TODAY IS PENULTIMATE DAY TO FWC - ARE YOU READY?!!!

Hello everyone,
Our two Family Weekend concerts are about 50 hours away!

whoooo

I am pleased to inform everyone that a recent email from our contact Ms. Laurie Prince indicates a capacity audience for BOTH CONCERTS!

That's 250 audience members for 7 p.m. and 250 for 8.30 p.m.!
There will likely be a few additional folks in the audience - we don't turn people away.

If I may -

I'm putting on my Aunty Lee hat right now - please consider the following and govern yourselves accordingly, if at all possible!

1. GET ENOUGH SLEEP.
2. GET ENOUGH WATER.
3. GET ENOUGH DECENT FOOD.
4. DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL.
5. DO NOT USE "HERBAL" PRODUCTS.
6. DO NOT DRINK MILK ON CONCERT DAY.
7. STAY AWAY FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE ILL.
8. DO THE "eeeeeeee" VOCALISE TO KEEP YOUR VOCAL FOLDS TONED AND RELAXED.
9. STUDY YOUR MUSIC!
10. DETERMINE TO HAVE FUN!!!

This is our first real concert of the 2016-2017 academic year. It's a wonderful thing that we do to contribute to Seattle U spirit, welcome parents and family members to campus for the week/end, AND AND AND test-drive some of the more challenging pieces in our Christmas Concert repertoire.

It is not the end!!!!

I know that everyone will do their best to do their best on Friday, and this is a GOOD THING.

However - "the best" is what we hermeneuticists call an ever-receding horizon - there's always something just over the hill - something even better, something even more beautiful, something even more gorgeous - and as musicians, we are committed to continue our relentless pursuit of this something.

SO.

Next week, we'll be working on more of the Christmas concert repertoire - rep that hasn't yet been taken out in rehearsals - rep that you may not have heard or looked over...I encourage everyone to spend a few minutes listening to the next set of pieces on Dropbox over the weekend.

Protect those precious little vocal folds! Enjoy your considerable achievements! STRUT YOUR STUFF! And, get ready to shift it into an even higher gear come Monday.

WE ARE CAPABLE.
WE ARE SMART.
WE KNOW HOW TO WORK SMART.
WE ARE READY.
WE ARE FABULOUS!

See you Friday 10/21/16 at 5 p.m. in the Chapel of St. Ignatius.
1. Choir T-shirt
2. Black pants (not black jeans, please - actual slacks)
3. Black shoes
4. Black socks
5. BIG SMILE!!

LL&P,
Lee

October 3

This %*&@$^! program just ate my ENTIRE post, which I had put quite a bit of time and effort into.

----------

Highlights
1. 18 days remaining until FWC, hustle to the max and we will again do a wonderful job this year!
2. New people: there are 2 Family Weekend concerts, each under an hour. 7 to 8 p.m., then 8.30 to 9.30 p.m. I suggest that EVERYONE "eat big" around 6 p.m. and pack a little snack to tide over and eat between 8. and 8.30. There won't be enough time to grab and safely ingest something from 12th Avenue eateries - if you try to do that, you'll find yourself getting into position with half your dinner still on its way down to your tummy!
3. Bella Voce: Quickie Trick for learning the Britten Hodie - prepare your own score and write 'neumes' (little markings above syllables that indicate where pitch rises, falls, etc.)

A bit about neumes here (read the first 2 paragraphs): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neume

Easy to do: just copy the text by hand on a sheet of paper or use what I've given below. (Copying by hand will help you memorize the words very quickly, btw).

In the text below, I've maintained syllabification - Copy (or copy and paste, format in 14 point type with double space between the lines):

Ho-di--e-- Chri-----tus na-tus- est---;
Ho-di-e-Sal-va-tor ap--pa-ru--it:
Ho-di--e in ter-ra ca---nunt an-ge-li---
lae-tan--tur arch-an-ge-li:
Ho-di-e------ ex-sul----tant jus-ti--- di-cen-tes
glo-ri-a in ex-cel-sis De-o.
Al-le-lu-ia!
Al-le-lu------ia!
Al-le-lu------ia!

Maintain the dashes between syllables. If there's a melisma (group of notes sung over a single syllable of text), indicate this with a longer dash.

Then, listening to the choral recording, mark or draw a wavy pencil line ABOVE the text to help feel the melodic contour. Mark in breaths!! Use pencil!
Sing with the clip - test yourself
Then using your score and the clip, play 1 phrase / sing it / play it again and check yourself, etc.
Get together with others from B.V. and test each other!!

Here is a nice clip - it's too long to put in DropBox -  just follow the link -
it leads to an SATB version of the "Ceremony of Carols," which Britten originally scored for 3-voice treble choir and harp.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXyjrhz5bzs

Here's another  clip - also too long to put in DropBox because it is of the entire C of C. DO NOT LISTEN TO WHAT FOLLOWS THE 'HODIE' MOVEMENT - it is not good!!!!! The "Hodie" is the best of this performance, imo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQyunriE1zg

Bon chance!
Lee

USS. SUCHOIRS HAS NOW LEFT THE SOLAR SYSTEM!

