HELLO AND WELCOME, ALL!

Hello, and welcome all!

Welcome new and returning members of the Seattle University Choirs!
In lieu of posting track upon track up at Soundcloud, I have decided to put my notes to you in blog form so that you can have printed backup for the information I will share with you here.

Our first Lee's Lesson (henceforth known as LL):
Preparing your music for rehearsals.

You will be given a choir binder at your first class. Inside that binder:

1. Music for our Family Weekend and Christmas concerts.
2. Choir syllabus - Do read and study this document. Many questions are pre-emptively answered therein.
3. Assignment sheets for each group in which you are singing. These are the backbone of our classes. Be sure that you check them frequently so that you can track your progress between rehearsals and stay abreast of upcoming rehearsal events and requirements.
4. Response and calendarsheets (commitment sheet, simple dates, "detailed" or elaborated dates). You will fill out the commitment sheet and return it to Doc by Friday, October 2. Enter all of the dates in your personal calendar. You may find it useful to print up a 3-month calendar for Fall Quarter and enter the dates/assignments. This will save you a great deal of shuffling papers and keep your tasks sequenced in a horizontal fashion. We all conceptualize dates and lists in different ways. Some of you will find that the vertical arrangement of the assignment sheets fits your own mental processes. Personally, I'm a big calendar fan (I believe I learned the days of the week and the notes in the octave of Middle C around the same time in my life, and they're inextricably entertwined. Today, for example, is "F" - Thursday.)
5. Other information: concert orders, translations (VERY IMPORTANT), piano keyboard with note-finding information, staff paper, etc.
6. Two new SU CHOIR pencils!

Go through the binder and examine everything in it.

Now!
PRACTICE PREP

Take out the assignment sheet for Men's or Women's Chorale.
What's your first assignment?
Find that music.
Using pencil, print your name on the first or cover page.
Open the music and scan it. What does the arrangement of the parts tell you about the way this music is composed? (TIP: If you wear glasses or contacts, try looking at the music with your naked eye. It's amazing, how many textural details will pop into place if you aren't looking at the score with "hard focus.")
Look at the time signature.
Look at the first measure.
Begin numbering your music, starting at the FIRST FULL (rhythmically complete) MEASURE. Write small, neat numbers above each complete measure midway through the measure, on top of the system (group of parts).

Now, take out your highlighter.
Make a small highlighter mark at the extreme left of each line of YOUR VOICE PART.
Highlight dynamic markings.
Highlight tempo markings.
Highlight instructions or symbols that indicate changes in tempo or dynamics.

AT REHEARSAL: Pencil in breath marks, editorial amplifications or changes, phonetic text pronunciations, etc. If you did a solfege or note-reading/rhythm reading session in rehearsal, copy the pattern onto your staff paper for reference. We will definitely solfege some of our music during rehearsals. Go ahead! Pencil in solfege syllables.
Shorthand:
Do - D
Re - R
Mi - M
Fa - F
Sol - S
La - L
Ti - T
Do (upper) - D (I like to write upper Do as "D" topped by a dash.

Go to Drop Box and find the choral recording of the piece. 
Listen to the recording three times:
First - Experiencing the music, eyes closed, simply drinking it in. Move your body, conduct, sway, whatever you like. You are establishing a whole-body connection with the sound.
Second - Look at the score while listening. Just scan the interplay of the various lines of voice parts.
Third -  Listen again, this time tracking your part with one forefinger moving lightly across the page beneath the text you are singing.

Now, the mighty Sound Cloud!
Stay tuned - this will be in my next post.