At the end of last night’s rehearsal, Carlos made a point of saying that he felt that we are well positioned to produce two excellent performances of Karl Jenkins’ Stella Natalis.  The music is not difficult in itself, he said, and we are already getting to know and understand the occasionally unusual harmonies.  We are even getting to grips with the unusual rhythms and getting the feel of the quirky time signatures of five and seven beats to the bar.  With sufficient practice and constant concentration, he said, we will deliver exciting and memorable performances.

The concentration business is interesting.  There were a number of occasions last night where I found myself lacking.  For example, the music abounds in sudden changes as you turn the page.  As a Bass, on more than one occasion I had been enjoying listening to the Sopranos and Altos singing a delightful melody on one page and immediately on turning over found myself quite unprepared to sing a tricky chord in an unusual rhythm.  It’s one thing to remember all these changes, and another to be always ahead in the score (not with your head in the score!), but that may not be enough.  I hope our Librarian does not mind my making this suggestion, but I find that it helps enormously to mark the end of a page where the next page starts with, as they say, something completely different.  Attacca  is the official musical term, and some people write Watch out or put an exclamation mark, but any mark will do, just as a reminder to turn the page early and be ready for whatever comes next.  And, of course, make any mark in a soft pencil which can readily be erased.

Many of our members do this already.  If you don’t, why not give it a try?  It’s worth it in the cause of giving great performances to our loyal audiences.