Colleen S.

McDonough
September 12th, 2021

Now is the Month of Maying

Thomas Morley (1558-1602)

Interesting Fact: Written in 1595, this piece is still sung today for Oxford’s May Morning
celebration.
Warm-Ups:

• Lip Trills (1-3-5-3-1) beginning on C4 up to D5, back down to G4)

• Oo-ee-oo-ee ( 5-4-3-2-1) (D5-F2)
• Vee-ah(1-3-5-8-5-3-1) beginning on F4-C5)
• Bree-Breh-Brah-Bro-Broo (Bb F D Bb up to F A C F)
- All “R”s should be rolled
• Scales in rounds (G Major Scale) on Solfege

Rehearsal:
Sections A-B (m. 1-16)

Section A

• Have all students sight read m.1-8 on “doh”

- Have powerpoint up to reference practice sight-reading previously done and pulled from
this piece to ease the transition.
- Have all students clap rhythm in measure 3. Ask them to find whenever it happens in the
piece and circle it.
- Have sopranos circle accidental in m.3
• Have Altos and Tenor 1&2 sing m. 1-8 together
- Note where they sing the same pitches as well as any cross voicing that occurs
- Alto and Tenor 2s frequently come back to “do” at the same time.
- Cross voicing in measure 3 and 7.
• Ask all parts to sing together again
- Mark breaths and changes to rhythm
- M.4 quarter note on beat 2 -- change to an eighth for a breath
- Encourage a bouncy quality to the sound.
- Physically ask students to “bounce” on the tip of their toes for the falala section.
- Move from “doh” to words
 - Point out diphthongs: “maying”, “playing”, etc
- Have each part “solo” on the words while others sing to notice where each part is most
interesting
- Focus on dynamics
- First time: forte
- Repeat: piano
Section B

• Have all students sight read m. 9-17 on “doh”

- Students should circle any accidentals they have in their part.
• Have Altos sing their part alone.
- Notice their rhythm is different than all other parts
- Layer other voices on top softly to bring out the importance of the different alto rhythm
•Add Tenor 1s with Altos
- Notice unison in m. 11
• Ask all parts to sing together again
- Mark breaths and changes to rhythm
- M.11 half note on beat 1 -- change to a quarter for a breath
- Remind them of the bounce during the “falala” section
- Move from “doh” to words
- Point out diphthongs: “out”, “ground”, etc

• Run both sections

- Encourage a strong dynamic contrast between the first time and the repeat in both A and
B section.
- Watch for “s” cut off in the B section (m. 11 and m. 13)