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Singalong Messiah: SAVE THE DATE!

PLEASE SAVE THE DATE & SPREAD THE WORD!

Sunday, November 27, 2016

4pm

Community Singalong MESSIAH

Paul Cienniwa, director

Eric Mazonson, pianist

with soloists

Christine Teeters, soprano

Fiona McArdle, mezzo-soprano

Ethan Bremner, tenor

James Liu, baritone

Christian Fellowship Center

822 Church Street

New Bedford, MA

no rehearsal: just come and sing!

DETAILS COMING SOON

PLEASE SAVE THE DATE AND SPREAD THE WORD!

Fall 2015

A number of you have written me to ask about the NBSO's planned performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah next fall. This event is primarily open to members of the Sippican Chorale and the Greater New Bedford Choral Society, as it corresponds with the shared anniversaries of those groups and the NBSO. Chorus numbers for the program are very limited.

If any openings do arise, you will find them here.

Afterword

Congratulations to everyone on a marvelous performance. This entire fall experience has been really good, and I hope that you found it enjoyable as well.

Sunday's performance was a real treat for me, particularly the Bach. As I was playing, I kept thinking of the amount of time and rehearsals everyone put into the cantata, and that sentiment was quite moving. Of course, the music itself was very moving, and I am lucky in that my organ part was easy enough so that I could really listen to all of you.

While you may feel that the performance wasn't perfect (what performance ever is?), I can assure you that, at least from my vantage point, the performance was a real joy and very uplifting. Sure, Messiah is a wonderful thing and you sang it very well, but I am particularly pleased with how well the Bach went. I wish we could do it again.

I wish you all a joyful holiday season, and I thank you for all that you gave to make Sunday's performance a highlight of my year.

-Paul

Maestro's Notes

Get your pencils out!

Please look at the blog for comments from David MacKenzie following Sunday's rehearsal. (If you're at the blog, you might need to click "older posts" at the bottom of the blog page in order to cycle to the next page of posts.)

Writing in notes and preparing David's comments before Saturday is essential to a smooth and productive rehearsal, so please look at your section's comments before Saturday. (I know, I know...it's a holiday week...)

Also, please do the following:

• EVERYONE: look at the bold print comments at the top of the Soprano 1 comments
• Soprano 1: you have enough to look at so, just look at your comments
• Soprano 2: in addition to your comments, look at the Soprano 1 comments and see if you can implement any of them into your part
• Alto: Compare your comments to Tenor/Bass
• Tenor: Compare your comments to Alto/Bass
• Bass: Compare your comments to Alto/Tenor

There is a thread of similarity running through the comments, so that's why I've asked you to check to see the similarities.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving. See you Saturday!

Maestro's Notes for Soprano 1

“a” = the open, forward 1st sound of “father”,

 “e” = the sound of “bed”

“ɔ” = the sound of the Standard English vowel in “call”. Used for the Latin “o”     sound

BACH

Mvt I   

Bar 57-58    on the top A modify the vowel to “a”, then modify “-sis” to “-sas”

Bar 78        “-ri-” becomes “-re-”, same in bars 82, 98

Bar 93-94    “in” becomes “en”, remove the “x” AND the staccato from “ex-“ and modify the vowel to “a”. “-cel-sis” becomes “-chal-sas”. (entire phrase: “en a-cha-sas”) This allows a more legato approach to the high “B”.

Bar 99        “-cel-sis” becomes “-chal-sas”. (as at bar 94)

Bar 101    The tempo relationship between the 3/8 and the 4/4: the 8th note of the two sections is almost equal. The hemiola grouping of the 3/8 sets the quarter-note pulse of the 4/4.

Bar 106    “pax”: avoid “pox” like …well the pox! The “a” must be open and forward. The pitch here is quite a problem because of the “uh” in the sound. Same at bars 111, 132, 133-134, (in other words EVERYWHERE.)

Bar 107    “hominibus” should be sung as “ɔ-me-ne-bus” (see key above for how “ɔ” should sound). Pitch problems are resulting from a closed “o” sound on “hom-“ like the sound of “rote.”  Keep the “o” open and forward, should more like Standard English “jaw”. This is true of the first vowel of “bonae” and “voluntatis” as well!

Bar 127    Here is a better suggestion for the high A: for “-mi” use “ma”, here and at 86, 149, and at 173. NOTE: This is specifically for the approach to the high “A”. In other cases, we modify to “me”, as below.

   

Bar 129    Modify “-tis” to “-tes”, here and at 151, and 175.

   

Bar 135    “-mi-ni-bus bo-” becomes “-me-ne-bas ba-“.

   

Bar 158    Modify “ho-mi-“ to “ho-me-“, same in 164.

   

Bar 159    Modify all of “-ni-bus bo-“ to “-na-bas ba”. (all “a”)

   

Bar 175    “-lun-“ becomes “-lan_”.

Mvt III

Bar 1-2    “prin-ci-pi-ɔ”, not “prin-ci-pi-oh”

Bars 7-9    Modify “-o-“ to “-a-“, same at 17-19, 82-84, 119-121

Bar 12        If you are not already doing it, “-ci-“ become “-ce-“

Bar 13     Last note, modify to “-ca-“

Bar 20        Modify the entire bar to: “-ram en se-ca-la se-ca-“

Bar 29        add a cresc mark, as a reminder

Bar 53        As mentioned in rehearsal Sunday: “nunc” becomes “nanc”, also at 86, 101.

Bar 57        Last note modify to “-ram”, also at 90

Bar 74        The last note each time is late. The < > should be more sharply defined.

Bar 79        Modify this bar to: “et en se-ca-la se-cu-“

Bar 81        Modify to  “-ca-la se-ca-“

Bar 132-3    Modify to “en se-ca-la se-ca-la-rum”

Maestro's Notes for Soprano 2

BACH

Mvt I   

Bar 101    The tempo relationship between the 3/8 and the 4/4: the 8th note of the two sections is almost equal. The hemiola grouping of the 3/8 sets the quarter-note pulse of the 4/4.

Bar 136    “pax”: avoid “pox” like …well the pox! The “a” must be open and forward. Pitch problems are resulting from a closed “o” sound on “hom-    “ like the sound of “rote.”  Keep the “o” open and forward, should more like Standard English “jaw”. This is true of the first vowel of “bonae” and “voluntatis” as well!

Mvt III

Bar 5        If you are not already doing it, “-ci-“ becomes “-ce-“ (“cheh”), also the “o” is open and forward like “jaw”, NOT like “oh”.

Bar 12        As mentioned in rehearsal Sunday: “nunc” becomes “nanc”, also at 75, 101

Bar 29        add a cresc mark, as a reminder

Bar 85        Last 2 note modify “-cu-“ to “-ca-”, also at 98

Bar 74        The last note each time is late. The < > should be more sharply defined.

Bar 105    Last note modify to “-ram”