Good morning.  Thank you to all able to attend last night’s rehearsal.  The cold/sinus bug is really starting to hit…please take care and drink plenty of water and get as much sleep as possible.  Take care of yourself.

Last night we spent major time working through four choruses:

Pg. 115 He Trusted in God- we methodically worked small sections at a time to clarify pitches and secure entrances.  It is very important to know when you are singing the main theme and to bring it out.  When not singing the theme, sing softer

a. “He Trusted in God that he would deliver him, let him deliver him if he delight in him”

– From m 1-19 the initial entrance of each voice part has the main theme but once sung each voice part breaks into brief snips of “if he delight”

– the next complete statements are 
m. 23- altos
m. 28- sopranos
m.41- bass (with slightly altered pitches)
m. 50- sopranos

b. NOTE- there are sections with no one singing the complete theme:

– m. 19-22
-m 33-41
-m. 55-end

THINGS TO FOCUS ON:

-sections where you do NOT sing the theme
-keep vowel of “him” open as long as possible.  avoid closing immediately to the M of him

p. 55 For Unto Us

a. worked each melisma with a breathy “chihuahua” technique.  work to keep the voice light as sing the melismas- they are not sung with full voice
b. glottal separation between unto / us…avoid unto wus
c. early release in m. 37, 53, 72, and 90
d. keep strict dotted eighth & sixteenth rhythms – don’t let them become triplets

p. 35 And He Shall Purify

a. slowly worked through the chorus focusing on lightly singing the melismas
b. give full eighth note value to “and” and keep vowel open as long as possible, put the d of and on the h of he
c. sing purihfy vs. pureefy
d. circle the accidentals- b natural, e natural, f sharps

p. 68 Glory to God – we added this chorus to take a break from melisma singing

p.  106 All We Like Sheep- we greatly reduced the tempo and altered the rhythm of the melisma to give a different way of learning the pitches of the melismas:

instead of groups of 4 sixteenths we sang dotted sixteenth, 32nd, dotted sixteenth, 32nd.
Watch this video and you’ll find this technique as well as the chihuahua pant technique and more.

We closed rehearsal with singing the entire chorus as written.

For the Nov. 13th rehearsal please focus on the following:

p. 86 His Yoke is Easy
p. 102 And With His Stripes
p. 127 Lift Up Your Head
p. 219 Worthy is the Lamb

Thank you for your diligence and willingness to “dig  deep” working the countless melismas that are Messiah.
I am grateful for you,
Leslie