St. Simeon's Prayer, Carpathian Chant, arr. Trubachev

This evening the male choir rehearsed for the first time Trubachev's St. Simeon's Prayer. As promised, here is a recording of it in Slavonic. Probably thanks to the wonderful space where it was recorded the sound is good, but the videography leaves much to be desired. With the exception of one phrase (and the fact that it's in Slavonic), it's essentially the same.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOZX87UN4I4

I've updated the St. Simeon's Prayer file. After rehearsing it yesterday, it was obvious that there were some problem spots that needed to be improved. Here is the new file:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1pMkDkMZecDIgN8bbDTC0ByoKmrjFFF-K

Siberian Singing Session on Wednesday

Some people have asked me about this Wednesday's rehearsal. I talked about it with a few people and think that we'll keep the rehearsal schedule as is. However, if you are at all apprehensive about traveling to rehearsal in the bitter cold, let me know and please stay home. I'm sure you'll be able to make up for time lost.

As a suggestion, please consider carpooling with other singers this Wednesday if you're concerned about driving in the cold and if it's convenient for you.

We plan to rehearse Glagolev's Polyeleos, Alfeyev's It is Truly Meet, parts of Kastalsky's Open Unto Us, as well as one or two model melodies.

Also, men - let's still plan on meeting after Wednesday's rehearsal.

Recording Rehearsals

Thank you for a wonderful rehearsal last evening. We made a lot of progress with Kurt Sander's Canon for the Theotokos, as well as the Exaposteilarion (both the Bulgarian Chant and Put' (Znamenny) Chant arrangements), and the Greek Chant Troparion for the feast. As it stands right now, we only have five rehearsals until our recording dates. There are still quite a few things that we need to review before March. Some of the pieces that I'm think of are: Glagolev's Polyeleos, Alfeyev's Beatitudes and It is Truly Meet, Kastalsky's Open Unto Us and St. Simeon's Prayer, Sander's Canon (yes, we still need to look at this yet), plus special melodies for stichera at Lord I Call and the Praises at Matins. In light of all this, it would be beneficial for everyone to have two rehearsals on a Sunday so that we're not crunched for time in the last rehearsals leading up to the recording.

In addition to our normal Wednesday rehearsals we will add two Sunday rehearsals on February, 17 and 24. Rehearsal will start at 11:50 in the choir loft and we'll plan to sing till about 12:35.

So, our updated rehearsal schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, January 30, 7 PM
Wednesday, February 6, 7 PM
Wednesday, February 13, 7 PM
Sunday, February 17, 11:50 AM
Wednesday, February 20, 7 PM
Sunday, February 24, 11:50 AM
Wednesday, February 27, 7 PM

After these two Sunday rehearsals Miho and I are inviting everyone to our house for fellowship. More information about this to come. 

Please remember that our recording dates are:
Saturday, March 2 at 1 PM
Wednesday, March 6 at 7 PM
Saturday, March 9 at 9 AM

Male Singers:

There are at least two pieces that I'd like to sing in male arrangement for the recording: St. Simeon's Prayer (Trubachev) and the Praises at Matins. I'd like to rehearse with you for 15-20 minutes after our Wednesday rehearsals on the following dates:
January 30
February 13
February 24

Some singers have asked if I could print out recording music for them to take home and practice. Please let me know if you'd like me to do this. The music is accessible online at the following location if you'd prefer electronic copies: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1OgXju0dYDYZqFSyPA9eIXBmrIM6Cgp_E

Last but not least, please make every effort to come to all scheduled rehearsals. St. Mary's Choir is a volunteer choir, and as such we make a commitment to participate in all aspects of choir life, both liturgical and other. This includes not just the weekly services, but also concerts and recordings. I'm not only depending on you, but every singer in the choir is depending you, too. We can only accomplish our goal with everyone's involvement! Please mark your calendar with these rehearsal and recording dates if you haven't already. See you this weekend.

Music for March Recording

This might be a failed attempted at sharing all the music for the recording, but for better or worse here we go. Hopefully the link below will give you access to all the music that we'll potentially record in March. All of the music is in pdf format and is in no particular order.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1OgXju0dYDYZqFSyPA9eIXBmrIM6Cgp_E

Please remember that our recording dates are the following:

Saturday, March 2 at 1 PM
Wednesday, March 6 at 7 PM
Saturday, March 9 at 9 AM

Happy New Year

I wish all of you a very happy new year. It sounds trite to say, but it really was a pleasure leading all of you in liturgical worship and concerts throughout 2018. I hope that 2019 brings many new and wonderful things for St. Mary's Cathedral Choir.

Thank you to all for your very hard and devoted work through the month of December. It's not necessary to recount all what happened, but it was an extremely busy month with services, concerts, caroling, and a visit from Bishop Paul. Everything went very well, exceeding all my expectations. Thank you!

At the end of 2017, the choir voted to do a recording project sometime the end of 2018 or the beginning of 2019. This past September, I surveyed the choir to see when would be the best time to record and what singers would like to record. Out of all those who responded to the survey (only about 65 percent or so) the overwhelming majority wanted to record music and special melodies for our cathedral's feast day on October 1, the Protection on the Theotokos. Recording dates have been reserved with the recording engineer from our 2016 recording, Doug Geston. We are scheduled to record on the following days:

Saturday, March 2 at 1 pm
Wednesday, March 6 at 7 pm
Saturday, March 9 at 9 am

Beginning with tomorrow's rehearsal (January 2), we have nine rehearsals till our first recording session on March 2. We'll have to use these rehearsal times wisely. Many things that I hope to record we've already learned or have rehearsed in the passed (our feast day's kontakion arranged by Resa, canon heirmoi for the Theotokos composed by Kurt Sander, many pieces composed/arranged by then Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev, etc.). But, there are things (time permitting) that I'd like to include which we still haven't learned such as: various arrangements of our cathedral's troparion and kontakion, magnification, and magnificat. The possible selections seem almost endless.

I think I should remind you that the choir voted to make this recording. Please make it a priority and arranged your schedule accordingly so that we can have the best result possible.

Look forward to seeing you all at tomorrow evenings rehearsal.