Alto Rehearsal Notes prior to Fall 2022

Oct 27

September 15, 2021—Start of a new term!

WALKING IN THE AIR

This is the only piece we practiced. Altos come in from the pickup to measure 20.

On the repeated words, “loom” and “noon”, close to the final consonant (/m/ or /n/) right away. Do not sustain the vowel, “oo”.

CHANGE TO RHYTHM—In measure 47, change the whole note to a dotted quarter note and add a quarter rest. This gives us a chance to breathe before coming in on the next phrase, “Nobody down below…” The same thing happens in measure 60.

5/19/21

LET THE RIVER RUN

Audio--due Sunday, 5/23. Pay attention to accented syllables. Keep your palate lifted—there are many sustained notes.

Video—only for those who did not attend the Elwha recording session last Saturday. I don’t know the due date yet. Deeji will send out instructions.

TURN THE WORLD AROUND

CHANGE—We do not come in on measure 5. The first time through will be a solo. We will come in on the 2nd time through (and then go straight to measure 13).

Audio--due Sunday, 5/23. Pay attention to accented syllables and emphasize the beginning consonants: Fire, Mountain, etc.

NO CLAPS when you record the audio. (Include the spoken, “Hah!”)

Video—Deeji will send out instructions.

DANCING IN THE STREET

Both the audio and video will be recorded live as a group.

Staging rehearsal on Tuesday, 5/25 (I assume at 6:45pm, but Deeji didn’t state the time yet.)

Audio and Video--recording session is on Monday, 5/31, at 4pm. Meet at the studio at Deeji’s house.

ALTOS DO NOT SING as a group during the first 7 measures (until the pickup to measure 8). Those lines will be solos. WE ENTER on the pickup to measure 8, “…there’ll be dancing’ in the streets.” There are two other places where soloists will sing lines, but it doesn’t effect the alto part.

At last night’s rehearsal, we went over some of the movements, but Deeji hadn’t finalized exactly where they’ll go. She’ll send out instructions. Watch the recording from last night if you want to know the specific moves—but they may change.

5/5/21

Turn the World Around—BIG CHANGES in number of repeats, etc.

I will cover these same points on an Alto Part Recording as I talk through the entire piece.

Grab a pencil.

When we come in at the beginning (m.5), just the altos will sing the line. We will go from m.8 back to m.5. The second time through, sopranos will join us. At m.8, the second time, we jump to m.13. Continue to sing as written.

At m.57, sing the phrase “Oh,…is life.” TWO times instead of four. Continue on as written.

At m.68, THERE WILL BE NO REPEAT. Go right on to m.69 and continue to the end.

4/21/21

Let the River Run—CHANGES TO RHYTHM m. 19, 31, and 36—change whole note to dotted half note and add quarter rest on beat 4. In m.34, same thing—change tied half note to a quarter note and make beat 4 a quarter rest.

Feeling Good—from pickup to m.52 through m.57—these are solo lines.

4/14/21 We sang (not necessarily in this order) You’ll Never Walk Alone, Feeling Good, Let the River Run, Dancing in the Street, and Imagine

Imagine—From m.1-16 are solos. Everyone comes in from m.17. M.38-49 are also solos. Everyone comes in again from “you may say…” in m. 50.

Dancing in the Streets—We focused on m.60-67, which starts with just one section (basses) and, with each repeat, another section comes in.

NEW PIECE—Let the River Run. This piece has many repeats and also a Coda. Deeji first walked us through how to “read” the piece.

Here are a few more details regarding Alto 1 and 2:

p.3 All altos come in at m.8 and sing m.8-9 (twice, because those measures are repeated).

p.4 m.9-10, Alto 1 sings the A (going to F#) on “wa-ter”, the lowest note among the three notes in the top treble clef line. Alto 2 continues to sing, “Come, come, come…”—the second treble clef line.

M.11—all altos sing the G on “Come”.

pp.5-7, m.12-25—Alto 1 sings the middle note when there are three notes in the treble line. Alto 2 sings the lowest note. When there are just two notes/parts, all altos sing the lower note.

p.8-9, m.28-35—Alto 1 sings the line marked for Sop. II. Alto 2 sings the line marked for Alto.

p.11, m.38-40—On the last note, Altos can choose to sing the D as written or an octave lower.

3/31/21

Imagine—Deeji had us practice phrasing and emphasizing certain words within the phrase. See the rehearsal video for details.

