The sudden change in the weather, coming into line with our Winter Concert theme, inevitably brings with it the dreaded colds and coughs as well the temptation to take late holidays!
With that in mind, it is even more important for everyone to keep up with their homework and practise at home.
Our final challenging new song, You’re a Mean One Mr Grinch, should now give us a folder full of music. There will just be the addition of simple versions of Merry Christmas Everyone, Let it Snow and Winter Wonderland, and our repertoire will be complete.
It can be quite daunting with all this music to go through, but it is important to keep each song fresh in your mind, especially ones we’ve done a few weeks ago. There will be no time to go through each part as if we are learning from scratch when we revisit them.
Just a little practise each day will help to keep you up to speed.
Start by going through every song and make a note of the songs and the parts you find difficult and, during the week leading up to our next rehearsal, concentrate on these tricky parts.
Use Dropbox tracks to help you.
If you are still struggling, I’m sure Elliot will help you, if necessary.
You’re a Mean One Mr Grinch is a Christmas song that was originally written and composed for the 1966 animated special Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The song was performed by Thurl Ravenscroft and because Ravenscroft was not credited in the closing credits of the special, it is often mistakenly attributed to Boris Karloff, who served as narrator and the voice of the Grinch in the special but who himself was not a trained singer. Until Ravenscroft was publicly credited,
Elliot’s version has a swung rhythm with a jazzy feel. Dig into to the ‘Do be doos’ and keep the ‘Wah’ VERY short at the end of the phrase.
Sops, do NOT be tempted to slide ‘Mr Grinch’. Keep annunciating the consonants in the verses and make the descriptive words sound tastefully raucous!
Basses get to shine with their ‘You’re a monster, Mr Grinch’
Generally, in the music scores where there are brackets with 1 & 2, which are used save on pages of music, think of them as junctions and know when to pass through them, as with Carol of the Bells. On the second time round, we will slow down at the end (as directed by Elliot) with a clear break before the final ‘Ding, dong’ ending.
Somewhere in My Memory is one of Elliot’s favourite Christmas songs, so no pressure to get it right!
It was composed by John Williams and used as the track in the film Home Alone.
Sops shine with the start with the Altos and Tenors quietly singing Oohs underneath.
Altos also split again into Alto 1 and Alto 2; remember who you are!
‘Feeling that gingerbread feeling’ when sung the second time should clipped and short with ‘feeling’ being more expansive at the end.
You don’t want to be left behind, so keeping up practising at home is so important.
One other thing, during our short two-hour rehearsal, listen when Elliot is speaking. He is the one with the knowledge. Don’t chat and ask the person next to you. If you have a question, put up your hand and ask Elliot as only he will know the correct answer!
If we all work hard and keep up the practise at home, we will make a glorious sound.
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