Hello everyone,
WOW - we are going to have the best group this year!!!
I waited until everyone had met at least once before posting this rave -
Beginning with Cantemus and Chamber Singers on 9/21, then Chorale on 9/22, then the marvelously effective and efficient Chamber Intensive on 9/24 AND wow - Bella Voce on 9/26...what a feast!

Doc and I have been grinning with happiness and high-fiving since last Wednesday afternoon.  We are beyond delighted with the nascent sound of every single group. We look forward to incredible concerts in 2016-2017.
This choir - it is SMOKIN'. We are going to TEAR IT UP this year!

Okay -
With 24? days remaining until Family Weekend, there's no time to waste - all hands at their posts - if you are having ANY kind of trouble with ANYTHING, raise your barbaric yawp to the Heavens and alert your section leader - alert me - alert Doc - don't wait, do it NOW.

At the beginning of last school year, I posted a bunch of links to free keyboard apps, interactive music theory sites, etc. - go to ARCHIVES in this site and look for the posts made in late September and early October 2016.

I am about to do some work in Sound Cloud. You should find your tracks newly alphabetized by this evening. If you still have trouble finding something, please email me at once.

And now - a little inspiration!
We're doing Sergei Rachmaninoff's moving "Nunc dimittis" setting at Family Weekend. This is a small part of a much larger work, "The All-Night Vigil," that uses Russian Orthodox chant in a felicitous fusion with Rachmaninoff's unique, unforgettable harmonic language and choral "soundscape."
Seattle University is located very near a Russian Orthodox church (look it up on Google). If you've never attended an Orthodox service, I recommend you visit the Capitol Hill church or the Orthodox cathedral, which is downtown.

http://www.saintnicholascathedral.org/

Those of you who have read your church history will recognize the date "1054" - what you will hear in the Orthodox service is a descendant of liturgies and theology from the OTHER side of that schism. Additionally, the Orthodox Communion has a thriving mystical tradition, beginning as far back as the writings of the Desert Fathers. If you'd like some titles, I'm happy to recommend...My own communion, the Ecclesia Gnostica, is more "eastern" than "western" in several important regards.

All of that said - visit these links and feast your eyes on the art and architecture of Russian Orthodox houses of worship. - Particularly, spend time contemplating the ikons. Ikons are crucial to the Orthodox Way, with strict rules of painting and an accompanying theology.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_churches_in_Moscow - LOTS of links.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_icons - Good introductory article about ikons.

About the"All-Night Vigil" -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-Night_Vigil_(Rachmaninoff)

Story of the text "nunc dimittis" (Canticle of Simeon) -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunc_dimittis

SS. SU Choirs prepares to leave space dock!!!

Next stop, Family Weekend!

Hello everyone,
Doc and I hope that you had a marvelous summer. We'll be meeting with the returning choirfolk next Tuesday (September 20) at Doc's house - check your SU email for details and directions.

Y'all, you are in for SUCH a treat this year!

Wonderful repertoire, exciting performance opportunities, TREMENDOUS section leaders - and of course, the inestimable pleasure and benefit from shared effort to master our Art.

I always love the returning student meetings - they're so full of excitement, enthusiasm, camaraderie, and expressed concern for the new choirfolk and how we will welcome them into our group.

Some of our new people will be new to everything: Seattle, Seattle University, dorm or apartment living, Bon Appetit pizza (! - we will help them with that) - in a whirl of newness, it will be good for them to know that in at least one context, they will find a ready-made community of intelligent, talented, accepting people who value them for their multi-faceted selves and work with them to achieve their personal and collective best.

"Excellence" - that good old SU buzzword - excellence is not our goal.
Surprised?

Excellence is our STARTING POINT.
We begin there, and then we move individually and collectively from "excellent" to OUTSTANDING.

In section leader retreat yesterday, I related a conversation Doc and I had earlier this summer... something that came to me while I was watching Simone Biles change the laws of physics with her mindblowing gymnastics performances.

All of the Olympic athletes are excellent. You don't get to the Olympics unless you're excellent.
But, in the context of this event, only a few will be judged OUTSTANDING.

Choir is unique in its three-fold position - we are a class-for-credit, a performance organization, AND a socially viable entity. We are the largest and most diverse student organization on campus. Yet our diversity is united in its essence: we are devotees and passionate students of the Art. The love of music unites us.

We're also cooks: cooks who prepare a musical and spiritual feast for those who will come to eat at our table. We're cooks who eat our /own/ cooking, moreover: we give to our audiences from abundance.

but wait...there's more!

