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R e h e a r s a l s

 

Rehearsal Venue:              

St. Columbs Anglican Church

5 St. Columbs St, Hawthorn

Off-street parking at the rear of church via Patterson St.

 

Rehearsal Dates and times - 2024

All rehearsals at St. Columbs

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  • Tuesday nights: 

    • 7:15 - 7:25pm check-in

    • 7:30pm rehearsal start

    • 9:30pm rehearsal finish

  • Occasionally Saturday mornings (usually) 10:30am

  • Friday dress rehearsal May 17th at St. Paul's

  • Concert 5pm Sat May 18, St. Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne.

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​Repertoire:  Karl Jenkins' The Armed Man : A Mass for Peace

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Summary of key Covid-Safe Arrangements

   (Check your emails for the latest version!)

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1. Victoria Chorale follows the recommendations of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI). This risk management helps protect both choristers and our accompanists and minimises the risk of Covid related absences disrupting our concerts.  ATAGI released its 2024 advice on Covid boosters on 1 March 2024.  ATAGI is recommending that:

  • persons aged 75 and over should have a booster every 6 months

  • persons aged 65 to 74 have a booster every 12 months (with a more frequent booster every 6 months based on risk/benefit assessment with your doctor)

  • persons aged under 65, consider a booster every 12 months.

Based on this advice, our expectation is that every chorister should have had at least one booster vaccination during 2023 and that for the relevant age group above, have a further booster (or boosters) during 2024 within the time frames listed since your last 2023 booster shot.  This is, of course, always subject to the advice of your GP/treating clinician.  Link to ATAGI diagram.

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2. Wearing of masks while singing at rehearsals is optional. Choristers who prefer not wearing a mask are entitled to do so, as this unquestionably makes it easier to sing.  Other choristers still wish to wear masks and they are also entitled to do so.  As we get close to the concert, Mario will advise when wearing a mask during singing is no longer appropriate due to the impact masks have on the quality of our singing. 

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3. You must not attend if you have any respiratory or other Covid symptoms such as fever, runny nose, sore throat, cough, chills, shortness of breath or loss of sense of smell.

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4. If you test Covid positive or are a close contact (household, workplace or social setting) of someone with Covid, you must not attend rehearsals until you are out of your infectious period (generally the later of cessation of symptoms or 5 days after testing +ve).

Concert #1, 2024

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  • Please pay by Fri Jan 26th via these links:

  • Tues Jan 30

  • Tues Feb 6

  • Tues Feb 13

  • Tues Feb 20

  • Tues Feb 27

  • Tues Mar 5

  • Tues Mar 12

  • Tues Mar 19

  • Tues Mar 26

  • Tues Apr 2  (Easter Tuesday - No rehearsal)

  • Tues Apr 9

  • Tues Apr 16
  • Tues Apr 23
  • Tues Apr 30

  • Tues May 7

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Tues May 14th,  6:45pm arrival for rehearsal with orchestra at Christ Church, 2 Denham St, Hawthorn - see map below.  Bring your own snack and drink for a break around 8:30.  Rehearsal ends at 10:00pm.

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Fri May 17 – Dress rehearsal at St Paul's Cathedral, Flinders Street, Melbourne

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  • 5:00pm – Bump-in and re-arrange seating.

  • 6:30pm – Choir arrive early to start on time.

  • 7:00pm – Rehearsal.

  • 8:30pm – Break.  Bring your own snack and drink. 

  • 10:00pm – Choir finish, bump out not required - leave chairs

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Sat May 18 – Concert at St. Paul's Cathedral

  • 2:30pm – Choir arrives.

  • 3:00pm – Warm up / sound check.

  • 4:00pm – BYO drink or snack.

  • 4:45pm – Line up to enter.

  • 5:00pm – Concert - (with 20 minutes interval - TBC)

  • 6:30pm – Approx. - Bump out.

  • After Party – to be announced

Rehearsal files for Concert #1 2024

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All choristers must purchase a copy of the score - see the link on the left - even if they use the PDF for their own device.  Address for PDF's to be announced.

