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 :-)
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
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6 comments:
I wish we would start the Beethoven, I will find it easier to learn if I hear it a couple of times. Yes I know unbelievable but I haven't ever sung it! What a lovely summer ahead trying to learn German and Hungarian nothing like a good challenge!
You should have come and sung it in Tod :-)
I agree we should sing it soon though, I will ask Jamie to make sure we do. Of course, he may not listen to me :p
The last time we did Beethoven 9 from memory was actually 26 Sep 1999, with Nicholas Kraemer.
Paul A
Hmm, I could believe it was 1999, but I could have *sworn* it was the first concert we ever did with Mark. (And the date would fit, because didn't he start properly in 2000?) Have I imagined this? Anyone?
The choir did it with Mark, before the 1999 concert with Kraemer; possibly only one year or at the most two years earlier. Kraemer is definite because I was there; I think the Mark one was in Oldham, or so I was told. Paul A
Well, I had to go and dig out my old diaries to check. It turns out the B9 with Mark in Oldham was 12th June 1999, which was less than a week after he was announced as the new Hallé musical director. Odd that I'd totally forgotten we did it again only a few months later!
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