A return to a normal rehearsal for a change! Starting at 7:30, and without frantically rehearsing a major concert program allowed us to relax a little.
A run through our Sacred test, Pacem, shows it is taking shape. There are two important things to remember, one is to watch the downbeat as there are many time signature changes to contend with – for most of the piece, the speed will remain constant, it will simply be a change of the number of beats and therefore the pulse more than the speed. However, the last lento section will be slow and counted in quavers. If you have a pause in the last bar, wait for direction!
Longford Legend – a nice read through of this work gave us a bit of sight reading practice.
Oregon – we spent considerable time working on the sudden tempo change to the adagio and the sudden changes of volume that are also required. Please mark these up in your score! Letter K is a vital checkpoint in this work – the pedal tones of the flowing passage need to be played carefully in tune as they are nearly always sharp, and the answering alto lines need to simply flow; a trick we used to use was to deliberately soften the high note so it wasn’t so dominant. Letter Q is another point where two counterpoints combine – leave room for each other.
As we return to the faster tempo (Presto), watch the off beats. There is a misprint in the Trombone parts in the second bar, which fails to put a quaver rest at the start of the bar – this doesn’t help to establish the session!
Other than that, it was a nice return to normality.
Murray