Welcome from Brigid Coult, Chorus Creative Director

Hi, folks

Schedule time – these dates were out before our last concert, but NOW is the time to make sure everything’s in your calendar.

First of all, please put Tuesday 12 September into your calendar – that’ll be our first rehearsal. We’re back at FRASERVIEW in the Sanctuary. Plan to be there early to meet-and-greet, get music sorted out, deal with any financials – though I hope most of you will have registered for this season online before we start (reminder – go to our website: roca@roca.ca – use the menu in the top righthand corner or scroll down to the black section at the bottom and click on Member Login – login is ROCAisgr8).

We had talked about doing something for Culture Days, but I think instead that we are going to make the September rehearsals open sessions, both for would-be singers, and for potential audience. If you know anybody who might be a possible member, encourage them to come without commitment September 12/19/26. I already know that we’ll be welcoming Pat Hodgins back, and new members Teresa, Cindy, Lea and David.

First formal concert will be the last weekend of October – CLEAN & CLASSIC, on Saturday 28 October. Program will be:

Orchestra – Mozart: Overture to “Don Giovanni”

Orchestra – Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante

intermission

Chorus/chamber orchestra – Mozart: Laudate Dominum

Chorus/chamber orchestra – Vivaldi: Gloria

Tabitha Brasso-Ernst will be our soloist

Our Christmas concert will be on the afternoon of Sunday 10 December – CHRISTMAS AT THE MOVIES – and I think it’ll be mostly Orchestra-led, with Chorus arrangements derived from the orchestral scores.

The spring concert marks my 30th season with ROCA. CONDUCTOR’S CHOICE on April 6. We’ll do some stuff from earlier years, but also some new rep that’s been on my must-do-sometime list, but has never fitted with any of our themed programs. I think you’ll love this rep!

Then on June 8 we’ll offer a program called MAGICAL WORLD OF MUSIC with a focus on your favourite Disney songs – though there’ll be a little Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter to enhance the magic.

I think this is going to be a great season – all we need now is the singers!

Please let me know If there are any of the concert dates that you can’t do, or if you are going to be away for any period of time that might require a re-audition before a concert.

If you know any other singers who might like to join us – encourage them to try-out this month.

And the big reminder, since 2020 – COVID’s not gone away, so we’re going to have to live around it (and around RSV and influenza and colds and all that stuff). If you might be infectious, please call me to let me that you will join us on Zoom. A Zoom rehearsal is not the greatest, but it’s better than missing altogether. However, I will not bring my laptop for Zoom unless I know people will be attending online.

Please email or call me as early as possible to let me know if you’re not coming – don’t tell me at rehearsal; I need it in time so that I can do my seating plan. If I think you’re not ready for a concert or you’ve missed too many rehearsals, I may ask to hear you separately.

For those in rehearsal together, wearing a mask is nobody’s favourite thing, but I am quite happy to see masked faces – whether you mask because you’re protecting others or yourself.

Fall rep recordings:

Mozart Laudate Dominum

Statskappelle Dresden - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL2H162wRCo
– chorus starts at 2.38

Vivaldi Gloria

U of Texas, conducted by my friend Richard - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvZYhxT5Mf8&t=123s

This was the performance at La Pieta we watched together during COVID! -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgaOVV4JQHA&t=6s

There are lots of other recordings, but these are my favourites.

Christmas rep – depends on James’s selections.... What are YOUR favourite Christmas movies?

Looking forward to seeing you all on September 12!

-Brigid

604-790-2367

brigidatROCA@gmail.com

April Concert notes: CHORUS

Tuesday April 18 – The Music’s Always There

dress rehearsal will be Tuesday 11 April

Chilcott – Mairi’s wedding

Faure ed Rutter – Cantique de Jean Racine

Rutter – Psalm 23 (from Requiem)

set, tba, by Steveston/London choir

Chilcott – Jazz Mass

Rutter – The Music’s always there

-----

Rutter – Blow Blow

Chilcott – Greensleeves

Mikulin – By Shallow Rivers

Chilcott – Walking the Red Road

Rutter – Prayer for Ukraine

Rutter – Gaelic Blessing

Chilcott – And so it goes

Chilcott – Buffalo Gals

Rutter – The Terrible Tale of Tom Gilligan

Rutter – Down by the Riverside

(bolded – joint choirs in red – music not in your hands yet)

Reminders from Brigid for "Magnificat!"

Hi Singers, please review these links: listen and inwardly digest!

