On Monday nights recently I’ve been taking part in a trawl through some of the European Sacred Music collection. I have sung many but by no means all of these, and some of the ones I have sung I have not done at all recently so it is good to make their acquaintance again. Also as we sing through the pieces several times I can swap around between the soprano lines, fill in the odd alto bit if it doesn’t go too low and add ornaments, with impunity!
An occupational hazard of this style of rehearsal is the occasional ‘freezing’ of the conductor together with the loss of the sound of the accompaniment. I think the glitches are largely at the far end, not at mine, as several in the choir complain of them at the same moment. I’ve learnt to try to deal with them in the manner of I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue‘s ‘Pick up Song’ round: ignore the training to watch the conductor, try to carry on singing in time and see if I am in the right place when the sound comes back. It catches up with itself on its return, so this should work if there are no tempo changes and I keep strict time (not always the case).
I’m one of a number of choir members who have nominated some favourites from the volume; pieces I have enjoyed singing in the past which are suitable for being rehearsed remotely. The one I’d most like to do isn’t really suitable for this treatment: Brahms’ Warum ist das Licht gegeben. [I did however pluck up courage to propose this, and we did have part of a session on it, although it was described as the hardest piece in the book.]