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Tag Archives: Singing
Singing in the Royal Opera House
Yes, I am. Doesn’t it sound grand? I shall be singing Christmas carols in the Clore Studio at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, alongside The Big Sing on 15 December. It will be filmed. For what I don’t know. … Continue reading
Posted in Music, Singing, Singing Sacred
Tagged Christmas Carols, Clore Studio, Covent Garden, Royal Opera House, Singing, The Big Sing
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Pitching and Inching
An hiatus in blogging. It doesn’t mean I haven’t been inching my work along. In fact, look here, the encaustic/Plaster of Paris accordion book – almost done! (I am allowing myself the use of an exclamation mark on this one … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Art Journal, Choral singing, Collage & Assemblage, Creativity, Encaustic Art, Mixed Media, Music, Photography, Printmaking, Singing, Singing Sacred
Tagged A Ceremony of Carols, Britten, Choral singing, Coronation Anthems, encaustic art, encaustic collage, Endorphin, Handel, Oxytocin, Singing, Solomon, Time Magazine, Zadok the Priest
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Inch of the Day 2 October 2015: Singing: A Ceremony of Carols: Benjamin Britten
In addition to Handel’s Four Coronation Anthems (see yesterday’s post) I also received yesterday the music for Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols. I need to learn to sing both for a Christmas concert. Eek. Britten was a pacifist. He and … Continue reading
Posted in Choral singing, Music, Singing
Tagged A Ceremony of Carols, Choral singing, SATB, Singing
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Inch of the Day 22 September 2015: Hurdling Through Flint and Feather
Following on from yesterday’s Inch – about the editing of my novel manuscript, Flint and Feather, I began a revision of the scenes by calling them, instead of scenes, obstacles. In the sense of obstacles to be overcome. I didn’t just change the … Continue reading
Inch of the Day 16 September 2015: An Inch More of Music: O How Amiable Are Thy Dwellings: John Rutter
This is one of the songs from John Rutter’s Psalmfest. I’m learning to sing Psalmfest to perform with Eltham Choral Society at a concert on 10 October. Thing is, this isn’t one we’re going to be singing and I was supposed … Continue reading
Posted in Choral singing, Music, Singing, Singing Sacred
Tagged John Rutter, Psalmfest, Singing
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Inch of the Day September 2015: Singing Reynaldo Hahn’s ‘Si Mes Vers Avaient Des Ailes’
Si Mes Vers Avaient Des Ailes ( If My Poem Had Wings) is a French melodie – art song – (equivalent to the German lied) by Venezuelan-born French composer Reynaldo Hahn (1874–1947). There’s an excellent definition of melodie on Wikipedia, which is … Continue reading
Posted in Music, Singing
Tagged Felicity Lott, lied, Liederkreis, melodie, Reynaldo Hahn, Schumann, Singing, Susan Graham Mezzo-Soprano
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Inch of the Day 10 September 2015: Singing John Rutter’s ‘I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes Unto The Hills’
Learning this to rehearse tonight. This means reading the words, listening without singing, humming the tune, getting the rhythm, reading and marking up the sheet music, singing with the words, singing again, and again and again, and again, getting past the weeping bit (when the music is so beautiful (it nearly always is) and has infiltrated and lacerates the soul). Continue reading
Posted in Choral singing, Music, Singing, Singing Sacred
Tagged Choral singing, Psalmfest, Rutter, Singing
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Inch of the Day 8 September 2015: Singing: Bob Chilcott’s ‘A Little Jazz Mass’
I’ve just started learning Bob Chilcott’s A Little Jazz Mass which I’ll be singing as a (new) member of Eltham Choral Society in October, unless they find out first that I can’t sing and I’m kicked out. I’m going to have to learn more than an inch at a time though – more like a mile at a time – as it’s being performed in a month’s time. I’ll just have to sing very fast. Continue reading
Posted in Singing, Singing Sacred
Tagged A Little Jazz Mass, Chilcott, Choral singing, Psalmfest, Rutter, Singing
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Singing: Now Sleeps The Crimson Petal, Now The White (from the movie Vanity Fair)
This is the best recording I can get of this lovely song by Mychael Danna from the 2004 film version of Thackeray’s Vanity Fair, with Reese Witherspoon in the female lead (Becky Sharp).
The lyrics are from the sonnet by Alfred Lord Tennyson Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal Now the White Continue reading
Posted in Music, Romanticism, Singing
Tagged Becky Sharp, Britten, Mealor, Mychael Danna, Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal, poem, Quilter, Reese Witherspoon, Singing, sonnet, Tennyson, Thackeray, Vanity Fair
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What I’ve Been Singing: Le Spectre de la Rose: Les Nuits d’Eté: Berlioz
I had a first-time try last Friday at singing some of the songs from Hector Berlioz’ song cycle Les Nuits d’Eté (Summer Nights) the texts for which came from six poems composed by Theophile Gautier.
I’ve had a CD for some years of the song cycle recorded by the late great Janet Baker, so I was not entirely unfamiliar with it. I never thought at the time that I’d one day be singing it.
The theme of the cycle is love, its progress from innocence to loss and renewal. The second song of the cycle, Le Spectre de la Rose, began as a work for piano – Afforderung zum Tanz (Invitation to the Dance) – written, in 1819, by Carl Maria von Weber. Continue reading
Posted in Music, Opera, Romanticism, Singing
Tagged Ballet, Ballets Russes, Berlioz, Diaghilev, Invitation to the Dance, Le Spectre de la Rose, Les Nuits d'Eté, Nijinsky, Opera, Romanticism, Singing, Song Cycle, Weber
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