Vivaldi - Magnificat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zqoztX4u9A – all the “solo” movements are choral

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGJYPSSJM7k – wonderful work with soloists – sometimes not

exactly as in our edition!

Cyber-bass for individual part-work:

http://www.cyberbass.com/Major_Works/Vivaldi_A/vivaldi_magnificat.htm

Robert Ray - Gospel Magnificat

Not very good recordings – mostly amateur choirs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoko8IIl3OU - this makes me laugh – it’s a bit caffeinated! Want

some choralography?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJD-gzi34V4 – not such a good choir, but a better tempo.

Biebl: Ave Maria

There are many recordings of this around, but most of them are all women, all men, or low voices vs

high ones. They’re worth listening to, but may not help with notes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG7MAGog26E – this is the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir singing

the same edition we use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQWb4I87b88 – this is the right version, but I don’t like the

balance of voices – what do you think?

Britten: Hymn to the Virgin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z0O8X26UIU – Voces 8 – gorgeous! Though it helps to have that

acoustic!

Carol of the Stable Dog – sung by Phoenix Chamber Choir – I think Corlynn had retired by then....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW3FaJIYkQQ

Mary did you know

This will not help you with learning our version, but you should hear this group, with the original

writer... Wow! Incredible tuning!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaRpeMT1tjQ

This Christmastide

My favourite version – beautiful sensitive singing -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YxGFKM27_8

Here’s Jessye Norman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isWViEYXM3M

and here’s our MAGNIFICAT PROGRAM, so far:

ALL : ONCE IN ROYAL DAVID’S CITY solo:

Hymn to the Virgin Benjamin Britten—Pat Hodgins, Elizabeth Oh, Harry Gray, Bernie Barrett

Gabriel’s Message Basque arr. Pettman

Ave Maria Franz Biebl —Laura Rhead, Alison Cole Genny Trigo-Gonzalez, Elizabeth Oh, Don Moir, Bernie Barrett

reading?

Magnificat Antonio Vivaldi

Magnificat

Et Exultavit

Et Misericordia Eius

Fecit Potentiam

Deposuit Potentes

Esurientes ~ Sopranos: Rachel Eaton, Pat Hodgins

Suscepit Israel

Sicut Locutus Est

Gloria Patri

(with string quartet)

~ INTERMISSION ~

ALL: DECK THE HALL

A la nanita nana solo: Genny Trigo-Gonzalez arr Ed Henderson

Mary did you know arr Schrader

Carol of the Stable Dog - solo: Laura Rhead arr Corlynn Hanney

reading

All: DE VIRGIN MARY Caribbean, arr B Coult

Gospel Magnificat Robert Ray —solo: Amy Koop

Jessye’s Carol (This Christmastide) Donald Fraser

Reading Christmas Landscape

ALL : O COME, ALL YE FAITHFUL

Recordings for fall listening

Magnificat program draft 1

Message from Brigid

Monday 5 September 2022

Dear Singers

 

Countdown time!   On Tuesday 6 September, I will be doing some auditions.  On Tuesday 13 September we have our first rehearsal of the new season!  I’m really looking forward to being back working with you again.  We will welcome Josie Lau as our accompanist.

 

Reminder: I know there are folks with away-time planned.  PLEASE EMAIL ME to confirm absence dates. Depending on how the rehearsal schedule works out, it may impact on participation in the any concert, and I may ask you to reaudition on that repertoire.

 

I know you’ve had a wonderful welcome-back letter from Laura, with all the membership info you need.  Here’s the music stuff!

 CONCERT DATES/TIMES

 

November 5 concert – In Memory – originally planned for Fraserview, but because of a conflict, we’ve had to move it to South Arm United. That means that we couldn’t do a full joint concert, but we can do the Fauré Requiem, which needs a smaller ensemble – so the Orchestra will do the first half, and the Requiem will be the second half.

Afternoon rehearsal – 3:30-5pm (then reset stage for Orchestra rehearsal). Those who come a distance should bring concert dress and something to eat; we have the Heritage Room booked.  Concert call 7pm for 7:30pm

An optional extra – I have scheduled the Fauré at St Mary’s Kerrisdale for the afternoon of Sunday 6 November for an All Souls service where we remember those gone in the past year. This would be a 2pm rehearsal call for a 4pm service. Let me know if you don’t want to be part of it.  I may invite singers from St Mary’s choir to join us for the Saturday concert.

