This was not a Jamieism, but a Maggieism. (When we did the Funky Gibbon exercise - the monkey noises - she demonstrated, and the whole choir did it at the same pitch she had, hence her request!)
The problem with being lazy (and not getting round to doing a choir blog post until a couple of days after the rehearsal) is that I can't remember what all the Jamieisms referred to. For example, "I love your buckets! Soft, but with a monkey underneath!" ... I think the buckets were buckets of cold water that we were supposed to be throwing, but I forget what the effect was supposed to be. The monkey is the one previously referred to, though :p
Then there was "Can you sing with horns? C# hornèd people! Sharper horns! Scary horns!" This definitely involved Jamie with imaginary antlers growing out of his head, as opposed to imaginary pigtails (it was a bit visual...) And at some point I wrote down "Pete impression!!!" I know this refers to Pete from Big Brother, and that Jamie reminded me of him at one point (which is kind of freaky, if you know who Pete is), but not why!
It was a really, really, really long rehearsal, by the way. (Just wanted to point that out to those who weren't there.) It was the last one of the season, of course, and there was a social thingy planned for afterwards, and Jamie had been asked (and agreed) to finish early to accommodate this. But what he didn't mention at the start (or indeed at any stage) was that in his mind, finishing early also implied transferring the break from the middle to the end. So we went from 6.45 to 8.45 with no break, on one of the hottest evenings EVER. And we only realised gradually, when he started a new movement at 8.10, that he had no intention of having a break. Of course, Jamie, being Jamie, was just as full of energy at the end as at the start (and he stood up throughout), but the rest of us were like the Wicked Witch of the West at the end of the Wizard of Oz. ("I'm melting, I'm melting!") I understand the need to not lose any rehearsal time, Jamie, but I think you need to take psychology into account at times. We did get through every note of the Ravel, lots of them several times (and still no Beethoven, despite many requests), but by the end most people had switched off, and even those who did write stuff down as instructed probably won't remember everything we did on Wednesday. Oh well. It did sound pretty good though!
I forgot to mention the start of the rehearsal, where Maggie did an exercise that turned into "Summer Holiday" (as usual it took me AGES to recognise this) and once we all got singing we couldn't stop, and Jamie ran in and thumped out the piano part. A nice start :-) Oh, and blond Jonathan! He definitely looked much blonder than he did last week. Or was it just me that thought that?
Going back to Beethoven 9 just before I finish, a couple of things. Someone asked recently whether I could put an mp3 of it online, and I pointed out that I did so a month ago, when I posted all the famous choruses. But to save you all looking back, here's the link again. And today I've added a text file of the lyrics, for those who know the tunes but need to brush up on the words.
Nearer the time, I must write about some interesting Beethoven 9 analyses. There are some fascinating musical details that I bet you've never noticed even if you've sung the work loads of times (I hadn't noticed any of them before I learned about them in an OU course I did). There's also a very well-respected academic who has a whole theory about B9 viewed in feminist terms. And then there's the theory about how it's all based on stuff to do with horses.... (yes, Mary, I did save that email!)
Friday, July 28, 2006
Friday, July 21, 2006
"Sit on your hands until you feel something hard."
(Was it just me that thought this was rather rude? :p It was actually Jamie describing how to find your "sitting bones"...)
It's been a long week. I had a big Pleiades gig at my school last Thursday, and then on Sunday we were singing again at my best friend's wedding. (Which went very well, but was very draining, vocally AND emotionally.) And then yesterday was my last day in the job I've been in for the last ten years. And then choir! Two rehearsals in two days. I didn't post after the first one because I was dying from exhaustion AND heat exhaustion (bear in mind that I've been too hot EVERY SINGLE TIME we've rehearsed at WHGS, including the occasions when everyone else has been trying to decide whether to wear one coat or two - so imagine how hot I felt this week!). But in any case I hadn't got much to say yesterday. We did most of the Psalmus Hungaricus (of which more in a moment). The only Jamieism of note was at the end: "If you sing sharp here, I will be so... mesmerised!"
