Saturday's Recording

Some of you have asked that I forward a list of things we'll record this Saturday. Below is such list. Please know that these pieces we plan to record. Depending on how things go we might do more, less, or even different pieces than on the list. 

1. Magnification
2. Matins Prokeimenon
3. General Canon to Theotokos (Sander)
4. Exaposteilarion, Bulgarian Chant
5. Antiphon 1
6. Antiphon 2
7. Beatitudes (Alfeyev)
8. Troparion, Common Chant
9. Troparion, Serbian Chant
10. Troparion, Greek Russian Chant (Trubachov)
11. Kontakion, Common Chant
12. Kontakion, Greek Russian Chant (Elison)
13. Trisagion (Alfeyev)
14. We Have seen (Alfeyev)
15. Blessed be the Name (Alfeyev)
16. Beneath Your Compassion (Archbishop Job)

Such a long list might seem optimistic, and maybe it is. But, many of these pieces we know well and are very short, and I don't anticipate doing many takes with them.

Just to reiterate some things we discussed last night about Saturday:

Please, it is much more important to be early to the recording than arriving at the last minute. It is best to avoid any tension or stress, and arriving just before we begin adds greatly to this - both for you and me! So, please be at the cathedral no later than 12:30. There are a few things that we need to do, like clear space in front of the amvon/altar area, bring stands and books down from the loft, and also the water cooler. Arriving this early will allow you to help move some of these things, and give you a chance to maybe review briefly the music or ask questions if you have them. But, most importantly, arriving early will allow you to relax and focus calmly on what we're going to do.

Attire: please dress comfortably. Make sure you have comfortable shoes since we'll be standing on the hardwood floor for a few hours. We'll have to turn the heat off, so towards the end of the recording session it might get slightly chilly. Bring a light jacket or sweater if you think it's necessary.

Please, no shoes, slacks, shirts, jackets, etc. that make noise or any kind of crinkling sounds. The mics will pick this up.

Please, no perfume, cologne etc.

Before and after each take we'll have two or three seconds of dead sound. So, before we start singing, I will give the pitch, then I'll wait three seconds or so before I cue you to begin singing. Likewise, at the end of the take, after the final cutoff and before I relax my arms, we'll have three seconds or so of dead sound.

While recording, it's important that we do not make any noises such as coughing, sniffling, creaking the floor with our feet, etc. If any of these things happen during a take - even inadvertently - it will unfortunately be ruined. So, please take care during each take that we don't make any noises!

Finally, just to remind you again. Please be at the cathedral no later than 12:30. See you all on Saturday!

Rehearsals and Recordings

The past few weeks have been difficult for rehearsals and church attendance because of weather. This, of course, is just one of those things we can't plan for when making our choir's schedule. I've talked to Doug Geston, our recording engineer, and we've come up with a new plan for our recording schedule. What we'll do is the following: our Wednesday, March 6 recording is postponed to Saturday, March 30 at 9 AM. If this new date is a problem for many people, we'll figure something out. But, for now this is what the plan is. Looking through the rest of March, our schedule is:

Wednesday, February 27. Rehearsal 7 PM
Saturday, March 2. Recording 1 PM
Wednesday, March 6. Rehearsal 7 PM
Saturday, March 9. Recording 9 AM
Wednesday, March 13. Canon of St. Andrew followed by rehearsal 7 PM
Wednesday, March 20. Rehearsal 7 PM
Wednesday, March 27. Rehearsal 7 PM
Saturday, March 30. Recording 9 AM

There is an outside chance that we do finish recording everything in two sessions (the first two Saturdays in March), but this is probably optimistic.

On Saturday, March 9 lunch will be provided for the choir.

Canon for the Theotokos

Below is a link to a folder that has audio files of Kurt Sander's canon to the Theotokos. Thank you Emily for getting this together.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1R1zwewPkiZmWNj0DowgM4eFrBZMw9YL3

In the folder you'll only be interested in the files that have the word "Continued" in the file name. In total, there are four of these: odes three, six, eight, and nine. There are no recordings of the other odes as far as I know.

Last Sunday, while working with some singers on this canon, I realized that there are two versions of this composition floating around. Surprisingly, both have been available from Kurt's website (if you're interested, Kurt's website is: orthodoxchoralmusic.com). To make a long story short, two of the heirmoi are different - six and seven. The sheet music in the binders in the loft for these two heirmoi is not the same as the electronic sheet music files that I sent out a few weeks ago. So, please be aware of this as you singing through the music on your own at home. We will use the versions in the binder for the recording.

At tomorrow's liturgy (if some of you read this before the morning), at the Troparia/Kontakia run we'll sing the following:

1. Resurrection Troparion, Tone 5
2. Glory...Kontakion for the Publican and the Pharisee
3. Now...Kontakion for Protection

For the cathedral's kontakion at the end, I'd like to sing the Bulgarian Chant setting by Resa. It's in the Liturgy binder at the end of the Troparia and Kontakia section.

While the clergy commune, we will sing "Open to me the doors of repentance..." and if there's some time, Fr. Sergei Glagolev's "Praise the Name of the Lord" from the recording binder.

Men, please remember that we're meeting this coming Wednesday after rehearsal and the following to rehearse some things for the recording.