April Fools!

Hey everyone!

Thanks for being such good sports about the April Fools joke tonight! For those who missed it, a guy that no one knows (except Marilyn) came in and acted extremely annoying...to the point where he actually started giving me conducting tips!!! (By the way, he's a really nice guy and it was super nice of him to do this for me). I really thought you all could see right through the joke....but as soon as I saw how upset Larry was, I knew I scored! But I also felt bad about it because he was clearly upset. (Thanks dad for taking up for me! You ROCK! I couldn't make eye contact with you the whole time b/c I figured you knew what was going on and I was afraid to blow it!)

What happened afterwards was totally unexpected too. Many of you came up and said it was a great joke and that you felt so bad for me the whole time. I hope you know me well enough to know that it wasn't a mean spirited prank and I wasn't trying to take advantage of any good feelings you have for me (although those good feelings probably flew right out the window the second I said "April Fools"!). I sincerely appreciate the unexpected love and support you showed me and want you to know I would have "had your back" if it had happened to you.

I might retire from my April Fools pranks because I don't think I can do any better than tonight....and that's not a joke! :)

Love,
Erin

Rehearsal Summary 24 March 2011

We worked on: Sing Sing Sing, Bring Him Home, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Saints Bound for Heaven, Red Red Rose, and Sure On This Shining Night. There is a new link to an mp3 for Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. I think we sang all the way through every piece we worked on tonight. We must memorize Sing Sing Sing, and It's a Grand Night for Singing. Some of the others should be quasi-memorized.

Sing³ - We worked on following the repeats and the D.S. al coda and which parts don't sing on which repeats (see the post from last week). One thing I missed in my post about this last week is that the women come in at 62 the first time instead of waiting until after the first ending and the repeat back to 56. This one needs to be memorized.

Saints Bound for Heaven - We did sing all the way to the end, but most of our time was spent on the first half of the piece. We reviewed the men's part from 40 to 60. We also worked on unifying our style/markings with the breaks after "by and by" in measures 3, 15, 23, after come in the SA line in 43, et cetera. Perhaps someone who didn't get confused by the markings can use the comments to respond with more details. Part of my problem is that the basses only get this pattern about 3 times but other parts sing it many times. I can't keep track of the markings for all parts.

Red Red Rose - Chuck is directing this one. We need to watch at 21 where the tempo picks up. The Altos, Tenors and Basses need to be careful when they come in at 13 to not be too strong. 37 to 40 builds to the climax and then after 45 the end is very soft.

Albin Dittli

March 24 Rehearsal

we rocked the mic

Pictures!

Young Single Adult Easter Fireside
Saturday, March 19th

Wish we could have got a picture of everyone!

Always have to have a picture of the food...

Laura and the Woodwards....so happy!

Our beloved president, Kendra....eat on, girl...eat on!

Party after rehearsal on March 17th
Happy St. Patty's Day!

Lovely ladies

The "kids" of the choir :)

The other "kids" of the choir :)

More green wearin' peeps

Thanks altos for the yummy green treats!

This treat gets the award for "Coolest Looking"! Whoever brought this deserves a serious pat on the back! Way to go! Thank you!

Rehearsal Summary 17 March 2011

Here are my rehearsal notes. We are now singing through most pieces from start to end with fewer and shorter stops.

We have a concert this Saturday for the single adults' conference at the Oakdale building (by the Temple). Call time is 5:30.

The tentatively scheduled temple fireside on April 24th has been dropped from our schedule.

We ended rehearsal with a St. Patrick's Day party. Hopefully some pictures will get posted.

Sing³ - We worked on the entire piece. We worked on making our voices sound like band instruments (string bass, muted trumpet, tinny old-time radio drama music). This music is quite non-linear. That is if you try to sing page 2 then page 3 then page 4 etc to the end you will get it very wrong. So here is the flow by measure number.

1-10

11-17 + take 1st ending

11-17 + take 2nd ending

20-27 take D.S al Coda

11-17 take Coda

28-32

33-40 basses only

33-40 no tenors

33-40 all

41-42

43-50 take 1st ending

43-55 take 2nd ending

56-63 take 1st ending, tenor and basses only

56-64 take 2nd ending

Balm in Gilead - We worked on entrances at measures 11 and 12. We also worked on the key change at 28. Then we sang it all the way through a few times. I made notes to myself about breathing. For example, I marked an extra big breath in 28 because the next breath is in 35. Even with that, I didn't make it on the next run through, so I'll have to stagger breath.

Bring Him Home (men) - We sang through it all. Notes aren't the problem. Focus on dynamics and breathing. Also, we need to count so that we don't hold notes over the rests or cut off early.

Every Knee Should Bow - The only thing I wrote down was to put in a brief pause before the pickup to 50. However some reminders might be in order. The half note on -sus (in 16 and 22) is changed to a quarter note and the closing s falls right on beat 3. And in 18 and 24 the closing s in confess is attached to the next word so we sing "con-feeee sthat". We sing klawry for glory and Lawd for Lord.

This is the Christ - I marked no breath in 24 and the men sing ov instead of us in 51.

Hossana - The only thing I wrote down was that I need to work on the notes is some specific places. Perhaps there are others who also need to work on notes, but I'm not pointing fingers.

Albin