Folka Voca Rehearsal History: 2009

This page simply provides notes for each past Folka Voca rehearsal in 2009,
including records of the songs sung, and the homework assigned.

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Homework for Between
Rehearsals in 2009

Here is the list of songs that Lee expects us to work on at home between rehearsals:

1. Both Sides Now
2. Calling All Angels
3. Cheap Hotel
4. Circus Girl
5. Come Home Some Day
6. Crystal
7. Fields of Gold
8. Heart Like a Wheel
9. Houdini’s Box
10. I Wear My Sunglasses At Night
11. I Will Survive
12. If You Could Read My Mind
13. Imagine
14. Inside and Out
15. Kimbieni
16. Knowing Me, Knowing You
17. Last Train to Clarksville
18. Mamma Mia
19. Our House
20. Papa Was A Rolling Stone
21. Time
22. Time After Time

Rehearsals in December 2009

Notes on the December 30^th Rehearsal

The December 30^th rehearsal was cancelled because Lee’s left arm was continuing to act up.

Notes on the December 23^rd Rehearsal

December 23^rd – a small but select group of nineteen choir members
gathered and had a terrific rehearsal.

For the first half of the rehearsal we worked on Our House.

For the second half of the rehearsal we relearned Millbrook from scratch,
learning in the process that timing is a big issue.

Notes on the December 16^th Rehearsal

There was no rehearsal on December 16^th – instead we first sang Christmas carols at the Camilla Gardens retirement community, then we retired to the Barley Mow for the Folka Voca Christmas party. More than forty people showed up, and a great time was enjoyed by all.

Notes on the December 9^th Rehearsal

December 9^th – we worked steadily on four of the songs
that we expect to be singing at our annual concert.

1. Papa Was a Rolling Stone
2. Imagine
3. Crystal
4. Mamma Mia

Notes on the December 2^nd Rehearsal

December 2^nd – Lee was away (in Cuba!) and the Rehearsal
was conducted by Martin (first half) and Neil (second half).

The rehearsal went well as we worked our way steadily
through ten of the songs in our current repertoire.

1. Crystal
2. Time After Time
3. Last Train to Clarksville
4. Houdini’s Box
5. Both Sides Now
6. Calling All Angels
7. Papa Was a Rolling Stone
8. Fields of Gold
9. Circus Girl
10. Mamma Mia

Rehearsals in November 2009

Notes on the November 25^th Rehearsal

November 25^th – the first half of the evening we sang a gig at the Hillel Lodge.

After the gig we returned to Sunnyside Wesleyan and worked
on two songs: Papa Was a Rolling Stone and Imagine.

Notes on the November 18^th Rehearsal

November 18^th – we had a fast moving rehearsal, working our way through
more than a dozen of the songs we will be singing at upcoming gigs.

1. Time After Time
2. Papa Was a Rolling Stone
3. Mamma Mia
4. Fields of Gold
5. Crystal
6. Both Sides Now
7. If You Could Read My Mind
8. Ice Cream
9. Knowing Me, Knowing You
10. Calling All Angels
11. Kimbieni
12. Last Train to Clarksville
13. Houdini’s Box

Kimbieni in particular caused huge problems, perhaps because many members of
the choir had never sung it before. Lee decided that we would leave out the last section.
Kimbieni is on the Folka Voca CD, so there is no excuse for not learning it!

Notes on the November 11^th Rehearsal

November 11^th – we worked hard on just three songs:

1. Our House
2. Papa Was a Rolling Stone
3. Crystal

Lee promises to provide MP3s for Papa very soon, so be prepared to do
whatever homework it takes to get on top of this one.

Notes on the November 4^th Rehearsal

November 4^th – we worked carefully on four songs:

1. Papa Was a Rolling Stone
2. Imagine
3. Houdini’s Box
4. Time After Time

Rehearsals in October 2009

Notes on the October 28^th Rehearsal

October 28^th – we spent the first half of the rehearsal
working exclusively on Papa Was a Rolling Stone.

In the second half of the rehearsal we tackled four songs:

1. Sisters of Mercy
2. Imagine
3. I Wear My Sunglasses At Night
4. Mamma Mia

Notes on the October 21^st Rehearsal

October 21^st – the first half of the evening we sang a gig at the Elisabeth Bruyère Centre.

