Haydn Lord Nelson Mass (starts around 20:00)

Write the translation into your score!

I strongly encourage everyone to copy the translation (provided on the handout - see Chistina if you did not receive one) into your score. It will help a lot, if - as you are singing - you can look down and see what the words mean.

Choral Introit: Awake! Psaltery and Harp! I will rouse the dawn!

Mvmt 1: Psalm 100 - Make a joyful noise!

Mvmt 2: Psalm 23 The Lord is My Shepherd/Psalm 2 Why do the nations rage
("Spring will come again" from Skin of our Teeth vs "Mix! Make a mess of 'em. Make the sons of bitches pay!) Sharks & Jets from West Side Story)

Mvmt 3: Psalm 131 Lord, my heart is not haughty - let Israel hope in the Lord...

and, most important (from L.B. himself),
In this atmosphere of humility, there is a final Chorale Coda, a prayer for peace:
Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together. AMEN!

Embody the meaning of the text in our choral tone. If you are thinking about those words, how could you possible make anything but a beautiful, in-tune sound???

Music Theory on the Web (and in rehearsal!) 1.2 and 1.3

I thought the material on Rhythm (Part One Section Two 1.2) was self-explanatory, so did not spend time in rehearsal last week. Let me know if you have questions...

Tonight (9/22) we'll spend a few minutes reviewing simple, compound, and asymmetrical Meter (1.3):

http://smu.edu/totw/toc.htm

there's lots of asymmetrical meter in the Bernstein!

Make sure you work through the online Activities for Review. Music Theory is not just an intellectual thing - it is a set of skills that you need to be able to apply quickly and efficiently.

Next week (9/29), Pitch (1.4) is pretty clear - I'm assuming that all of you can figure it out on your own (again, if you cannot read treble and bass clefs and name the pitches on the staff and on the keyboard, make sure you work through this section and/or ask for help. You should be able to recognize pitches - not have to count up or down from some reference point). I'll try to make time to do Scales (1.5) this week, too, so work ahead!

Notation, Rhythm & Meter

How do you respond to musical notation? Check out this "notation" of Beethoven 5:

Chorus Impact Study on CBS Sunday Morning

Did you all see this clip?

Chichester Psalms Recommended Recordings

1. Robert Shaw, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus on Telarc. The usual excellent Telarc engineering, plus you get Walton Belshazzar's Feast (which we have performed) AND Bernstein Missa Brevis $7.97

http://www.amazon.com/Walton-Belshazzars-Bernstein-Chichester-Psalms/dp/B000003CV7/ref=pd_cp_m_3

2. Bernstein, Israel Philharmonic on Deutsche Grammaphon. A fine performance conducted by the composer, plus you get Bernstein's first two symphonies "Jeremiah" and "The Age of Anxiety" $11.98

http://www.amazon.com/Bernstein-Chichester-Psalms-Symphonies-Nos/dp/B000031WYI/ref=pd_sim_m_4

3. Bernstein, New York Philharmonic and Camarata Singers. Composer conducting the folks who did American premiere, plus you get the "Kaddish" Symphony (which we have also performed) $7.98

http://www.amazon.com/Bernstein-Symphony-Kaddish-Chichester-Psalms/dp/B000009CYI/ref=pd_bxgy_m_text_b

IPA: alas, it's not India Pale Ale

The text, translation, and pronunciation guide that is being distributed today uses the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). I'll explain the basics in rehearsal. For a fuller exploration, see:

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/ipa.htm
(this might be more than you want to know - but if you're curious, have fun!)

For IPA equivalents to English language sounds that will help you decipher the IPA for the Hebrew, see:

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/english.htm

Music Theory on the Web (and in rehearsal!)

Here's the link I promised to the SMU Theory on the Web site:

http://smu.edu/totw/toc.htm

We spent a few minutes at rehearsal tonight (September 8) on SECTION 1: Introduction.

Music is SOUND organized in time.
Pitch is high and low sounds, scientifically measured in frequency (Hz). The orchestra tunes to the oboe's A440. The octave above = A880 (below = A220). The octave is a 2:1 ratio. The E above A440 is E660. A perfect fifth is a 3:2 ratio. A perfect fourth is 4:3, etc. It's all math (thank you Pythagorus!)
Dynamics is loud and soft sounds, scientifically measured in amplitude (Db). In performance (and listening) this is relative.
Timbre (tone color) refers to the quality or character of the sound (bright/dark, oboe vs. violin, etc). Partially related to attack, release, and nature of tone, primarily produced by the OVERTONE signature of each instrument or voice (more on this later).

For Tuesday, September 15th please look at SECTION 2: Rhythm.

After the first few weeks, we'll slow up and make sure you get enough practice and repetition to develop some new skills.