Hi Amelia

 

Getting the notes and words right is just the starting point of making music. Even as you're working towards getting these basic components correct you are also helping the choir understand the ART present in the construction. Approach even the simplest piece as a work of art. Probably the easiest way is to think about line and musical phrase. How should you shape each phrase? What is the apex of each phrase? Which are the words or syllables that are the goal of each phrase? 

 

There are many other technical things to listen to and work on (tuning, blend, balance, ensemble, articulation...) but shaping phrases artistically makes music instead of just sound.

 

Steve

Now that I compose, I find consonants to be more of a challenge than many of us realize.  I can't buy into singing on the vowels any more.  Some consonants can affect timing and ALL of them produce shading in one way or another.  So I would study the text in light of rhythm first and then pitch.  Listen to how you interpret those symbols on the page when YOU sing it, and then you have a model.  When your classmates sing it a different way, you already know how you want it to sound, so demonstrate small portions for them and have them sing the portions back to you that way.

 

Having studied with Alice Parker three times, I have to say that she is spot on when it comes to the inadequacies of music notation.  There is so much we still have to do beyond the symbols we see on the page.  Use your ears, and you'll do fine!

Amelia -- I appreciate the nature of your question, but it also seems to indicate that you haven't done your homework.  What makes the piece expressiive to you?  Have you looked closely at the text and how Mr. Dickau expresses the text through his music?  Have you read the words allowed in an expressive way (such as at a poetry reading, where the reader does his ot herm best to bring the meaning to life)?  Have you thought about where each phrase of the music reaches its peak, and what syllable of the text it falls on?  Is there a place in the music where you feel a climax is reached?  How does the music take you there?  Is there a melodic idea that dealt with in some way in the music?  How?  Is it passed from section to section?  If so, does each section bring it out appropriately?  Is there an accompaniment to the piece?  If so, what does it do to contribute to the expressiveness?  Is there anyplace where it changes in its rhythm or basic structure?  If so, where, and what text goes with the change?  Finally, what about the harmonic structure of the piece?  What keys are used, and what happens at the cadences?  How are non-harmonic tones used, if at all?  Are there suspensions?  If so, how should they be treated?  (Hint:  "lean in" to the dissonance and "relax" into the return to consonance.)  If you use the tools you have gained through watching your conductor in choir rehearsals and the knowledge you've gained in theory, and really analyze your score from an expressive standpoint, you can come up with your own answers as to what to do after the notes and rhythms are learned.  In fact, you can incorporate some of these things AS the notes and rhythms are being learned, and make the rehearsal more interesting for the choir.

 

Good luck.  I hope your rehearsal goes well.