 

December 10 concert – Magnificat – originally planned as a joint concert, but we’re now making it Chorus only, and I am returning to a program we did 11 years ago – all Mary-music, to include (but not limited to)

·        Britten – Hymn to the Virgin

·        Biebl – Ave Maria

·        Lowry/Green – Mary, did you know

·        Vivaldi – Magnificat

·        Ray – Gospel Magnificat

lots of solo and ensemble possibilities – and not so much Christmas fluff!

 

April 18 concert – The Music’s Always There – will be on a Tuesday evening by request of our concert partners, the choir from Steveston-London Secondary School, under the direction of Michael Mikulin. They have been part of Richmond Sings in previous years.

The program will comprise music composed or arranged by John Rutter and Bob Chilcott – some with them, some with us, and some with both choirs together.

We will certainly be offering Chilcott’s Little Jazz Mass but the music will include folk and pop arrangements by both composers.

 

June 3 concert – When We Were Young – was originally scheduled for the following week, but another Fraserview conflict has bumped us back.  I’m still working on this program - looking for the songs that were classics for us as we grew up (though pop songs don’t always transfer well to a choral arrangement!)

REHEARSAL PRACTICALITIES

 

It doesn’t need to be said, but if you feel at all unwell, please stay home and test!  A Zoomed rehearsal is not at all the same as an in-person one for you and for the rest of your section, but it’s better than nothing at all.  Zoom code will be the same:


https://us02web.zoom.us/j/95350781933?pwd=Y1NSQld3QTVROCtVUUdZMzZONnVIQT09

Meeting ID: 953 5078 1933 Passcode: SATB    



However, I would prefer not to be Zooming unless it’s necessary, so this is BY REQUEST, please. 

 

I need to hear from you by 6pm if a) you’re not going to be at rehearsal in person, and b) if you want to join us by Zoom.    A rehearsal attended on Zoom will be credited to you (as long as you attend all of it!) when I’m deciding who is able to take part in a concert.

You can contact me – 604-790-2367, voice or text, or brigidatROCA@gmail.com at any time.  I will check messages before I leave – but I will not be doing so once I’m headed out for rehearsal; any last-minute calls to your section-leaders, please.

 THE DREADED COVID STUFF...

 

I have every sympathy with those who are experiencing mask fatigue, but for the time being at least, I need to you be prepared to mask for the 2-hours-minus of ROCA rehearsal – even if you don’t wear a mask at all the rest of the week. This thing has not gone away, though those of us who have done our vaccinations and have still had “the bug” have found that we’ve mostly dealt better with it than we had feared. We have every hope that the new anti-Omicron vaccinations will improve the odds.

That being said, I think there are very few of us who don’t know someone who’s been sick with it. And for those who are fit and healthy it may not be more than a week or two of discomfort. But for the older ones among us, or those who are immune-compromised, or fearful, it’s still a concern.  And the science hasn’t changed – the act of singing pushes out more aerosols than simply talking.

So I am backing up what the Safety Committee have said – for the immediate future, we mask for rehearsals.  We may, with RAT tests, have the possibility of making future concerts mask-optional. But I want to hold with our self-naming as a COMMUNITY Chorus and care for each other with the decision to put a mask on for two hours.

I would also ask you to be careful about what sort of mask you wear for singing. The ideal one is a well-fitting (no gaps at the edges) three-layer mask with at least one layer of non-woven polypropylene. Because everyone’s face is different, you may do better with a flat mask, or a home-made singers mask (with more depth) or a commercial mask, even an N95 – I won’t tell you what pattern to wear. But 3-layer with NWPP, please.

And I need to remind you that I am putting my health in your hands – you have requested that I NOT mask so that you can see and hear me clearly; with 50 singers pushing out aerosols in my direction, I appreciate knowing that I am as safe as you can make me.

For the other COVID mitigations

·        there will be sanitizer available – please use!

·        We are blessed to be in Fraserview, with good space. However, they don’t have up-to-date air-exchange systems, so we will continue to distance as practical.  Please take responsibility for having doors open.
I will probably not do the seating labels this year, and trust you to leave space between you and the folks around you.

·        We will take a decent break, and people are encouraged to go outside and unmask as needed.

I’m excited about this season’s program – some things we’ve done before and loved, some new things – and I really hope we can get a full season of singing this time, with no COVID shut-downs, and share our music again with each other and the Richmond community.

 

Registrations are coming in – please make sure you are registered before the first rehearsal.

Looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday 13 September!

