Consolidated Music Notes

Holy cow, its December! Time for consolidated music notes. It goes without saying that everything is memorized (or, at least, on a cheat sheet) — you essentially have this week to put the finishing touches on your memorization. In addition, we have a special performance on Saturday (“Winter’s Eve Revels” at Glen Echo Park) with a couple of extra carols added in (ones that many of you already know). Here is the running order for December 9:
production.revelsdc.org/script-running-order/winters-eve-revels-running-order/

So, first things first — consolidated music notes in order:

1. Nova! Nova!
   ROADMAP:
   – 3 Refrains at the start: (1) Chris Lewis; (2) everyone on stage; (3) everyone in the house
   – Refrain after Maud’s verse — UNISON
   – Refrain after Chris’s verse — 2-Part
   – ALL refrains after that — 4-Part
   – Double refrain at the end (after Maud and Erin’s verse)
   MUSICAL NOTES:
   – Strong entrance on each chorus, make the “n” sound short so the entrance doesn’t sound like mush
   – Soloists leave off the end of the chorus to make your entrance on time
   – Separate the “novas” every time
   – Inhale for a clean cutoff each time
   – We will work out the final cut off with the musicians
2. Noël nouvelet
   – Watch Chris Lewis (song leader)
   – Intro. is likely ther last 8 bars (played by the brass)
   – On verses 1 and 4, make sure to sing, “Noel sing we here” in mm. 3-4
   and “Sing we now noel” always in mm. 15-16
   – Pronounce the “t” in Christmas clearly
   – Take a quarter note to breathe at the end of each system
3. Verbum Patris umanatur
   – Latin – please make sure that all of the vowels are “pure”
   AH – EH – EE – OH – OO
   – T/B – please remember all of the Latin work we did on 11/29
4. Alle Psallite
   – Divisi assignments – https://production.revelsdc.org/music/scores-audio/divisi-assignments/
   – Handbells (Jenny and David) will set the tempo at the start
   – Group 1, attack your first entrance at [B]
   – No ritard as the end; watch Jenny and David for final cutoff
5. Edi beo thu
   – Really work at emphasizing words that are recognizable
   – Lower part, please linger on the “A” in the 3rd beat of mm. 4, 13, 31
   – Review verse 3 words
6. Quant je voi yer retorner
   – Learn the French! (sell the song, even if you flub a word!)
   – English verse — there is a natural lift between “lots” and “lots”
   – Put the final “t” of “eat” on after holding for the full 3 beats
7. “Kyrie” from Missa L’homme armé
   – “Christe” section will go a bit faster
   – Please keep listening to how the parts work together (beyond just singing your own part)
   – Please make sure to watch at the end for a slight ritard.
   – Basses – no “i” sylable in m. 9
   – Basses – m. 38 watch the syncopation, it’s getting behind
   – Basses watch where you switch syllables, especially in m. 18 and 22, not everyone is changing vowels on the same notes
8. Lord of the Dance
   – The “descant” is only added after the final verse
9. L’homme armé
   – New score (typo fixed) is available:
   https://production.revelsdc.org/scores/lhomme-arme.pdf
   – New pronunciation recording:
   https://production.revelsdc.org/2023-audio/L’homme Arme Pronounciation.mp3
10. Conditor alme siderum
    – Bell (Eleanore) will ring an “E” three times as an introduction
    – Separate the 8th note / quarter note in m.16 (top and middle parts)
    – ALL parts, please lift at comas (especially in the 2nd verse)
    – Bases, resist the urge to rush the syncopation in m. 20
    – Slight ritard at the end both times
11. Il est né le divin enfant
    – English word “divine” pronounced “dih-vine,” not “dee-vine”
    – On the word “past” in mm. 10 and 14, put the “st” on beat 4
    – Lift at the coma between mm. 9 and 10, and mm. 13 and 14 in second verse
    – Slight ritard. at the end of each verses
    – Bell players trill on the last note of the song
12. Dona nobis pacem
    – “D” bell (Bill Hoffman) will be played for the pitch
    – Divide into 3 groups onstage
    – We will sing it all together once, then start the round
    – Middle group = Group 1
    – SL Group = Group 2
    – SR Group = Group 3
13. The Hunt is Up
    – To bring the deer to bay. (1st time)
    – To bring the boar to bay. (2nd time)
    – To bring the fox to bay. (3rd time)
    – We need to have a balance between “energetic singing” and being able to understand the words.
14. J’atendray tant qu’il vois playra
    – All sing the refrain (mm. 1-30, top line of words only)
    – Small group assignments for the rest of the music:
    TOP: Jan E., Jennie W., Elisabeth W., Maud, Diana
    MIDDLE: Guen S., Eleanore F., Erin, S. Jessica E.
    
    LOW: Jane B., Jenny C., Caroline B.
    – After “verse 3” sung by the small group, there will be an instrumental. Then we will repeat the refrain again at the end.
15. Boar’s Head Carol
    – Preston sings verse 1 / we sing the standard refrain
    – Verse 2 – Greg Lewis, Max McGervey, Barry Galef, Michael Haycock / standard refrain
    – Verse 3 – Patrick Malone, Greg McGruder, Kelly Mok, David Meredith / standard refrain
    – Verse 4 – ALL soloists sing / we sing the alternate refrain
16. Gloria ad modum tubae
    – Divisi assignments – https://production.revelsdc.org/music/scores-audio/divisi-assignments/
    – Keep making music ya’ll, I am hearing the work that you are doing with the phrasing!
    – T/B – Lift at the comas between each Gloria Deo
    – T/B – Switch from groups to your own parts, m. 46 (after the “Ave”s)
    – Keep the alternating back and forth parts as unified and well-matched as possible