Hello Dear Choir member
While lockdown is keeping the choir from meeting to sing together, we can still blend our voices with another virtual choir recording. You don’t even have to leave home to be part of it!
We had a few singers take part in our first “recording from home” venture, and the result was pleasing. You can listen to it here. Lyndon has plans to incorporate it in a service before long.
How Firm A Foundation, arr. John Rutter
Due date extended – Sunday, 24 October
What you’ll need
- The score – available below
- Something to play the accompaniment – a computer, tablet or smartphone
- Something to record your voice – a smart phone is best
If you are unsure, have a look at the video below and you’ll see the three steps involved.
1. Learn your part
The first thing is to learn the music. This is John Rutter’s arrangement of the popular American folk hymn to the traditional ‘Foundation’ tune.
Here’s a link to the score – you can open it in a new tab, or download a copy:
Practice until you can sing your part confidently. You might find it easier to sing if you speak the words a few times until you know what you are singing about. Notice you go back a page to the 4th verse.
Here is the accompaniment and your part
2. Record yourself singing to the guide track (your preferred rehearsal track above)
Once you know your part, record yourself into your smart phone while listening to the accompaniment through headphones from your playback device. You can record video or audio only – either is fine (instructions in video below).
NOTE: You can record as many times as you like until you are happy before sending in the track. Professional musicians will often do many ‘takes’ at a recording session before they are happy with a performance. Remember too that your voice will be blended with the others – it is not a solo!
Dr Guy Bunce has a good overview of what we are trying to achieve (and has a good sense of how much fun it can be) – this works whether you are recording audio only, or video and audio:
3. Send in your audio file
Upload your completed audio or video file into this Dropbox folder (adding your name and email address), then that’s it. Graham will do the rest. Thanks for joining in!