Tonight was back to Ravel. Very low attendance - when we shuffled forward to fill the gaps, the whole choir didn't even fill the front two rows. But we did get a lot of useful work done. (Frustrating to know that we'll have to do most of it again, because although I'd love to believe that all the absentees will ask about markings they've missed, somehow I doubt it!) Actually the most useful thing I learned tonight was how to breathe in quietly. That's something I'm really bad at, and if I've ever been told before in exactly the way Jamie told us tonight, I've forgotten. So, for those who missed it: The cause of noisy intake of breath is unretracted vocal cords, i.e. throat not open enough. So anything that will retract the vocal cords and open the throat will help silent breathing. Three easy ways to do this:
1. Yawn.
2. Laugh quietly.
3. Look surprised!
(Note: you don't have to do all three!)
(Further note: misspelling of "vocal cords" is one of my biggest pet hates. Whenever I see "vocal CHORDS" I want to scream and throw things. Not good for the voice!)
Anyway. We also did an exercise in which we had to hum like a Belisha beacon - this was notable for the fact that Jamie hadn't previously known the term "Belisha beacon". Bless! Oh, and at some point (possibly the start of page 9 of the Ravel) we spent quite a while acquainting people with how a diminished 7th chord works. For those who missed it, the point was that a diminished 7th chord is made up of minor thirds stacked on top of each other, so that if every part moves up or down by a minor third, you still have the same chord. There are only three DIFFERENT diminished chords, and they sound the same whatever order the notes are in:
1. C - Eb - F# - A
2. C# - E - G - Bb
3. D - F - Ab - B
As you will see, every note in the chromatic scale is in one of those three chords. (And those tenors who were confused at being asked to sing Eb in the first bar of page 9, just for the exercise - hopefully now you can see why!)
Sorry to go on, you know I love stuff like this :-)
Couple more Jamieisms. One that made everyone giggle, although I'm still not sure whether or not we were all thinking of the same thing (!), was "Never push - pull! It's much more fun!" Then there was "Don't be soubrettish. More horn!" which confused some people, who may wish to know what a soubrette is! And finally, Jamie was amused that someone heard him playing the piano before the rehearsal, and asked him "Was that you playing the jazz?" to which he was delighted to be able to reply "No, it was just Ravel!"
And finally: some more (hopefully useful) downloads for you. Firstly, mp3 clips of Psalmus Hungaricus.
Beginning, up to figure 4
Figure 4, to 8th bar of figure 7
8th bar of figure 7, up to figure 11
Figure 11 to figure 16
Figure 16 to figure 20
Figure 20 to figure 25
Figure 25 to figure 31
Figure 31, to 4 before figure 40
4 before figure 40, to the end
And another sheet of extra cues, like the one I did for Daphnis. (Not quite as vital as for Daphnis, but if you're like me and want to know what's going on in the gaps, you might find it useful.) The full-size one is here, and the small version is here. As I said last time, the small version will fit on your screen whatever settings you have, but it's very fuzzy. Your best bet is to save the large version (by right-clicking the link, as if you were saving an mp3), and then open the saved version. Most printers should be set up to automatically shrink it to fit on one page, while keeping the quality.
After quite a few people asked for paper copies of the Daphnis cues, I photocopied a pile of them and asked Jessica if I could put them out for people to take, last week. She said it'd be fine and that she'd mention it to Jamie when he arrived (he wasn't there yet). By half-time the pile had vanished, and I assumed they must have all been taken, but then Jessica told me that Jamie wanted to check them before they were distributed, and would put them out this week if they were OK. But they haven't reappeared, so I don't know whether there's a mistake (which would be good to know, given how many people already have one!), or whether he's just forgotten, or whether he's actually decided this is information he doesn't want the choir to have for some reason... Who knows? Maybe I'll pluck up the courage to ask him at some point. Or maybe he'll produce the pile next week. Let's see.