NEW PIECE—Feeling Good. Sopranos will split on this song, so the altos will sing the lowest of the treble notes.

Altos sing “oo” from m.2-9 as written. Deeji isn’t sure if m. 10-11 will be the whole choir of soloists. Everyone comes in from m.16.

P.8, m.36—altos can sing the line as written in treble clef with the sopranos OR the line as written in the bass clef, an octave lower than the sopranos.

CHANGES TO RHYTHM—m.53: change the whole note to a dotted half note and add a quarter rest.

3/24/21 We sang Imagine, Come By the Hills, NEW PIECE—You’ll Never Walk Alone/Climb Every Mountain, and Season of Love. We broke into a combined alto/soprano sectional for the new piece.

WHEN TO SING on You’ll Never Walk Alone

We come in on the pickup to m.30 and sing through m.49. We come in again on pickup to m.66 and sing to the end.

CHANGES TO RHYTHM on You’ll Never Walk Alone. P.4 m.33. Change the dotted quarter note on “rain” to a quarter note and make the rest that follows a quarter note. The same thing happens in m.41 and 95—”heart” is a quarter note followed by a quarter rest.

PART ASSIGNMENTS when treble voices split into three parts.

P.5, m. 37-40—Alto 1 sings the middle note, Alto 2 sings the lowest note.

P.6, m.45—Alto 1 sings the middle note, Alto 2 sings the lowest note. This repeats in m.99.

P.6, m.46—Altos 1 and 2 sing the lowest note. This repeats in m.100. (Sopranos will split for the upper two parts.)

P.9, m.72-73—Alto 1 sings the middle note, Alto 2 sings the lowest note.

P.12, m.101—Alto 1 sings the middle note, Alto 2 sings the lowest note.

P.12, m.103-104—Altos 1 and 2 sing the lowest note.

3/17/21 We sang Come By the Hills, Lean On Me, Imagine, Seasons of Love, and Turn the World Around. We broke into sections on Imagine.

Insert a breath on Seasons of Love, m.77 —Take a quick breath before “How about…”

3/13/21 Alto sectional. I forgot to record the first half when we went over Seasons of Love. Sorry. Of the remaining 30 minutes, 25 are on Come By the Hills. The last 5 minutes are unrelated to choir. If you want more practice on Come By the Hills, I think the audio recordings (Alto Recordings) are more helpful than the sectional. -Leann

3/10/21 Part assignments on Seasons of Love—Deeji assigned many soloists throughout the piece. Altos come in on p.4: pickup to measure 21. The melody will be sung by different people, but it doesn’t change the alto part. From pickup to m.21 to the end of the piece, follow the alto line.

3/3/21 We sang Seasons of Love, Lean On Me, and Turn the World Around. The sectional held during this rehearsal focused on Seasons of Love.

2/24/21

NEW PIECE—Come By The Hills

There are many recordings of this posted on 2/28/2021 in Alto Recordings. The alto sectional held during the choir rehearsal covers an initial run-through of this piece.

CHANGE to rhythm—m.10 change the half note to a quarter note and add a quarter note rest (beat 3).

PRONUNCIATION IN M.97—”gain” (the second syllable of “again”). Make it rhyme with “rain”. (Then it will be parallel with the end of the previous line, “where legend remains”.)

2/20/21 Alto Sectional There are two Zoom recordings: warm up (approx 4 minutes) and then the main rehearsal where we spent the majority of the time on Soon We Will Be Done. The last 5 minutes or so were spent on I Believe.

2/10/21 We sang I Believe, Like a River, Soon We Will be Done, Lean On Me, and Turn the World Around

2/3/21 We sang I Believe, Like a River, Lean On Me, and Soon We Will Be Done

The Sectional was a joint soprano/alto sectional.

Soon We Will—CHANGE in measure 84. Change the last note (half note on “world”) to a quarter note followed by a quarter note rest. CHANGE the end of measure 85: no eighth note rest. No breath between measures 85 and 86.

1/27/21 We sang I Believe, Turn the World Around, Soon We Will Be Done

The recorded Alto Sectional covers Turn the World Around.

Turn the World Around—Deeji walked us through how to “read” the piece. There are many repeat marks.

1) Every time you sing, “fire”, emphasize /f/.

2) P.8, m.56—On the first time through, take a breath after the last note (“are”). On the second time through, slide into the next measure (no breath).

