At rehearsal:
- Bring your folder to each rehearsal with a pencil in it.
- Bring any work that has been asked of you to complete from the last rehearsal.
- Bring yourself in an expectant mood for working and having a good time while doing so.
- Respect of yourself, of your fellow singers, of your accompanist, of your director and your environment are essential. As far as I am concerned, these are natural happenings that are a learned by-product of working within a musical ensemble. However, there are those times where mouths and faces move before the thought process has interrupted them. These are the times I am talking about. Under no circumstances will anyone’s name, except for your own, be used in a poor manner. If something needs to be addressed, let Steve or Amy do so.
Between rehearsals:
- Daily warm-ups completed! This is essential for strengthening your vocal mechanism.
- Written work completed as assigned. There will never be written work that will take longer than 4 or 5 minutes to complete. Some weeks, there will be only one item to complete during the following week. Other weeks, there will be a few minutes of practice work each night. This will vary, and I will expect to see the work at the following rehearsal. “Why?” you may ask. I want to be able to talk to you as a musician, and to have you understand as a musician.
- Take care of your vocal chords. You have already learned what is bad for them. Please do your very best to maintain their health.
- Read the blog. I will forever be posting links and wonderful things to listen to and think about. Oh, and write back!
At concerts:
- Punctuality
- Uniform uniformity.
- Pre-concert correct eating and drinking.
- Your voices ready to be heard as the wonderful instruments that they are.
As we get closer to a performance, I will go over the specifics of what I expect of my singers during the performance, both facially and behaviorally.