It's been a long week. I had a big Pleiades gig at my school last Thursday, and then on Sunday we were singing again at my best friend's wedding. (Which went very well, but was very draining, vocally AND emotionally.) And then yesterday was my last day in the job I've been in for the last ten years. And then choir! Two rehearsals in two days. I didn't post after the first one because I was dying from exhaustion AND heat exhaustion (bear in mind that I've been too hot EVERY SINGLE TIME we've rehearsed at WHGS, including the occasions when everyone else has been trying to decide whether to wear one coat or two - so imagine how hot I felt this week!). But in any case I hadn't got much to say yesterday. We did most of the Psalmus Hungaricus (of which more in a moment). The only Jamieism of note was at the end: "If you sing sharp here, I will be so... mesmerised!"
Tonight was back to Ravel. Very low attendance - when we shuffled forward to fill the gaps, the whole choir didn't even fill the front two rows. But we did get a lot of useful work done. (Frustrating to know that we'll have to do most of it again, because although I'd love to believe that all the absentees will ask about markings they've missed, somehow I doubt it!) Actually the most useful thing I learned tonight was how to breathe in quietly. That's something I'm really bad at, and if I've ever been told before in exactly the way Jamie told us tonight, I've forgotten. So, for those who missed it: The cause of noisy intake of breath is unretracted vocal cords, i.e. throat not open enough. So anything that will retract the vocal cords and open the throat will help silent breathing. Three easy ways to do this:
1. Yawn.
2. Laugh quietly.
3. Look surprised!
(Note: you don't have to do all three!)
(Further note: misspelling of "vocal cords" is one of my biggest pet hates. Whenever I see "vocal CHORDS" I want to scream and throw things. Not good for the voice!)
Anyway. We also did an exercise in which we had to hum like a Belisha beacon - this was notable for the fact that Jamie hadn't previously known the term "Belisha beacon". Bless! Oh, and at some point (possibly the start of page 9 of the Ravel) we spent quite a while acquainting people with how a diminished 7th chord works. For those who missed it, the point was that a diminished 7th chord is made up of minor thirds stacked on top of each other, so that if every part moves up or down by a minor third, you still have the same chord. There are only three DIFFERENT diminished chords, and they sound the same whatever order the notes are in:
1. C - Eb - F# - A
2. C# - E - G - Bb
3. D - F - Ab - B
As you will see, every note in the chromatic scale is in one of those three chords. (And those tenors who were confused at being asked to sing Eb in the first bar of page 9, just for the exercise - hopefully now you can see why!)
Sorry to go on, you know I love stuff like this :-)
Couple more Jamieisms. One that made everyone giggle, although I'm still not sure whether or not we were all thinking of the same thing (!), was "Never push - pull! It's much more fun!" Then there was "Don't be soubrettish. More horn!" which confused some people, who may wish to know what a soubrette is! And finally, Jamie was amused that someone heard him playing the piano before the rehearsal, and asked him "Was that you playing the jazz?" to which he was delighted to be able to reply "No, it was just Ravel!"
And finally: some more (hopefully useful) downloads for you. Firstly, mp3 clips of Psalmus Hungaricus.
Beginning, up to figure 4
Figure 4, to 8th bar of figure 7
8th bar of figure 7, up to figure 11
Figure 11 to figure 16
Figure 16 to figure 20
Figure 20 to figure 25
Figure 25 to figure 31
Figure 31, to 4 before figure 40
4 before figure 40, to the end
And another sheet of extra cues, like the one I did for Daphnis. (Not quite as vital as for Daphnis, but if you're like me and want to know what's going on in the gaps, you might find it useful.) The full-size one is here, and the small version is here. As I said last time, the small version will fit on your screen whatever settings you have, but it's very fuzzy. Your best bet is to save the large version (by right-clicking the link, as if you were saving an mp3), and then open the saved version. Most printers should be set up to automatically shrink it to fit on one page, while keeping the quality.
