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Hi everyone,
If I'd been wearing socks, you'd have knocked them off as you joined together on the double choir piece last Tuesday! I was pretty apprehensive as I decided to just go for it, rather than sending us for more separate coaching. I feared there'd be no way you'd remember the work we did on it, since it was at least three weeks ago. Furthermore, I assumed you'd totally rely on the Brenda Safety Net. Oh me of little faith! Bravo to you! (I did hear Brenda slipping little bits of assistance to parts that needed it occasionally, but overall it was a triumph.) Speaking of Brenda, she did great work in preparing Choir II, right?
What you now must do as you work at home (you do that, right?) is to speak the Italian text over and over, since that does take repetition to advance the learning process. I suggest underlining the weighted syllables and listening to your own vowel sounds (i.e., MAH-lah, rather than MAH-luh). I can't stress enough what a difference it makes to our progress when you spend that personal study time, since I really want to spend our time together building musical expressiveness rather than correcting pronunciation. There are still a couple of words in that piece that need clarifying, but you've got most of it. Studying the words on your own will be an invaluable gift to the whole group. (Clue: I've said that three times in one paragraph!)
Actually, underlining the key words in all the sentences in Stories would really help you to move away from just seeing the note values. The expressive scenes we are describing mustn't sound robotic. As we know, Cohen writes robotically when recounting facts and figures, or when picturing the passage of time, but of course there must be a noticeable difference. I'm sure you heard and felt the difference when we made the changes: it was huge, and that's when we are really communicating to the audience.
These are exciting rehearsals, as we hear our pieces strengthen in power and beauty. Please get plenty of rest because we need it now more than ever.
Solveig
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