Girls' Choirs
posted 22nd April 2020
When this strange COVID-19 lockdown is over I'm sure we will want to hit the ground running, and be more successful than ever. In a perverse way this is a great opportunity for individual singers to develop their singing skills. The teachers have been working hard to make new material for the choirs, and I have put together a "training" playlist which you can access here. It is growing every day. To use the playlist, click on a track and listen carefully, like preparing for a concert or a singing lesson. I have used a wind ensemble to play the voice parts, because computer generated "singing" is terrible! For each piece there are several tracks: the whole piece, individual parts, the accompaniment on its own (for when you know it well), and a "click track". The click track should enable us to put together online recordings; we're still working on the technology for this - more next week.
The first piece on the list is my new arrangement of the Bette Midler song "The Rose". Have a go at all the parts, then you will know it really well. I hope you enjoy it. Try not to cry!
Please send recordings to recordings@oxfordyouthchoirs.org.uk
Senior Girls' Choir Playlist
Click on top right of video to see the full playlist
Vivaldi Gloria Resources
The lockdown has inspired musicians throughout the UK to be particularly creative, and few works are more popular than Vivaldi's Gloria. It was one of the first pieces we learnt, back in 1984. With help from Vivaldi scholar Micky White we were the first choir to demonstrate that it was composed entirely for women, including the tenor and bass parts sung at pitch. Thanks to former OYC chairman Tim Gardam we were asked to film it in this way for the BBC, on location at Vivaldi's church of Santa Maria della Pietà in Venice, in 2005, with a choir of current and past members and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. You can read all about this project here - www.spav.co.uk. This playlist is based on our performances for the BBC and SKY Arts, together with my new edition of the score (made directly from the original manuscript) and rehearsal tracks for you to sing along with. Try singing each of the parts! Perhaps we can have a gala performance when we are all free again...