Crossroads North Music & Choir Connection

I think for the girls, they should improve on saying “to clean”. It sounds kind of weird. Also for the sopranos, I don’t think they should push really hard on the high notes. Light and soft. Little for the boys, should be improved. The bases should sing out more. The tenors also shouldn’t push so much on the high notes. Add more “kk” in come. Have better pianissimo.

I believe that this recording wasn’t the best that we could do. Overall, I think that parts of piece are very bright and needs to be darker( for example “I shan’t be gone long” and “you come too” by the boys). There is also too much background noise. You can hear papers rustling and small conversation. If we are going to preform well, our decorum during practice must be up to par. In the start of the song, when the girls say “I’m going out to clean the pasture spring”, it is not together. The boys did not have a strong entrance on “I’m going out to fetch the little calf”. If we can improve all these things by the concert, we will do an exceptional job. Well Done.

I think this recording is okay, but we can do better. When we say long, we need to say the G because it sounds like low and that doesn’t make sense. We need to work on blending to sound like ONE voice and not many. Individual voices are sticking out in the tenors and sopranos too. Make sure to speak the M in come in the beginning and middle; the end was fine. Guys need to start together and clearer on their first entrance. Bass’s need to come out more because the tenors are singing over them. When the guys sing “I shan’t be long” for the first time they need a better start because it was all over the place. The tenors NEED to back off because you can’t hear the other parts. Try to blend and not push as hard. Guys make sure you sounds like yoooo not yEW because it was too bright. Near the end, make sure everyone holds long when we have it for two measures because individuals held it but u can hear other people slowly come back in when they realize their mistake. It’s getting better though! Good job!!!

At the end when we all came together and sang “I shan’t be gone long”, it sounded like a 4th grade band. It was loud, off tune and we didn’t blend. Also, we were supposed to hold the last word and we did, but it died out and then came back really loud. This has to be more smooth. The Altos sounded really good throughout the song, but the Sopranos were all over the place. It sounded like 15 different people. We need to blend and sing softer. There are a lot of us and if we softened it, it would sound prettier, clearer, and nicer. The word “clear” should be sung “cleeah” or else it sounds weird and bright. The Tenors need to use their head voice more. The high notes sound pushed and its supposed to sound pretty. They shouldn’t overpower the Basses either, because they don’t have the melody.

First of all, when the sopranos and altos split into two parts for “and watch the water clear, I may”, I’m not sure if it’s supposed to sound like this, but one section is off on the first pitch, and you can hear some solo voices. Also, in the “I may”, you can hear solo voices being too bright, like “maaaaay” and not “me_h”. I think the girls are pretty much good on the notes, but some parts, I can hear a section go sharp or flat. In the guys, I can still hear solo voices, someone is too bright. also, on the first “I shan’t be long” for the boys, the boys that go up the octave, they’re too loud. They’re supposed to be a light, sort of like echo over all the boys that can hit the low note. for “the calf that’s by the mother” a tenor is pushing the mother note. It’s supposed to be light, like Mr. Watlington always shows us. Also, for both girls and boys, most entrances are iffy. I can tell that some people don’t know when to come in. Lastly, for the last “I shant be gone long” with the boys and the girls, i think we all need to be aware that the last note is sang for longer than we all think, because, I noticed that the ensemble got quieter, and then seemed to crescendo back up because we didn’t know how long the note was. One last thing! This is for everyone, better consonants! you “C”o”M”e “T”oo! The audience needs to hear what we are saying! That’s it for me. If we fix these things, it might seem like a lot, but if we fix these things, our choir will sound top notch. (and by the way, i tried not to repeat things that other people said.) byee.(:

I agree with Giants fan “to clean” seems a little to bright, lots of coughing and other noises. It is hard to focus on the song with the background noise. Also maybe sometimes seems to stand out to me. Sop. need to make sure they are getting enough air and are not dying in the middle of a phrase. Certain voices stand out sometimes too. In the beggining of the guys first phrase, when some of the tenors go up higher it seems to loud, in my opinion, I think it would sound better if it wasn’t as loud. The last “be” is very bright. We also need to make sure we are cutting off and beggining phrases at the same time.

On another note, one day I remember when we had each section do 1 phrase for the solo and I thought that sounded good to me. I don’t know how you guys feel about that but if not a solo that would sound pretty cool.

The girls were really..there are some people who are sticking out in the sopranos…..also when the girls were singing, there was a alot of background sounds… i agree with giants fan and think that to clean are sticking out.
OTher that that girls pretty good….

For boys, tenors are a little too loud,
pretty nice though!

I agree with giantsfan “clean” sounds kind of weird. We all need to work on our c’s and g’s, especially in “come” and “long.” I also think the altos and basses should come out more without pushing it, and the tenors can back off a bit. However, I feel we are sounding a lot better on this piece overall.

HIYA GUYS! Greetings from the High School! Oh wow… you sound A.M.A.Z.I.N.G! Though, since I don’t have a copy of the sheet music at hand, I’m having some trouble discerning what the some words are (aka consonants) like on “long” (the “g”), and there’s this one phrase where I can’t tell if the word is “longer” or something else (it is towards the beginning and it’s something along the lines of “I shant be L__(insert the rest of the word here__)). And for “longer” at around 1:26, there was a bit too much “ah” in it for the latter part of the word(unless that’s the effect that was intended).

In a few parts, I’m hearing a lot of forced notes that sound like “screaming” from both girls (Sopranos, I’m assuming from the pitch of the notes) and the boys (Tenors).

Still… I’m utterly shocked by this piece. I mean, it sounds fantastic! It really, really does! Good luck at the concert/ Hershey! …Now I want go back to Hershey Park… *Sniffles*

Things to work on- “and watch the waater clear I may” was very muddy the alto’s and sopranos should work on getting the correct notes. There is alot of coughing in the background and it is very distracting. When the boys start singing “I’m going out to fetch the little calf for the first time” it sounded like they were fishing for notes. Tenors are way too loud when the basses have the melody, in “the calf that’s standing by the mother” instead all you could hear was “the calf that’s by the mother.” Maybe some of the low tenors could sing the bass part there so it lessen’s the tenors and brings out the bass.
The song is great but we need to ennunciate so that people can understand what we are saying. We should work on the t’s c’s and other ending consonants. There are only a few weeks till Hershey.

Words to work on- shan’t- shahnt emphazise on t, you- yoo, I-Ah, long-lohng add the g or it sounds like loh or law,

Mr. Watlington I miss middle school and you, I just wish I could be in your choir again *sigh*