Spot 1: Monteverdi Vespers - #8 Nisi Dominus

In this section, I am working on #8, Nisi dominus, from the Monteverdi Vespers. The choir has
come from an extended antiphonal section, which has a fast and playful character. I am
working on the transition to the legato and much slower "Gloria Patri" section. At this point in
the rehearsal process, I felt that the legato section had a nice sound, but lacked the energy and
rhetorical drive that drove the previous faster section. It felt like this section was dead in the
water. While most of the choir is singing sustained chords, the tenors had an ascending line
which I thought would help drive the direction of this phrase. I isolated the tenors and tried to
work with them to shape the movement between chords and words. I changed my gesture to a
more circular motion, which I hoped would ease the vertical style of singing which was
happening. This didn't change the sound much, so I demonstrated vocally myself, and then
used metaphor to cement my point. By the time I moved on, I was only half satis ed with the
result, but felt I had to move on because of time and morale.

Each of these on their own would have been a perfectly valid strategy, but in re ection on the
implementation of these solutions, I realized that I should probably strive for depth / continuity
rather than breadth in the future. Each strategy moved us 5-10% closer to the ideal sound, but
would have given us more progress if I had continued and adjusted the current plan instead of
switching. By switching methods so quickly, I took away some of the progress, and more
importantly time spent explaining a new though process.

Next time, I would give one solution at least 2 or 3 attempts, only swapping when it has
repeatedly failed to change the sound. In the future, I would like to ignore the pressure I feel to
move on for morale's sake, and instead create a musical moment that everyone can agree was
excellent.

Spot 2: Kosijat - Movement 2 - The Sun

In this section, I am working on a single chord from the second movement of Jaakko
Mäntyjärvi's Kosijat. It could be read as an A+ dominant with a ninth, or as it's voiced, I chose
to tackle it as a poly chord of A+ with E minor above. Kosijat is about suitors for a Finnish
maiden, characterized by the Sun, Moon, and North Star. In this movement, until this subito mf
chord, the sun could be characterized gently, with a soft sunrise glow. The narrative of the
piece goes on to show that the sun is quite brash and aggressive, and so this chord is the rst
hint of its true nature. We had been having intonation problems with this chord, speci cally
locking in a high g, as well as a darker vowel color to achieve the dynamic. I listened for the
chord, and then separated it into it's 'polychordal' structures. By removing the other parts, it
allowed for the 2nd alto to hear how their third was quite at in the context of E minor. In this
moment, all I needed was to sustain the chord and give an encouraging smile to the 2nd alto,
and the chord xed itself. After a repetition to lock it into place, I brought the A major chord
back in and the tuning locked into place. After this, I had a quick x for vowel brightness after
my initial gesture did not work. I raised my hands into a higher position, palms up with ngers
open and smiled. Additionally, I spoke a single phrase: "Like the sun has come out". In
combination with each other, the vowel brightened up immediately and we achieved the sound
I was looking for.

I was quite happy with how this section came together. In a perfect world, I think I would have
realized that the A major chord was ne, and could have jumped directly to the E minor chord.
Additionally, upon re ection, I realize that my rst gesture to the tuned tutti chord was quite low
and encouraged a darker sound which is what the choir sang. If I had begun with the gesture I
ended up with on the 2nd attempt, it may have solved the problem without the need for words
or stopping. All in all, I am satis ed with what I did to work on the sound in this situation, and
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got the result the music called for. In the future, I hope to be able to better anticipate these
issues, and solve them in a more subtle and quicker way.