Singing through a couple of new easy, audience participation songs, we went through Act Two and all of us were caught out. Mr Grinchwas the only song that we had obviously done our homework on and the rest were appalling!
There were mitigating circumstances, you could claim, as we were in our alternative rehearsal space, which is very challenging from an acoustic point of view as well as the seating arrangements, but that is no reason not to know the right notes to sing!
We basically only have two more rehearsals until Leigh, the pianist joins us. By then we need to be concert ready with just a little polishing up which can be easily done with Elliot being able to conduct us with both hands, directing us when to come in, the clean cut offs and the variation in volume and intensity.
However, you know all this and just need to put it into practise.
It is up to ALL of us to put in the work at home these coming last few weeks.
Learn your parts
Concentrate of the bits you are unsure of
Do a little each day (not one last run through on a Monday night or Tuesday morning). Small bite size practice will help embed it in your brain.
Try singing as you go about your daily chores, either aloud, or even in your head. Keep these songs fresh and the muscle memory will kick in.
A few pointers:
Audience participation songs – look at the audience and engage with them as you sing.
Carol of the Bells – on the second time round wait for the chord on the piano to be played before the ending of ‘Ding, dong, ding dong’
Mr Grinch – Sops watch their timing on their entrances
Winter Winds – on page 3 Altos and Tenors/Basses stop singing their ‘Aahs’ before the Sops sing ‘No’
Silent Night – had moments of pure beauty, but also the opposite at times. Practise to make it all beautiful
In the Bleak Mid Winter – after the duet the Altos, Tenors/Basses sing ‘Aahs’ instead of ‘Hmms’. At the end the last ‘heart’ gets quieter to the last whispered ‘t’ at the end of the word.
Act One is in a fairly good place, even though we haven’t revisited very often. This is due partly to muscle memory as we have sung the songs to concert level a few times before. Look at them as well during the week and keep them fresh in your mind
In Act Two. This is what we need to achieve. In the words of In a Bleak Mid Winter – ‘I will do my part’
It can only be done by each and every one us working on the songs at home and being confident in ourselves.
Bring this with you next week and when we all sing together In Flagrante will have the professional sound our sell out audiences have come to expect and we can be proud of ourselves.
Sing Loud, Sing Proud
