Friday 24 February 2012

Just a little bit of history repeating...

We were warned this week that our uninvited member, the fire alarm, might be making a reappearance as the brownies downstairs were making pancakes, though we were glad to find out that they now knew the code needed to turn it off!

We were rehearsing the music for the April concert this week and had a whistle stop tour through the majority of the pieces. Now we've got the notes pretty much sorted, we're starting to concentrate on putting dynamics and getting 'shape' into the music, which make it more interesting to sing and (hopefully) more interesting to listen to.

The fire alarm didn't make a reappearance thankfully, though the smell of pancakes was driving me batty by break. The ones I made after rehearsal unfortunately didn't live up to my expectations.

There won't be an update next week, I have a week's holiday so won't be at choir. Hopefully someone will update me with what's been going on with Messiah in my absence. Tickets for the Messiah concert (31st March, at Bradford Cathedral) are now available, so check out the website (see Links) for details.

Tuesday 21 February 2012

Where have all the young men gone?

I had a slight surprise when I got to rehearsal last week, all the men had disappeared, and the Chorale appeared to have become ladies only.

It turned out that they had all gone downstairs (the luxury of two rehearsal spaces) to practise part of Faure's Requiem that they are singing alone while the ladies were doing the same in the main hall. The enforced  separation didn't last long and we spent the remainer of the rehearsal going through pieces for the concert after next.

I don't think that I was the only one having difficulty with the German words for Schubert's Gott ist mein Hirt as we were singing this difficult piece in English this week while everyone tried to get the right notes in the right order. It was sounding really good at the end of practise, but I think getting to grips with the German might take a bit longer.

We continue with music for the April concert at tonight's rehearsal, but a quick reminder that tickets for the Messiah concert (31st March, at Bradford Cathedral with the Reg Vardy Band) are available. Please contact any member of the Chorale or visit the website (in the Links box) to find out more.

Monday 13 February 2012

Silenzio*

Sorry for the silence, I was unable to make last weeks' rehearsal, so consequently can't report back on how it went.

Although I have heard that we welcomed a new Alto into our fold, which is great as we're always in need of more voices (especially men!) and that the rehearsal went quite well. Louise, our lovely publicity officer has also informed me that there's going to be a piece on the Chorale appearing quite soon in one of the freebie papers, so keep an eye out for that. I'll try and transcribe it when I've got my hands on a copy.

Hopefully service will be resumed next (this) week!

* Apologies to the musical, who may be wincing at the incorrect use of the musical term, I'm blaming Wiki!

Saturday 4 February 2012

More than words

We took a break from Messiah this week to start rehearsals for the concert after next (we’re very organised in the Chorale) which will consist of Faure’s Requiem and pieces from the European Sacred Music book.

Like Messiah, Requiem is a piece that many members of the Chorale have sung before, but on first run-through it seems much trickier than Messiah. Where Handel likes long runs of notes, Faure has sharps and flats floating about, and if, like me, your sight reading isn’t too clever, it takes some concentration to get them all in the right order. The finished effect though is lovely, clashing chords resolving to harmonious ones.
After the nice surprise that was the fact Messiah is sung in English, this week brought another one. Among the pieces we’re doing from the European Sacred Music book, we have songs in French and German as well as Latin. I did French at school, also did a couple of years of German (very badly), so singing in it is bound to be easier than Latin (which I’ve never studied before), isn’t it?
Well no, actually. It seems some kind of Pavlovian shift has happened in my head since I joined the Chorale, because the Latin made loads more sense than the other two. Strange isn’t it?
If you’d like tickets for the Messiah Concert (31st March, Bradford Cathedral) please contact a member of the Chorale, visit the website or e-mail tickets@bradfordchorale.org.uk