The Neapolitan 6th chord

Well, I didn't get home from tonight's choir 1 sectional until 11pm and I went to bed shortly afterwards, but I was woken by the earthquake about an hour ago and I haven't been able to get back to sleep, so I thought I'd do a quick blog update. (I did mean to do one last week to talk about the Neapolitan 6th, but it was quite a hectic week and I never quite found the energy.) (My TV appearance went fine, by the way, and they did promise they'd send a DVD of it at some point, so if they do I can lend it to people who missed the live show - I should warn you, though, that it's not very interesting!)

I'll get onto the chord in a minute. But first, in case anyone's missed them, there are all sorts of recent news stories about the Hallé's new assistant conductor. Read about her in BBC Music Magazine; Manchester Evening News; On an Overgrown Path; and in The Guardian. (And no doubt elsewhere too; I haven't been searching, those articles were all ones that I saw on my RSS feed.)

A few more links, while we're at it: a nice story about an audience member saving an opera (it's not quite as good as it sounds - he was already rehearsing the role in question - but still!) Also, New Scientist magazine has had some musical articles recently: try the one about auditory illusions or the one about animals being naturally musical (or not). And finally, here's a map of the world made out of musical notes. Pretty!

Thank you, by the way, to the many choir members who have expressed concern about my financial woes. Things are a little better now - I have cleared the electricity arrears and am in negotiations with the mortgage people (it's a much longer story than that but I won't bore you with it). There is light at the end of the tunnel. The temp wages that I've been on since September are only slightly above minimum wage, but that's quite a bit higher than the jobseeekers' allowance that I was on prior to that. I could live on my current wage, though - the problems have been caused by the arrears from when I still had to pay all the bills while only having £59 a week coming in for several months. But I've almost cleared all the arrears, thanks partly to extremely frugal living and partly to several very generous friends (you know who you are, and I *will* pay you back!) The place I'm currently working as a temp did offer to give me a permanent job, which would be a bit more money, but I'm holding out for something music-related, because that's one of the things I left teaching for. It's looking less and less likely, because there is now only one major Manchester musical organisation that *hasn't* rejected me, but you never know! I *have* achieved my main aims of being less stressed and having more free time to concentrate on my musical interests, so leaving teaching is a decision that I haven't regretted for a second. Money isn't everything.

Anyway, the Neapolitan 6th chord! I've been meaning to write about this for ages - I know I've mentioned it on the blog before. It's my very favourite chord (closely followed by "chord iii", but I'll explain that one another time). I've loved it ever since I first heard it (long before I found what it was called). I even attended a fascinating lecture about it at an Open University summer school several years ago. (The lecture covered the various types of augmented sixth chords (French, German and Italian sixths) as well, but the Neapolitan is better than all of them!) So what's prompted me to write about it now? Well, there's a very prominent one in the St Matthew Passion (I'd be very surprised if there weren't more than one, but I don't yet know the work well enough to point out another one), and during last week's rehearsal, we were working on that page (96) (the Neapolitan 6th is bar 134). I'd just pointed out to Alison that it was a Neapolitan 6th (I've been trying to enlist her in the N6 fan club for ages now), and at that moment, a certain person (who happened to be explaining the harmonic progression to us) said "what chord is this?" to which of course I replied that it was a Neapolitan 6th - and he disagreed with me and said that if anything it was a Neapolitan 2nd! (It turned out he was actually looking for a simpler answer, i.e. F major, but never mind!) Well, I can see why he might have thought that, but he was definitely wrong, and I like to think that he had a sleepless night that night, having realised that I was in fact correct :-)

So, what is a Neapolitan 6th? I'll try to explain as clearly as possible, because once you know what they are, you'll spot them throughout the repertoire. They're most common in baroque music, although they aren't restricted to that period - there are several in Gerontius, for example. Invariably they occur when the music is in a minor key. Now, in any key, you can have a chord based on any note of the scale. (I presume that most of you know that a normal chord on any given note consists of the note itself plus the notes a third and a fifth higher within the scale - so that the chord of C major would be C, E and G, but the chord of C minor would be C, E flat and G, because in C minor every E is an E flat. ... If you didn't already know this bit, I realise it's a bit confusing, but at the moment my target audience is people who *do* already understand how chords are usually formed, so if this is totally new to you, I'm sorry!)

Now, in the key of E minor, the scale goes: E, F sharp, G, A, B, C, D sharp, E. That's the harmonic minor scale (as opposed to the melodic minor), and if you've ever wondered why it's called that, it's because these are the notes used in the harmony - as follows: chord 1 (the tonic chord) is the chord of E minor (E, G, B). Chord 2 is actually a diminished chord (F sharp, A, C). Chord 3 is G major (G, B, D). Chord 4 (the subdominant) is A minor (A, C, E). Chord 5 (the dominant) is B major (B, D sharp, F sharp). Et cetera. (The "dominant seventh" chord - very common, and I'm sure you've all heard of it - would be B, D sharp, F sharp and A... why 7th? Because the A is a seventh above the B.) (If you're wondering why some notes are sharp and others are natural, go back and look at the E minor scale - that's why.) (If you're wondering why there's a D in chord 3 but a D sharp everywhere else, that's a good question - a simplified answer is that if chord 3 had a D sharp in it, it would be an augmented chord, which isn't often used in traditional harmony. Or, put another way... the harmony works better if chord 3 is a major chord. Not a very satisfying answer but it's as good as you're going to get for the moment!)

Now, before I explain what the Neapolitan 6th chord is, let me explain what it isn't. It isn't a chord based on the 6th note of the scale - it's called "6th" for a different reason. (It's called Neapolitan because it was popular with a Neapolitan group of composers.) So what is it? Well, to make a Neapolitan 6th chord, here's what you do: in a minor key, find the 2nd note of the scale (so in E minor that would be F sharp). Flatten it by a semitone (so it becomes F natural). Form a chord based on that note (in a minor key, this will always give a major chord - in this case, F major (F, A, C)). This chord is sometimes called the Neapolitan 2nd. However, it is hardly ever used in that form - invariably it appears as a first inversion chord, which means that although it does consist of F, A and C, it doesn't have the F at the bottom of the bass (which is called "root position"), it has the A instead. (If the C was at the bottom it would be a second inversion.) And it's the fact that it's used as a first inversion that gives it the name "6th" - the 6th is the interval between the A and the F.

Now have a look again at bar 134 on page 96. All the notes are either F, A or C, but the basses have A. That makes it a Neapolitan 6th. (Why is this chord usually used as a first inversion? Because the harmonic progression works better that way. I could explain why, but I've already gone on longer than I intended to, and I imagine some people's brains are hurting already.) So I'll finish by giving you two audio examples. The first is the page I was just describing. It's right at the end of the Soprano & Alto Duet with Chorus: "Behold, my Saviour now is taken" ("Loose Him!"). The excerpt starts on page 79, but the lightning and thunder bit starts at about 3:33 into the track, and the Neapolitan 6th bar is right near the end, at about 4:47. Listen to the last few bars until the sound of the Neapolitan 6th sticks in your head - it's very distinctive.

And finally, one of my favourite pop songs, and not just because it includes a Neapolitan 6th. It's REM's Everybody Hurts. This song is in a major key, but the middle section (starting at about 2:17) is in the relative minor, and the Neapolitan comes at about 2:40. (I think it's probably a 2nd rather than a 6th, because of what the bass does, but the sound of the chord is almost identical.) A great moment in the history of pop :-)

A mixed week....

Choir on Wednesday was good - not much to say about it though, because all the best bits would involve quoting people who don't want to be quoted! And my band's gig last night at the North City Library went very well considering the lack of rehearsal. However, in a week in which I have already received letters telling me that my electricity is about to be cut off AND my house will shortly be repossessed (on the plus side, at least then I wouldn't need any electricity!) I got home after the gig to find a letter telling me that the job application I submitted a couple of weeks ago has been unsuccessful - I didn't even get an interview. It seems that my idea of a job I'd be perfect for is rather different to that of employers.... Oh well.

However, I just got a call from Five TV saying they want me to go down to London to appear on a live show on Tuesday morning, and they still wanted this (much to my surprise!) even after I said I wouldn't do it unless they paid me enough to compensate for losing a day's pay! So I will have a free trip to London to cheer me up :-)

Götterdämmerung!

Really quick post today, just to say: 1. The Sunday Times very belatedly gave us a very nice review, and in their closing sentence we learn that "a complete Götterdämmerung, over two evenings, is promised." Complete operas are always exciting, especially with Mark, but I must admit I wish it wasn't Wagner. Still, maybe this experience will convert me!

