*headdesk*
We had our *final* chorus rehearsal for the Broadway Review, which is *tomorrow*. And we don't have any idea what we're doing. People are all over the place, unfocused, and incapable of even basic music-reading. Every time we have a song that has a repeating pattern with small, unpredictable, seemingly-inconsequential-but-actually-making-a-difference changes on each iteration, I keep telling everyone to please freaking read the music, and not learn it by ear, because they will learn it wrong. And what do they do, every time? They learn it by ear and learn it wrong. (I used to have this problem (a very arrgant one, IMO) when I played piano. Don't know when I grew out of it.) But the problem is much larger than that...bleh, an old rant, and one that I've ranted many times before.
Oh, and, some of the soloists are just terrible. Perhaps this is just a symptom of my standards rising since freshman year, which they have. And to be fair, the majority of the soloists are fine, and a few are brilliant. But how does someone get a solo if they can't hit half the notes in it?
Also, why are the guys genuinely lousy on those two of the Phantom's lines? The arranged-for-chorus version is not particularly nice, but it shouldn't be that difficult. I was ridiculously tempted to go up to the soloist mike and show them how to do it properly, because I seriously could have. That would not have been a profitable thing to do. But...they're supposed to be menacing and angry, not wavering and uncertain and shy.
What compensates: Love Bade Me Welcome from the Five Mystical Songs (Ralph Vaughan Williams). All five are right in my range (even though specified for baritone soloist :D ), and all five are gorgeous and heartfelt -- Love Bade Me Welcome in particular. I guess it's supposed to be about Jesus, but the feelings it excites are applicable to lots of situations. Oh, and, it is *totally* plausible that the poem is actually about overcoming homosexuality-shame.
Oh, and, some of the soloists are just terrible. Perhaps this is just a symptom of my standards rising since freshman year, which they have. And to be fair, the majority of the soloists are fine, and a few are brilliant. But how does someone get a solo if they can't hit half the notes in it?
Also, why are the guys genuinely lousy on those two of the Phantom's lines? The arranged-for-chorus version is not particularly nice, but it shouldn't be that difficult. I was ridiculously tempted to go up to the soloist mike and show them how to do it properly, because I seriously could have. That would not have been a profitable thing to do. But...they're supposed to be menacing and angry, not wavering and uncertain and shy.
What compensates: Love Bade Me Welcome from the Five Mystical Songs (Ralph Vaughan Williams). All five are right in my range (even though specified for baritone soloist :D ), and all five are gorgeous and heartfelt -- Love Bade Me Welcome in particular. I guess it's supposed to be about Jesus, but the feelings it excites are applicable to lots of situations. Oh, and, it is *totally* plausible that the poem is actually about overcoming homosexuality-shame.