In attendance were:
Joe Sipzner
Arianna Barnum
Katie Gonick
William Wang
Bill Dong
Erin Templeton
Marko Crnkovic
Emma Pearson
Karthik Ramesh
Catie Rafferty
Andrea Long
Cody Ingraham
Rehearsal began with intonation work. We played the first four measures of Song Without Words in F Major. It is important for the upper strings to listen to and match the intonation of the lower strings for uniform chords. We will continue to work only on these four measures as a warm-up and a focus-in during future rehearsals.
After a brief discussion of Allegretto, I heard the best playing that I have heard from Chamber Strings yet! Please continue to remember what to listen for as you begin this work.
Are you the melody? If not, who is?
How does your part fit into the melody?
How would you describe the character of your musical line? The articulation?
What part determines the tempo? (Remember that we determine tempo based on the smallest division of the beat)
What is your dynamic?
Who will you watch for the cue/breath?
If you perform Allegretto the way I heard it during this rehearsal, I will be very proud.
Not only did Allegretto sound great, but we almost got all the way through Winter! The only parts continuing to give us difficulty are those with repeated notes in soft dynamics. Individual counting is very important! Mark your music in any way to help yourself!
I experimented and only cued sections for entrances and changes in Winter, and it worked quite well. I think I get in the way of your group energy when I try to keep a pattern, so I may only return to patterns if I feel the ensemble is rushing or in danger of separating.
Please arrive on time and ready to play at our next rehearsal! Due to holidays and other necessary absences, we will only have 2 rehearsals left before our performance on February 10th! If you have missed more than 2 chamber strings rehearsals, plan on playing your parts for me sometime before our performance.