2. My online choir schedule is up to date with the new additions to the schedule. There do seem to be quite a few surprises in the summer, don't there?

3. Last week was the Bach open rehearsal, and also the first time that we found out which of the two choirs we're in. (I'm in choir 1, and I felt a bit guilty at the start because choir 2 seemed to have nothing to do, until I found that they get all the best bits later on!) Lots of sight-reading took place (which, as you know, is one of my favourite things to do EVER) and there were many, many hilariously wrong notes. I think I sang more wrong notes during last week's rehearsal than I've sung in total over about the past five years! Not easy, is it? But I'm really looking forward to getting to know it properly. Yum.

Anyway, I need to get back to my rearranging of parts. My band has a gig on Thursday, and only three of us can make it, so since almost all our songs involve a lead singer and three backing parts, I'm having to do lots of amendments to the backing vocals. I like doing this but it takes an annoyingly long time... especially because I need to do it particularly clearly, since we haven't had a chance to rehearse with just the three of us, so the instructions I write on the music need to be foolproof!

Across the Universe Day

I'm sure you know that today is Pancake Day, but how many of you realised that yesterday was Across the Universe Day? And isn't that a lovely idea?

Just a short post from me tonight, because there are pancakes to be eaten and World of Warcraft to be played. But I wanted to alert you to a few things.

Firstly, if you were wondering how the wedding went, look at the sword party!




Our musical contributions were fine too. All in all a lovely day!

Secondly, any altos who didn't receive a text tonight from the lovely Dr Liz will be unaware that tomorrow night's alto vocal coaching has been postponed to next week (13th Feb) due to the rehearsal being an open one. (I don't know when the bass vocal coaching will now be taking place.) My online schedule is up to date, and I will endeavour to keep it that way on the offchance that anyone ever looks at it these days.

Thirdly, we were on Radio 3 last night, and we sounded rather good, even if I do say so myself! You can hear it on the BBC iPlayer until Sunday. (Our bit starts 50 minutes in... and if you're as slow as me, you may wish to know that the button that looks like a "play" button is actually "fast forward". If you click and hold it, the time advances rapidly - but I can't see an easy way of going backwards if you go too far, so if you miss the 50th minute, click the stop button and try from the start again.)

And finally, something I wouldn't have realised if I hadn't heard Petroc mention it during the broadcast: there was an interesting Michael Kennedy article in the Spectator a couple of weeks ago. (Oh, and we also got a mention on On An Overgrown Path, that most interesting of music blogs.)

"Hallé dazzles with birthday display"

This is the Telegraph headline for its review of our concert. There's also a great review in the MEN. And, just in time for me to post this, a 4-star review in The Times! (Thanks to those of you who sent me links to these - as usual I'd already seen them but hadn't had time to do anything about it!) No actual review in the Guardian as yet (EDIT: here it is!), but they have made up for it by devoting a leader to us, and also a major feature the day before the concert (which included some interesting tidbits of info that I didn't previously know, plus comments from people like Lesley Garrett, who actually came to the concert on Wednesday). We even made the BBC News!

EDIT: The FT review is now up too, and they thought our bit was best \o/

EDIT: The Independent has finally joined the party, and they said we were on top form - "like a harmonic time bomb"!

Great concert, although the Telegraph reviewer was wrong when he said it was nearly 3 hours long - - it was MORE than 3 hours, finishing at 10.35pm. I think they could maybe have shortened it a bit, especially as quite a few people left early, presumably to catch last trains or buses. (If it had finished that late on a Saturday or Sunday I would have had to leave myself.) But it was all good stuff, and the audience certainly seemed to enjoy it, and there WAS a standing ovation at the end, although it wasn't until the choir stood up that most of the audience did too - before then, there were just a few people on their feet. I also expected a few more cheers at the end, but maybe everyone was just tired!

Our Vaughan Williams went well, and was a fitting end to the first half. I bet I wasn't the only one who wished we could have sung more, but they did have a lot to fit in. I do wish we could all have joined in the Rio Grande with the Youth Choir though - I love that piece!

I didn't realise, till it was announced, that Dmitri Hvorostovsky was ill, but then it wouldn't be a proper Hallé concert if one of the soloists wasn't ill! Sir John Tomlinson was a great replacement, even if I didn't recognise any of the things he sang. And I thought it was definitely a good thing to have TWO mezzo soloists and no sopranos or tenors! (Yes, I AM including Dame Janet Baker. Very fitting that an alto was in charge of proceedings!) And the lovely Jonathan Scott was as fantastic as ever in the Rio Grande. But the other pianist - Polina Leschenko - probably made the biggest impression. I've never seen a performance like it! Her playing was great, but it was the other aspects that grabbed even more attention.

For a start, she didn't use a piano stool, but just a normal chair, in which she slouched and fidgeted somewhat. Then, there was one of the buttonhole roses on top of the piano - I presume she put it there herself, although I didn't see that. And during several of the rests in her piece, she picked it up and smelled it a few times, and fiddled with it. She also spent quite some time examining her nails. None of this affected her very dramatic cadenza-type interspersions though. (For those who weren't there, she was playing the Weber Konzertstück.) And then, at the end, she took her bows very spectacularly, blew kisses to everyone (including Mark) and then shoved her bouquet under her arm as she strode offstage. We all found all this very entertaiing indeed - just what was needed at that stage of the evening!

The only sad note was that Lady Barbirolli wasn't there. I was really shocked to hear of her death - I had met her on many occasions, because when I was at school she was the visiting oboe professor (that wasn't her title, but you know what I mean). She used to visit all us oboists every term or so, to give master classes and other special sessions (e.g. on reed-making - my reed-making manual is signed by her, in fact, and I have been meaning to scan it all week to show you, but it's been rather busy!)

Here is her Wikipedia entry, and various obituaries: Guardian, Times, Telegraph, Independent, and BBC Music Magazine.

Now, all I have to do is get over my cold in time to sing at this wedding tomorrow. And then, next week - Bach!

Birds flying high, you know how I feel

Great rehearsal this week. Quite different, in many ways, from any rehearsal we've had before, but I think it was really effective. I was most amused by the giant pencil that the bass section had placed on the conductor's stand, and even more so when he started conducting with it (because they STILL couldn't sing on the beat)... the memory is still making me giggle :-)

We started with a few bits of the St Matthew Passion, which we'll be doing with Mark on Monday. We did one of the more difficult fast choruses - ironically I've forgotten which one, and I can't check because I've lent my score to a friend who missed the rehearsal. (I say "ironically" because I'm pretty sure it was a chorus that consisted of one line repeated over and over again, and after we'd done it several times I was fairly sure that line was ingrained forever. And three days later I've no idea what it was! Must be getting old...) The first time we tried it, it was quite fast, and had lots of mistakes - so we did it again, faster. And then again, still faster. And then again, faster even than that. By the time we tried it for the fourth time, at the proper speed, it was just about perfect. A great technique, which I suspect some people hadn't experienced before, judging by the surprised looks I saw on some faces.

(My oboe teacher (a lovely lady called Sonia Wrangham), when I was at school, introduced me to a general technique of which this is a variation, and it's so effective that I've used it a lot when I've given instrumental lessons myself. The technique is this: if you have a difficult passage, or even one that's not that difficult but you're having trouble with anyway, you make it HARDER.... but you make it harder in a way that doesn't alter the basic issue, which is usually just the notes. So, you make it faster - or if it's a run of straight quavers, you change them all to dotted quaver/semiquaver pairs - or you put accents on every other note - or you play two (or three, or four) identical notes on every note - or you add an octave leap after every note - or... well, you get the idea. After you've tried two or three harder versions of your passage, the original version is usually pretty easy when you go back to it. Now, although all the above variations of the technique work brilliantly on any instrument other than the voice, some of them would be a bit TOO hard for a singer... but making a fast passage faster works very well!)

After that, we sight-read a chorale, but we did so in silence. We were given the starting chord, and then everyone spent several minutes looking through their own part in their head - then we sang it without the chord being sounded again. It was pretty good, and again I think some people were surprised at the fact that they could do this. Self-confidence is a wonderful thing, isn't it? And when a whole choir has it at once - as I think we did on Wednesday - it's almost like a drug.

(Annoyingly, when we were given a few minutes to look through another section in silence, someone decided it'd be OK if they hummed their part. Argh. SO offputting! But it did make me realise that I hadn't mentioned "not humming" in my "how to sight-read" guide, so I've now amended it (and the downloadable version).)

