Sharing a concert with another choir and letting the other conductor conduct provides a great opportunity to discover things about your own choir. Choral Society are sharing Brahms Requiem with Bingham Choral Society and Neville Ward is conducting. He came along to take this week's rehearsal. What do you do while some-one else takes your rehearsal? Most immediately I listened to Neville and made notes about things like tempi, pronounciation, articulation and breathing to inform the rest of my preparation for the upcoming performance.
It also afforded me the opportunity to wander about amongst my own singers and listen from a different perspective. Standing apart it made me realise how good the alto section is - it was the most reliable and least criticised of the evening. I noticed that the soprano sound is disunited because the strong voices stand out like islands in a sea of gentler voices. I made notes of some adjustment to seating positions that needs to be made - similarly in the tenor and bass sections. A few of the strong tenors weren't there but it also a good section. I discovered a few basses that are stronger than I thought. Moving around the room also highlighted the difficulty some singers have in hearing the accompaniment and other singers, but doesn't throw up any ready solutions. If the piano wasn't tied to the wall by an electric cable it would be possible to put it in the middle. Maybe moving the strong singers at the edge of the choir into the middle might produce a stronger core.
Watching someone else take a rehearsal also makes you re-examine some of your own methods. I am looking forward to listening to the recordings that I took as well.
An interesting evening.
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
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