Hello everyone,

Congratulations, salutations, felicitations, and whoop-ilations to Chamber Singers for a wonderful Farewell Concert on May 16! You did yourselves proud, indeed.

---------------

Our last group gig - Baccalaureate Mass - approaches. With rehearsals now at two plenary sessions per week, it is important for everyone to be extremely focused in all contexts: group work AND private practice.

Reviewing Music.
What does "reviewing the music" mean?

I like to think of this process as "re-learning," rather than "reviewing." For me, "reviewing" has different connotations. As a solo pianist, I formed the habit of retiring to a quiet place with the musical score after I'd played a concert, mentally re-playing the program with dispassionate care, essentially clearing my mind of things I did that I would rather not have done (and vice versa!). A "wash," you might say. With everything cleaned up, I felt free to then put that program away and go on to other things.

Re-learning is different and requires different mental set.
I most recently experienced re-learning a couple of years ago, bringing a few things "back" for a solo recital. I found it useful to work with two copies of the score: the original copy (with my notations, etc.) and a clean copy. I would go over the piece in sections, working with the clean copy - checking my physical reactions. Some sections called up physical sensations that seemed to "clash" with learned muscle habits. Why? I would mark these sections in the clean copy for later perusal.
After doing this, I'd go back to the original copy and play again, using that score. If muscle "clashes" persisted, I'd analyze them and see if I could find a better, more efficient way to work out the difficulties.

The success of re-learning is largely dependent upon the success of the initial learning, which lays down neural tracks that become one's "default setting" when playing/singing the piece.

THIS IS WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO AVOID FORMING BAD HABITS THE FIRST TIME AROUND. THIS IS WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO BE MENTALLY FOCUSED, ENGAGED, AND PRECISE THE FIRST TIME AROUND!

I have had to drop pieces from my performing repertoire because bad habits developed in the First Learning were too solidly ingrained to warrant the amount of time it would take to correct them the second time around. The 'clash' between bad muscle habits formed years ago and good muscle habits developed since "then" was simply too great. Sometimes it really IS easier to simply learn a new piece!

What does all of this have to do with Baccalaureate music?
Well!
If you've sung Bacc before, you have laid down neural tracks - and when you "review" your music, you must be very careful to PAY ATTENTION when practicing. If you feel a "tug" between what you're doing now and something that you did before, STOP - LOOK - LISTEN - ANALYZE - PLAN CORRECTION - and then repeat the corrected version many, many, many, MANY times. It is easier to correct if you work from an unmarked, clean score. (No transferred associations from markings!)
If you're a Bacc newbie, your job might, paradoxically, be a bit easier! Just do what you are supposed to do - many times! - stay focused - stay engaged.

Baccalaureate Mass is the biggest engagement of the year - we sing for 37 minutes (thanks, Doc! for crunching the numbers - egads, that's A LOT OF SINGING!) - before a group that exceeds the COMBINED attendance at our paying concerts.

At Baccalaureate, we are the choros - the chorus (as in ancient Greek drama). Through the art of music, we bring chronos (everyday time) and kairos (sacred time) together, making them as one. We express the Voice of the People and interpret the Voice of the Transcendent.

People who attend Baccalaureate Mass come from a variety of contexts. Some will consider themselves congregants, participating in a beloved and familiar religious ritual. Others attend as an audience, who may or may not practice any faith tradition. For two hours on Saturday, June 11 - all of these people are gathered for a single purpose - a purpose it is our privilege and responsibility to communicate and to celebrate.

Let's do OUR work well, so that the Work will be well.

End of sermon! - See you Tuesday next.

DONE DONE DONE DONE DONE FABULOUSLY DONE DONE DONE!

Hello everyone,

WOW.
I mean, just - WOW.

EPIC!!!
AWESOME!!!

Spring Concerts 2016 - you did yourselves proud, and Doc and I are proud of every single minute of both performances. What wonderful, expressive, spirited singing - and what marvelous and efficient teamwork ;-) Y'all ROCK!

-------------------------

S.U.C.C.U.L.E.N.T. Field Trip Saturday, May 14th
Seattle University Choir Crafters Unique, Luxurious, Elegant, Nifty Treasures!!!

Field Trip and epic MAKIN' JAM SESSION on Saturday, May 14th.
The field trip begins outside the Fine Arts Building. We'll gather, put on our SUCCULENT group badges, walk down to the Capitol Hill light-rail station, and board the train for the first step of our journey to the hinterlands (Crossroads Mall, Bellevue).
After we load up in Bellevue, we will make our way back to Seattle and to campus. We will OCCUPY a classroom and get busy making stuff!

Anyone who'd like to learn how to knit or crochet - EMAIL ME asap so that we can work out a tute time.

I'm still working out the details - I will post everything right here at Lee's Lessons.
Begin filling a sack with your crochet and knitting tools, yarns, jewelry tools, beads, and ??? -