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Greetings, Choir Members,
I do promise not to make a habit of tardy column preparation. Yesterday I was the guest conductor for a high school choral festival at Corban University, during which I gave clinics to 7 choirs, met with their directors for a teaching session, and prepared all seven choirs together (150 singers) on three mass choir numbers for an evening performance. It all went very well, the students were great to work with, and the evening performance was wonderful and well attended. That said, I was there working practically nonstop from 8:00 a.m. until 9:30 p.m., and when I finally returned home I was beyond tired. I hadn't an ounce of energy for producing this column, which I normally write on Thursday nights!
So here I am at last. I do hope this reaches you in time to be useful.
Tomorrow at the Elsinore will not be a dress rehearsal in the strict sense, i.e. we will not run the concert nonstop as one typically does in a dress rehearsal. We have ample time to perform all the music, but we'll need to give special consideration to our "orchestra", Anne and Amy, since their promised alone work-time together on the big piano has gone away. We do have the luxury of time onstage the day before the concert, rather than the earlier, stressful quick sound check we had been scheduled for just hours before show time. But now our piano duo will sit to the piano for the first time as we begin to rehearse the Brahms!
During this rehearsal the sound and visual setup for recording will take a lot of time, and we (OK, I) must be very patient. I plan to take as much time as needed to rehearse the Brahms, stopping as needed for them to adjust their sightlines or our tempo. Nonstop, straight- through performance of the set would be just under 1/2 hour, and I hope to be happy to go on after an hour's work. Great if it takes less time, of course, but that's not entirely up to me! Anne and Amy were promised an empty house while they acquainted themselves with the piano. They now will not have that.
We will proceed in order after the Brahms, needing to give our soloists Nicole and Will their time on the mic while Greg, the stage manager, adjusts the sound. This is another luxury that we weren't expecting, and we'll certainly take advantage of that.
Out in the house tomorrow we'll have Zach Mintzer, one-time Festival Caroler, listening for balance, since at last we will have the hanging mics to bolster us. That's a vital aspect, since our audience is paying for the best we can accomplish AND the performance will be recorded! So there will be feedback from him and the inevitable need to try something again. Or not! Everything might be just great the first time out. Fingers crossed; no orchestra to factor in this time.
I'll have reminders of places in Loch Lomond and Amor de mi Alma where particular caution needs to be observed to stay true to pitch, and I will definitely rehearse the sopranos on the intervals that keep eluding them in Movement III of the Wedding Cantata.
All of the above does not meet the description of a dress rehearsal! We are so lucky to have this rehearsal time in our performance space, so we'll be happy to call it nothing at all except a gift.
Please stay in good health. Several of our singers over the course of the term and also quite recently have had to withdraw for health reasons. While this will result in more comfortable space on the risers, I do feel bad for those who have worked so hard on this beautiful music.
See you tomorrow,
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