The second section that we looked through in silence wasn't sight-reading - it was the middle section of "Toward the Unknown Region". New technique again, though - we looked through it, then we sang it, then anyone who had a question about it was encouraged to ask it, and all the questions were dealt with, and the relevant sections rehearsed. Then we split ourselves into three groups more or less at random, and after the tea break the three groups each performed the section, with comments from the listeners after each performance. It was REALLY interesting - not just the comments (and the discussion that followed some of them), but also watching and listening the rest of the choir performing. And performing to an audience consisting of other members of the choir - who all know the thing we're singing really well - feels very different to performing to anyone else. All in all, a very enlightening experience.

We finished off by doing the start and the end of the Vaughan Williams, but those bits are easy compared to the middle section. It's a very satisfying ending, though, and it was a perfect end to a really great rehearsal. Can't wait to do it with Mark (on Monday), with the orchestra (on Tuesday), and in a packed Bridgewater Hall (on Wednesday). Plus it's being shown live on the big screen in Exchange Square! So any of you who are reading this but aren't in the choir... you can see the concert free! Of course it's bound to rain :-)

(Oh, and if you're wondering where the title of this post came from, it's the first line of "Feeling Good", which I was rehearsing last night - my group is singing it (amongst other things) at the wedding next week. Can't wait!)

Then we burst forth; we float in time and space

I'm sure I'm not the only alto who's had that line on the brain for the last few days!

Lots of singing since I last posted. We've learned "Toward the Unknown Region" pretty thoroughly (two rehearsals and a sectional) and made a start on the St Matthew Passion. Also I had a fabulous rehearsal with my band, at which we learned three newly-arranged a cappella songs for my boss's wedding next week. (I'm particularly excited that, since the groom is in the RAF, he is getting married in uniform and there is to be a sword party!)

I don't have time to write properly about anything right now, but I have a load of links to post so I thought I'd get them out of the way.

Firstly, Bach mp3s (because I suspect we'll need a lot of practice!) I've decided to split these into categories rather than post them in order. The Passion Chorales, since you ask, are the five chorales that have the same tune (which is listed in hymn books as "Passion Chorale"). The first two have the same harmony (but in different keys) but the others are all totally different. I find it fascinating to compare them, which is why I've listed them together. Try playing the mp3s one after another and see how freaky the harmony gets!

Passion Chorales:

Passion Chorale 1: "Receive me, my Redeemer" - page 51
Passion Chorale 2: "Here would I stand beside Thee" - page 52
Passion Chorale 3: "Commit thy way to Jesus" - page 155
Passion Chorale 4: "O Sacred Head surrounded" - page 182
Passion Chorale 5: "Be near me, Lord, when dying" - page 211

Other chorales:

Chorale: "O blessed Jesu" - page 24
Chorale: "Tis I, whose sin hath bound thee" - page 43
Chorale: "O Father, let thy will be done" - page 75
Chorale: "How falsely doth the world accuse!" - page 122
Chorale: "O Lord, who dares to smite Thee?" - page 136
Chorale: "Lamb of God, I fall before Thee" - page 145
Chorale: "O wondrous love, this sacrifice to offer" - page 161

Choruses:

Chorus: "Come ye daughters" - page 1
Chorus: "Not upon the Feast" - page 26
Chorus: "To what purpose is this waste?" - page 28
Chorus: "Where wilt thou?" - page 39
Chorus: "O man, thy heavy sin lament" - page 99 (the difficult one at the end of part 1)
Chorus: "We bow our heads in tears and sorrow" - page 235

Solo movements with chorus bits:

Recitative with Chorus: "He said, go to such a man in the city" ("Lord, is it I?") - page 40
Tenor Recitative with Chorus: "O grief! how throbs His heavy-laden breast" ("O Saviour, why must all this ill befall Thee?") - page 54
Tenor Aria with Chorus: "I would beside my Lord be watching" ("And so our sin will fall asleep") - page 59
Soprano & Alto Duet with Chorus: "Behold, my Saviour now is taken" ("Loose Him!") - page 79
Alto Aria with Chorus: "Ah! now is my Saviour gone" (Whither is thy loved one gone?") - page 114
Recitative with Chorus: "And the High Priest answered and said unto him" ("He guilty is of death") - page 129
Recitative with Chorus: "And then with one accord did they spit on HIm" ("Now tell us") - page 132
Recitative with Chorus: "Simon Peter sat outside in the court" ("Surely thou also") - page 136
Recitative with Chorus: "Now when the morning came" ("But what is that to us?") - page 145
Recitative with Chorus: "Now, at that feast" ("Barrabas!") - page 156
Recitative with Chorus: "But they all cried out the more" ("Let Him be crucified") - page 166
Recitative with Chorus: "And then did the soldiers of the governor" ("Hail, hail, King") - page 179
Recitative with Chorus: "When they were come unto a place that is called Golgotha" ("Thou that destroyest") - page 189
Alto Aria with Chorus: "See Him! See the Saviour's outstretched arm!" ("Come where?") - page 202
Recitative with Chorus: "Now from the sixth hour" ("He calleth for Elias") - page 207
Recitative with Chorus: "And then, behold, the veil of the temple was rent" ("Truly this was the Son of God") - page 211
Recitative with Chorus: "And Joseph took the body" ("Sir, we remember") - page 223
Quartet with Chorus: "And now the Lord to rest is laid" ("Lord Jesu, fare Thee well") - page 231

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Other links, not in any particular order:

I watched a fascinating programme on BBC4 last night about the voice. If you missed it, it's repeated on Friday at 7.30pm. Nothing earthshatteringly new to anyone in the choir, but I think you'll find it interesting anyway. (There was another great programme on in the same slot last week, and I'm annoyed because I meant to post to tell you to watch the repeat of that too, but I didn't get round to it. But no doubt it will turn up again eventually - it was called "Soweto Strings", and not only was it interesting, it also very unexpectedly featured Mark Elder and the Hallé! It was all about the Buskaid charity. You'll remember that this is the fabulous group that performed with John Eliot Gardiner in my second-favourite Prom.)

All sorts of things in the press recently about the Hallé, what with the 150th anniversary fast approaching... MEN article, feature in the Telegraph, another one in the Independent, and the current issue of the BBC Music Magazine, which has Mark on the cover. Oh, and another Telegraph article which is not directly about the Hallé but mentions them in a great light.

Also, the choral administrator job has now been advertised.

News of an attack chorus in Portland, Oregon. This amuses me a lot! (Thanks to a cappella news for the link.)

A vegetable orchestra. No, I haven't heard it.

A lovely sentiment about being in a choir (scroll down to the bit about Haydn). (Thanks to ChoralBlog for the link.)

Someone raving about Beethoven's 7th Symphony (specifically the 2nd movement) being the best music ever.

Some programme notes for Toward the Unknown Region, (Thanks, Graham.)

A video of "We Saw The Sea", which was sung in this week's ladies' sectional. I just wish I could remember why!

And finally, just to be a bit cryptic, the answer to the question I keep being asked by members of the choir is "yes, of course I will, but I very much doubt anything will come of it." (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry, you're not missing much!)

Walk out with me toward the unknown region

Sorry for the long delay. It's all very well to have 10 concerts in a month, but all that singing doesn't leave much time for writing about it! And although it's true that it's a week and a half since the last concert, I seem to have spent most of that time either asleep or grumpy. I may still rant about choir-related stuff at some point, but not today - I want to get caught up with all the positive stuff!

First, before I forget, let me give you a couple of mp3s:

Vaughan Williams - Toward the Unknown Region
Shostakovich - Festive Overture

(and, since I haven't mentioned it for a while: if you still don't know how to save mp3s to your own computer, you need to right-click on the link (i.e. the underlined bit) and select "Save Target As..." (or "Download Linked File As..." or something else similar - depends which operating system you have) and then navigate to wherever on your computer you want to save it (in just the same way as you would save a word processing file).) (If you have a Mac with only one mouse button, you can right-click by holding down the "ctrl" key while clicking.)

Oh, and in other topical news, my online choir schedule is up to date. (Email me for the link if you don't have it.) Don't know whether the official one is - I haven't looked for ages.

I include the Shostakovich because it was such a fantastic intro to each of the carol concerts. I also have the Dance of the Tumblers but I need to convert the file before I can post it. But does anyone have an mp3 of the Walton "Winter Journey"?