After quite a few people asked for paper copies of the Daphnis cues, I photocopied a pile of them and asked Jessica if I could put them out for people to take, last week. She said it'd be fine and that she'd mention it to Jamie when he arrived (he wasn't there yet). By half-time the pile had vanished, and I assumed they must have all been taken, but then Jessica told me that Jamie wanted to check them before they were distributed, and would put them out this week if they were OK. But they haven't reappeared, so I don't know whether there's a mistake (which would be good to know, given how many people already have one!), or whether he's just forgotten, or whether he's actually decided this is information he doesn't want the choir to have for some reason... Who knows? Maybe I'll pluck up the courage to ask him at some point. Or maybe he'll produce the pile next week. Let's see.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
"You should consider yourselves just as important as the wind machine."
This was my favourite Jamieism of tonight - it appeared during his inspirational speech on our role in the Ravel. At least I think it was intended to be inspirational :p Maybe he was feeling inspirational because it was his birthday today - we sang happy birthday to him and he seemed quite pleased (well, he didn't ask us to sing it again with more ping or higher cheekbones, so I took that as a good sign!)
There was also "Reminds me of a Police song!", which I think went unnoticed by most people, and those who did hear him say it were a bit baffled... but Sting is one of my idols, so I realised immediately that he was referring to the fact that we'd just been singing "dee doo doo doo" :p This was during the first half of the rehearsal, when we spent a LOT of time working on the weird chords in the middle bit of Daphnis. This wasn't helped by the fact that many people are now singing a different part to the one they learned a couple of weeks ago, and so it was slow work, but it was successful, because by the break the chords all sounded correct and confident. Which is more than can be said for page 11, on which most of the altos are still singing the tenor part. At least some of them did start to realise they'd done something wrong (judging by the flurry of exchanged puzzled looks afterwards), even if they didn't twig what it was :p
Oh, and there was the charades thing, but that was a bit visual! Jamie did the charades "it's a play" gesture in an effort to describe how to sing a chord. Then he realised that many of the other charades gestures were relevant to choral singing, and proceeded to demonstrate them all and explain why. You probably had to be there!
And then of course there was the drama of the chairmanship election. I must say that whatever I'd expected, it certainly wasn't that there'd need to be a second vote even after all four preferences for everyone had been transferred! Just goes to show. Anyway, I am pleased with the result - I think the best person won, and he will have my full support (but he already knows that). I'm not desperately upset that I didn't win, as the main (although not the only) reason I was standing was because I felt I ought to - I thought it about time there was a female candidate. However, it turns out the choir doesn't want a female candidate (cue chorus of "yes they do, just not you!") - but at least it was given the chance to choose :-) Never mind. I feel a bit like Cap'n Jack Sparrow in the first Pirates film, when he said "you will always remember this as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow" :-)
(That may not make any sense, but I know what I mean!)
There was also "Reminds me of a Police song!", which I think went unnoticed by most people, and those who did hear him say it were a bit baffled... but Sting is one of my idols, so I realised immediately that he was referring to the fact that we'd just been singing "dee doo doo doo" :p This was during the first half of the rehearsal, when we spent a LOT of time working on the weird chords in the middle bit of Daphnis. This wasn't helped by the fact that many people are now singing a different part to the one they learned a couple of weeks ago, and so it was slow work, but it was successful, because by the break the chords all sounded correct and confident. Which is more than can be said for page 11, on which most of the altos are still singing the tenor part. At least some of them did start to realise they'd done something wrong (judging by the flurry of exchanged puzzled looks afterwards), even if they didn't twig what it was :p
Oh, and there was the charades thing, but that was a bit visual! Jamie did the charades "it's a play" gesture in an effort to describe how to sing a chord. Then he realised that many of the other charades gestures were relevant to choral singing, and proceeded to demonstrate them all and explain why. You probably had to be there!
And then of course there was the drama of the chairmanship election. I must say that whatever I'd expected, it certainly wasn't that there'd need to be a second vote even after all four preferences for everyone had been transferred! Just goes to show. Anyway, I am pleased with the result - I think the best person won, and he will have my full support (but he already knows that). I'm not desperately upset that I didn't win, as the main (although not the only) reason I was standing was because I felt I ought to - I thought it about time there was a female candidate. However, it turns out the choir doesn't want a female candidate (cue chorus of "yes they do, just not you!") - but at least it was given the chance to choose :-) Never mind. I feel a bit like Cap'n Jack Sparrow in the first Pirates film, when he said "you will always remember this as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow" :-)
(That may not make any sense, but I know what I mean!)
