We arrived early at Marriotts Ridge and gathered our belongings. We had bagels to hold us over on the bus ride over to UMD! Upon arriving on campus, rehearsal had already begun and we knew we had come to work hard.
Warm-up began with different sounds to open our vowels and elongate our sound. Dr. Maclary reminded us to think of sinking into the sound while remaining high in pitch. This contrasting idea helped the choir visualize the sound he desired. We achieved that sound and continued the rehearsal with When David Heard.
Dr. Maclary worked on the melodic and rhythmic emphasis of notes and how the accents don't always go on the vowels and words we assume they do. He also asked every part to determine where the stresses go and how correcting them would make dramatic changes to the choir's sound.
We also worked on A Boy and a Girl. Dr. Elpus directed it and worked on our tone, especially with the sopranos. He encouraged us to be warm and listen to the words because this would help us create a story and something for the audience to believe and see through our singing. He worked a lot on his ability to rhythmically express his freedom and told the choir he would never conduct the piece the same way every time.
Looking forward to the rest of today and learning more from these gifted conductors!
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