Ulster Youth Chamber Choir coaching project
Ulster Youth Chamber Choir member:
“I thoroughly enjoyed last weekend's Gabrieli rehearsals. It was a privilege to work with professional musicians of such high calibre. Although being a relatively inexperienced young singer working alongside highly experienced and respected professionals, there were no barriers evident throughout the weekend. It was most beneficial having the Gabrieli singers interspersed throughout the choir sections offering us their professional advice. With quite an intense rehearsal schedule, it was reassuring to know our voices were in good hands and I came away from the weekend feeling vocally fresh and enthused for future rehearsals. It is an honour to be involved in such an exciting and esteemed project!”
Mark Chambers (alto):
“Having lived in both Northern Ireland and Ireland for the last 9 years I was delighted to be asked to be part of this preliminary weekend in Belfast.
I have worked with Greg Beardsell (Ulster Youth Choir conductor) in other projects and so was aware of just how well prepared these young singers would be; both in terms of notes learned but also with an awareness of the choral technique required to execute a professional performance.
The weekend began with meeting Paul and Samuel Boden (tenor colleague from Gabrieli Consort) at the hotel for a quick chat and coffee before heading to meet the Choir. The plan? To cover all of the hour and a half’s worth of music for the choir in Elijah, crossing the “t’s” and dotting the “i’s” on the way!
Greg had the choir warmed up and it soon became clear that Paul could begin to work on a very high level with these young singers, and at times sitting amongst the choir, it felt like Paul didn’t have to compensate for the fact that most singers were not over 21 years of age.
After a break we split into two groups, Sam taking the tenors and basses and myself with the sopranos and altos. I have worked with many young Irish singers over the last few years and am always impressed by the natural “spin” and freedom that the voices seem to have. My main aim was to try and work on the blend of the sections, but mostly to emphasise how much energy it takes to sustain a performance, and when we come to record it that to do it perfectly once is not enough. Concentration and application count for so much and is the big difference between good amateurs and professionals.
Paul was very concerned that the story-telling aspect of the chorus’s role was as clear as possible, so a lot of work was done to make the text as clear as possible. Energised consonants were the name of the day! I did a lot of work with the girls on starting the consonants early, so the words (and voice) were energised from the very beginning of the phrase. Too technical? Well, these are the things that will make sure that even the person in the “gods” of the Albert Hall will hear every word from the choir.
The first day finished and seemed to be a great success all round.
The Sunday morning began with a gentle warm up from myself and Sam. I took the choir through some yoga breathing techniques to gently warm up the tired minds and bodies. Sam then took us through a physical warm up finishing with a fun game difficult to describe here, but enjoyed by everyone (apart from perhaps Paul who fell at the first fence!)
Then we were back to the hard work of tidying up the consonants and generally sorting a few corners out.
These pre rehearsals are such an excellent idea as now these young singers know what is expected of them. The intensity of what they are about to experience cannot be underestimated and I know some were feeling pretty shell shocked at the speed of the work done. They have a few months to get used to this and then the fun really begins.
I have no doubt this will be a seminal experience for many of the young musicians involved and I feel privileged to have been part of their journey.
Next stop? Royal Albert Hall with just 7000 or so friends to share the experience.”
Samuel Boden (tenor):
“Working with the Ulster Youth Chamber Choir in Belfast was very rewarding, there is a real range of abilities within the choir, but the response from all of them was instant and the results clear. There is a lot of chorus singing in Elijah, but they coped very well with all the information given to them and it was clear that they really tried to employ what they learned. I think that to have professional singers in the middle of the choir works very well, as a lot can be learned from listening to what's going on next to you - and one's confidence can be raised very quickly when next to someone with a lot of experience. The prom and recording of Elijah will no doubt be a success, as the piece was covered in detail and worked on in small sections, the young singers seem keen to go and practice what they know will be required of them when the project comes around. The choir are very much looking forward to their trip to London as some have not actually been before, so I believe this project is significant for them for many different reasons. I look forward to watching this piece of the jigsaw fall into place as they join the Gabrieli Consort and the other choirs at the Royal Albert Hall.”
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