Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Preparing for the concert...
heys ... just wanna contribute an entry here...
hmms concert is coming up in less than a month's time. How did you guys find recent practices? I don't know, because I haven't turned up for at least 3 practices (on MC). But based on the previous time I heard the choir, I think we're making several improvements along the way, and it's certainly encouraging =] Keep going, guys!
For basses, we had a surprise sectional on Monday (17/4 - Oh Yikai's Bdae! :P) It was conducted by Jeff, and he spot-checked each of us of our singing abilities, and how much work we have put in for the concert (such as memory work and note accuracy). Since that's the most recent choir-related session I have attended, I'll just reflect on it here:
When memorising the score,
- Read vertically.
(1) Know what are the parts that come in before you do, and know what they're singing at that moment. Let others do the counting for you, it'll be easier.
(2) What happens if your mind just blank out, or you get thrown off by other parts? You need to learn how and where to recover! (perhaps by listening to other parts and then try to come in at appropriate places) This is important in the song "Karimatanu", esp the last few pages where we start our messy canon!
- Dynamics are often not in place. We have to show contrast between different dynamic levels, so that the song is richer in content and colour. Dynamics also help in expression, which is especially important in the song "Sing me to Heaven" (rather than the notes accuracy) So, please memorise dynamics too, and apply them!
- Take note of phrasings, and places where we're not supposed to breathe. General rule of thumb: Don't breathe at barlines! And other obvious places.
Anyone can just feel free to add onto the list :)
Another thing I learnt from the sectional is that, even though each of us may have individually very strong voices and singing abilities, it doesn't mean we'll sound good when we come together. It's an Ensemble problem. We should not be self-centered and just know and sing our parts, as if we were soloists. We need to learn how to coordinate and tune with other choristers, in order to sound good as a whole. This may not be very obvious when we sing in the choir, but try singing in octets! You'll get what I mean.
So point being, during this period of time, let's just listen more to other people and help around should we discover any tuning (or other) problems. They need to be fixed early, if not it's difficult to resolve when it becomes auto-pilot or a habit thing! It's about working TOGETHER, and sounding good TOGETHER, not trying to show how good you are individually, and criticise others. Agree?
Okay... that's all for reflections. Really hope to make the concert a huge success! Good job to people who designed advert posters! Weeheex I made one too, here it is:
So rmb to spread word about our concert, sell tickets, and work hard for the concert!! =D
posted by s0ngster at 8:14 PM
[luvvv.. makes our hearts SING]
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