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Tripping hither, tripping thither, nobody knows why or whither
I have decided that today is the day that I start to deal with my email backlog, which is now over 300 messages. So if you've emailed me and are waiting for a reply (particularly all the people who have emailed in the last week or so to ask my views about choir things), please bear with me, I'll get to you as soon as I can!
Just wanted to share something with you though. In the post today came my newsletter from the Buxton Gilbert and Sullivan Festival. I have only been to this once - a couple of years ago, just after we did Iolanthe with the Hallé, Graham E asked if anyone wanted to come and sing it on stage in Buxton. Jackie H and I went to join him, and had a great time being fairies for a week (yes, we had to dance!) And ever since then, they've been sending me the newsletters.
Anyway, it seems that this year they're doing something slightly insane, which I think is great! They're making a world record attempt - they're going to sing all 13 G&S operas more or less nonstop, aiming to finish in less than 29 hours. Not only that, they're moving round between each one, so that not all the performances are at the Buxton Opera House (although some are) - HMS Pinafore is at the Cat and Fiddle, and Iolanthe is in a cave (Poole's Cavern), for example!
The attempt starts at teatime on Friday 28th July, and they hope to be done by the early hours of Sunday 30th July. Sounds like great fun to me, and I plan to do it if I possibly can. If you want to get involved (not necessarily singing all of it, you can join for just part of it, and they also want conductors, pianists and drivers), have a look at the website.
EDIT: On a different subject, I just listened to the Hungarian text mp3s and realised how extremely quiet they are. (That's how they were on the CD - I just copied them directly and put them online.) Well, I've now fiddled with them so you can actually hear them.
Track 1 (Mikoron David, p.2)
Track 2 (En pedig Uram, p.17)
Track 3 (Igaz vagy Uram, p.24)
Track 4 (Szent David, p.43)
Just wanted to share something with you though. In the post today came my newsletter from the Buxton Gilbert and Sullivan Festival. I have only been to this once - a couple of years ago, just after we did Iolanthe with the Hallé, Graham E asked if anyone wanted to come and sing it on stage in Buxton. Jackie H and I went to join him, and had a great time being fairies for a week (yes, we had to dance!) And ever since then, they've been sending me the newsletters.
Anyway, it seems that this year they're doing something slightly insane, which I think is great! They're making a world record attempt - they're going to sing all 13 G&S operas more or less nonstop, aiming to finish in less than 29 hours. Not only that, they're moving round between each one, so that not all the performances are at the Buxton Opera House (although some are) - HMS Pinafore is at the Cat and Fiddle, and Iolanthe is in a cave (Poole's Cavern), for example!
The attempt starts at teatime on Friday 28th July, and they hope to be done by the early hours of Sunday 30th July. Sounds like great fun to me, and I plan to do it if I possibly can. If you want to get involved (not necessarily singing all of it, you can join for just part of it, and they also want conductors, pianists and drivers), have a look at the website.
EDIT: On a different subject, I just listened to the Hungarian text mp3s and realised how extremely quiet they are. (That's how they were on the CD - I just copied them directly and put them online.) Well, I've now fiddled with them so you can actually hear them.
Track 1 (Mikoron David, p.2)
Track 2 (En pedig Uram, p.17)
Track 3 (Igaz vagy Uram, p.24)
Track 4 (Szent David, p.43)
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
"We like to break up the rehearsals here!"
By way of contrast to last night's rehearsal, tonight's was very short on Jamieisms for some reason. Lots more Hungarian though - we are all getting quite fluent! Wasn't quite as fun as last night - not sure why. We got a lot done though, although still no Beethoven 9 (a few mutters from a few people when Jamie announced the memory thing to the whole choir, but I think most people are pleased at the prospect, mainly because lots of us remember how fabulous it was last time we did it from memory - our very first concert with Mark, I seem to remember!)
