Oh, Handel, how I hate you right now

[Treasure]

was in choir in HS - had to sing for X-mas program - all 10 HS's.... each school had their 4 sections, each school was its own section.... so still sounded massive i'm sure... but honestly i don't know what it sounded like.... i was too busy singing Sop. 2/1

... And HE shall reign..... And He shall reign ..... and HE shall Reign for ever and e-ever ....


curses! IHU ALL!!!

[jedimaster91]

Sounds like someone



can't


Handel it

*snerk*

Glad I swallowed my chips before I read that. It might have hurt.

jedi, what are you? I could go as low as alto 1 and up to soprano 1 (you know, if I wanted to rupture something).

Soprano 1, although sometimes the higher notes are a stretch. Especially at the moment since my allergies are going haywire and right now I sound like a baritone.

What my choir does with this is actually pretty cool. It's the closer for the big concert and the director invites anyone from the audience who's ever sang it before to come up and sing with us. It sounds AWESOME.

[Parrothead]

Here for something cool.

[fireheart]

If you have a music writing program, or hell, if you can get hold of some manuscript paper, sit down and write out your part manually. Just your part.

[KiaKat]

Are you doing the entire piece, or just the final chorus? I always envied the larger choirs for being able to do that. We only had one Soprano 1 (me), one Soprano 2, six altos, three tenors, one baritone, and one bass.

Though I did participate in the New England Regional Choir a couple years in a row. Never made soloist, but it was damned fun anyway.

Now I miss singing. If I had the opportunity to start up voice lessons again, I'd grab it in a heartbeat.

ETA: My favourite piece to sing was either Pie Jesu (Verdi) or Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (Bach). The Verdi Pie Jesu is a pain in the butt without requiring upper-range staccato through six bars. The descant at the end of Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring is just FUN.

[jedimaster91]

If you have a music writing program, or hell, if you can get hold of some manuscript paper, sit down and write out your part manually. Just your part.

As a former cellist (or maybe because I'm just weird) it's actually easier for me to go off cues from other parts. That way if my counting gets screwed up somehow, I know I start when the tenors are at such and such part.

Incidentally, though, can anyone recommend a good music writing program? I've had to transcribe a couple pieces into different keys lately and having a program would have been nice.

Are you doing the entire piece, or just the final chorus? I always envied the larger choirs for being able to do that. We only had one Soprano 1 (me), one Soprano 2, six altos, three tenors, one baritone, and one bass.

I guess it's just the last chorus. Certainly not the whole Messiah.

[lupo pazzesco]

The Verdi Pie Jesu is a pain in the butt without requiring upper-range staccato through six bars.

Yes, yes it is...

The descant at the end of Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring is just FUN.

If you say so. I always felt like I was going to burst my vocal cords and I was going to drown in the blood that filled my throat...




I loved singing Mozart's Requiem, even when we did it a capella. (Oh boy, was THAT fun) We did the Hallelujia a capella, too.

come to think of it, we did almost everything a capella. Our choir director loved a capella. We used the piano to find starting pitch, and that was about it. One of his favorites to have us do was Josquin des Pres: Missa Pange Lingua. Specifically, either the kyrie or the agnus dei.

Oh! And one year we actually did O Fortuna from Orff's Carmina Burana - you guessed it, a capella. We did that for parade of choirs, where all the city school choirs got together to show off share pieces and give a taste of what we were planning for the year.

Imagine 433 people crammed on stage, completely silent. Coughing in the auditorium. A single note on the piano and then,


O, FORTUNA!!! blasted, followed by the entire 400+ managing to drop down to the quiet parts of the pieces. freaked the audience out. In a good way.

It was AWESOME.

[KiaKat]

I *SO* want to hear a recording of that. I bet it was AWESOME.

One year, our choir did the kyrie from half a dozen different requiems. DAMN that was hard to keep straight. And I swear Mozart and Beethoven both had it in for Prima Sopranos. Ow.

[csquared]

O, FORTUNA!!! blasted, followed by the entire 400+ managing to drop down to the quiet parts of the pieces. freaked the audience out. In a good way.

It was AWESOME.

I like this version of O Fortuna.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH3GH7Pn_eA

The Wife belongs to a 125 voice choir. Soprano. They will be doing a sing-along Messiah again this year.

[xx_wolfie_xx]

Ahh high school music programs, I miss mine (tuba) oddly enough some of my favorite pieces were marches by Sousa, mostly because i could play them and still listen to the rest of the band at the same time.

[XCashier]

Sounds like someone

can't

Handel it

Yeah, it's enough to make you want to go into Haydn.

But you'll soon be Bach.

[fireheart]

Musical writing programs-depends on how much you want to spend. I have Sibelius, which is expensive, but a GREAT program nonetheless. Otherwise Finale is a reasonable program. To get an idea of how Sibelius works, visit www.sibeliusmusic.com. You might also be able to find a good arrangement of the Hallelujah chorus there. Finale-www.finalemusic.com.

Note: for Sibelius Music, you'll need to download a plugin if you want to view/listen to the scores. It's called Scorch and is free. Just a note, there are some browsers that won't accept it.

I do the same thing, I will rely on cues from other instruments to be able to pick up where I come in. In that case, maybe write a passage or two that's distinctive above your own score before you come in. Example: if there's a distinct cue from say the alto's, then write the rhythm of that cue above your score.

[dalesys]

Yeah, it's enough to make you want to go into Haydn.

But you'll soon be Bach.

I feel my Georg rising.

[NotSoInnocent]

I sang Alto 2 when we had the TX State UIL performance... the first performance. Then I sang Tenor 1 for the second performance. *shudders* 2 parts that I had to learn perfectly at the same time. EVIL!!! *sighs* But it was beautiful...