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Singing at Sadler's Wells - Melisande, Finchley Children's Music Group
Posted by: Melisande on 6 November 2008
When I heard I'd been selected to sing in this fabulous Rambert project I was absolutely thrilled. You see, this summer I took part in a London Children's Ballet dance workshop where I had the chance to meet a couple of inspirational Rambert dancers who performed some wonderful dance sections from Eternal Light for us. Now, here I am, preparing for a show with the same performers - not as a dancer but as a singer!
Yesterday the 14 of us from the Finchley Children's Music Group, who have been rehearsing once or twice a week since mid- September for the show, were delighted to finally get to meet the exceptional Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford .
We drove to Oxford in four cars after a two hour in-depth rehearsal with our conductor Grace at our usual venue in North London. Having imagined we'd be rehearsing somewhere rather grand and ornate, I was a little surprised to find myself in a modern school hall for the rest of the evening!
Grace came with us to Oxford, but this rehearsal was led by Paul Hoskins (Rambert's Music Director). Before we began rehearsing the organisers of both choirs arranged the seating plan. It was configured so that each FCMG singer had a Christ Church Cathedral chorist on either side of them, so there would be a more balanced sound. Paul told us we would have to "up our game" as the Christ Church choir were already very familiar with the work, having recorded it, so of course this put a lot of pressure on us! We didn't want to ruin the reputation of our hosts, so we worked extra hard despite being very tired.
Paul confirmed when we should breathe in each of the phrases in all the movements. He spent a while experimenting with different sound combinations. For example, in "Agnus Dei" the tenors and basses were apparently too loud in parts so he wanted to tweak the balance, getting them to sing more quietly.
I'm really enjoying singing the Eternal Light requiem because it's so uplifting and has so many beautiful harmonious melodies. It really is a breath of fresh air singing a new work in ways similar, but nevertheless different, to our existing FCMG repertoire. My favourite movements are definitely the third, "Lead Kindly Light", and the tenth, the "Finale", which is an extremely dramatic medley of all the great tunes in the work.
I don't feel at all nervous right now - in fact I'm really looking forward to singing at Sadler's Wells for the first time. Our choir's had lots of public performing experience including with Madonna last year at Wembley Stadium in front of 80,000 people, so I don't think we'll be too daunted...
With only a few days to go until the dress rehearsal we still haven't been told what we'll be wearing in the orchestra pit! It'll probably be our usual choir uniform consisting of a staid royal blue tailored shirt and scratchy black nylon trousers. Although my friends and I really love the idea of being able to wear a new outfit such as a brightly-coloured floaty robe that mirrors the dancers' costumes we're not holding our breath!
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