NOTES for the Week of November 30, 2025

Dear friends,

This is the week. Hopefully you're feeling good/well and ready to bring great concerts. A few housekeeping items.

1.  Tuesday we will be rehearsing at Napa Methodist in the choir room. Again, please be there by 6:25 as the door will be locked. If you must be late, please text Joanna to let her know.
2. Thursday, our dress rehearsal will be at Napa Methodist. I would like to start at 6:30 sharp so we can warm up and run a couple of things before/while the instrumentalists are setting up to start at 7:00. We have a lot to run on Thursday and I will try to give you some breaks so that you're not standing the whole time.
3. Friday, the call time will be 6:15. We will warm-up and do any sound checks. We will have to be out of the sanctuary by 7:00.
4. Sunday, the call time will be 1:30. It will be a long day, so pace yourselves. Since we are doing two concerts please save your voice, meaning minimize visiting. Perhaps do quiet things like reading. Plan to bring snacks and/or a sack lunch. And plenty of water.

This week I want to work on performing. That means:

• Entering/Exiting with energy and confidence. Smiling with your eyes and acknowledging your audience. Let them know you're grateful they're there.
• Hold your music up, so the Audience and I can see your faces, not the top of your head. Sing expressively. Eyes bright and with energy.
• Sing with meaning. Focus on important words (verbs), observe all expression marks (even exagerate dynamics), and in the music without expression marks (Renaissance and Baroque) always 1) energize sustained notes, 2) energize 1/8th notes, 3) energize ascending pitches, 4) ease off week syllables, descending pitches, and most cadences. 
• Intonation is crucial. Sing at the top of all pitches, being mindful of repeated pitches, cadences, and descending lines. 
• Never over-sing. Make the music dance.

I want to share something with you about Frostbound. There's been some question about it's meaning. Here's a short synopsis. 

Summary of Meaning

The poem uses the imagery of a harsh, binding winter to describe a state of emotional paralysis or despair. The speaker addresses a "beloved" whose heart is "still and grey," like a "frostbound lake" that is soundless and bound by an "icy sway". 
The central message is an appeal from the speaker to this person: the speaker's own heart, which is a "furnace strong and red" with "fire" and "flame," can warm and revive the beloved's frozen spirit. The poem ends on a hopeful note, suggesting that these emotional chains of frost can "fall, and those that fettered lie / May live again". 

Key Themes

• Emotional Confinement vs. Warmth: The contrast between the cold, static imagery of frost and ice and the dynamic, warm imagery of fire and flames is central to the poem's meaning.
• The Power of Love: Love is presented as a powerful, almost miraculous force capable of reviving a person from a state of emotional deadness.
• Hope and Renewal: Despite the bleak imagery of winter and death, the poem maintains an underlying message of hope, suggesting that change and renewal are possible, much like the changing of the seasons. 

Tuesday, December 2, 2025

*African Noel

Jubilate Deo

The Angel's Message

Season of Light

Frostbound

*Nutcracker Medley

Iesous ahatonnia'

*30-Second Merry Christmas

* - memorized

NOTES for Week of November 23, 2025

Dear friends,

We are down to the wire. We have 2 regular rehearsals left before our dress rehearsal. It is during this time that we need to really pull things together. We will need your focus, your energy, and your commitment to make this music come alive.

Nutcracker Medley, African Noel, and 30-Second Merry Christmas:

• EVERYONE must be off-score by Tuesday. No exceptions.  We will not spend extra rehearsal time so you can memorize by repetition.
• Basses: Gregory has provided some resources to help you clean up your descending lines in Nutcracker. Practice slowly and accurately and then increase to tempo.
• Everyone memorize the dynamic. You will not always be able to see me while processing/recessing to get dynamic cues.

The Angel's Message

• We will work on this to really get a lighter, more fluid and dancelike feel. 
• Your Latin lyrics should be practiced daily until they are second-nature.

Frostbound

• Continue to work on accuracy of pitch and rhythm.
• Sing phrase to phrase with emphasis on verbs.
• Practice the last page, starting at measure 51 for intonation and contol.

Iesous ahatonnia'

• Be careful with intonation on unison melody lines. The tonic pitch (F) must always be high.

