If you missed any rehearsals or wish to review, here are rehearsal notes for Consider the Lilies movements I through VI.

Throughout this piece, be very careful of tall, open vowels, especially on the Latin sections. The movements each have a distinct feel and it is important to differentiate between the upbeat hymns and the more legato sections. Observe the dynamics marked throughout and watch carefully as there are tempo changes or fermatas in every movement!

I. A Parable
This piece should feel connected and reverent; imagine a boys choir in a cathedral
m. 35: no breath between eis and Domine
m. 37: breath after perpetua
m. 39: be sure to hold through soloist entrance to downbeat
m. 43: no breath between Ah and Christe
m. 45: breath after eleison
m. 47: Soprano & Tenor breath after eleison; Alto & Bass hold to downbeat of 48
m. 51: Alto & Bass breath after eleison

II. A Hymn
Contrast smooth, 4-measure phrases on refrains with more intense verses; lots of rubato, especially on last refrain
m. 10, 26, 42: no breath after beautiful
m. 12, 28, 44: breath after small
m. 14, 30, 46: no breath after wonderful (except SI descant)
m. 20: no breath after sings
m. 34: Soprano & Tenor no breath after all; Alto & Bass hold to downbeat
m. 37: Alto & Bass no breath after Almighty
m. 40: all lower voices change “well” to a quarter note followed by a quarter note rest; SI sings descant, SII on Soprano line
m. 50: big breath, stagger breathing to end

III. A Keen
This needs to feel like a lament, slow and mournful; all soloists sing until “Jesu” at m. 17
m. 13: breath after Jesu
m. 17: breath after credo
m. 21: no breath after Jesu
m. 25: Solo, Soprano, Alto hold through downbeat; Tenor & Bass breath before Oh
m. 29: breath after believe
m. 33: breath after belief; Bass cut off as though to breathe & come in on 3
m. 37: breath after believe; Alto cut off as though to breathe & come in on 3
m. 61: breath after believe
m. 65: breath after belief
m. 69: breath after believe
m. 76: Tenor & Bass no breath

IV. A Hymn
An upbeat, joyous march; keep it light but be careful not to be too staccato
m. 6: breath after soul
m. 10: breath after whole
m. 14: no breath after roll
m. 16: breath after Star
m. 31: breath after tow’r
m. 35: breath after pow’r
Both tow’r and pow’r, be careful to sustain the open “ah” vowel and close to the “wr” sound at the last moment
m. 37: no breath after worn
m. 39: breath after goal
m. 40: no breath after fermata on Valley; watch for beat 4 after fermata & continue on upbeat
m. 41: breath after Star
m. 42: no breath after thousand; careful with timing!
m. 54-58: Tenor & Bass careful with timing and cutoffs on short phrases
m. 57: Soprano & Alto breath after will
m. 59: slight lift after fear
m. 60: pronounce manna as “Mah-na”
m. 61: no breath after fill
m. 63: slight lift after face
m. 65: no breath after roll
m. 67: slight lift after Star
m. 68 & 69: breath after thousand both times
m. 71: no breath after thousand

V. A Prayer
Very simple, unison melodies that need careful vowel shaping and attention to precise pitches without sliding; except for m. 21 after “Domine,” breaths are at rests only. Be careful with close harmonies in last four measures.

VI. A Promise
Think smooth, warm, and inviting, with just a little punctuation at the sixteenth notes. “Eye” should always be sustained on an “ah” vowel. Be careful not to slide on ascending intervals.
m. 2 & 4: breath after fear
m. 5 & 6: no breath after assail you, slight lift after with you
m. 17: breath after eye
m. 18 & 19: as m. 5-6 above
pickup to m. 24 should be in the new key: D natural on “when” and G natural on “the”
m. 25 & 27: breath after fear (cut off as though to breath & go on even if not singing next phrase)
m. 28: Tenor & Bass no breath after asunder
m. 32: Lower voices stagger breathing until m. 39
m. 39: breath after eye
m. 40: no breath after asunder
m. 41: breath after care
m. 51: this modulates up another step to a new key, but there is no lead-in in the accompaniment. Practice anticipating the change in order to get the entrance note for the new key.
m. 52 & m. 55: breath after fear
m. 56: no breath after furnace
m. 57: breath after fermata on you
m. 58: no breath after fermata; watch for each eighth note to be directed separately on “do not”
m. 60: stagger breathing in Alto & Bass until m. 67
m. 68: breath after furnace
ending: carefully tuned unison on call & response; stagger breathing on last 5 measures