As for the Vaughan Williams, that's what we'll be singing in our next concert, and I can't wait - we sang it briefly (but never performed it) during the last-but-one set of chorus master auditions (can that really be more than 10 years ago?!?), and I've been dying to do it properly ever since. Roll on next Wednesday! But first, back to Messiah....

The concert went well and there were a few bits I did really enjoy (I do invariably enjoy the *performances* of Messiah, it's the rehearsal period I can't stand). My highlight was of course "Hallelujah", which has always been my favourite bit, and this year (the first in a while) I was thrilled that the conductor DID allow the audience to choose for themselves whether to stand up, resulting in me being unable to sing the first couple of pages because of the lump in my throat. I also loved (as usual) all the trumpet bits, particularly Gareth's extra twiddles in the top octave, which I don't remember him doing before. Wow.

After Messiah we were into carols. A great programme this year, and I was particularly pleased that only *one* of the carols that always makes me angry was included, and it was the very last thing in each concert so I didn't spend much concert time being grumpy as a result. (Somewhat predictably, the bits of "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" that are wrong every year were STILL wrong, but it's unlikely they'll ever be right while the people who are singing the wrong notes do so from memory... If you're an alto who would like to get it right next year, though, please compare bars 13-16 with bars 45-48. They're not the same... but most people sing them as if they are! Argh!)

Highlight of the carol concerts was probably the Holst "Ave Maria", at least for me. I got quite angry at the 1st sops in choir 2 who seemed totally unable to get their last lead right. It wasn't the fact that they got it wrong that annoyed me so much as the fact that they got it wrong *so many times* - it wasn't exactly hard, and it just seemed that none of them cared enough to spend 2 minutes at home practising it. But they did get it in the end, and it was lovely by the last concert. My favorite bit, though, was a couple of bars later when the sops in choir 1 came in on a C and Eb... mmmmmmm. (Lots of the men said nice things about the Ave Maria - I wish I'd heard it as well as sung it!)

I did manage to make it to both Sunday concerts *and* go to the match at Old Trafford that finished at 1.55. I did have to miss the choir photo as a result, but it'll probably be more photogenic without me on it! I had to miss the warmup too - I'd thought I could get there for most of it, but that's before it was moved half an hour earlier. I felt quite warm enough after speed-walking from the ground to the hall, though, especially as I did a few tractors while walking along :-)

But I've missed a bit... the week before the carol concerts, we had a couple of Pleiades gigs, the highlight of which (for me) was when we sang Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody" in the Henry Watson Music Library, and I got to shout "IT'S CHRISTMAS!" at the top of my voice. I always do that bit, but it was only just before we got to it on that occasion that I realised I was going to have to shout in a library. This amused me far more than it should have! The previous day, we'd sung in the RNID offices, and we witnessed the sign language for both "ringa linga linga ding dong ding" and "you scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot" - both of which were funny, but neither of which came close to shouting in a library :p



(Oh, and that reminds me - did you all remember to check isitchristmas.com on Christmas day? Because I did, and I wasn't disappointed!)

Also, a few days before the carol concerts, I went back to Halifax to attend the carol service of the school I left at Easter. They have it in Halifax Parish Church, and it's a lovely occasion. I hadn't been back since I left, so this seemed like a good opportunity. (I'm annoyed now that I didn't get round to blogging at the time, because the concert was recorded by BBC Radio Leeds and broadcast on Christmas Eve, but it's a bit late to tell you that now!) I had a good sing - always satisfying to sing very confidently from the middle of a large congregation (don't worry, I was very well-behaved and didn't overdo it - in particular, I didn't attempt any of the descants, which is probably just as well considering the looks I got from the people in front of me when I gave into temptation at the end of the last carol concert and turned into a soprano for "Sing Choirs of Angels"!) But the most interesting part was their version of "The First Nowell". When it started, it sounded remarkably like Pachelbel's Canon, and it soon became apparent that we were to be treated to a 4/4 version of more or less the usual tune of "The First Nowell", amended very slightly so that it fitted the Pachelbel harmony. I groaned inwardly - but by the end I was totally sold. Not so much by the tune itself, but by the arrangement, which built very convincingly until all 4 parts were singing different tunes and the two solo violins were still playing the canon. It was lovely, and I'm cross that I totally missed my chance to record it from the radio.

They did at least sing all the proper descants - I wouldn't have sung them even if I'd known they were going to do that (this post is quite correct to warn of the dangers of singing descants if you're not in the choir) - but I'm glad they did. I really can't see the point of reinventing descants - they just sound wrong, and I have yet to hear one that was an improvement on the "traditional" one. That's the one feature of the King's College Service that I'd change. And, for that matter, does anyone know why the version they show on TV is never quite the same as the live version they play on the radio? As in, most of the readings and several of the carols are different? I don't get it. My highlight this year, though, was in both versions - John Rutter's "Dormi Jesu". I don't think I'd heard it before, and it was lovely. (Does anyone have an mp3 of it? EDIT: Terry sent me one - thanks, Terry!)

Anyway, I think that's all the Christmas-related comments for now. So, to finish, a few links I've been meaning to post:

Weird stories from the classical music world from 2007.

Wii Music is coming! If you've not tried a Wii, I do recommend it, it's great fun. But I'm not sure how this will work!

Reasons to sing - from The Sun of all places (via A Cappella News, though).

A plea to let people other than choirs sing carols.

Notes on Messiah from Harry Christophers (who was part of a recent Radio 4 programme in which he said many of the same things). Interesting.

Story of a row between two classical music groups.

And, non-musically: an addictive geography game. I could only get to level 10 but I was restrained and only tried once!

Concert cancelled due to waterlogged pitch

This is certainly a first for me. I was supposed to be singing for FC United this afternoon, but the game (at Gigg Lane) was postponed due to the pitch being unable to cope with all the rain. Probably just as well, because Alison currently can't speak above a whisper, and without her our repertoire is rather restricted. (She can't do Messiah tomorrow either, which makes my transport arrangements quite a bit more complicated, since the first train into town on a Sunday for me doesn't arrive till 1001 - assuming it's on time - and the last one home leaves at 2215. The latter would be OK for any concert other than Messiah, but as it is the only way I can get home involves getting a taxi for the last part of the journey. Do you think the HCS will reimburse me? No, I don't either, which is why I won't also be getting a taxi in time to get there for the start of the rehearsal, I'm afraid - I'll just have to be late!)

I'm not particularly looking forward to Messiah - I haven't for years - and I'll explain why in a minute. So if you're one of the people who loves it above all other concerts (i.e. the majority of the choir, as far as I can tell), you may wish to stop reading at that point, as I'm unlikely to say anything you'll agree with. In fact, you should probably ALL stop reading immediately, as I'm only going to whinge. I've been angry at just about everything lately (not just choir-related things, although lots of them are) - I suspect lots of it is to do with having too much to do. (The cancellation of today's gig was a disappointment, but it's been lovely to have a day when I didn't have to leave the house - first one in several weeks. I should have been at Old Trafford but I'd already given my ticket away. So I'm currently well-rested and in a much better mood than I *was*!)

For example, things I did on Wednesday night/early Thursday morning after returning from choir: 1. Wrote out the music for "Fairytale of New York" so that when we sing it there is no uncertainty over how the tune goes; 2. Amended the guitar chord sheet for "Merry Christmas Everyone" so that it involves a capo and hence is in G major going into A major rather than A major going into B major; 3. Spent a while considering (and then typing out) set lists for today's gig (which turned out, the next day, to have been a waste of time, because the organiser had changed his mind about what he wanted); 4. Amending the lyric sheet for "Do They Know It's Christmas" to clarify who sings which line, because our personnel has changed since the last time we performed it; 5. Printed out all the above and sorted the copies into a pile for each person; 6. Put my folder in order as per set lists in step 3 (again, this turned out to be a waste of time even BEFORE the gig was cancelled).

I didn't get to bed till 4am and had to be up again at 7 - and then I was late for work anyway because Northern Rail cancelled my train. So my bad mood wasn't shifting any time soon. I could continue telling you what else went wrong that day but you get the picture! And if you're wondering why I didn't start the above tasks *before* 11pm on Wednesday, that's because that's the first chance I'd had since Sunday's gig at which the need for most of them became apparent.

A few links before I tell you the stuff I forgot about the Verdi Requiem and then rant about Messiah...

Via ChoralBlog, the fabulous Stubby Symphony. (Don't worry about the "Are you over 18?" question - it's only because alcohol is involved, there's nothing rude.)

From Barbara: Songs of Praise with subtitles.