Vivaldi: Gloria (RV 588)

• Everyone, but especially Sopranos make sure of notes/intonation on descending lines of Et in terra pax. Each one is a little different and many are part of harmonic shifts so there are surprises. 
• Every in needs to be marked "een" as many are still pronouncing it like English.

Everyone needs to be conscious of their expressiveness both in singing/phrasing and in their facial features. You are singing songs of joy and wonder, and yet many look intense and overly concentrated. Some, frankly, look dour. 

• Practice singing without making a sound. Mouth the words as if you are singing to an audience and expressing the sentiments of the song. Make your eyes shine, your energy flow. You are not a studio musician. You are a performer. Sing like one.
• I will be giving feedback on Tuesday.

See you then!

Ted

NOTES for Week of November 9, 2025

Dear friends,

There are a lot of announcements with details, so please read carefully and mark your calendars and your music.

1. Regarding Rehearsals:

• Tuesday, Nov. 11 - we will rehearse at Napa Methodist Church in the Choir Room. Please plan to be there a few minutes early as the door will be locked once rehearsal has begun.
• Tuesdays, Nov. 18 and 25 will be at Harvest Middle School. 
• Tuesday, Dec. 2 and Thursday, Dec. 4 - we will rehearse at Napa Methodist Church in the Choir Room and Sanctuary respectively. 

2. Regarding Jan Lanterman Tribute Concert:

• Event is Sunday, November 16 at Napa Methodist Church.
• Arrive at 12:45 for rehearsal starting at 1:00 pm. We will rehearse Thank You For the Music with the other choirs and then will practice the logistics of getting on and off the stage  with the various groups and soloists. House will open at 2:30 with Concert starting at 3:00. We will be singing Witness, Sing Gently, and Thank You For the Music.
• Concert Dress.
• I know that the Kastens and Matthew will not be there. No absences are listed on the calendar. If you are not going to be there let me know now.

Jubilate Deo

• Be careful to maintain the tempo once established.
• Homophonic sections (mm. 4-6, 28-31, 35-41, 49-52, 55-58, and 61-end), really energize the longer note values (half-notes and quarter-notes tied together). 
• In the energetic sections, each choir should sing as a unified quartet passing the "musical ball" back and forth to the other choirs making sure not to drop the energy.
• Voices with melismas sing them soloistically, but not operatically.

The Angel's Message

• Sing this confidently and with a light playfulness. Think upbeat madrigal.
• Bring out the movement of beamed together 1/8th notes. 
• Keep drilling your Latin so that it becomes second nature.
• Change the f at measure 83 to mf. The only reason it's louder is because you're all singing together.

Frostbound

• Sopranos keep working to achieve a clean, but warm tone and articulation in the opening solo. Diction is important. Also, sing phrases, not words.
• Highlight and observe every dynamic marking.
• Altos make sure to practice the last three measures to keep in tune, particularly the B-double flat in the penultlimate measure.

Nutcracker Medley

• Memorize. 
• Basses unify your oo vowel and intonation at the beginning. Also the da va da va's need better intonation and accuracy. 
• Tenor and Bass start the second movement (m. 21) with more energy and more detached articulation.
• Trebles sing your dotted notes starting measure 25 with more detachment. 
• Basses you must memorize those scales now so you can look at me to keep in time.
•  Anna and Dan, continue with the clear, unified tone and try to make it a bit more detached. 

Thank You For the Music - Download it if you haven't and number your pages. Here's the breakdown:

• Soloists sing 1st Verse mm. 3-18 (1st beat)
• CHOIR sings "Chorus" page 3 mm. 18 (2nd beat) to 1st Ending on p. 6. REPEAT
• Soloists sing 2nd Verse mm. 3-18 (1st beat)
• CHOIR sings "Chorus" page 3 mm. 18 (2nd beat) to 2nd Ending on p. 6
• Soloists sing "Bridge" p. 7 mm. 35-42 REPEAT
• CHOIR sings "Chorus" page 4 mm. 19-28 then jump to CODA on p. 8 and sing to the end.

FOR TUESDAY, November 11, 2025

• We will run Thank You For the Music, Witness, and Sing Gently
• We will run the pieces that need to be memorized: Nutcracker Medley, African Noel, and 30-Second Merry Christmas
• If time, we'll hit Angel's We Have Heard and Season of Light