Jamie also told us something I've known for a while but haven't mentioned here because I didn't know how secret it was - we're singing in the Proms in the Park bit of the Last Night of the Proms on 9th September. Not much to do but it'll be very public and hence excellent publicity for the choir. I understand we got this gig at the invitation of the BBC Phil - clearly they love us these days :-)
Not much else to say, other than something I meant to include yesterday and forgot. A bit of a tip to some of the newer members, really - old hands won't need to be told this. But at last night's sectional, I was amazed, when we sight-read through most of the Kodaly, how many people were complaining that they could probably have done much better if they'd known what line they were on. Hint: next time you get given any music, as soon as you sit down in your place, get out your pencil and spend two minutes (it will take no longer than that) going through the score and marking your line. Mark it however you like, but be consistent, so that your eyes start to automatically go to the right line whenever your brain registers the "my line" mark.
I have many other sight-reading tips (I know, I know, I promised to write them all down ages ago), but that one was the one that helped me most yesterday, and if you get into the habit of doing this, you will save yourself a lot of unnecessary confusion. Trust me on this :-)
EDIT: I just posted this and then realised I'd forgotten to explain the title! This was Jamie's attempt at humour when suddenly, in the middle of the rehearsal, there was a huge noise, and when we all looked round, one of the basses was on the floor. His chair had broken underneath him! Luckily he was OK :-)
Jamie also told us something I've known for a while but haven't mentioned here because I didn't know how secret it was - we're singing in the Proms in the Park bit of the Last Night of the Proms on 9th September. Not much to do but it'll be very public and hence excellent publicity for the choir. I understand we got this gig at the invitation of the BBC Phil - clearly they love us these days :-)
Not much else to say, other than something I meant to include yesterday and forgot. A bit of a tip to some of the newer members, really - old hands won't need to be told this. But at last night's sectional, I was amazed, when we sight-read through most of the Kodaly, how many people were complaining that they could probably have done much better if they'd known what line they were on. Hint: next time you get given any music, as soon as you sit down in your place, get out your pencil and spend two minutes (it will take no longer than that) going through the score and marking your line. Mark it however you like, but be consistent, so that your eyes start to automatically go to the right line whenever your brain registers the "my line" mark.
I have many other sight-reading tips (I know, I know, I promised to write them all down ages ago), but that one was the one that helped me most yesterday, and if you get into the habit of doing this, you will save yourself a lot of unnecessary confusion. Trust me on this :-)
EDIT: I just posted this and then realised I'd forgotten to explain the title! This was Jamie's attempt at humour when suddenly, in the middle of the rehearsal, there was a huge noise, and when we all looked round, one of the basses was on the floor. His chair had broken underneath him! Luckily he was OK :-)
"Can you be more Scottish? Ee bah gum?"
Yes, we're back to Jamieisms :-)
(We have no idea where he got the idea that Scottish people say 'ee bah gum'...)
Great ladies' sectional last night. I feel a bit guilty that I didn't do a blog post when I got home, but by the time I'd done all my school stuff it was the middle of the night and I couldn't stay awake. Hence me writing this in a huge rush before going to tonight's rehearsal - if I had two lots to write tonight, that'd be even worse!
A very hot and sticky evening in the WHGS upper hall, aka "the hottest place in the world". The windows were open, but it made no difference. Jamie apologised for using the phrase "warming up"... but he made us do it anyway :p
We met the Hungarian language coach, Béni Csillag. He was there to teach us the words to Kodaly's Psalmus Hungaricus, which we started last night. We also met Jessica, our new (permanent) choral administrator, who seemed very nice. (We were due to rehearse Beethoven 9 as well, but didn't. Jamie did confirm that we will be doing it from memory though - I told you!) The Kodaly surprised us all by being really, really lovely, with some gorgeous tunes and beautiful harmonies. I think we'd all expected an atonal mess, but that's not at all what we got. Really looking forward to hearing it properly - must get a recording ASAP. We got through the whole piece, I think (it's not that long) and it was sounding pretty confident by the end.