If you missed any of our polishing rehearsals, below are notes for each of our pieces. Please make notations (in pencil!) in your music.

Zion’s Walls
Overall: Dynamics as marked; note contrast at subito piano sections, m. 16 and m. 49; tall vowels throughout; Eighth note triplet sections need to be very light and dancing, while dotted-quarter sections should be legato and evoke clear, bell tones; stagger breathing on all held notes
Breaths: m. 10 – tenor/bass after Zion; m. 16 and 49 all – treat last syllable of Zion as an eighth note and eighth note rest before subito piano on last beat

Down by the Riverside
Overall: Imagine a group of travellers slowly approaching from far away; each verse gets just a little louder; be careful to observe 16th notes and differentiate them from swung eighths; Chorus I at end be careful not to punch the “jah” of “Hallelujah”
Breaths: Always no breath on “Study war no more” phrases, even long whole notes at end; at ends of phrases, omit tied quarters and cut off on beat one with quarter rest instead, except for last chord; lift between “more” and “I” on repeated “I ain’t gonna study war no more” phrases so that vowels do not turn into a diphthong

16 Tons
Solo m. 36-37 (no alto!) and m. 58-60 (Andy)
Overall: keep it light, with special attention to syncopation, sharp consonants, and quick cutoffs; at m. 7 all close to “m” on “some”; watch carefully at end for timing; only breath other than rests is after fermata in m. 66

Simple Gifts
Overall: Music is simple, so pay careful attention to dynamics, starting and stopping together, and rubato as directed
Breaths: as marked and as follows: 4th measure after B, after “ought to be”; last measure before C, after “delight”; 2nd measure after C, after “gained”; last measure before D, after “right”; 2nd measure after D, after “gained”
Slight lift, but not a full breath, to differentiate the end consonant of “ashamed” from the beginning consonant of “to” in both the 4th measure of C and the 4th measure of D
No breath after “delight” in either last measure of page 4 or third measure before end

Laura Lee
Solo m. 39-46, m. 51-54 (Barry)
Overall: 4 measure phrases, very hushed and smooth throughout; loudest spot is mezzo-forte at m. 88; watch for rubato

Oh! Susanna
Solo m. 47-54 (Eddie)
Overall: careful rhythms- watch for dotted eighth/sixteenth pairs; “Lousiana” is pronounced “Loo-zi-a-na”; enunciate clearly, the words go fast!; do not slow down before m. 62; back to fast a tempo at m. 70 and don’t slow at end; quick cutoff of “banjo” in m. 82
Breaths: as marked; no breath after “South” in m. 59; cut tied eighth and change to eighth rest in m. 29, m. 33, & m. 77; changed dotted quarter to quarter with eighth rest in m. 73

Gentle Annie
Solo m. 21-28 (Mike)
Overall: very rubato, smooth, holding back throughout; sopranos be careful at m. 31- should be very quiet and floaty; do not scoop on rising intervals
Breaths: as marked, plus breaths after “Annie” in m. 18, m. 34, and m. 50

Americana
Solo at Rehearsal A (Ben) and Rehearsal B (Carol)
Overall: careful watching on tempo transitions, especially at K, measure before L, and last page; at rehearsal F, Sopranos/Altos sing melody only first time through; at rehearsal O, Sopranos/Altos sing second time only
Breaths: In Shenandoah sections, breath only at rests except: two measures before M after “I’m bound away”; to measures before V after beat 3; in Skip to My Lou sections, 4 measure phrases or breathe at rests; in Betsy from Pike sections, 8 measure phrases or breathe at rests

Hello Singers & Instrumentalists!

