Breakdown/ Staple it together....

We've been separated for the last two weeks, with the men disappearing downstairs while the ladies rehearsed upstairs. The idea being that each group could concentrate on the bits they find tricky without holding up rehearsals for the other parts.
To do this, we ended up sitting round the piano, so it was quite odd for me to start with, having the Altos singing in one ear and the rest of the Sopranos in the other. We'll get back together on Tuesday, and hopefully all the crinkly bits will have been ironed out.

Tickets for the concert on 13th June are available - please see the website for details.

It's the way he tells them.....

We had free stand-up in our rehearsal last week as Jonathan had found a collection of bad jokes to 'entertain' us with (and some of them were dreadful).

Musically, things were much more successful, the Waltzes (which it appears we're singing in English, rather than German, phew) are coming on quite well. Some of them are really catchy, while others are still feeling a bit scary to sing. The Little Jazz Mass is really good, and the Birthday Madrigals are also getting there. We do need to do a bit of work on some of the under part bits, the Sopranos were having a few timing issues last week, but nothing too scary.

Tickets for the concert, Saturday 13th June at Bradford Cathedral are now available - please visit the website http://www.bradfordchorale.org.uk/ to find out more.

There's no harm in being wrong, you know...

There were a few wobbly notes floating about at this week's rehearsal, but actually considering we're around 5 weeks from concert day, things are going pretty well.

The Waltzes are getting better and we're now singing actual words rather than just concentrating on the tune. I am a bit confused (it doesn't take much) as I was convinced we were singing them in the original German, but it appears we might be doing the English translation so watch this space. We also got to hear the double piano effect as Jonathan joined Tom at the keyboard to accompany us. The top piano part actually makes picking out the soprano line much easier, so if we can manage without, it'll be a breeze when it is being played (at least, that's the plan).

I could have danced all night...

So I've realised that the Little Jazz Mass and the Birthday Madrigals are catchier than I first imagined. Normally the music we're rehearsing starts playing on repeat in my head about a fortnight before the concert, when we're confident in all the notes and are putting the finishing touches to it.  I've had the Jazz Mass and the Madrigals in my head all week, after only 3 rehearsals. I'll be going (even more) bonkers by the time the concert comes round.

We started learning the Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes this week, and they are tricky. Not just because they're in German (which we didn't even attempt on the first go), but because they repeat from funny places, and you have to really concentrate to know what you're meant to be singing. I'm sure they're great when you get in the swing of them, it's just quite hard work at the moment, and I'm anticipating more when we start on the actual lyrics (languages were never my strong point, German especially).

vorwärts und aufwärts, as they say....

Smile, and the world smiles with you

Laugh in the face of adversity, the saying goes, and last week I took that advice rather too literally.

Chilcott's Little Jazz Mass is really quite hard in places, especially during the first few rehearsals, where you're trying to anticipate where you're going next. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you get it wrong, and sometimes you get the giggles when it does sound a bit 'off', or at least, I do. I'm blaming too much Easter chocolate...

Lots of progress was made though, we've note-bashed the majority of the Jazz Mass now, and the parts we've run a few times were actually sounding pretty good.

I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date.....

Sorry for the delay in this post, life has gone a bit crazy recently.

So the concert went well. Our soloists, Martha Hayward, Rowena Thornton, David Heathcote and Donald Stephenson were all on fine form, and Alex Woodrow managed to get his fingers around more notes than I think I've ever heard played on an organ before. The choir were also sounding really good in parts.

Maybe it was just me, but it felt a bit flat at times - I don't think anything went particularly wrong, there were just little moments that didn't feel as amazing as they have done. I think I was probably alone though, as the audience seemed to enjoy the music very much.

We've already started rehearsals for the June concert (we don't hang about) and I'm feeling a bit like I did when we started the Britten stuff a while ago, overall, a bit dazed. First rehearsals are always difficult though, and I'm sure that the more practice we have at the Chilcott Little Jazz Mass, the more things will fall into place.

Happy Easter!

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!