Message to Membership – December 8, 2022
Dear Chorale,
Thank you for your phenomenal work this week with Maestro Bjaland. He is very pleased! As always, I am grateful for your diligence in remembering what we had practiced, and implementing that when necessary. Last night was also a good example of being flexible (with tempos), and adjusting to whatever the person on the podium decides to do in that moment. It’s important to note that the reason last night’s rehearsal was listed as “orchestra, rehearsal“ on the schedule is because it was their first rehearsal. This is why there was a lot of extra time taken to figure out certain musical things with them. Thank you for your patience with regard to when rehearsal ended last night. It’s not what we were told. To that end, please plan on our rehearsal ending by 10:00pm on Friday night.
As has been mentioned many times, you need to work harder on the diction, especially as it relates to initial and final consonants (S, T, K, D). If you are doing it correctly, you will feel like you are overdoing it. This is most important in the middle of phrases, after you’ve been saying the same thing for a while.
A few quick reminders:
1. For Friday night, please be seated in the auditorium by call time for a few announcements from me, prior to a staggered seating call for the stage.
2. Our four soloists from the Yale opera program will be with us Friday night.
3. So that you may know what solo movements are being performed, attached is the full program. Reminder: do not follow the soloist’s music in your own score. Have your next page be the page a stand cue is on, or the start of the next movement.
4. We will not be doing any warm-ups Friday night, so please take care of that yourself in the car before you arrive. The same is true for SUNDAY in Litchfield.
5. Please review the detailed document from Emily Badger regarding where you need to be for Saturday and Sunday.
6. Take care of yourselves.
See you on stage!
Jack