Monday, December 17, 2012

7th/8th Chorus Homework

Comment on this post with an intro to one of the songs we're singing at the concert. Good intros TELL THE AUDIENCE SOMETHING INTERESTING, such as the background of the artist/composer, a story about the song, insight into our process of learning the song, or something interesting to listen for when we sing the song. Alternate Homework option: Draw a beautiful cover for the program. Theme: Shakespeare!

8 comments:

  1. Written by Cole Porter, Brush Up Your Shakespeare is a song with a very catchy memory and is sung with a Cockney accent. It tells a story of how the girls nowadays only fall for the guys that know Shakespeare. The song also gives you plenty of introductions to Shakespeare plays "If your blonde won't respond when you flater'er." So of course the logical solution is to "Tell her what Tony told Cleopater'er." If you ever wish to win a girl, you might find it useful to "Brush up your Shakespeare" and so without further ado, please enjoy "Brush Up Your Shakespeare."
    ~Grace C.

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  2. The most complex and rewarding song of this concert would be When That I Was And A Little Tiny Boy. These words were originally written in a poem by the one and only, William Shakespeare, but were much later put to music by Mathew Harris. Shakespeare wrote this poem for his comedy Twelfth Night, in the early 1600's. To learn the sixteen parts of this piece we had help from the Boston College Madrigals, a college a cappella group that sings older, renaissance era music. This piece includes the entire 7th and 8th grade chorus, along with the a cappella, for a truly exquisite sound.
    - Aleah C.

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  3. "The Tragedy of Macbeth" has been one of our most fun songs to sing this year. Before starting to learn it, we discussed the story behind the song, which is based on the Shakespeare play "Macbeth." This play is about a man who finds himself in a terrible situation after hearing a prophecy that he will become King. Once we knew what the song's lyrics meant, we were able to sing with a lot of expression and energy. We try to act out the lyrics as we sing, so hopefully you will be able to understand the song. "The Tragedy of Macbeth" corresponds directly to our Shakespeare theme, and we hope you enjoy it!

    -Emily M.

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  4. "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" is definately the song we sing with the most spirit. The words may not portray a clear meaning, but each line portrays a meaning and tries to show or reference a Shakespeare work. This is my favorite piece because I like how it creatively uses the titles of some of Shakespeare's works and it doesn't seem as though the composer is saying anything too ridulous while doing so. This song is fun to sing, and we hope you enjoy our version of it.
    -Izzy L.

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  5. Originally a verse passage in the Shakespeare play The Tempest, "Full Fathom Five" was one of the great songs our chorus learned this year. In this passage, the spirit Ariel is addressing Ferdinand, who has just been through a shipwreck with his father where his father drowned. When we sing this song, listen for the harmonies in the background as well as the words from the Shakespeare verse. The 7th and 8th grade chorus had fun learning and singing "Full Fathom Five", and we hope you'll enjoy listening to it!
    -Rose B.

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  6. Our next song is one of my favorite out of all of the songs in our concert. "The Tragedy of Macbeth" Tells the story of "Macbeth" my favorite Shakespeare plays. Macbeth winds up in a lot of trouble when he happens to meet three witches who tell him he will be king. After we learned the song we started doing some acting along with it to tell the story with different expressions, dynamics and now we do it in 6 parts. I love this song with a burning passion and we had so much fun with this song. I hope you love "The Tragedy of Macbeth" as much as we do.
    -Katie B

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  7. "Brush Up Your Shakespeare is definitly the most fun song we've learned in chorus so far. This song mentions many of William Shakespeare's famous plays that you will probably recognize, such as "Hamlet" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
    In addition, we also added some fun choreography to bring up the spirit of the piece. We hope you sit back and enjoy "Brush Up Your Shakespeare."
    -Winnie C

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  8. When That I Was and a Little Tiny Boy, by William Shakespeare, was originally performed in one of his many plays, "Twelfth Night". This is song is very unique, with many strange chords that come together to sound rich and almost colorful. When That I Was and a Little Tiny Boy was a difficult piece to learn because somewhere towards the middle of it, we, and the a cappella group that has come to join us, split into 16 parts. The different parts blend together really well, and the song always gives me goosebumps. Try and pay attention to all 16 parts, as some are harder to hear than others. Without further ado, we hope you enjoy our rendition of When That I Was and a Little Tiny Boy.

    -Tamara K.

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