A possible reason for vocal problems - too many bones!

Hands up who knew that Roy Goodman (this year's Messiah conductor) was the boy treble soloist on the famous recording of Allegri's Miserere? Well, now you do!

Some fabulous photos of the London trip from Martin, one of our new basses. (Who I think is the kind gentleman who brought me a copy of Carols for Choirs 4 - am I right? Thank you, anyway - it was most useful and saved a lot of photocopying!)

So, the Verdi Requiem PS (i.e. the bits I meant to say the other day but forgot). I enjoyed the Manchester concert far more than the London one (well, except for the amazing echoes). This was mainly because of the different personnel involved. The London Symphony Chorus sang with us in both concerts, and they seemed very well rehearsed and blended well with us. However, in London (but not Manchester) there was another choir too, which I won't name, because of what I'm about to say... which is that they ruined it for me.

Quite apart from the red sash element (which I'm STILL furious about), they just didn't enhance the performance, and the ones who were near me (male altos) actually detracted from it. For a start, they refused to join in the warm-up, saying "we warmed up at 6 this morning". This was at 1.15 pm... They didn't seem to have any of the breaths etc. in their scores, and seemed quite surprised at the roving in the Dies Irae etc. Then, their voices just didn't blend. I didn't really expect they would, but it was far worse than I feared - they pronounced all their words with extremely clear English consonants and vowels. For example, they were very careful to enunciate both Ts in "et tibi". I found this really demoralising - we worked so hard to get the Italian pronunciation in place, and it was ruined by these people. (And even when the instruction to make the Ts Italian was repeated several times during the rehearsal, they still ignored it!) On top of all this, one of them, who was leading on a row, decided to ignore the instruction he'd just been given about walking to the middle of the stage before going up to his row, and cut straight across - with the result that everyone behind him did the same, and it looked awful. And then the last straw was when I noticed they had no folders!

Anyway, in Manchester it was just us and the LSC, and it was much better. The trumpets were spectacular again (I was sad they didn't get a bow at the end, but I expect they were in the pub long before that) and I could see them much better this time. The bit when they pointed their bells to the roof and blasted out the Ab minor arpeggios... WOW.

Oh, and Amy and I were amused at the idea of Mark quoting titles of Take That songs. We got this idea because of the trumpet bit having been used in Never Forget, and then he said something about having Patience, and shortly after he advised someone to Pray. There was scope for so many more - he could easily have worked in Shine, or Sure, or It Only Takes A Minute, or Everything Changes, or even Could It Be Magic... but he stopped!

And finally, Messiah, a.k.a. "the piece I'm most heartily sick of above all others". I was going to write something about its good bits but I can't summon the enthusiasm. I did realise the other day that if I was asked to list my top 10 works we've ever sung, Messiah wouldn't even make the Top 10. And I used to love it - I've just been put off it by the experiences of the last few years. I've only enjoyed it once in all the times I've done it with the Hallé, and that was the year Jamie conducted it and we did the last bit from memory. Now THAT was something special. But every other year... meh.

It's not particularly the fault of any of the conductors. Most of them have had all sorts of interesting ideas - some I've liked, some I've hated, but at least they tried to do something different. What I hate is the way the choir is when it's Messiah. For so many people it's their favourite piece, at least partly because they know it so well. But the trouble is that because we only rehearse it for a very short time, people aren't confident enough to look up from their scores, so they sing it on autopilot and never leave their comfort zone. I'm bitter about the fact that we didn't build on the doing-the-end-from-memory year - we should be doing it ALL from memory by now. That's the only way people would respond properly. The guest conductors are quite happy because they get a very competent performance - but they don't hear how much BETTER we can be! To me, when we sing Messiah, it feels as if we've slipped back several years.

I don't think I'm explaining myself very clearly, so I'm going to try to illustrate my point with another example from Wednesday's rehearsal. In the warmup, Maggie asked us to sing "Joy to the World", and explained that this was because of the fact that it has a descending scale followed by half an ascending scale, followed by similar patterns, and she wanted us to think about pivot points and tuning the top and bottom notes. But what happened? At least half the choir sang the HARMONY parts that they know so well, thus TOTALLY MISSING THE POINT OF THE EXERCISE.

And it got worse. She then asked us to finish with "Ding Dong Merrily On High", explaining that this was so that we got to practise a big sweeping "Gloria" which would help with the runs in Messiah. The choir knows this carol better than any other, so needless to say 90% of the altos, tenors and basses sang their well-known harmony parts instead of the tune - and therefore wasted the exercise, because they didn't get to sing a run at all.

This is what I mean by hating the way the choir is when it's singing Messiah. Far too many people forget how fantastically they can sing, and ignore the work they've done over the past few years, preferring to lapse into "we like this because we know it". And I HATE it. I'd be quite happy if we didn't do Messiah again for at least 5 years. Or if we have to - and I imagine TPTB will say we do, for financial reasons - at least insist that it's from memory. Or do SOMETHING to shake people out of the choral society mentality they slip into at this time of year.

I imagine that lots of people will love this year's performance due to the fact that it's the most traditional one I remember. There are two things that please me about that, actually: one is that it's a female alto soloist rather than a male (well, actually it's a mezzo, but we can't have everything) and the other is that HOPEFULLY he will allow the audience to decide for themselves if and when to stand for "Hallelujah". That's my favourite moment of the whole piece, and I hate it when conductors spoil it by giving a signal. It's just not the same!

Anyway, maybe I'll be wrong and the choir will sing as well tomorrow as they did last Saturday. Fingers crossed :-)

"A mega-choir of magisterial power..."

... that's us! (says The Guardian). The Manchester Evening News loved us too - particularly pleasing given that they often don't mention our presence at all!

I had several things to say about Saturday, but I can't remember them right now - they're written in my score, which is downstairs. So, maybe tomorrow. But I will report that (a) it was good; (b) Mark's soloists' curse struck again! Amanda Roocroft caught a cold (so no wonder she couldn't sing that top Bb) and this time Claire Rutter stepped in - at such short notice that she didn't make it till the end of the rehearsal! A very different voice to Amanda Roocroft, but she got the job done pretty spectacularly... including the top Bb, for which I love her!

One thing I do remember I was going to post.... about Messiah. Lots more to come on this topic, but since Wednesday is the only rehearsal before we meet the conductor and I know there are some people who've never sung it before, here are the ones you most need to look at:

And He Shall Purify
For Unto Us a Child is Born
His Yoke is Bloomin' Difficult
All we like sheep have gone astray... a LOT
Let us break their bonds

(Which reminds me... a belated but huge thank you to the several people who told me that they wouldn't have survived the Sibelius gigs without my mp3s. I love to feel useful!)

Finally, a couple of new choir blogs for you to investigate: Podium Speak and Choral Music Resource. Both found via From the Front of the Choir (which I thought I'd linked to before, but maybe I haven't) although the post that led me there was on ChoralBlog. Several of these bloggers seem to think there are no other choir blogs of note, but if I google "choir blog", mine is the first result... so either they haven't looked very hard or they don't think I'm worthy of note (a feeling I'm getting from lots of people, particularly employers, at the moment!)

And finally finally, something weird for you to mull over - the colour-blind synaesthete. It makes my brain hurt just thinking about it!

EDIT: I almost forgot. If there is anyone - that I haven't already asked - that has a copy of Carols for Choirs 4 (the soprano & alto one), I would love to borrow it if you don't need it for the next week or two, please. (I have 3 copies but I need 4.) Thanks!

Mind... the gap

There were lots of extra-long gaps during Thursday's St Paul's gig. This was due to Mark Elder allowing the amazing echoes to continue uninterrupted until they died down. The sound really had to be heard to be believed - in the gap after the trumpety section, I found myself crying in delight!

All sorts of minor things went wrong on the day - many of them didn't affect me, as I'd gone down on the train the previous day (it only cost £12.50!) and was staying with a friend. So I didn't have to wake up in the middle of the night to make it to the coach, and I wasn't an hour late for the rehearsal like most of the choir (and orchestra) who were delayed by a big accident on the motorway. (So many people were affected that Mark delayed the rehearsal until they arrived.) And I was able to spend the gap between rehearsal and concert having some food and going to visit St Pancras (you should all go if you get the chance - it's fantastic! Very Narnia-like!) rather than being stuck on a coach that got lost between St Paul's and the Barbican.