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Jenkins - The Armed Man

 

Scores - available at rehearsal for those that have purchased.

- Performance https://open.spotify.com/album/1CgJvRQcoKATvHRis0T3He?si=b2o2_xDKQkuFkFOAqlkfuA

 

These playlists were prepared by https://www.youtube.com/@MathiasCharton, and found at https://www.youtube.com/@ayrshirechoralexperience8202:

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- Soprano https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLebwJmTzJG67dKx-eVuzY2YrKaISZZG4_

- Alto https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLebwJmTzJG64s7n1Pq_i0g_d72lsMsZ3K

- Tenor https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLebwJmTzJG65A1T_L_-ftMD0yGF5BqRzo

- Bass https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLebwJmTzJG67YjEy42p02mKfMZzOwqh_m


learnchoralmusic.co.uk  site seems to be down

https://www.choralia.net/jk01mp3/jk01mp3en.htm

johnfletchermusic.org/  unavailable

cyberbass.org  unavailable

chordperfect.com  unavailable

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Programs for display of PDF's in tablets:

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                         MobileSheets            forScore                       Piascore
Windows                  Yes                            No                                   No
Android                    Yes                            No                                   No
iOS                            Yes                            Yes                                  Yes
Link                     MobileSheets          forScore
                          AppStore

                          (zubersoft.com)

Price                        AU$23.99          US$19.99 (~AU$30)            Free

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John McLoughlin has recommended these links:

     "L’homme armé / The armed man: the remarkable life of a 15th century song and its contemporary resonance – Early Music Muse"

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     These links require paid access to JSTOR:

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- The following connects the L’Homme Armé tune and parody masses to the court of the Duke of Burgundy in Bruges in the 15th century.  The important early polyphonic composers Dufay and Ockeghem, composers of early L’Homme Armé masses, both worked there.

     https://www.jstor.org/stable/766178

- The research is taken further in these more recent articles which directly connects the tune to an order of Chevaliers at the Burgundian court called the Order of the Golden Fleece.  It apparently had as its objective the conduct of a new crusade.

     https://www.jstor.org/stable/766450
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/jm.2003.20.3.305

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Sidney Bloch has recommended these links:

     https://www.classicfm.com/composers/jenkins/karl-best-pieces-music/

     https://www.classicfm.com/composers/jenkins/music/karl-jenkins-armed-man-mass-peace/

     https://www.classicfm.com/composers/jenkins/virtual-choir-orchestra-perform-the-armed-man/

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Tony Rietwyk has suggested these links for fuller context of the various texts:

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     https://www.choirofthesound.org/text-for-the-armed-man-a-mass-for-peace/
         Contains translations for the non-English text, including the Arabic song.

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     https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2056&version=NIV

     https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2059&version=KJV
         Psalms 56 & 59

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     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymn_Before_Action

          Kipling's poem

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     https://poets.org/poem/song-st-cecilias-day

           John Dryden - Charge!

     How blest is he - Jonathon Swift        Charge!

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     Angry flames - Hiroshima   (see page 17 of the PDF)


     Torches - Burning-of-the-Khandava-forest/
         An amazing analysis of the text, which was a tiny snippet in the 2,500 page Sanskrit epic saga of war between royal cousins - Mahabharata.

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      Now the Guns Have Stopped - Guy Wilson - who commissioned Jenkins, and helped select some of the texts.

Sound advice if you put off practicing can be found here!
 
​Playing different types of music files:

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  • mp3 can be played directly, or downloaded and copied to other devices.

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  • midi files (.mid) can be played directly, but will usually sound awful.  You can obtain players for them that allow you to change the instruments used, the volume of each instrument, and the playback tempo.  

 

ChoirPro's Sonja is a good player for IPad's.   This link shows how to install.

 

  • Sibelius scorch files require a player that is available on Windows, Mac OSX.

 

Scorch player download.

 

​Sometimes we rehearse with the orchestra at Christ Church Hall, Hawthorn:

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