Important dates, rehearsal updates, and concert info follows. Please read carefully and mark your calendars!

March 31 – Rehearsal at Trinity Lutheran Church, 10355 E. Palmer-Wasilla Hwy. Rehearsal is upstairs; enter through the door facing the parking lot on the right. There is also a ramp at the rear of the building that can be accessed from the Arabian Lane entrance.

April 7 – Rehearsal at Mat-Su Evangelical Covenant; deadline to submit solo or small group pieces for approval

April 14 – Rehearsal *for soloists, small groups, and instrumentalists only* at Trinity Lutheran; deadline to submit sponsor info and program ads. Please email ads to director@matsucommunitychorus.org

April 21 – Rehearsal at Trinity Lutheran

April 28 – Dress Rehearsal at Mat-Su Covenant; please plan to attend from 6:30 to 9:30pm

Thursday, May 5 – CONCERT at Mat-Su Covenant: set-up at 5:00pm; call time for warm-up 5:45pm (you will have time after warm-up to change into concert dress); concert starts 7:00pm

Saturday, May 7 – CONCERT at Fairview Loop Baptist Church, 3118 W Fairview Loop, Wasilla: set-up 5:30pm; call time for warm-up 6:00pm; concert 7:00pm

Thursday, May 12 – Rehearsal at Mat-Su Covenant

Sunday, May 15 – FINAL CONCERT at St. John Lutheran Church, 440 E Elmwood Ave, Palmer: set-up 2:30pm; call time for warm-up 3:00pm; concert 4:00pm

Reminder, concert attire is all black or black bottom/white top. Please no jeans, leggings, cargo pants, etc. Skirts or dresses should be at least knee-length and shoes should be black. If you already own a tuxedo or the concert dress from previous seasons they can be worn, but they are not required for this season.

Thank you all for the hard work you’ve put in so far! This is shaping up to be an awesome concert and I’m very excitied!

~Amber

The chorus is back!

We will resume rehearsals for the Spring 2022 season beginning January 27th. Registration will be held at 6:30pm before our first three rehearsals, 1/27, 2/3, and 2/10.

Rehearsal location: Mat-Su Evangelical Covenant Church, 5201 E Mayflower Lane, Wasilla
Rehearsal time: 7-9pm every Thursday

Singers will not be required to wear masks or provide vaccination status. The rehearsal space is large and we’ll have plenty of room to spread out. We are encouraging members to be particularly careful about not attending rehearsals if they are ill. We are working on methods of providing virtual access to rehearsals as a back-up if a singer is unable to attend in person and will be relaxing our attendance requirements for the season.

More details about membership can be found here.

We can’t wait to sing with you!

Hello Mat-Su Community Chorus and Friends,

The board and I want to thank all of you who took time to provide feedback regarding the start of our fall season. Responses were quite varied across a wide range of perspectives, making a decision about how to proceed difficult. Prospective singers were split nearly half and half on the implementation of both a face covering or vaccine requirement, and while many singers indicated being comfortable with no precautionary measures whatsoever, a significant quantity indicated they would only be willing to participate if both masks and vaccines were required. 

As an organization, we do not want to alienate large percentages of our potential participants, nor do we feel comfortable interjecting ourselves into each individual’s personal medical choices. We are also very cognizant of the current load on our hospitals and health care workers, as well as the unavoidable fact that singing together is always an activity that has a high risk of spreading respiratory viruses. As such, we’ve decided to delay the start of our fall season until further notice.

The board will be meeting every few weeks to re-evaluate in the hopes that we can resume in time to prepare a program for Colony Christmas as usual. We will also revise the season’s planned program as necessary to ensure that we’ll be able to prepare a concert even if our rehearsal time ends up being only a few weeks. Thank you all for your patience and we hope we will see you soon!

Amber Sumner

Artistic Director

Hello MCC members and friends!

