Rehearsal Notes for 24 Feb 2026
Chair: JB
Full house: JB, WT, LS, MX, SC, RM, PS, CS, MR, PV, and RS, with Elizabeth H attending as our guest.
Crossing the Bar – Remember to watch our conductor for tempo and dynamics. The correction to the error in the score Bar 65 for basses a tenors is now on the website.
Dock of the Bay – Much work done on the ending. Sounding good. Attention drawn to the different timings at start of verses for Altos and Basses (Bar 21 and 25).
Altos could refer to helpful recordings made by Jo and sent by Maxine earlier this month, clarifying our tricky but lovely C# in Bar 13 (bay), and 15 (-way), to get more secure on it.
We are again guided to sing more smoothly and don’t swoop!
Willie/Wullie’s Rare – Bars 1-12 sung by everyone, then song starts again with Sopranos’ solo.
Some discussion about the pronunciation of ‘Wullie’ being in danger of coming out as ‘Wally’. We also don’t want ‘Willie’, so how can we get that sound right given the length of the notes sung? I don’t think agreement was reached.
Sandy’s first Wrabler birthday was duly celebrated in traditional Wrabler style!
Iqude – A deceptively simple song!
An idea for an arrangement being considered is:
Altos sing Bar 2-4 (and including ‘se’ in Bar 5) slowly
Tenors and Basses join Altos, and repeat Bar 2-4 (and including ‘se’ in Bar 5) slowly
Sopranos join, singing Bar 1 and starting the song as written, at tempo.
Can we be off book for next time?
Lovely on the Water – Sopranos reminded to waft effortlessly up to their E notes – much like a bird singing in the air!
Reminder that Verse 4 (cabin boy verse) is sung ‘fervently secretively’. Verse 5 (small hands and fingers verse) is sung tenderly. Discussion about how Verse 7 (in Plymouth – everybody dies verse) should be sung – softly or mf as per the music. No conclusion. Rob to decide.
Vocal Range Tests – Rob used a novel approach to check our vocal ranges, using Wullie’s Rare instead of scales. The results are on the website.
A more lavish than usual repas was enjoyed after rehearsal, in part augmented by our guest. Sandy the birthday girl had to throw us out when the time came!
JB