(I also went to see the crack in the floor at Tate Modern in the morning, but it's very underwhelming. Don't go out of your way. But I was very excited to be able to use my Oyster card when travelling round. I ordered it when I went down for the Cup Final but it didn't arrive in time. But I used it for the past three days - it saved a HUGE amount of time, plus it's cheaper! If you ever go to London and you haven't got one, I recommend you investigate.)

Mark's usual soloist curse struck again, and this time it was the soprano who'd had to pull out. But she was replaced by Amanda Roocroft, which was an impressive coup (even I've heard of her!) She was great, too, although she did miss out my favourite note in the whole piece (the ppp top Bb). Hopefully by tonight she'll have had time to practise it - she wouldn't have had much notice by Thursday, and it's not exactly an easy note to sing. We loved what she did in the rehearsal when she did the scale rising to the top C though - she kind of marched on the spot as she went up to it, and as she hit it she flung her arm out in a triumphant gesture. Disappointingly she didn't do that in the performance! All the soloists were great, though. Mikhail Petrenko is still my favourite :-)

Oh, and also, she wore a gorgeous green and red dress. And the St Paul's choristers who were scattered through the choir wore their usual uniform of black cassocks with wide red sashes. Choir members (particularly the ladies) will realise the significance of these two facts - I will say no more here.

The trumpets were definitely the things that will stay in my memory longest. They were authentic period instruments borrowed from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and they sounded AMAZING. When they were practising while we waited for the coaches to arrive, it was great. Turned out they were in the Whispering Gallery for the echo bit, and they came down to the side of the stage for the loud bit. Can't wait to hear them again tonight, but the sound they made in St Paul's will stay with me for a while.

That weird instrument that was playing the tuba part is a cimbasso, by the way. (No, I didn't know either - I lookd it up!) Lots more info in the Cimbasso Page.

I'm sure there was more I meant to write, but I've forgotten it - it'll come back to me after tonight, I assume. (Feature in the MEN if you're interested.) Must go out now though.

Is it Christmas?

My new favourite website will tell you!

It certainly feels like Christmas. Last night I sang in the first of 11 concerts in a month. That only happens at Christmas! I was helping out Sotto Voce at an interesting concert in Sale. I say "interesting" because the programme consisted entirely of music by two composers, both of whom were present and took part in the concert - one conducted the choir and one played the organ. I don't think I've ever been in any other concert where this was the case! The music was much more tuneful than you might expect from modern composers, but it was quite difficult. However, I thought the concert went pretty well. (I always enjoy singing with Sotto Voce but it's very tiring because they rehearse at the opposite side of Manchester to me, so I don't get home till midnight. For that reason only, I'm relieved that the project is now over. Now I can concentrate on the remaining 10 concerts I have before Christmas!)

(In case you're wondering... Verdi Req 29th Nov and 1st Dec; Pleiades at a community Christmas fair on 2nd Dec; Pleiades at FC United on 8th Dec; Messiah on 9th Dec; Pleiades at Henry Watson Music Library on 15th Dec; carol concerts on 21st, 22nd and 23rd Dec (x2).)

The Verdi is going to be fun. Wednesday's rehearsal did indeed start with the Sanctus as I predicted, and everything feels pretty secure now. Mind you, the altos were somewhat unimpressed to be told, at one point, that it wouldn't make any difference whatsoever whether we sang or not. I feel a challenge, ladies! (For anyone who missed the moment in question, it referred to the bit in the Tuba Mirum where we've supported the tenors in the past.) Pity the rehearsal was followed by England's exit from Euro 2008 - we had a very tense drive home listening to the end of the match on the radio, and I imagine we weren't the only ones.

Which reminds me - I presume everyone has received the message that Tuesday's rehearsal has been moved to the BBC? Please also note that Man Utd are at home that night - Sporting Lisbon are in town, so expect to be delayed by Portuguese traffic :p (The third consecutive home game I'm missing due to choir. I'm not impressed!)

Oh, and another football-related thing (thanks to Despina for this): apparently the guy who sang the anthems at Wembley on Wednesday wasn't perfect in his Croatian....

NIce review of the whole Sibelius cycle in the MEN. They particularly praise the Youth Choir, but they liked the men too. I guess the ladies' efforts at Finnish made no impact! We'll have to quadruple our efforts for the Verdi... see if we can get a reviewer to acknowledge our existence!

Five Years Gone

The episode of Heroes that's on BBC2 tonight ("Five Years Gone") is probably my favourite of all of them, so don't miss it! I was reminded the other day that I haven't mentioned Heroes for a while, when someone who I thought read this blog asked me if I ever watched it.... The number of readers has plummeted since the events of the summer - probably at least partially because so many people used to come here from the link on my website, which I had to remove. But there are still one or two people reading, because some of them have asked me stuff recently, so I thought I'd do a quick post to answer questions and share stuff.

Most urgently, the Radio 4 programme mentioned during last night's rehearsal is Tracing Your Roots, and it's at 1.30 pm today (Wednesday). If you read this after that, you should be able to hear it online for the next week.

The Verdi mp3s that I posted were in this post, where I also mentioned some of my favourite features of the Requiem (other than THE WHOLE THING!); and the list of interesting things to circle in your score was in this post. I was asked tonight to explain how to download the mp3s so that they are saved on your own PC (and can then be put on a CD). Assuming you're using a PC and not a Mac, here's how: right-click on the link (i.e. the underlined bit). A small menu should pop up, which should include the option "save target as..." (or something similar like "download linked file" etc.) Select that option, and a dialogue window will appear to let you specify where to save the file and what to call it (just like when you save anything any other time). (If you're using a Mac and you have a mouse with only one button, just hold down the "ctrl" key when clicking the link - this has the same effect as right-clicking.) (Note that if you can see the "save target as..." option but you can't select it, you may have your security set too high - try turning off the content advisor.)

And, finally... notes on "Behold the Lamb of God" (in Messiah) - at least one person wants to know specifically what the changes are, so maybe others might need this too. Hmmm.... I really must do some rubbing out - I can't remember which markings are this year's and which are old ones! But I *think* this year's version (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) is: "Behold" starts with a SEMIQUAVER upbeat every time it comes. "The sin" = quaver upbeat. "That taketh" = quaver. "The Lamb" (bar 16-17) = quaver. And finally, the alternative editorial rhythms (e.g. bar 20)... I'm not sure which ones are in and which are out! I have conflicting marks. Can anyone help?

For those who missed last night's rehearsal, it was great, but then we were doing my favourite piece. Slight shock when we (altos and basses) were asked to do some roving in the famous loud bit of the Dies Irae - the one bit everyone knew, and suddenly we don't any more! Oh well, no doubt we'll get the hang of it. Other than that, we spent most of the rehearsal, somewhat predictably, on the Libera Me, but since that's my favourite bit I was quite happy! We also did a bit on the Sanctus, but no doubt there will be more tomorrow. See you then!

Choir Wars

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. This can't be good.

While I'm doing links, there's an email doing the rounds that claims that Mama Cass's vocal range increased when she was hit on the head by a pipe. It's not true! And, while we're on the subject, can I please implore you all to bookmark Snopes? Then, next time someone sends you one of those emails that says "warning from Microsoft, forward this to everyone you know!" you can be the one who points out that it's a hoax, rather than one of the many who just look stupid because they believed it. 99% of such emails are hoaxes - trust me on this.

Anyway, Sunday night was our Sibelius gig, and it went really well. Even the bits where the sopranos kept going flat (whoever else kept being accused, it sounded like the sopranos to me - sorry, sops) stayed in tune. Only one review so far, in the Telegraph, and they seemed to like it. Well, they liked the choir... they liked the 4th symphony more than the 5th, which seems amazing to me - I love the 5th a lot, and Sunday's performance satisfied me. (Unlike that one in the Proms this summer, which I was very disappointed with even though the reviews all disagreed with me.) It's true that the 4th was played very well on Sunday (hey, it's the Hallé Orchestra, they don't often play badly!) but it's just not a listener-friendly piece....

A colleague who works in my office came to the concert and she loved it - and she liked the a cappella songs the best. And a guy from my sailing club (who goes to all the Hallé concerts) rang me up tonight to tell me how much he enjoyed the choral parts of the concert. And, actually, it seemed to me that the a cappella songs got the best reaction from the audience - there were whoops! If I'd seen any of the Youth Choir there I'd have assumed it was them, but I didn't see any of them.

Open rehearsal for the Verdi tomorrow, which will be fun. I'm really sad we're not doing the Classical Spectacular again this year, though. It's depressing to see posters ALL OVER TOWN for something that we used to be in every year. Which of our other events are advertised that heavily? None of them. There are still people I know who go to the Classical Spectacular and not to any other concert. My own MOTHER isn't coming to Messiah because it's the same weekend as the Classical Spectacular, which she wouldn't dream of missing. Oh well.