 

Brigid

From James: Nov 5/6 Concert

From James re: Nov. 5/6 concert:

So this is what I have come up with for the first half:

God Save the King

The Last Post and Reveille

O Canada

Beethoven Symphony #3, 2nd movement - Funeral March - 13 minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4l8ah2Rvm0&ab_channel=DWClassicalMusic

https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.3%2C_Op.55_(Beethoven%2C_Ludwig_van)

Sibelius In Memoriam Op.59 - 8 minutes (there are both very slow recordings and an 8 minute recording which I like much better)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPDExsPq1NU&ab_channel=symphony7526

https://imslp.org/wiki/In_memoriam%2C_Op.59_(Sibelius%2C_Jean)

Butterworth Banks of Green Willow - 6 minutes (English composer who died in WW1)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFgDOBpx160&ab_channel=BartjeBartmans

https://imslp.org/wiki/The_Banks_of_Green_Willow_(Butterworth%2C_George)

Walch (Beethoven) Funeral March 1 (Winds and Brass only) - 4 minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=312YOC_-Quc&ab_channel=LiberincLtd.

https://imslp.org/wiki/Funeral_March_No.1_(Walch%2C_Johann_Heinrich)

Elgar Nimrod - 4 minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik0VaT5iXPY&ab_channel=EnglishSymphonyOrchestra

https://imslp.org/wiki/Variations_on_an_Original_Theme_%27Enigma%27%2C_Op.36_(Elgar%2C_Edward)

***Intermission***

Faure Requiem

From Brigid: mid-November

Hi, people

Lots of feedback from people who enjoyed singing through the Faure last Tuesday. Please hold on to your copies – we’ll worry about getting them back in the New Year when we retrieve the red folders. It might be that you’d like another Faure evening before we gather them in....

In view of what we’re hearing from Dr Bonnie, I’ve made the decision that we won’t even think about caroling outside unless the COVID numbers take a downward turn. I do think that singing outside and separated is possible, and safe – but I am also more coming to a place where I feel that we all have to do more to NOT push the boundaries, and to model safe behaviour. Who knows, it may happen that we can flatten the curve again... And we all desperately want for things to be normal again, and for Christmas to be “traditional”. But the most important thing right now is to stay safe. So much as we’d like the promo, and to be singing publicly, I’m putting the brakes on. We’ll get as much carol-singing as we can in our Tuesday sessions.

Emily, from Phoenix Chamber Choir, has just sent me the video with score of “Silent Night”.- https://youtu.be/BVTLAJaGyjE I have put a pdf of the score in the music files as well, but singing off the screen gets your heads up and your faces more engaged! Sopranos barely need to rehearse, but you might find it a good challenge to sing alto or tenor, for rehearsal, anyway. Notice the staggered breathing, which will feel very odd, singing on your own. Brad (the sound engineer) says that the most important thing is that you don't leave out a whole note, but rather start the note and then drop out. He can extend your note to fill the space, but he can't create a note out of nothing. That means that you should try to stagger on the longer notes so that you can start the note, breathe, and then get back in for the next note. Final consonants on a syllable will actually belong to the beginning of the next syllable.

We’ll plan for some sectional time on Tuesday.

So (crossed fingers) Tuesday 17th will be something like

• warmup and vocal reminders

• let’s fish out the Back To Zoom Choir round

• we’ll do some rhythmic work on Woodsmoke & Oranges, and see if we can get the rest of this sorted – notes are not difficult. Perhaps sing against recording....

• I’m going to suggest we take some breakout room time in random groups to talk about the fact that the Food Bank has been a beneficiary of ROCA for the last few years, but we can’t do a concert for them this year – is there anything we can do?

• Break

• sectionals on Silent Night

• bring it together with Phoenix recording

• reminders about what’s needed if you decide to do the Virtual Choir thing

We talked a bit at St Mary’s staff meeting last week about the difference between online ritual and ritual online – that we can’t expect to pick up a pattern and have it transfer into a different format. It’s very much what I’m trying to do with ROCA rehearsals – we can’t expect to have things continue the same, but what we do need to do is use the online resources in a way that we couldn’t have done in an in-person format (like last week!). I’ve heard from a few choirs recently who are on hiatus because “online doesn’t work for us”... I feel sorry for them, because I suspect that they’ve just tried to move their usual patterns into Zoom, and it’s not worked. I’m grateful to all of you for moving outside your comfort zones and trying new things and new ways of being at this difficult time.

See you Tuesday

Brigid

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