3) P.8, m.59—Clap when saying, “hah!”

Soon We Will Be Done

Accent/emphasize the word “done”, especially at the beginning of the song when it starts a sentence.

1/20/21 We sang I Believe, Soon We Will Be Done, and did a quick run-through of Turn the World Around

I Believe

1) Deeji designated breath marks for each section. Every breath mark gets a full quarter rest for the breath. Replace these beats with a quarter rest: m.42 beat 3, m.46 beat 1, m.58 beat 3, m.62 beat 1, m.74 beat 3, m.78 beat 1, m.90 beat 3, m.94 beat 1, m.123 beat 3, m.126 beat 1

Soon We Will Be Done

1) Every time we sing, “to earth”, put a glottal stop between “to” and “earth”.

2) We observe the breath marks as written EXCEPT at the end of m.34. Do not take a breath there.

3) Page 11 and ongoing—when we hold out the word, “done”, close to the /n/ right away. (Don’t hold out the vowel: duuuuuuuun.)

4) Note the difference in the melody line in m.37-38 compared to m.53-54.

11/18/2020

We sang Everywhere I Go, Winter Wonderland, Chanukah, ‘Zat You

Deeji also reminded us there is a practice this Friday, 11.20.20, at 7pm for ‘Zat You. Wear pajamas and bring a stuffie if you can. The pj’s don’t have to be holiday themed. Colorful is good. We WON’T video this one with a green screen so you can wear any color.

Everywhere I Go—due the same date as Chanukah

Grow (crescendo) on held notes. Watch dynamics.

P.6 m.44—The “sus” of “Jesus” is the only one held out. (All the other times we sing Je-sus, the “sus” is short.) Add a little crescendo on this held out “sus”.

P.4-5 During this call and response section, we need to respond to the soloist at a lower volume. (There’s just one soloist; there are many of us.)

Winter Wonderland

Pp.2-4 (top line)—solos. The rest of the choir comes in on p.2 m.22. When we come in, watch Deeji for the timing of “sleigh - bells - …ring!”

Crescendo through this phrase.

P.4 m.24 and 26 “list’nin’” and “glist’nin’”—accent the first syllable and let up on the second syllable. Move to the final /n/ (sound) so you don’t hold out the pitch on the vowel /i/.

P.8 m.50—When we sing the word, “fire”, treat it like a two-syllable word: fah er (but not an American, “heavy” /r/).

Chanukah

The first time through is all soloists. We come in on p.11. On the Acapella video, you’ll see most of the leaders mouthing the words. This is for the soloists.

P.13 pick up to m.66—It’s OK to look away from the camera as you show how hard it is to endure the Eastern winters.

P.13 m.67—change expression. Show contrast between “Those eastern winters…(even if altos are on ooh)…” and “So every year I pack my gear…”

P.14 m.71—you don’t need to start jazz hands immediately from beat 1. Take your time moving into it. Have jazz hands by “Mississippuh”

P.15 lighting menorah gesture—Deeji tightened the timing. Light the top candle on the first “wa” and light the last candle (with a little flourish or sense of closure) on the last “wa”. If you’re not sure, please ask someone or watch the 11/18 rehearsal video.

‘Zat You

P.5 bottom line—Contrast the first part “That’s what I’ve been waiting’ for.” with “Would you mind slippin’ it under the door?” The first part is said with confidence and happy or cocky anticipation. The latter part is said with trepidation, uncertainty, etc.

P.9 bottom line—Contrast the two parts, similar to above. The first sentence is sung at mf (volume). Come in at subito piano on “But I can’t …”

P.7—Know the rhythm in the be bop section. Ask or watch the 11/18 rehearsal video for more explanation.

Overall, pay attention to phrasing. Pay attention to accented and unaccented syllables.

Treat this song like musical theater—lots of facial expression.

11/4/2020

Winter Wonderland of Snow

Altos come in on p.4, measure 22. Everything before that will be solos.

P.6, m. 39-42 (beginning of measure) is a solo. All women come in on “doo doo doo”, pickup to m. 43.

P.9 m. 61-62 is a solo.

CHANGE the rhythm on p.13 m.88. Change the dotted half note to a dotted quarter note.

CHANGE the rhythm on p.14 m. 94. Change “warm” to an 1/8 note.

9/30/2020

We sang Home for the Holidays, Monster Mash, and Like a River in My Soul.