But our Proms Gerontius is on Radio 3 again on Thursday!

My land is strawberry

This picture is from the link I posted about the Finnish proverb, but I thought I'd make it a bit more prominent because not many people clicked on the link and I think it's really pretty!

This week it's Sibelius all the way. The men have their Origin of Fire concert tonight, and tomorrow it's the whole choir for Oma Maa and the 4 a cappella songs. (All the Sibelius concerts are billed under the title "Origin of Fire", which is a bit confusing, but it's tonight's that features that actual work.) We had the orchestral rehearsal last night, and it doesn't sound too bad at all. The men sounded spectacular in the Origin of Fire - although they were very behind at times, but they usually get better at that by the actual performance. At least they did eventually manage to all stand up together! And the Finnish soloist reported that he could understand every word they sang :-)

Oma Maa is much yummier with the orchestra, but I like the a cappella songs the best (which we rehearsed in the Bridgewater Hall foyer last night! That was a first!) I think my favourite is Min Rastas - especially the men's bit on the first page - but they're all lovely. Carolina the Finnish language coach (at least I think that's her name) told us that Sydameni Laulu is much loved in Finland - it's about the death of a child, but was sung at Sibelius's funeral as his coffin was lowered into the ground.

We spent a lot of time on the a cappella songs on Wednesday too, but we also did a bit of Messiah - this was planned, but I didn't think it would actually happen! There was the first batch of new markings (these particular ones clarified which notes in Behold the Lamb of God are quavers and which are semiquavers - it changes every year!) and we also sang through a couple of choruses that aren't as familiar as the others (because they're often cut) but are in this year's performance: But Thanks be to God and Let All The Angels of God Worship Him.

And next week it's VERDI! I can't wait. But before that, here are a few links.

There are posters all over the trams reminding people that there are no trams going through St Peter's Square for a few hours tomorrow. People who are going into town early before the rehearsal may find this useful to know. (Oddly enough there is no mention of it on the actual Metrolink website, but nothing they do surprises me. I wrote to them a few weeks ago with some questions and comments, and have had no response.)

A Guardian blog story about Sibelius performances in general.

Another Guardian story, this time about a rediscovered Requiem by John Foulds. EDIT: And I just saw a BBC news story about an even more unlikely Requiem!

News of a new music research centre at the University of Manchester.

News of restricted bits of St Paul's being opened up. Sadly I doubt it'll be in the next 3 weeks!

Have you seen the new Guinness advert with the dominos?

You know I love great footballing names? Well, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink is still my favourite, but recently I discovered one almost as good - Danny Invincible! What a great name! He's Australian and he plays for Kilmarnock. (His actual name is Daniele Invincibile, but all the commentators say "Danny Invincible".) I will watch his career with interest!

Finally, keep an eye on the sky - there are great astronomical things going on! For details, have a look at my Astronomical Notes page (this is part of a website I put together for a school I used to work at, and because several of them still look at it, I update it when I remember). Currently there are 4 planets easily visible, plus a comet! (Here's a diagram of exactly where the comet is, but it won't mean much to you unless you already know how to find Cassiopeia etc.)

Kansalliskuorolle kiitollisuudella omistettu

This fabulous phrase appears above the title of Oma Maa. I've been wondering what it meant ever since I first noticed it. Tonight I finally got round to doing a bit of googling. I can tell you that the middle word appears to mean "gratefully" or "with thanks", but I got nowhere with the other two. However, I assume it's just a dedication rather than anything more interesting.

It was the Sibelius piano rehearsal tonight. It was an awful lot better than many of us expected it to be - either people had done some homework, or Mark inspired them, or both! It was all a bit behind the beat, but no doubt it will get better as the words become second nature. (Personally, I'm finding it VERY hard to say "yön" or "yöt" without the y, but I'll get there. At least I know how to say that one in theory - there are still a few sounds I don't think I've been told about!)

I think I need to mutter Finnish to myself for the next week and a half. (Luckily everyone already thinks I'm weird...) If you want to see the words on their own, try this Finnish wiki page. Oh, and while I was looking for that, I also found this, about a Finnish proverb. Pretty!

EDIT: I noticed that the words on that wiki page don't all correspond to our version, so here's an accurate version for you to download. (That's the alto line, but I'm sure others can edit it if they need to.) I had it by my desk at work today and found myself muttering "Raittihit talviset säät". Bits of it are starting to stick!

Some memorable moments of the rehearsal were: the Finnish language coach (I *still* haven't caught her name) illustrating how we should sing page 6 as if we were shivering in snow at -20 degrees; Mark telling us that every house in Finland has a ladder built onto the side of it so that people can easily climb onto the roof to remove snow; the fact that I sat next to Adam from the youth choir, who allowed me to grumble at him about life in general, knew who I was as soon as I told him my name, and said nice things about this blog! Oh, and best of all - the ladies got an early night! I don't think I was the only one who failed to put two and two together and work out that the men also had to rehearse The Origin of Fire tonight. Whee!

2nd EDIT: Someone at work today showed me the Man Cold clip, which amused me a lot :-)

"The mood is right... The spirit's up... We're here tonight... And that's enough!"

I imagine I'm not the only one who's already rehearsing Christmas stuff. My band is taking part in the Henry Watson music library's Christmas Music Day on 15th December, so it's sleigh bells all the way till then! Last week I did a new a cappella arrangement of "Wonderful Christmas Time" (which is where the title of this comes from). I'd planned to save a bit of time by adapting parts of the Youth Choir arrangement that we all enjoyed so much (I bet I'm not the only one who surreptitiously photocopied it!) but then I realised that it omitted some of my favourite bits (like the intro!) so I started from scratch. I was delighted to find that it worked perfectly first time, although I'm not sure whether or not we'll include it at the Henry Watson. But I've had it on the brain ever since.

Sorry for the gap in posting. Since I can no longer write about the most entertaining aspect of choir rehearsals, it's hard to get motivated to write at all. But I seem to have accumulated a few links to share, so here you are!

I've just updated my online choir schedule to reflect recent changes. There are several football fixture changes too, for those who like to know about such things. I'm unimpressed that I can't go to any of United's home games in November - 7th and 27th clash with choir, and the game on 10th (which I could have gone to) has now been moved to 11th (when I can't). Argh. Although, I suppose it balances out, because they've also moved a game from 1st December (when I couldn't go) to 3rd (when I can). And I was alarmed to find they'd moved one from 22nd December (which was easy) to 23rd (which is a day featuring 2 concerts). But it's a 12 noon kickoff, so I reckoned I could still go to that *and* make the 3pm concert, if I could get from my seat at Old Trafford to the Bridgewater Hall in less than an hour. I knew it'd be more or less impossible by tram or bus or car (if I had one) so it came down to whether or not I could walk it in that time. So I tried yesterday. The players left the pitch (and I left my seat) at 4.55pm, and I reached the Hall at 5.40. Easy!

I had a couple of unexpected emails this week. The first says "Hi - is the expression 'Halle racket' anything to do with the choir?" to which I replied "Not as far as I know - I have to admit I've never heard the expression, and I've been in the choir for 14 years! I'll ask around though. Where did you hear this expression?" and received the response "It is a very common expression used to describe a great noise, in a respectful way. I was told many years ago that it came from either the Halle Choir or the Halle Orchestra." ... Is it just me that's NEVER heard this expression? I googled it and found nothing. I also asked a few people, and none of them had ever heard of it either. We did wonder whether she'd got it muddled with "hell of a racket".... any other suggestions?

Other unexpected email, which I can only imagine he intended me to mention here (although he didn't say so): "I'm contacting you regarding our forthcoming BBC1 Saturday night primetime television series 'The Ultimate Tribute' - hosted by Graham Norton. We are looking for singers for this new talent show, who think they have what it takes to be transformed into a successful tribute artist for a number of musical icons. And the stakes are high - with a performance contract in Las Vegas for the winner! Auditions will be held around the country from November 2nd 2007. We are looking for both amateur and professional performers around the country - so anyone who may feel that they have a talent can apply to come along and audition. There's not long until auditions, so people who are interested must get in touch soon! Deadline for applications is midnight on Thursday 1st November 2007. More information can be found here. Should you have any further queries, you can contact me on: 020 8222 4786." (I should add, for people who like this sort of thing, that you can also audition for Big Brother soon...)

