Filming Details!

~TO CELEBRATE THE END OF OUR SESSION TOGETHER~

If you can’t envision what we’re doing and would like to see an example, take a look at this video. (Denis Donnelly, who arranged May It Be, is the conductor of this choir.) Ours will almost certainly not be this polished (we are a different kind of choir with a different kind of budget and different kinds of rehearsals, for one thing!) but it may give you some inspiration for how you want to film yourself and what we’re working toward.

If you would like to watch the Sectionals Rehearsals, it can be found HERE:

https://youtu.be/YADry2Ts9ds

30 minutes each: Bass, Tenor, Alto, Soprano in that order. So, if you are looking for the Alto Sectional, jump to 1 hour in.

• If you’re using your phone, put it in landscape mode, not portrait mode (so the frame is wide, not tall)

• Make sure you are not backlit: don’t stand in front of a sunny window, for example, or with a lamp behind you. We want to see you, so there needs to be light on your face, not behind you.

• Use headphones so that we hear you, but not the teaching track
• If you can, have two devices: one to play the music into your ear, and one to capture the recording.

• You can listen to just your part, or to the track with all the harmonies. Choose whatever track makes it easiest for you to follow the song. The track choices are ON THIS WEBSITE. There is an “All” for each song, and one for each part (low/middle/high for High Desert and Soprano/Alto/Tenor/Bass for May It Be)

• The tracks have count-ins on them so you know when they’ll start. You’ll hear me say “1, 2” and then take a breath. PLEASE COUNT IN WITH ME, OUTLOUD IN YOUR VIDEO. This will help Megan sync everyone up when she’s editing.

• Before you start recording, listen once or twice to the track you’ve chosen, to familiarize yourself with its timing. I do not use a metronome so the timing is organic, and the count-ins are imperfect, but after a couple of listens I think you’ll get the feel for it. Note the ebb and flow of the two songs and the timing of how phrases start and end, so that you can start and end with me. Since I am not there to visually cue you to be in sync, you have to be mindful to sing along with the track as it’s recorded, which just means careful listening until you feel comfortable with it. (These are the same tracks we’ve been practicing with so far.)

• Please wear something in a light color (white, pale yellows/pinks/blues/tans/greens/oranges…just keep it out of the dark spectrum please) and avoid written text if at all possible as it can be visually distracting

• Make sure you are “in frame” (visible to the camera, just like in our Zoom meetings we try to make sure we are visible to each other). If you are using a phone, it’s easy to flip the camera around into “Selfie Mode” so you can see yourself the whole time you’re filming and can make sure you are visible.

• It’s good to set the phone/camera/computer on a surface or tripod so that it stays still while you move and sing.
• Smile and breathe – have fun! If you think you screwed up, don’t show it on your face. Just relax and keep going. This is the same as during a live concert: if we keep smiling and looking confident, the audience will usually have no idea we may have botched a note!
• If you are using a lyric sheet, hold it up next to your camera so that your face is visible

• REVIEW your video to make sure that you are visible and audible before sending it in. Sometimes people forget to hit “record” or something interferes with the audio, and it will be so much easier if you can “proof check” your file before sending it

Lyrics and Notes for Each Song

The Lyrics alone can be found on these two PDFs:
High Desert Lyrics
May It Be Lyrics

May It Be Notes:

There was less confusion about May It Be so I don’t have many notes here, except to acknowledge that the timing of both songs (but especially this one) is pretty darn organic. May It Be flows like ocean waves, so do allow yourself some time to get familiar with the track’s timing as it’s recorded, since I won’t be there to give you visual cues for timing when you’re “performing” it for the recording. I suggest listening to both songs’ teaching tracks without singing, just absorbing, one or two times through, before you prepare to record. (I am making a version for you to record with that contains a count-in so you know when the track is about to start.)

May It Be also has funny phrasing and specific word choices – make sure you know what the words actually are, as they’re written, because they’re not always intuitive. (“an evening star shine down” “night is overcome” and so on.) The sheet music can be a helpful visual learning tool, even if you don’t read music, if you’re unsure of any of the details in your harmony. (The sheet music PDF here: May It Be.)

The teaching tracks WITH COUNT INS are below. Please choose what helps you sing along the best, and count in with me out loud in your video. Thanks!

High Desert:
All:
Middle (Melody):
Low:
High:
May It Be:
All:
Soprano (Melody):
Alto:
Tenor:
Bass:

Have fun! Remember to connect psychically with your beloved choir as you sing – I know we are making the pieces separately, but we are building the puzzle together.
Big love.