Monster Mash

AUDIO RECORDING DUE Monday, 10/5/20. VIDEO DUE 10/11/20.

Please see Deeji’s message sent 10/1/20 at 7pm for her directions on choreography and recordings.

Home for the Holidays

CHANGES to music—Deeji made the following comments/changes:

add a quarter rest on p.6 measure 28—first note is a quarter note followed by a quarter rest
add a quarter rest for beat 4 on p.14 measure 93, making the word home a dotted half note
no breath between measures 57-60
(For the most part, we won’t be able to take staggered breaths for our recordings. In preparation for this song, I hope you all have regularly been playing “who can hold their breath the longest”, a Covid-safe game as you Zoom with friends and exhale with no one else in the room)
no breath at the comma after the word, ‘holidays’ on p.12, measure 77

NOTE CLARIFICATION (thanks to Gavrielle’s sharp eyes and ears) for Alto 1: p.8 measure 46—the last two notes are C#s, not C naturals. P.12 measure 79—the last note is F natural (as is the following note).

BEWARE OF THE VOWEL when singing the very last note of the piece. We sing the syllable “days”. Stay on “den” through the fermata, adding /z/ when Deeji cuts us off.

For a list of places to especially be careful about intervals in the Alto 1 part, please see the brief message with the vocal recording sent 10/3/20 at 12:31pm.

Like a River in My Soul

Sing expressively. Lean into phrases: grow and swell.

Pay attention to dynamic markings.

No breath on p.4 measure 25. (Same with p.6 measure 37)

Beware of the vowel on p.9 measure 56. Sing “rah———z” for “rise”.

CHANGES to music—Deeji made the following changes/comments:

P.4 measure 19 will have a ritard
P.7 measure 39—change the tied quarter note to an eighth note followed by an eighth rest
P.8 measure 49—change the tied G (’tain’ of ‘fountain’) from a half note to a doted quarter followed by an eighth rest
P.10 measure 65—change the dotted half note on “soul” to a half note followed by a quarter rest
We will still observe all published breath marks
P.10 measure 61—add a breath mark at the end of that measure
P.10 measure 63—add a breath mark at the end of that measure
P.10 measures 66 to end—one phrase, no breath

Silent Night

We practiced vowels. We sang phrase by phrase, first singing just the vowels (no consonants) and then sang the phrase again with the words.

-Deeji emphasized how we need to match vowels

-p.3 m.29 “Si - lent” Stay on “sah” moving from G to A

-p.3 m.31-32 Keep the consonants /l/ in “holy” and /n/ in “night” in front. Put them on the front teeth.

-Every time you sing “Jesus Lord at they birth”, keep your motor going: keep the support and energy moving through the phrase to the very end.

Rehearsal Notes
9/23/2020

We sang Shout for Joy, Monster Mash and learned the movements, Happy Xmas, Yuletide Rhythm, and Silent Night

Shout for Joy

p.2 "He was the mighty couns’lor, king of kings on Christmas in the morning"
Sing this phrase in one breath.
Shorten end of “morning”. Make “ning” an 1/8th note followed by an 1/8th note rest. Come in strong on the next measure, “Oh, Lord”

Monster Mash

view the rehearsal video to view the movements

A new version of Monster Mash with the solo lines and chorus lines was e-mailed (from me, forwarded by Deeji on Wednesday, 9.23 at 8:13pm). This new version includes wah! wah-oo in the (I think) purple verse

Happy Xmas

p.7 m.39 The C to Bnatural is very close. Deeji draws an up arrow in between the C and B to think high.
p.7 ”War is over if you want it” Every time you sing this phrase, sing it in one breath. Breath after “it”.
The unison “War is over…” on p.7 and p.11 last phrase—these can be sung an octave down (with the men) if you prefer

Yuletide Rhythm

no new notes

Rehearsal Notes
9/18/2020

We sang Shout for Joy, Winter Song, Happy Xmas. We also listened to Monster Mash sung by the Zoom leads (Deeji and Bob, Jean and Bob, and Leann), with a little “repeat after me” practice. Music will be sent to you soon.

During warm-ups, Deeji talked a lot about vowels: 1) singing pure vowels on a diphthong until the very end of that note, 2) keeping the palate lifted on vowels and not using a lot of jaw, 3) making sure we match vowels so our tone is in unison.