And one more thing I've been meaning to mention for ages: I heard on the Guardian Unlimited Football Weekly podcast (which I highly recommend to any footy fans) that the Spanish word "cantar" not only means "to sing" (as you'd expect) but also "to make a goalkeeping error". So a few weeks ago, they said, there were lots of headlines in Spain comparing a certain goalie to Pavarotti, because he had a nightmare of a game. However, I can't find anything to back this up - can any of you confirm or deny?

So, finally, those links I promised.

The BBC Phil did The Planets without us! I'm unimpressed. I wonder if we were even asked? We could easily have squeezed it in.

For Harry Potter fans: the Leaky Cauldron has a page where they're summarising all the info released by J.K. Rowling since book 7 came out. They're a little bit behind but they're always very industrious so I'm sure they'll get caught up soon.

Here's a link to a YouTube video that the Guardian blog called the greatest of all time. See if you agree.

Recently I discovered the existence of a company called Big Wilf's Bell Muffles (Big Wilf himself emailed me at work). I found the FAQ - and, in fact, the very existence of the company - totally fascinating! Do have a read.

Also work-related: I discovered an online British Sign Language dictionary (with videos). (It works on mobile phones too.) From this, I discovered the sign for "sing", which amused me greatly!

FreeRice is a vocabulary game (for a good cause) that's far too addictive. Hint: don't waste time, like I did, trying to get higher than a vocab level of 50 - you can't!

We're getting a new Santa on top of the Town Hall this year. About time... although it's never been quite the same since we had the old Santa climbing up the tower and his reindeer on the roof, in my opinion.

Have any of you noticed the huge poster on the side of the Palace Theatre and exclaimed "That CAN'T be David Essex!" Well, apparently there is some discussion going on about how large he is, too...

Kent Nagano's been upsetting his choir in Canada. I can just imagine it - "If only you were as good as that choir I used to work with in Manchester!"

And finally, I'm sure that we all wish Russell Watson a speedy recovery.

ASBOs for strings

I'm sure everyone must have heard about the Hallé noise nuisances. Thanks to the many people who emailed or texted me about this story. I actually first saw it when I went out yesterday lunchtime and saw the word Hallé plastered across all the Manchester Evening News billboards. I don't normally pick up free papers (it seems such a waste of trees when I read all my news online) but on this occasion I did. I'll be interested to see what happens, but in the meantime I imagine the Hallé are secretly delighted at the free publicity!

(I was on my way back from Office Angels, who not only found me a great temp job half a day after I'd registered (particularly good since the first temp agency I'd approached had turned me away), but they very unexpectedly sent me a birthday card (it was my birthday yesterday, and their card was actually the only one I received on time due to the postal strike, so I was doubly delighted!) Then, to impress me even further, they happened to choose yesterday to put on one of their regular free lunches for their temps. So I'm very happy to give them some free publicity here!)

I'm currently watching England hammer Estonia - 3-0 up so far, with little over half an hour gone. The anthems were sung by an Estonian singer called Hannah, who has a very low voice - she sang the English national anthem down the octave, which I've never heard a female singer do before. (The Estonian anthem was very low too, but maybe it always is!)

Not much to report from choir this week - we didn't see the men because they were off doing Brahms (I'd be interested to hear how that went) so we did a bit of Sibelius with Jamie and then a lot of Holst with Fanny and David. We rehearsed altos and sopranos separately for a while, and there were some very strange noises coming from the sops when they came back, but they improved rapidly, and by the end of the rehearsal, when we were together to run the Holst, it sounded pretty good. I've had it on the brain since.

Anyway, it occurred to me that there are still some bits of Sibelius I haven't posted, so here's all of it again plus the new bits. Many thanks to Graham and Terry for supplying the mp3s.

EDIT: Some of the links weren't working. They're fixed now, but you may still get a 404 error the first time you try. If so, try hitting refresh and it should work.

Choral songs:
Sibelius - Saarella
Sibelius - Venematka (slow version)
Sibelius - Venematka (fast version)
Sibelius - Min Rastas
Sibelius - Sydameni laulu

With orchestra:
Sibelius - Origin of Fire (original version)
Sibelius - Origin of Fire (revised version)
Sibelius - Origin of Fire (choral bit only)
Sibelius - Oma Maa

And, in case anyone missed it last time I posted it:
Holst - Ave Maria

To finish, a pretty picture. (If you don't already have Astronomy Picture of the Day bookmarked, I suggest you do!) This isn't actually Finland, but it's how I imagine Finland to be. Maybe one day I'll go there and all my illusions will be shattered!

Urhoin or yö?

I can't decide which is my favourite Finnish word. It's one of these two. "Urhoin" means "hero" or "brave" or something like that, and has what was described as a "character-giving r". "Yö" means "night" and is the sound everyone seemed to most enjoy making - I certainly did!

We finally met our Finnish language coach on Wednesday, you see, and she was very nice. Sadly I've forgotten her name - can anyone remind me? She spent the second half of the rehearsal telling us how to pronounce the words of Oma Maa. It's not actually as hard as it looks - once it had all been explained, I found it much harder to find the words on the page (see last post for explanation) than to remember how to say them. Anyway, it's nice to be able to add another language to the list of those I can claim to be able to read. That's quite a long list - must write it down sometime! (With the proviso, of course, that I may not actually REMEMBER how to pronounce, say, Hungarian, even though we only did it a year ago.)

That was just the second half of the rehearsal - the first half was spent in sectionals, with the ladies learning Holst's 8-part Ave Maria with David while the men went off to polish the Brahms with Jamie. The Holst was very lovely - and not that hard - although I got more and more irritated by the fact that a large number of people didn't seem to know the meaning of pp, sotto voce or senza crescendo. Argh. But no doubt they'll catch on eventually.

And I've just realised I haven't posted since our first gig of the season, the Eric Chadwick Memorial Concert in Salford. That went really well despite our numbers being very depleted - Komm Jesu Komm was possibly the best it's ever been, although the audience (predictably) seemed to prefer the Hallelujah Chorus. But that was good too :-) Plus, I was excited to notice that the tenor part of Onward Christian Soldiers starts the same as the tune, except with the two phrases reversed. I've never spotted that before! Sadly no-one else seemed as interested as me :p

Anyway, I seem to have accumulated a load of links I've been saving to post. That'll teach me to leave it for nearly two weeks! These aren't in any particular order....

Lucky Voice Pods in Tiger Tiger - the new variation on karaoke. Has anyone tried this?

G sharp is the hardest note to identify, allegedly. I'm not convinced by the explanation either.

An interesting article about how they get the fireworks to explode in time with the music at outdoor gigs.

An article about a choir of Russian monks.

A very strange set of Gilbert and Sullivan comics.

It seems Mozart wrote something very rude. I'd never heard of this before.

A useful A-Z guide to Wagner's Ring cycle.

Iggy Pop's extremely long and detailed (and funny) rider (i.e. what his requirements are when he comes to do a concert).

A review of the opening Hallé concert of the season. (I'm quite taken by the reference to the Elder Wand! But you know I love Harry Potter.)

Talking of Harry Potter, Fred and George Weasley are coming to the Bridgewater Hall!

An article investigating why Sibelius wrote nothing in the last 30 years of his life.

Is there anyone else who's baffled about why they're having swimming championships in the MEN Arena next year, when we have a perfectly good Olympic-standard pool at the Manchester Aquatics Centre?

Some of you might be interested by this video on writing fugues. The narration is irritating, because they did THAT like a fugue too, which means that for most of it you can't understand a word... but the fugue itself is clever, and the only one I've ever seen that's based on a Britney Spears song! If you don't really understand how a fugue works, this might help. (The "Der Saure Weg" section of Komm Jesu Komm is the most recent fugue we've sung, in case you were wondering. Also, the Sanctus and Libera Me sections of Verdi's Requiem both have fugues.)

Sadly Manchester Cathedral has had a stained-glass window smashed by vandals. I just can't begin to understand the mindset of someone who would do that.

English National Opera's new production of Carmen is not receiving as much praise as they might have hoped.

An interesting story about what the Hallé marketing director does at concerts!

An analysis of the theme from Some Mothers Do 'Ave "em. I never realised it was based on Morse code!

And, finally, more details on the Manchester Boys Choir story that I mentioned last time.

Oh, and I almost forgot... the Finnish word that's the one most commonly used in English is indeed SAUNA. Well done, the anonymous person who guessed that (or looked it up on Wikipedia like I did!)