Jamie took the opportunity of it being just ladies to ask, on behalf of those members of the choir who are sick of this, that people stop talking unnecessarily in rehearsals. This was much appreciated by many people, but unfortunately several of the worst talkers were absent! Oh well. Maybe if no-one responds when they start talking, they'll get the message :-)
He also asked for comments and ideas about his idea for expanding the choir, but I won't write about that now because (a) he won't have explained it to the men yet, and (b) I need to be out of the house in 5 minutes! So I'll finish with a list of Jamieisms:
"Now make your Australian pirate face! (that's the same as your pirate face but on the other side)"
"Now can you be a very small, very excited dog?"
(re first note) "If you get it wrong I will kill you. Slowly, personally... with a teaspoon."
"You're not often gonna be asked to do scat. So when you are, I'd grab it with both horns!" (he asked us to do some scat singing, and we were TERRIBLE at it)
"Please don't hum. I'm sure if you were in any other choir they'd kick you in the ribs." (this was when he was trying to rehearse a part on its own, and people from other parts were humming their own part after being asked to be silent - VERY annoying)
"I'd love to let you go on - but I can't bear it!" (this was when the whole 1st alto section very confidently sang a whole line a semitone too low - they all had a blind spot about a D#....)
My favourite part, though, was when he asked us to say a line of Hungarian words (page 17-18) but miss out the consonants. This was the funniest thing EVER - but you probably had to be there! :-)
(We have no idea where he got the idea that Scottish people say 'ee bah gum'...)
Great ladies' sectional last night. I feel a bit guilty that I didn't do a blog post when I got home, but by the time I'd done all my school stuff it was the middle of the night and I couldn't stay awake. Hence me writing this in a huge rush before going to tonight's rehearsal - if I had two lots to write tonight, that'd be even worse!
A very hot and sticky evening in the WHGS upper hall, aka "the hottest place in the world". The windows were open, but it made no difference. Jamie apologised for using the phrase "warming up"... but he made us do it anyway :p
We met the Hungarian language coach, Béni Csillag. He was there to teach us the words to Kodaly's Psalmus Hungaricus, which we started last night. We also met Jessica, our new (permanent) choral administrator, who seemed very nice. (We were due to rehearse Beethoven 9 as well, but didn't. Jamie did confirm that we will be doing it from memory though - I told you!) The Kodaly surprised us all by being really, really lovely, with some gorgeous tunes and beautiful harmonies. I think we'd all expected an atonal mess, but that's not at all what we got. Really looking forward to hearing it properly - must get a recording ASAP. We got through the whole piece, I think (it's not that long) and it was sounding pretty confident by the end.
Jamie took the opportunity of it being just ladies to ask, on behalf of those members of the choir who are sick of this, that people stop talking unnecessarily in rehearsals. This was much appreciated by many people, but unfortunately several of the worst talkers were absent! Oh well. Maybe if no-one responds when they start talking, they'll get the message :-)
He also asked for comments and ideas about his idea for expanding the choir, but I won't write about that now because (a) he won't have explained it to the men yet, and (b) I need to be out of the house in 5 minutes! So I'll finish with a list of Jamieisms:
"Now make your Australian pirate face! (that's the same as your pirate face but on the other side)"
"Now can you be a very small, very excited dog?"
(re first note) "If you get it wrong I will kill you. Slowly, personally... with a teaspoon."
"You're not often gonna be asked to do scat. So when you are, I'd grab it with both horns!" (he asked us to do some scat singing, and we were TERRIBLE at it)
"Please don't hum. I'm sure if you were in any other choir they'd kick you in the ribs." (this was when he was trying to rehearse a part on its own, and people from other parts were humming their own part after being asked to be silent - VERY annoying)
"I'd love to let you go on - but I can't bear it!" (this was when the whole 1st alto section very confidently sang a whole line a semitone too low - they all had a blind spot about a D#....)
My favourite part, though, was when he asked us to say a line of Hungarian words (page 17-18) but miss out the consonants. This was the funniest thing EVER - but you probably had to be there! :-)
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