Agenda for Wednesday, Nov. 7

Before posting the agenda, I'm writing a few notes on last night's rehearsal.

• Paying for scores: If you haven't paid yet, let's make Wednesday the night you pay the $5 for your score and be done with it! Checks or cash are accepted.
• We uncovered a number of errors last night, and I've updated the errata pages for all voice types. Please see the links to the right =======>>>>>
• The bass errata page includes the pitches for the trill in the Hallelujah chorus.
• All errata pages include the text correction for the Magnificat (beatam).

We did quite a bit of work on the big melismatic movements: For Unto Us & And He Shall Purify. Try to remember how I worked those sections (basses especially), and incorporate that approach into your own practice.

It's quite clear at this point that everything is going pretty well. But pretty well isn't good enough! There's much more work to do, and, once again, I'll state that if everyone is attentive to the score markings, we can save a lot of time in starting/stopping in rehearsal.

Regarding attentiveness (see my post from last week), I don't have the sense that many of you are writing in your scores during rehearsal. As I wrote last week, professionals do this all the time, and they, therefore, rarely make the same mistakes twice. Amateurs tend to not write in the their scores--and they make the same mistakes over and over again. Don't let that be us! Be professional: take the responsibility of marking up your score during rehearsal so that you can participate fully and in the best way.

Musical thought for the day:

When asked why every child should play violin since there isn't enough room in the world's orchestras for so many violinists and violinist careers, Dr. Suzuki (founder of the Suzuki method) replied that it's not about creating soloists or great violinists. It's about creating good citizens. 

AGENDA for Wednesday, November 7

Reminder: rehearsal runs from 7-9:30

7-7:15 warmup

15-35 Magnificat I

• we did good work on the inner sections, and we'll start there with a review (letter A)
• the outer sections felt weak, so we'll look at those and then run the entire movement

35-55 Magnificat III

• just like the first movement, we now need some work on the outer sections
• we'll begin with letter A and C, then look at the outer parts, then run the entire movement

55-8:15 Glory to God

• we'll work the fugal sections (B, D)
• before running the entire movement, be sure that GLory is pronounced before the beat

15-25 BREAK

25-50 And He Shall Purify

• the melismas still need work here as does the entire movement
• don't forget your dynamics and articulations on the main motif

50-9:15 For Unto Us

• we did such good work with the melismas on Sunday; we'll review those and then work on the entire movement

15-9:30 Hallelujah

• yesterday, we looked at the more difficult parts of the movement; we'll review our work from Sunday and then sing the entire movement to end the rehearsal