We’re getting back
into the swing of things after the summer break. We’ve already performed at two
gigs this month, we’ve a few more coming up and we’re getting ready for the
North Wales Competition early November. That means some hard work at rehearsals.
But we don’t mind that. It’s good to
know we are continuously building on what we know, improving old skills and learning
new ones.
Jeff continues to
emphasize getting good vowel sounds. We’ve practised not moving our chins, not
changing the shape of our mouths and doing all of the work with our tongue and
palette. We’ve been shown how to project the sound forward instead of it
staying in our nose and throat. That, of course is also helped if we breathe
correctly. However, we must not, no we must not indeed, breathe in the wrong
places or take great gasping breaths at the beginning of a phrase. Good,
controlled breathing is highly desirable.
We’re working quite
quickly on a new song, Ave Verum.
This can be quite dramatic and also quite solemn. It’s actually harder to get
that drama into it before we’ve learned it.
We have to learn it quickly because we are going to perform it at the
North Wales competition. We need to present one song in another language and
this of course is in Latin.
“It’s easy to
learn,” says Jeff. “Apart from the tenor part.”
Ah. In fact in
many places there are parts for tenor 1s – sung by the ladies - and tenor 2s –
presented by the men.
We continue as
well perfecting Here, There and Everywhere,
polishing Let’s Do It and keeping the
rest of our repertoire in good condition. And we remember not to look at the
floor, but to tell the story and to keep our eyes bright. Hard work, this
singing. But we enjoy it and we’re convinced it’s good for us.
