Rehearsal minutes 22.10.19
Chair: CS
Venue: Good Agency
Time: 19.00 – 21.00
Attendees: AM ( came in to open up for us , then left , unwell ) , CS , JB ,JL , LS , MM , MR , MS , MX , PS , RM , RS , WT .
Apologies: None .
Warm up exercise – William tell overture / ping pong
Warm up song Steppin’ Out
• Did twice , second time focussing on the timing at bar 33
Song One – Begin the Beguine
• First whole song run through of this .
• Did two run throughs , and somehow lurched to the end both times
• Worked on beginning section , and particularly on the timing
• Bass and tenors need to expand on bar 17 “ memory green
• Decision to sing “ mem’ry “ here , for everyone
• Discussion about the speed – it is a slow song which presents its own difficulties with getting the phrasing in unison
• Sounding a lot better on the last run through , some v nice chords emerging
• We all need to hit the robots and learn it better
Break happy B day Mercedes – we like the new transition towards double bubbles .
Song Two – Don’t mean a Thing
• Sopranos – the blue note at bar 55 (did this get resolved ? )
• Louli , and lowering the “ dah “ passage to your range . ( resolved ? )
• Decision to drop “ it “ before “ makes no diff “
• When singing “ thing “ extend it to bring out the chord
• Sounding good !
Song Three – Lullaby of Birdland
• Basses ( and tenors ? ) keep it light on “ I and “ sigh “ , don’t sit on the notes
• Basses keep the “ thums “ short and staccato – think double bass
• All – on the scat section , keep the notes staccato
• The very last note – there seems to be a bit of confusion – can everybody check on the robots / sheet music what they are singing and is it right
• Marcus pointed out that we are losing the swing a bit , but hopefully as we get the song under our belts more we can get this back
• Janette – “ willow “ and “ pillow “ – two distinct notes , not one .
• Sounding sound compared with a couple of weeks ago
Pub – Union Jack