Director's Notes (scroll down for latest entry)

Updated: 4 days ago

This will be updated each week following the most recent Monday night rehearsal. Rehearsal format will follow a similar pattern each week as follows: brief opening comments, warm-up, review and focus. There will be a 7-minute break roughly halfway into the rehearsal preceded by any announcements by members of the Executive Board. Here in the Director's Notes selections that were focused on will be listed and some notes may be included regarding notable outcome of the rehearsal. Additionally, the upcoming rehearsal plan for the following week will list selections by number that will be reviewed and those that will be focused on. The selections to be reviewed will simply be read through near the beginning of the next rehearsal. No attempt will be made to work on or make corrections to selections being reviewed. The selections to be focused on will undergo analyses to include interpretation, teaching correct pitches, rhythm, diction, and any other needed corrections.

Your comments are welcome and can be added at the bottom of this page.

08/28/2023 rehearsal:

It was great to see so many returning members and several new members. Welcome all. Unfortunately both of our accompanist were out with minor health issues. Also not attending was our percussionist and the assistant director. As a result we relied on the recordings to read through the full program completely one time and almost half a second time. I must apologize for the CD having two of the selections (numbers 13 and 14) out of order. The handout sheet that you received with your music packet shows the correct order. The Voice Tracks will be accessible to you once I receive your full name, voice part and email address. This I will get from Mary our Membership Chair once she forwards the information to me or you can go to the comment form found on the bottom of the main page of the WCC website and provide that information. Be sure to state that you are a registered member for the current season in the comment field.

Next Monday (9/4) Labor Day (yes there is a rehearsal) the review will be on selections (in the order listed): 3, 14, 4, & 2. The focus will be on selections: 16, 9, & 13

The main rehearsal will end at 8:40 and a special rehearsal for the Arts Alive performance will begin at 8:45. We will be reviewing the following selections from our Spring 2023 concert season: 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, & 10. Bring these with you to the rehearsal next week.

09/04/2023 rehearsal:

As we began the rehearsal I gave a brief description of the rehearsal plan for the evening. With Meredyth's return to us on the keyboard we were able to use our standard warm up exercise to which she adds a flare unique to her alone. Also attending from our instrumental combo was Alan on the electic bass. Additionally, we had our new Assistent Director Connie Bloomer with a host of credentials that we will get to at a later date. We then proceeded to review selection numbers: 3, 14, 4, and 2. Most went suprizingly well particularly for a first reading with live accompaniment. There were a couple of hiccups but we managed to get through them. In the meantime we put Connie right to work during the sectional part of the rehearsal, when she worked in the sanctuary with the basses and tenors, while I simultanously worked with the sopranos and altos in the main rehearsal room on selection numbers: 16, 9, and 13. With everyone back together in the main rehearsal room we read through those same selections with the full choir and Connie had an opportunity to direct selection 13. The main rehearsal was shortened to allow for a special rehearsal for those that will be participating in the Arts Alive! performance on September 10. The song selections from the Spring 2023 season that we will be using are as follows: 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, & 10.

Next Monday the review will be on selections (in the order listed): 3, 9, & 16. The focus will be on selections: 6, 7, 12, & 5. It will be a normal time range of 7:30 to 9:30 PM.

09/10/2023 performance:

Members of WCC who participated in the Spring 2023 concert season were invited to sing for the Arts Alive Festival at the Center for the Performing Arts located on the Manassas campus of George Mason. We performed seven selections (1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, & 10) from the Spring program.

09/11/2023 rehearsal:

Comments to be added later

This was the third and final rehearsal allowing for normal registration. Additional registration beginning next week for new members will be allowed after first undergoing a brief interview with the director. As is customery there was a brief introduction followed by a warmup exercise. The review was on selection numbers 13, 9, & 16. The basses and tenors went with Connie into the sanctuary to focus on selection numbers 6, 7, 12, & 5, while I stayed with the sopranos and altos to work on the same but we actually ran a little short on time and did not work on number 5. With everyone back together we read through the numbers that we just focused on during the sectional part of the rehearsal.

Next Monday the review will be on selections (in the order listed): 5, 12, 7, & 6. The focus will be on selections: 1, 8, 10, 15, & 11. This rehearsal will be shorten by 15 minutes to allow for an Executive Board Meeting.

09/18/2023 rehearsal:

After the opening comments. Connie proceeded to warm up the choir with a series of exercises of her own choosing. It is the intention that the assistant director during the review would direct each selection at least once over the course of the next several weeks. She was asked to direct the first two selections (5 & 12) during the review, after which I directed the remaining two review selections (7 & 6). Connie did not quit grasp this concept of review and chose to make a few corrections stopping and starting several times. Consequently this resulted in decreasing the time alloted for the actual focus for selection numbers 1, 8, 10, 15, & 11 during the sectional focus part of the rehearsal. Again the sopranos and altos got a little bogged down and did not get to work on the last selection as planed. The end result was that there was not enough time to read through with the whole choir the selections that were worked on during the sectional. Hopefully I can make the point clearer to Connie about the intent of the review before the next rehearsal.

Next Monday the review will be on selections (in the order listed): 11, 15, 10, 8, & 1. The focus will be on selections: 2, 4, 14, & 3. This will be a full rehearsal spanning from 7:30 to 9:30.

09/25/2023 rehearsal:

Comments to be added later