Dear friends,

During Wednesday's rehearsal we took a giant leap forward with Brahms. Your individual preparation and practice were evident, and my confidence in how far we could come in these next several weeks was uplifted! As you continue your work, I want to remind you of what we've most recently done and what we will cover next:

Wednesday:
p. 34-42-- we studied this under the microscope in sectionals on Wednesday in four parts: continue to practice rhythms, notes, and try to memorize the tonalities and progressions on p. 36 during the largamente transition material. We have not added text yet, but we will add text on Sunday, so consider giving it a look.
p. 71-81: this is close to being performance-ready: continue to work on projecting text details; become aware of which parts have the important material as the fugue unfolds; be rhythmic, lean, and clear at all times.
p. 59-62: continue to be aware of shapings of the phrase, dynamic indications, and unanimous declamation and enunciation of text.
p. 6-8: be aware of sonorities-- listening to the color of all the beautiful harmonies here. Sing into your dissonances (study annotations which have crescendos and circled notes to find these). There must be a quiet rhythmic confidence in this movement-- always feeling inner eighth note pulse, even though we never sing eighth notes. Take careful note of expression markings and when and how they transpire-- for example, see the difference between 120, 122 as compared to 124-126. We have not done text with this movement yet-- continue to enjoy singing on vowels.

Sunday:
p. 34-42-- work kinks out and begin to add text and interpretation to the challenging notes and rhythms
p. 27-33-- begin with the text and rhythm and try to build unity in communicating it clearly and expressively-- gradually work on notes.
p. 12-14-- learn new notes and rhythms in this middle section of movement two: new material-- no text yet
p. 1-8-- review and add text.
p. 15-25-- run through and review
p. 82-92-- begin work on notes and ensemble with neutral syllables and count singing-- do not worry about text yet.


After Sunday, we will have two weeks of sabbatical from our immersion in Brahms as it is time to focus on Holy Week and Easter-- HOWEVER, it is ESSENTIAL that we individually continue our study and improve on ALL movements we have covered to date (1,2,3,6,and 7). Movement 6 (pgs. 59-70) will be covered in Plymouth Choir rehearsals the next two Wednesdays as we will sing that excerpt for Easter. (Abendmusik friends are most welcome to join us for these even though it is not on your schedule.) Movements 4 and 5 will be covered in detail at our next Brahms only rehearsal on Wednesday, April 7, and you will note that we have saved the simplest and most familiar movements for last-- and you have the markings now available, so these should fall into place beautifully and efficiently.

CAUTION: If we do not keep working with Brahms on our own during these two weeks away from Brahmsing together, we will have serious limitations on what we can achieve together on April 18. If we continue to practice and focus during this alone time, we will manage to reach extraordinary heights. It is a choice we all make individually that impacts how we fare together. I am confident in each of you and trust that we will all make the right choice! : )


Thank you for offering your time and talent to the Abendmusik Chorus for this amazing encounter with Brahms. I look so forward to continuing our work together over the next month... and many, many more!

Grace and peace,
TT

Dear friends,

What a delightful morning and afternoon you gave me on Saturday! Thank you for choosing to be with your singing friends and Brahms, even on such a beautiful day. As we continue our work on this incredible piece, we must continue to challenge ourselves to practice between our gatherings as a group. We will talk more about our collective learning process on Wednesday night when we reassemble, but in the meantime, I wanted to be sure you know what we have recently prepared and what we will be tacking soon so that you can make the most valuable use of your practice time. Remember, the recording is available for streaming above and to the left.

I DON'T encourage you to practice because:
1. You are not good enough.
2. I think you have nothing better to do.
3. I want to look good when we do the concert.
4. I love to be demanding.

I DO encourage you to practice because:
1. Great musicians practice. You are great musicians, and we all have the capacity to grow.
2. The twenty minutes you spend on your own with Brahms will make the two hours you spend with all of us on Brahms that much more valuable.
3. When we all prepare fully, I can be more helpful in making us sound our best as a singing community.
4. We are only able to do this together.

On Saturday, we covered:

1. first movement, p. 1-6 particularly...take special care with p. 1-2-- try to memorize this opening, a cappella section. Markings for this movement were handed out on Saturday, and you should put them in your scores.

2. second movement, p. 15-25. You should have markings copied into your score for this from the original packet.

3. sixth movement p. 71-87. Please get markings from a friend in your section.

4. sixth movement p. 59-65 Again, please get markings from a friend in your section


This Wednesday, we will continue with:

1. first movement-- all (Be sure you have all the markings from the packet copied in)

2. sixth movement- complete (be sure to have all markings from your choir neighbors if you missed Saturday)

3. second movement-- we will review a few sections between pages 15-25


Talk to you later...I have to go practice! : )
TT