enough of Sammy Davis Jr.
KEEP YOUR EYES ON EAMONN for the cut offs, especially at the end. This is important for all the songs and cannot be stressed enough.
Bridge Over Troubled Water; the rhythm of this is important especially with the chorus which is different every time.
Remember ‘lay me down’ the first time is syncopated, but the second time it is sung it is separate notes and NOT syncopated. Smile when singing ‘down’ to brighten it.
Don’t forget the Eamonn’s famous Dunce Hole at the end. Eyes up and watch your Music Director.
Tip of the Week
When not taking a breath in a phrase, connect the consonant of the last word to the beginning of the next word. That way you will not slow down or leave a gap that shouldn’t be there.
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