We practiced two vowels in particular: “ah” (as in the “a” in “father”). This will be the vowel when we sing the first syllable of “silent”, “night”, ”bright”, etc., in Silent Night. Finish that first syllable (“sigh” of “silent”), going to the “ee” vowel right before singing the next syllable.

We also practiced singing on a schwa, “uh” as in the first syllable in “mother”. (Usually schwas occur in the unaccented syllable, however.)

Shout for Joy

Deeji said we will probably record this in about a week. I’m sure she'll send out details about this. She hasn’t sent anything yet.
Pay special attention to the rhythm in measure 21, landing the word “kings” right on beat 3.
In m.23, get off of the word “morning” and come in strong in m.24. CHANGE “ning” of “morning” to an EIGHTH NOTE and add an eighth note REST after it.

Winter Song

Phrasing is important! Grow and swell as you express the meaning of each phrase, both through the musical line as well as the content of the words.
Bum bum bum. Go immediately to the mmmm: bm bm bm
Pay attention to accented syllables: WINter, COming, BEAcon, etc.
Note dynamics. The piece starts soft—piano. When we come in again on p.4, we come in mp. On p.8, m.47, we come in mf “with more drive” and passion. The last phrase is suddenly piano.

Happy Xmas

Make sure you pay attention to accented syllables.
Deeji modeled the vowels on “Christmas”. In both syllables, place the vowels at the roof of the mouth.
Be careful how you pronounce the “r” sound at the end of words, as in “year” and “fear". No American “r”. Make it British.
Also, when singing, “year” and “fear, sing on a short I vowel (as in “it”).
P.7 m.37 During this section, “War is over…”, think sparkling up on every note.
P.7 m.40 Pronounce the final “t” at the end of “it”.
P.7 m.43. When singing, “now”, sing, “nah———“ and go to “oo” at the very, very end of the word.
P.8 m.53. The descant (top line) will be sung by: Isabel, Kat, Marc, Sophi, Eve, Adam, Phil, Sarah Sutton, and Sara H.
P.11 last note. Sing “now” as “nah———“ and go to “oo” at the very end. Sparkle upwards as you hold onto this note at a piano volume.

Rehearsal Notes
9/16/2020

We didn’t sing due to unhealthy air quality. Deeji announced a new project:

We have been selected for a (virtual) fundraising opportunity through Microsoft. People will buy tickets to a virtual “show” (closed to the Microsoft bidders, I think) we’ll send out by the end of October. For this show, we’ll learn and record two new tunes: Monster Mash and What the World Needs Now is Love Sweet Love. You’ll get music for these two pieces soon.

The theme for Monster Mash is “ghoulish”. Keeping it as simple or involved as you wish, use hair foam, makeup, and whatever costumes you choose to look ghoulish in your recording (torso-to-top-of-head).

Questions came up about the number of pieces for this term and the pacing schedule for recordings. Deeji will consider the concerns and questions raised. Her main message for now (compiled from previous talks, not her exact words from Wednesday): Take on what you can so choir is enjoyable. Like any concert, please opt out of a piece if it’s too stressful. This is a welcome choice. Deeji wants you to self-manage and maintain self-care. She just asks you let her know ahead of time if you plan to opt out of a recording.

Welcome to the first term of the 2020-21 choir season! Altos are stronger together with the addition of Miriam (alto 2), and the re-connection with Mako (alto 1) and Cindy (alto 2?). Please excuse any oversight if there are other returning members who have been away since went virtual.

Rehearsal Notes
9/9/2020

We sang Shout for Joy, Winter Song, and Yuletide Rhythm.

Shout for Joy and Winter Song will be the first pieces we record and memorize. I don’t have a schedule yet, but I expect this will happen in 2 or 3 weeks.

Shout for Joy

Page 1: Altos sing “shout for joy” on the top line (marked “all”). Note: Oour first two “Shout for joy”(s) are different from the rest of the page, when we dip down in pitch on “for”.

Page 2: Altos sing the 2nd (middle) line ONLY AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE. Then we jump to the TOP LINE for the rest of the page.

Winter Song

Here are recordings for Winter Song. Altos 1 and 2 sing together until page 12. Alto 1 sings Part 2. Alto 2 stays on the alto line during that “canon” section. Then, on page 13, Alto 1 goes back to the alto line in the last half of measure 74. Kat rocks as the soloist (marked Treble group) on pp. 6-7 and 10-11.

Yuletide Rhythm

Altos chant Part II. Choralgraphy will be added.