First Soprano Rehearsal Notes

Elaine Hagenberg, O Come, Emanuel (mm 88-end):

• Universal throughout the piece: make sure the vowel in “Come” is tall and narrow (caw-m)
• Measure 88: watch Jane
• There is a lift after the 2nd beat in measures 104, 106, and 108
• Crescendo on the held note in measures 101, 103, and 105

Ruth Morris Gray, Stars I Shall Find:

Coda–pages 11 & 12:

• Maintain a soft, warm, velvet tone
• Measure 64 (poco rit.): watch Jane

Universal:

• Check the roadmap for the whole piece (repeat page 10 to page 4; skip to coda on page 7)
• Jane was conducting in 2, FYI
• Flip the “r” in “rest”

Ruth Morris Gray, What Child? (beginning-m. 52):

• “Bum”: sing the held notes on “m”
• Don’t rush (or drag)
• Sing the line, especially when singing the melody–don’t be “note-y” (note-y is naughty!)
• Measure 40: observe the 1/8 rest after “raise” (and everywhere it occurs)
• Watch cut-offs in general

Ruth Morris Gray, Siyahamba (measure 47-end):

• Please note that this needs to be performance-ready by October 26
• Universal: round the “e” in “We”
• Universal: don’t sing a bright “t” on “light”; make it more of a dentalized “d”
• Universal: put a good “d” on “God”
• Universal: stress the second syllable of “siyahamba”–don’t bash out the “ba”
• Mm 72-73: no breath, crescendo, and absolutely no vibrato
• Learn the pitch (A) at the beginning of measure 80
• No ritard to the end

Dan Forrest, I. Illuminarre (beginning-m. 35):

• Come in right on pitch at the beginning, but with a soft, breathy, round “oooo”
• Absolutely no vibrato throughout the opening section
• Watch Jane: she is showing clearly when to move on the notes with fermatas
• Keep kissing that “ooo” sound–don’t let it spread as the pitch goes higher
• 3/2 and 4/4 bars: the quarter note stays the same
• Mm. 33-35: Alto and S2 have the stems-down notes; we have the stems-up notes (i.e., we split on all but the first note)