4/23/2015 Intermediate Blog

Reminder - Rehearsal on Thursday, April 30 is at an alternate location - First United Methodist Church in Palo Alto. 

All singers must sign in AND out with choir parents Michelle & Sandra in the church parking lot (accessed via Byron St)

Rehearsal Notes:

Dear Intermediate, 

You surprised me with how well you already knew the words and moves for Bedu Pako - you're practicing is paying off!  :) 

For this next week, I'm going to ask you to work on everything! That will mean:

- Practicing the moves and words for Bedu Pako and Sesere Eeye

- Practicing the words for Doraji

- Practicing Shine

- Making sure also that Imagine and Come and Sing are ready to go as well

From now until the concert, this will be your primary assignment - fixing whatever you personally need to work on.

See you next week at First United Methodist Church in Palo Alto!

4/16/2015 Intermediate Blog

Intermediate Notes

Musicianship Notes:

Hello Intermediate, 

You did such a great job yesterday at checking last week’s assessment. It was a great chance for all of us to remind ourselves how to write rhythm in to find out what our Do is according to the key signature.

Your assignment for next week is to finish (!) book II!

Enjoy and see you next week! 

Ron

Intermediate Rehearsal Notes:

Dear Intermediate,

I cannot tell you how impressed I was with your sound today on Sesere Eeye; your three-part harmony was confident and beautifully in tune. Very, very good!

Your only homework for this week is this:

Memorize the words for Bedu Pako Baramasa, and memorize all the moves.

You will find the link to the moves in the previous blog. Memorizing the words is critical; we cannot move forward on the song until you know the words very well, so please put some good time in working on this.

Thank you, and see you next week!

David

Next off-site rehearsal: Thursday, April 30 at First United Methodist Church in Palo Alto (it's where we had the Festival!)

4/9/2015 Intermediate Blog

Intermediate Rehearsal Notes

Rehearsal on April 16 is in our normal location - Parish Hall at Foothills Congregational Church. 

Our next alternate location rehearsal is on Thursday, April 30.

For Thursday, please practice the words and movements of Bedu Pako. You must come better prepared!  Make sure to practice the words so they are perfect. You should be able to render confidently every consonant and every vowel:

Bedu pako bara masa,
Bedu pako bara masa, Narani!

Kafale pako cheta, meri chhaila, Narani!
Kafale pako cheta, meri chhaila.

Afu khandi paan supari
Afu khandi paan supari, Narani!
Menne pilondi bidi, meri chhaila, Narani!
Menne pilondi bidi, meri chhaila.

Almora ki Nanda Devi,
Almora ki Nanda Devi, Narani!

Nanitale ki Nena, meri chhaila, Narani!
Nanitale ki Nena, meri chhaila.

Terra khuta kana budi,
Terra khuta kana budi, Narani!

Mera khuta pida, meri chhela, Narani!
Mera khuta pida, meri chhela.

Bedu pako bara masa,
Bedu pako bara masa, Narani!

Kafale pako cheta, meri chhaila, Narani!
Kafale pako cheta, meri chhaila.

In order to learn the movements, you can use the video in the link below, and also use these phrases:

1)      Open left hand
2) Eat fingers, Eat fingers
3) Crossed hands shoulder tap 1-2
4) Hands on hips
5) Light bulbs, Light bulbs
6) That's a yummy berry
7) Light bulbs, Light bulbs
8) Crush some nuts
9) Give it to me, I'll put it in my heart
10) Give it to me, I'll put it in my heart
11) Look at my beautiful hands
12) Temple, Temple, Temple
13) Pray, Pray, Pray
etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=infFje5QiSs&feature=em-share_video_user

Musicianship Notes

So on Thursday we had an assessment with live dictations and quite a few professional musicianship questions. I would like to give a huge GOOD JOB to Mingyuan, Nen and Sarah who got everything perfect!

Good job to everyone else who did a good job.

Next time we meet we will find out what the true answers for all of the questions and dictations are!! Yay!!  Until then please finish working your way through page 35.

See you on Thursday!

4/2/2015 Intermediate Blog

Intermediate Musicianship notes

So, today we continued using quarter and eighth notes and used our new 16th notes.

After we got to know them more personally (!) we used them in our song "come with me and sing with me". Good job! Next time we will sing it as if you're inviting a good friend who is a bit shy to come and sing with you!

