Sat 1 July
Student Concert
Sat 7 July
organ recital at Boston Stump
Sun 9 July and more
Training Children's Choir for performances of Jonathan Dove's Tobias and the Angel at Oundle Festival
Thu 20 Dec
conducting St Martin's Singers Concert at Stamford
2008
Sat 26 April
conducting Vivaldi Gloria and other works at Stamford
Recent past performances
FERGUS BLACK
Werrington
PETERBOROUGH
PE4 6LW

Tel and FAX :
01733 704281

Mobile :
07843 058994

or send an e-mail :

Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius - Notes and Excercises

Exercises to help the chorus prepare for The Dream of Gerontius

There are two pages of exercises in this pdf

Notes for Chorus prior to performance

SITS and STANDS – I shall not indicate these to the chorus
You should stand by putting both feet silently on the floor and pressing down.

PART ONE
p.10
on fig 27
STAND
p.23
on fig 41
SIT
p.33
on fig 60
STAND to end of Part One
p.54
on my indication, about 10 seconds after when I lower my arms after the last chord
PART TWO
p.68
on fig. 29
STAND
p.91
at foot of page
“get ready to sit”
p.92
on fig.55
SIT
p.94
on fig 59
WOMEN STAND
p.101
on fig.67
MEN STAND
p.147
“get ready to sit” at foot of page
p.148
at start of third bar
SIT
(p.155-157
remain seated)
p.163
on fig. 124
altos, tenors and basses STAND to end of Part Two
p.165
on third bar
altos SIT
p.168
on fig 131
sops and altos STAND to end of Part Two
CHORUS NOTES
p.11
semichorus:
don’t explode “K”; soften dot; break before last three notes
p.12
chorus
replace piano with mezzoforte; but observe the pianissimo which follows; don’t breathe after first five notes in every part; unless you are singing that rising five-note figure, please recede into background
p.13
altos
replace pp with mf in line 2
p.14
semichorus:
crescendos as before
all:
in line 2, break after ‘eleison’
p.16
all parts
DO NOT BREATHE after ‘be merciful”
altos,
omit the ‘s’ from the word ‘gracious’ in line 2;
all:
detach “Spare him lord” in line 2
sops and altos
line 3 - make the ‘cious’ of ‘gracious’ a quaver + quaver rest
last bar and following – these phrases rise from mp to f and back again.
tenors and basses
from last bar – you are in background
p.18
sops and altos
crescendo in third bar
p.19
basses
start detaching notes at “by thy” in last bar
p22
alto and bass
cresc to mf in bar 2
sop and tenor
cresc to mf in line 2 bar 1
p.22
all parts
break before the word ‘deliver’ in line 2 last bar; molto rall over last six beats of the page.
p.34
all parts
urgently; big “R” and “H”. dynamic is only forte (ff is on p.35)
observe rall and add molto rall in last 3 bars
p.37
sopranos
mark first note as C NATURAL
p.38
all parts
break after ‘servant’.
p.40
all parts
end of page - note accel to the piu mosso on p.41
p.43
all parts
just before fig 74 - add rall.
p.44
chorus
note that dim doesn’t start till the fourth beat of the bar each time.
p.45
all parts
add molto rall at end of page
p.46
all parts
add ‘slower’ at top of page
p.70
all parts
line 2, bar 2: note values on ‘gods, gods’ as written
p.71
all parts
delete tied quavers in ‘aught, aught, aught’
fig 33 – “stand” is staccato
p.74
all parts
tempo will probably steady at fig 35
p.78
all parts
line 2 – make ‘Who” a dotted crotchet + quaver rest
put accents on “after ex-“
no breath after ‘expelling’
p.84
all parts
delete tied quavers – put ‘T’ on the beat
p84 etc
all parts
tied “Ha Ha”s are like a cat meowing
non-tied “Ha Ha”s are like a dog barking
p.86
sops and altos
at foot of page please write – “The next “Ha Ha” is ON the beat!”
basses
there should be a slur on the “Ha Ha” in the last bar (cat)
p.88
all parts
faster – one in the bar
p.90
all parts
note “Ha Ha”s have a different rhythm
p.91
tenor and bass
over-lengthen the ss’s in ‘Dispossessed’ – like Kaa from The Jungle Book
p.95
tenors and basses
mark the last bar of the page “DO NOT SING”
sopranos and altos
BIG cresc and dim (+ rit) in last bar
p96 etc.
all parts
there is NEVER a breath after the word “Holiest”
p.96-101
sops and altos
watch carefully – the tempo changes frequently
p.100
sops and altos
the first four bars of fig 66 are marked Allargando
p.103
sops and basses
BIG cresc and dim (+ rit) in last bar
p.113
all parts
faster than marked
p.121
all parts
fig 83 – pp
p.122
all parts
cresc in line 1 to mf; subito piano in line two, second note.
p.124
altos
change piano marking to mf
p.126
all parts
at fig 88 the tempo will be faster than is usually taken
p.126-136
all parts
watch for tempo increases
p.137
all parts
the first bar of fig 95 is AT THE SAME TEMPO as the previous bar.
p.137
all parts
in 1-in-the-bar at fig 96
p.173
all parts
rall in second bar; slower in third bar.
p.177
all parts
stagger breathing in final Amen – it is very long.