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Hi all,
What a rehearsal, laced with concerning events! It seemed Reva was OK after her trip to the floor as we rehearsed one of our "sits" following a chorus. And then Brenda's surprise trip to the pew against the wall. Wow, that was a genuine emergency! She ended up in the ER overnight. She is home now but was unable to participate in Wednesday night's piano rehearsal with the soloists. Bless her heart, Accompanist Emerita Ann Snelling drove over from Silverton to serve at the keyboard, even though she hadn't seen the score for about 10 years. How fortunate we are to have Ann in our musical family!
Speaking of wonderful angels, aren't we lucky to have not only a nurse but a doctor in our midst! (Ahem, may I point out that they are both altos?) I am grateful to you all for your thoughtful quietness, putting chairs away as decisions were being made about giving Brenda a ride home while her car was being delivered to the same place. I love how our singing community swings into action in emergencies, solving all the issues so intelligently and calmly!
I know that we all send Brenda warm thoughts.
Aside from those two scary events, we really had a productive rehearsal, didn't we? There is always an inevitable inner panic when we move straight through the whole concert for the first time. We shifted from drama and panic to praise and peaceful reflection, changing moods as needed. You know, it's not always possible for us to run the work like that, while still weeks from performance! Bravo, you! That kind of experience clarifies where the weaknesses are, and for sure we'll want to really solidify the "Amen" movement at our final rehearsal. I'm so happy, knowing we'll have an entire woodshedding night on our own between the tutti and dress rehearsals! For that movement and any other spots where you found yourself scrambling, keep track and let your section leader know the passages. We're a much bigger group than usual this term, and your section leader's ears can't be everywhere! And I have a wall of piano sound between me and you, so it'll take a village to find all the little things that need attention.
You're going to love being together with the orchestra and soloists next Tuesday. It's a real eye-opener, and quite exciting. That being said, please do not let your excitement spill over into conversation. You must be absolutely quiet when not singing! This first rehearsal with all of us together is really for the orchestra, not for you: I will be unable and unwilling to attend to choral issues as the orchestra and I do our first work together. You and I have had weeks (months!) to get to know this music! I worked with the soloists last night. This will be the very first trip through the work, for the orchestra, most of whom have played it before in other situations—but every conductor approaches it differently.
Please warm up before coming. The players need their setup and warmup time, and at this rehearsal we won't have much time to do that together.
OK, that's it for now. Take care of yourselves and each other as we head into our final preparations.
With excitement and love,
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