Friday 20 March 2015

I've got a feeling...

that (Saturday) night's going to be a good night....

I'm not saying that we flew through everything perfectly on Tuesday night, but there were no moments of sheer panic where everything fell to pieces either.

Mostly it was sounding pretty good, the scary bits in the Missa seemed to have righted themselves (thankfully) and I'm really looking forward to hearing how Alex Woodrow (Director of Music at the cathedral, and our Organist on Saturday) is going to condense a whole orchestra to just the organ. I'm also really looking forward to hearing our soloists sing all the bits we've been missing out during rehearsals!

Full concert details can be found on the website (http://www.bradfordchorale.org.uk/) and tickets will be available on the door.

Hope you see you there!

Sunday 15 March 2015

it's got to be worth it...

So this week wasn't perfect, but it was improvement on last week.

After near constant listening to my recordings, to the point where I was beginning to question my sanity (seriously, I found myself loudly singing the 'Amens' at the bus stop one night, thankfully it was dark and I was alone) the majority of the tricky bits of the Missa had sorted themselves out.

The Gloria also sounded good, and next week we're going to run both pieces, including all the repeats, to get a proper sense of how it will all sound on the night.

Tickets are still available at the advanced price of £10 (they'll be £12 on the door), so if you'd like to come and hear us (and our excellent soloists), visit the website - http://www.bradfordchorale.org.uk/

See you there!

Wednesday 4 March 2015

Be like the bluebird....

It would be fair to say I felt a little - deflated at the end of rehearsal last night.

The first half had gone really well, running the Gloria for the first time in weeks had flagged up a couple of slightly sticky areas, but nothing too problematic, and nothing that couldn't be solved with a bit more rehearsal and closer attention to our conductor.

It was the Missa where it all fell apart slightly. Bits I thought I'd got nailed I kept messing up, and bits that I'd been bothered about went ok. Part of it was probably due to the fact that because holidays and illness, the soprano line up was smaller than usual, and arranged differently, so I was hearing different people to normal. It's not really a valid excuse though, as how we sit in rehearsals isn't always concert formation.

Thanks to some note bashing and lots of running the Credo was sounding better, and the Cum Spiritu was getting there as well, but I'm going to have the recordings on constantly this week - and next week will be brilliant!

Hopefully.


Sunday 1 March 2015

It's a game of two halves...

This week had an element of showing 'Sir' our homework, as Jonathan was away last week for half term, and as might have been expected, there were bits that went well, and others that didn't.

We ran the majority of the Missa Solemnis and for the most part, it went pretty well. I'm still having problems with my 'Amens' in places, and some of the longs runs of notes are still tripping me up in places, but thankfully near constant listening to my recording has worked and some of the other tricky bits are much easier.

We're going to be running the Gloria on Tuesday for the first time in a few weeks - I've been listening to that one as well, but I'm still going to be keeping my fingers crossed that it goes alright!