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First Soprano rehearsal notes

March 24 Rehearsal Notes

Please note for next week's rehearsal: first sopranos sit in front.
OK, on to my notes ….
Universal
  • We seemed to be under pitch a lot at this rehearsal. As Simon humorously put it, “Better to sing sharp than out of tune.”
  • Also per Simon: Make downward intervals tiny and upward intervals gigantic
I Started Out Singing (whole piece)
  • Universal: Be unafraid! Keep it in the body, and sing out
  • Opening pitch was flat: sing it higher than you think it is
  • Measure 11: Stress the “oh”s, and keep the A-flat high
  • Measure 16: Lift before “in a voice”
  • Measure 18: Note the ritard–watch Jane
  • Measure 28: 1/8-note breath after “riddle”
  • Measure 29: No breath between “shadow” and “as”
  • “Smiling” section (beginning pick-up to measure 39): Vowel of “smile” is “aw”
  • Measure 51: Don't be a mathematician at this entrance–watch Jane for the cue (per Jane, “trust me”); also, the entrance is piano and “breathy”
  • Measure 52: Sing the schwa vowel of “giggles”–don't close to the “s” too soon
  • Mm. 58-61: Watch Jane for the tempo changes
  • Measure 67: Needs energy and rhythm
  • Pages 5-7: Be aggressive–“be ready to jump”
  • Page 6: Keep the pitch high
  • Measure 72: 1/8-note out for a breath after “yes”
  • Measure 76: Good “oh” vowel on “voice,” and don't close to the diphthong or the “s” sound too soon
  • Measure 79: Apparently the “slight rit.” will be very slight, if at all–watch Jane
  • Mm. 86-87: No vibrato; give the “-ing” of “singing” a good, rounded “eee” vowel
The Tree House: The Orchard (whole movement)
  • Universal: Count the 1/4 notes
  • Measure 3: Vowel is a good, rounded “eee”
  • Measure 4: Keep the Gs high
  • Measure 14: Don't scream the high F–best to decrescendo up to it
  • Page 11: No “r” in “dark,” and the vowel is “aw”
  • Pages 11-14 rustle passages: These need more crescendo/decrescendo, which will happen naturally if the vowels are right–exaggerate the shapes (thinking of making a rustling sound might help, too)
  • Mm. 55 & 59: No “r” in “skirts”
  • Pages 14-16: The A-natural pitches are critical–make sure they're secure (and correct)
  • Top of page 17: Keep the 1/2-notes metronomic
  • Mm. 81-87: No vibrato on the long-held E-flat
  • Measure 93: Keep the pitch high; the vowel is a good, round “oh,” and put the vowel on the downbeat
  • Measure 97: Keep the vowel open, close to an “aw”; also, Jane will check whether our second note in that bar is a D-flat or a D-natural
  • Measure 99: “-sk” on the downbeat
  • Mm. 101-102: “Ahms of the slendah gahden” 
  • Measure 102: Keep the G and the D high
  • Measure 103: Observe the breath mark–take an 1/8 off “trees”
  • Measure 105: Keep the B-natural high
  • Measure 106: “musculah”; final vowel is a schwa; also, the score is missing a tie on the final C
  • Last held note: Note that this is B-flat, not B-natural; also, vowel is “oooooo”
The Tree House: Landfall (whole movement)
  • Universal: Watch the cutoffs
  • Mm. 23, 29 & 32: Begin “when” with “hw”
  • Measure 24: Good “k” on “walk”
  • Measure 40 into 41: No wobbling or swooping
  • Measure 42: “s” sound squarely on beat 2
  • Mm. 49-50: Vowel is a good, round “oh”
  • Beginning measure 54: Treat each accent like a sforzando
  • Top of page 6: No breath, and don't rush
  • Measure 78 (and wherever it occurs): Vowel of “walk” is “aw”
  • Measure 80: Watch Jane at the fermata
  • Measure 85: Keep the pitches high
  • Mm. 86-88: The word is “fail”; the vowel is “eh”
  • Measure 88-end: DON'T MOVE (start practicing now for the recording)
The Tree House: Alder (whole movement)
  • Beginning measure 27: Per Jane, “Don't be timid”–keep it in the body
  • Beginning measure 71: No vibrato
  • Quick runthrough–no other notes; good idea to review it this week
Shadow River (whole piece)
  • Quick runthrough–no notes; good idea to review it this week

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