Your spirits were beginning to inhabit our music making today, and what an inspiration that is! : ) Our ongoing challenge (and opportunity!) is to stay within the ensemble and to allow the energy of our singing to emerge from within. As you practice in these final hours, reflect mostly on the spirit of each movement and what the chorus is called to convey and communicate. Allow your imagination to inspire your body to inspire your spirit to sound these wildly contrasting and meaningful phrases. Think about all the scope and sequence of this drama we enact through the colour of the vocal and spiritual space we paint:
Domine Jesu Christe...REX GLORIAE
Libera eas... DE ORE LEONIS
exAUdi
osanna eeen eckshelsis!
LacrymAWsah...qua..re...sur...
ad vi-----tam
quantus tremor est futurus (I'll get you my pretty....)
salva me!
CONFUTATIS.... voca me cum benedictis
TIBI... dawmeeneh
A few general housekeeping items:
1. Concert dress is ALL black from horn to hoof. LONGsleeve. No gawdy, distracting jewelry. Please do not smell fragrant or bad...just be clean.
2. Please do not turn pages as you listen to the solo movements. Allow the audience to stay focused on the action in front of you.
3. We will meet downstairs in Mayflower Hall at 3:00 p.m. Please be on time so that we can make the most of our final preparation and focusing time.
A few musical ideas to process in your personal practice:
REQUIEM movement 1:
1. around letter C-- the consonants of Caro and Veniet are invisible so far. Can you share them with conviction and intention?
2. At the KYRIE (Allegro), please know that when you concentrate on projecting your beginning Ks and CRs and your concluding N's, it is SUPER EXCITING and AWESOME! Other entrances are ordinary, so let's accept the opportunity to make them all extraordinary. These are the ones I had trouble hearing today: Altos at F, tenors at 4 after F, sopranos 4 after G, tenors at H, Altos 1 after K, altos 3 after M
3. Altos and tenors-- please bring out your Ks and your dotted rhythms (sing like brass instruments with incisive energy) 2 before M and 4 after N)-- TURBO altos and tenors here, please! These must be dynamic and fully- engaged. GO FOR IT! PUT IT ALL OUT THERE!
DIES IRAE movement 2
1. saecluMIH-- capital M! Just DO IT!
2. At O, tenors, can you sing out more with solo colour (remember when I asked you to be real tenors later in the rehearsal?-- well, like that!) in the melodies you have here (when you are singing in canon with the sopranos) TURBO TENORS!
3. sopranos-- 3 before R, STRicte-- be careful not to have a bright, puny vowel. Have a deep, rich, full EEEEE.
4. ALL-- your consonants in this movement are close to AWESOME... Let's get there tomorrow! An example of something improvable-- Quantus or Quando-- the KW at the start is often invisible.
5. Football cheer between S and T is JUST RIGHT!
REX TREMENDAE movement 4
1. PLEASE do not underestimate the power of an intense RRRRRRRRR at the beginning of each REX--- particularly when you have them in ms. 15 (3 before W) and tenors and basses in the section at V, sopranos and altos in the section at U-- we miss them most when we have them on our individual SATB lines. ALWAYS do more than you think is enough. Be generous! Gracious! Overflow with consonants!
2. In the last 3 measures-- use more air for the consonant F-- "fons", then more P (the f-sounding p) for the consonant to start "pietatis"-- this phrase wants to sound desperate, pathetic...
CONFUTATIS movement 6
1. Women at A and C, your Vs are invisible. Sing them beautifully and simply to begin the flowing lines.
2. Men at the beginning and at B-- please feed your small notes. Be sure they have sonic space and generous tone.
DOMINE JESU, movement 8
1. Hooray for the Turbo tenors at M-- sing on your hind legs here. Then come the turbo Altos AWESOME! Great Ts in the section at N-- thank you!
2. Practice your dynamics in the "quam olim abrahae" fugue.
HOSTIAS movement 9:
1. Practice your vowels-- the most gorgeous imaginable tone. Practice your phrasing and expression of each and every phrase. It's all there for you. Make those markings come to life. Be willing to sing true-- not just loud.
2. Sopranos and tenors-- 4 after Z, please start your pitch softer, and let it grow over the barline, beginning on beat 3. We need to hear the moving lines in the alto and bass beneath you more here.
3. Remember how it feels to sing the last two notes as a luminous, glowing phrase.
SANCTUS movement 10
1. 1 bar before F, I will promise not to mess up. I will show you the eighth note release here for your T.
2. At F, can "Pleni sunt coeli et terra" be joyful rather than serious. CELEBRATE-- confetti coming on "GLORIA."
3. Osanna fugue-- sunny vowels-- SAHNNNNNNNNAH. Dance!
AGNUS DEI, movement 12
1. 7 after N-- sopranos and tenors, please hold off on your crescendo until the next measure. Let the altos and basses cresc. first
2. 7 after N- altos and basses, please crescendo more (all the way to mf) in the first measure of your cresc. The sopranos and tenors will crescendo later. Altos bring out your moving notes (G-flat, F- E natural) in the most elegant and glorious way!
3. 4 after O-- Cum sanctis-- the Cs are invisible. Please contribute more generously to our consonant fund drive! : ) Qui-- KW-- consonants!
4. At the fugue-- check your vowel colour on tuis-- tew-ees or TOOOOOOees. You know! : ) Capital C at each entrance. Write them all in! Be your cheerleader!
Thanks again one and all for your extra time and energy which culminates in our program tomorrow. I can't wait to see you soon!
Grace and peace,
TT
