Dear Choir Members:

     Now that we are well into the choir season, it's time to really sink our teeth into some more challenging concepts and repertoire.  We will be starting each rehearsal with an exercise from Paul Hindemith's Elementary Training for Musicians. This will eventually build the musicianship of everyone in the group through improvements in:

• Rhythmic sight-reading and competence

• Intervallic sight-reading and competence

• Greater understanding of notation

    These are three very big concepts; each of the aforementioned topics contains many subcategories that will be practiced, addressed, and improved upon.  The intricacies of each of those concepts will make themselves evident as difficulties surface.

Rehearsal

    As indicated on the schedules distributed, there will be a slight change of rehearsal structure.  Each rehearsal will now start with some sight reading exercise that both reflects the concept for the rehearsal and also prepares a difficult element of the anthem.  There will also be a larger focus on the concept for the rehearsal.

    Again, it is imperative that rehearsals start in a timely manner and that everyone attends. Regarding time, I have allotted for some time for preparation and settling, but in the past, rehearsals have started quite late.  With the adventurous schedule we are about to undertake, every minute we share is especially important and necessary. 
    As far as attendance is concerned, I understand that each member has different commitments and obligations that often times draw them in several directions at once. For certain, no one is at fault for being busy, sick, or tired.  The difficulty arises with the size of the choir.  If we had more members, that would allot for some flexibility in absences of members.  Oftentimes if one member is absent due to some excusable cause, we may lose an entire section! The best way to alleviate this problem is to campaign for more choir members.   

Repertoire

    The repertoire we will be approaching will wrap up some material that has already been introduced, as well as some pieces that will require small group work (male choir and treble choir). Another schedule will be released shortly that clearly outlines upcoming anthems and concepts

Click the note to visit the concepts page