It’s time for an update on our Fall/Winter 2021 season! We were originally hoping to begin our fall semester this upcoming week, but have been delayed by complications in getting our insurance policies in place. However, the board and I anticipate being ready to begin by the end of this month.

Choral ensembles all over the country are preparing to sing again, and we are all faced with deciding what, if any, COVID-19 related policies will be put into place before beginning our season. We know that some people are not yet comfortable with any large gatherings, while others are ready to jump right in and get back to normal. If you are ready to sing this season, we’d appreciate your feedback about what policies you would like to see the board implement. Please follow this link to a quick survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NSVJCWW You are absolutely welcome to share this link with anyone else you think may like to join us!

The board will be meeting on September 16th to discuss the feedback we receive. We hope to make an announcement regarding the official start of rehearsals soon after. Thank you all for bearing with us as we navigate this uncharted territory, and we hope to be singing with you soon!

Hello Fellow Community Chorus Members,
The board held its June board meeting on the 17th and here are some items that were discussed:
–We are happy to announce that we are tentatively planning to resume rehearsals in September. If you are able to help us find a rehearsal venue for Thursday evenings, please send us a message! We will be announcing the details of the start of rehearsals on this site and trying to contact former members personally by phone, once we have everything in place. We hope to see all of our former members and welcome some new faces!
–We are setting up an informational table at Friday Fling in Palmer on July 16th. If you are interested in possibly manning the table with a partner for a couple of hours on one of those days, please contact Lois at 907-746-1818.
–Since no new people have shown an interest in joining the board, the three outgoing members have each agreed to stay on for another 3 year term.
–We are seeking a chorus member who has financial experience and would be willing to assist with some chorus finance paperwork.
Thank you all for your continued support of the chorus! We look forward to seeing you in the fall!

Join me Monday, December 21st at 7:00pm for a short virtual Christmas Caroling session! We will be streaming a Facebook Live video and will also be on Zoom. We ask that if you join the Zoom meeting, you do so with your microphone muted for the singing portion, as latency makes it impossible to sing together. An email will be sent to as many chorus members as possible with the Zoom link; if you would like to join but have not received the email, please send a message through the Facebook page or email amber@liberatedsong.com for the link. If you’d like lyrics to look at, you can download them here: Virtual Caroling Lyrics

From myself and all of the board members, we wish you a joyous and safe holiday season!

Peace,
Amber

Hello singers,

As CDC recommendations have changed regarding large gatherings of people and concern about COVID-19 has increased in our community, the board has decided to suspend our regular rehearsals until further notice.

At this time, we hope that this will be a temporary suspension and that we will be able to proceed with our concerts as planned. I will be posting additional rehearsal notes on both our Facebook group and our website to aid you in continuing to review your music at home during the next few weeks.

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/284748535670378/

The board will be meeting later this week to discuss the further implications of this on our season. In the meantime, I hope that you are able to stay safe and in good spirits.

Peace,
Amber

The Mat-Su Community Chorus is excited to announce a new offering for children in the valley: the Mat-Su Kid’s Chorus! This group will operate under the umbrella of the community chorus and is for children from 1st through 8th grade.

The chorus will be under the direction of Sharon Theroux. Sharon has a B.A. from South Dakota State University majoring in Music Education, Communication Skills and Theater and has done graduate studies in Suzuki Pedagogy. She has taught in the Anchorage School District since 2005 and has offered private instruction from her home in voice, piano, and violin since 2000. Under her skillful leadership the children will learn listening skills, music reading, tone clarity, and diction, while working toward part singing. Of course, they will also benefit by cooperating with other children and building self-confidence as they make music together!

Rehearsals will be on Tuesdays at 5:00pm for those 9 and under and 6:00pm for those 10 and older. Participation costs will be $50 per semester and a concert is planned in conjunction with the adult chorus in May. We are still seeking a location for rehearsals, but hope to be ready to start by the first week of February.

Please email Barry Dorman at barry.doorman@yahoo.com for more information or to enroll, and please help us spread the word about this exciting new program!