Monday, November 2

Greetings! Congratulations on a fantastic Fall Concert. I was so proud of it. You sang very well, especially for the first concert of the year, and the church was packed with a wonderful enthusiastic audience. I don't think we can hope for much more than that!
The DVD's are in, so be sure to pick one up if you ordered one. Andrew Mellows did a beautiful job with all kinds of different camera angles and terrific sound. The blackout version of Battle of Jericho is there too, if you want to hear a whole lot of applause! And could the men's number have been any better? Impossible. One of the best all guy numbers in a long time. Congratulations to all of you.

Don't forget to check out Don Anderson's awesome gallery of pictures too! Just go to GunnChoir.org and click on the Gallery.

We are off into a new set of music and a very full time of year for the choir. We have a little over 6 weeks to put together our Winter Concert, which will feature a performance of Schubert's Mass in G with students from the Gunn instrumental program. It is a really thrilling work, and I know you will enjoy working on it. Chamber Singers are working hard on their holiday repertoire for the annual caroling program as well. When we return from WInter Break it's February Show time again, and it's going to be a blast with a brand new show this year.

In the midst of all that we will be signing up for the Spring Tour to New York City. It's maybe my favorite city in the world and an amazing place to sing and to sight see. More info on that before the end of the week.

Thanks for all the hard work. It is really paying off!

Fall Concert This Sunday!!!

It's hard to believe that the first concert is already upon us. I am very excited about it. I think we have a great variety of cool music to share, and everyone has been working hard to make it sound great. I hope you are all telling your families and friends to come!! 7:00 Sunday night at Grace Lutheran, corner of Loma Verde and Waverley. Chamber Singers have to be there at 5, everyone else at 5:30. I will be recruiting a set up crew to come at 4:30 to set up the risers, etc. Set up crew gets lots of free food from Mr. Lib. Chipoltle, In n Out, etc.

This Thursday is our rehearsal at the Church. You are excused from your morning classes, thanks to the incredibly supportive staff and administration at Gunn. We will meet in the choir room at 7:55, take school busses to Grace and spend the morning rehearsing the whole thing. We will be back during lunch. We will need a lot of help moving risers, etc, so everybody be ready to chip in and help. There will be do-nuts!!!

The best thing you can do to guarantee a great night is study your score! Take 15 minutes a day and just look and sing through the pieces you are not that sure of. It will make a huge difference! I am already proud of you, and really pleased with how this year is starting off. I LOVE the attitude and supportive energy in the room, and I know that we are going to do amazing things this year!

Get your permission slips in, and I look forward to these next days as we pull it all together.

Best,
Bill Liberatore

New Stuff

Treble Choir: Click on the link on the right for the Sop2 and Alto recordings of At the River. It would be great to get those parts down right away so we can start making music out of it.
Below is the Color Purple from the Broadway Production. Fantastic!

Concert Choir: A great video of Moses Hogan talking about The Battle of Jericho. The subsequent performance is too fast, but it's cool to hear Moses talk about it it.

This recording is Moses' group doing it. Better tempo and diction!

Chamber Singers: Click on the link to the right to hear the recording we made last night. You are going to hear lots of good things, and some things that are obviously in need of attention.
I am also posting some videos of Hark All Ye Lovely Saints and A Maiden is in a Ring for you to compare and contrast. Have fun!

Wednesday, Sept 23

Things are really moving along! Chamber Singers had a great rehearsal Monday night. I am so happy with all the new guys, and the enthusiasm is very high. Treble Choir is really finding their voice. I had chills numerous times in rehearsal yesterday! And last but not least Concert Choir is sounding great. I love the size and the balance, and the great tuning! Wow. We all have a lot more to accomplish before we can give a concert, but we are on the right track!
I have a couple new things on the blog. I posted the Chamber Singers Rehearsal Schedule. Please make sure all those dates are written in your calendar immediately if you are in that group. It is a class for credit with a letter grade, so please take these obligations seriously.
I also added a link to recordings of the songs we are going to do at the Fall Concert to feature the men and the women's sections. I love both of these song ideas. Check it out. I posted 3 different versions of the women's song. The original Queen version, and then 2 versions sung by women which are in the keys we will be using. I am very excited about the guy number! What a crazy idea! I wish I could take credit for it, but it came to me via Ruth Escher. Thanks Ruth! We will be doing our own arrangement, with a string quartet and a sort of pseudo classical interpretation. It will be really cool! Start listening to these now.
Finally, I am ready to get started with our Choir Board. We really want to put together a sweats order (Choir Bums is BACK!) so we can start wearing the stuff around campus and publicizing our first concert. If you are interested in being an officer, please read the job descriptions posted here, and write me a short email by Monday telling me why we should put you in that job!
Thanks to all of you for all of your hard work. It is going really well!
Best,
BL

Chamber Singers 2009-10

Here is the list. Thank you to all who auditioned. I find it very difficult to turn anyone away. Obviously we cannot have 55 people in Chamber Singers. We usually push it to about 42-44, and even that is quite a big group.  If you did not make it, keep in mind that we have lots of spots opening up next year when the class of 2010 graduates. It is always harder for sophomores to grab a spot, even when you are as amazingly talented as the class of 2012 is. Don't interpret this as a reflection of your talent if you did not make it. It is just a matter of balancing the male to females voices, and giving returning members priority. There will be plenty of opportunity for everyone during their time in this Choir at Gunn. 

Best,

Bill Liberatore

First Rehearsal: Monday, September 14, 6:30-9:00 PM 

Exsultate Justi

For Concert Choir: Go to http://drop.io/ExsultateJusti and you can hear your part. The sheet music is there too so you can look at your part as you listen. Let's make it a great sectional tomorrow!

Here is a youtube clip also. The tempo is too slow, but the tone is really nice!

Ave Verum Corpus

For Concert Choir members: Your assignment tonight is to spend 5 minutes on your part for Ave Verum Corpus. The link on the right will take you to the site where your individual part has been recorded. If you have another 5 minutes, watch this performance conducted by Leonard Bernstein. Really gorgeous!