This week's assignment is to review what you have learned up until now, since we will be having an assessment assignment next week, which means I will:

- Dictate some rhythm (quarters, eighth, sixteenth)

- Ask you to recognize scales according to their flats/sharps, 

- I might ask you to write the intervals of the Major scale (T,T,ht,T,T,T,ht) 

- Ask you to recognize notes within a scale (you will be asked to write down what notes I play for you using "Do/Re/Mi/Fa..." or "1,2,3,4,5...")

This assignment is personal, so each of you should do it quietly on your own, and it is to be handed in once you’re done. Doing this assignment is just a good way of us making sure each and every one of you is doing well.

Looking forward to seeing and hearing you guys next week!

Ron

Rehearsal notes

Good work in an unusual location today, Intermediate!

You have only one assignment before next week. It is absolutely critical that you learn all the words in order for Bedu Pako. Please have this ready to go so that we can learn the moves perfectly next week. You will find the moves at this link here:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=infFje5QiSs&feature=em-share_video_user

David

3/26/2015 Intermediate Blog

Intermediate Rehearsal Blog

Musicianship Notes

Hello everyone!

Yesterday we did some rhythmic dictations with quarter and eighth notes and you guys were awesome! We later took that rhythm and used it for a short song/choral we sang together:

Come with me 

and sing with me…

Come with me 

and sing with me…

Come with me and sing the music!

Fun!

Your assignment for next week is to continue through page 29 in your yellow workbooks.

Rehearsal notes

Here are David’s notes on yesterday’s rehearsal:

Dear Intermediate, 

Doraji is starting to sound beautiful! We still don't know the words as well as we should, though. Please spend some extra time with the pronunciation guide this week making sure that you have the words pronounced correctly and memorized. If you finish that, make sure that you have your words learned for Bedu Pako Baramasa, then that will be all that you need to do for this week. Keep up your beautiful singing!

(Note: Honors, please also practice your specific part for Sesere Eeye - Soprano 1, 2, or 3. I will need your support on that in the weeks to come.)

3/19/2015 Intermediate Blog

Musicianship Notes

Great work today with telling the difference between minor and major and singing both!

Remember where's the difference? 

Is it the 1? 

The 3? 

The 5? 

Or the 8? 

Remind me next time we meet.

Besides - I remind you to sing all of page 1A that was handed out to you, using Do, Mi and Sol. (use C, E, G)

This week you do not need to do any pages in your workbook - just do the worksheet (page 1A) that I gave you.

See you next week!

Ron

Rehearsal Notes

Good singing today, Intermediate! I was particularly impressed with your three-part work.

For next week, please make sure that you have all the words memorized for Bedu Pako. I just learned that we will be doing different moves than those shown in the video, so please do NOT practice those moves after all!!

However, please watch this video of Sesere Eeye a few times (and practice with it) to get a feel for the way that the moves should look: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SATEqK2NK5Q .

I'll see you next week!

Mr. Belles

3/5/2015 Intermediate Blog

Hello everyone!

We have an exciting event quickly approaching! Thursday, March 12th, 2015, you will be treated to a clinic with guest conductor Anthony Trecek-King, followed by the Cantabile’s Festival for Young Voices on Saturday, March 14th, 2015! 

Cantabile's Fifth Annual Festival for Young Voices:

A Celebration of Negro Spiritual and Gospel Music

Workshop with Guest Conductor and Festival Clinician, Anthony Trecek-King at FCC in Parish Hall: Thursday, March 12, 5.00-7.00 pm

Festival on Saturday, March 14 at Palo Alto First United Methodist Church:

Drop Off Time: 10.00 am

Drop Off & Sign in Location: church courtyard on Hamilton Ave

Pick Up Time: between 3.30-4.00 pm

You will receive a letter containing more details (eg. attire, lunch, what to bring, pick up instructions etc) on Monday, March 9.

Musicianship Notes

Today we worked on our rhythm reading whole, half, quarter, eighth and sixisixsixsixsixteenth notes!

Your assignments for next week's musicianship are:

1. Please finish working through page 24 in your yellow workbook (and as usual whoever has passed this point should continue 4-5 additional pages from where they’re at).

2. Look at the new songs you received today - What is their DO? 

Use our maaaagical ways of telling according to the key signature (of course).

See you next week!

Rehearsal Notes

Here are David's notes on today's rehearsal:

Very good work today, Intermediate! Most importantly, you need to make sure that you have the words for Gospel Train memorized. Please spend time on that until you have it perfect.

Also, please practice:

The Storm Is Passing Over at this link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr_c7rc1vG0 

and

Peter Go Ring-a Dem Bells at this link: http://www.giamusic.com/search_details.cfm?title_id=26096 (it's just audio, not video).

And look at this link to learn who Sister Moses is! 

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/history/harriet-tubman