After the gig we returned to Sunnyside Wesleyan and worked
exclusively on Papa Was a Rolling Stone.

Notes on the October 14^th Rehearsal

October 14^th – we spent the rehearsal working steadily through songs for the gig next week.

1. Time After Time
2. Crystal
3. Fields of Gold
4. Mamma Mia
5. Last Train to Clarksville
6. Knowing Me, Knowing You
7. If You Could Read My Mind
8. Both Sides Now
9. Calling All Angels
10. Houdini’s Box
11. I Wear My Sunglasses At Night
12. Papa Was a Rolling Stone

Notes on the October 7^th Rehearsal

October 7^th – we spent the first half of the rehearsal
working exclusively on Papa Was a Rolling Stone.

In the second half of the rehearsal we tackled six songs:

1. Crystal
2. Fields of Gold
3. Time After Time
4. Mamma Mia
5. Last Train to Clarksville
6. I Wear My Sunglasses At Night

Lee says that we really need to listen to Corey on YouTube and sing along.

Rehearsals in September 2009

Notes on the September 30^th Rehearsal

September 30^th – we spent the first half of the rehearsal
working exclusively on Come Home Someday.

In the second half of the rehearsal we tackled two songs:

1. I Wear My Sunglasses At Night
2. Papa Was a Rolling Stone

Lee says that we really need to listen to Corey on YouTube and sing along.

Notes on the September 23^rd Rehearsal

September 23^rd – we spent the first half of the rehearsal working first on Come Home Someday, then Lee gave us a new song: Imagine, which proved extremely difficult.

In the second half of the rehearsal we retuned to Papa Was a Rolling Stone.

Notes on the September 16^th Rehearsal

September 16^th – we spent the first half of the rehearsal
working exclusively on Papa Was a Rolling Stone.

In the second half of the rehearsal we worked through five songs:

1. Come Home Someday
2. Crystal
3. Fields of Gold
4. Knowing Me, Knowing You
5. Last Train to Clarksville

Notes on the September 9^th Rehearsal

September 9^th – we spent the first half of the rehearsal working exclusively
on a brand new song from Lee, Papa Was a Rolling Stone.
The choir had some difficulty coming to grips with this song at first.

In the second half of the rehearsal we tackled three songs:

1. Crystal
2. Mamma Mia
3. I Wear My Sunglasses At Night

Lee says that we really need to listen to Corey on YouTube and sing along.

Notes on the September 2^nd Rehearsal

September 2^nd – the first half of the evening we sang a gig at the Central Park Lodge.

After the gig we returned to Sunnyside Wesleyan and worked on five songs:

1. Ice Cream
2. Sisters of Mercy
3. I Wear My Sunglasses At Night
4. Crystal
5. I Will Survive

Lee says that we really need to listen to Corey on YouTube and sing along.

Rehearsals in August 2009

Notes on the August 26^th Rehearsal

August 26^th – we worked rapidly through nine of our songs in preparation for the gig next week:

1. Both Sides Now
2. If You Could Read My Mind
3. Fields of Gold
4. Time After Time
5. Knowing Me, Knowing You
6. Last Train to Clarksville
7. Houdini’s Box
8. Mamma Mia
9. Calling All Angels

Notes on the August 19^th Rehearsal

August 19^th – we worked hard at seven of our songs:

1. Crystal
2. I Wear My Sunglasses At Night
3. Last Train to Clarksville
4. Calling All Angels
5. Time After Time
6. Circus Girl
7. Both Sides Now

Lee says that we really need to listen to Corey on YouTube and sing along.

Notes on the August 12^th Rehearsal

August 12^th – we worked steadily at six of our songs:

1. Crystal
2. Houdini’s Box
3. If You Could Read My Mind
4. Mamma Mia
5. Circus Girl
6. Time After Time

Notes on the August 5^th Rehearsal

August 5^th – we worked steadily at six of our songs:

1. Crystal
2. I Wear My Sunglasses At Night
3. Mamma Mia
4. Last Train to Clarksville
5. Knowing Me, Knowing You
6. Fields of Gold

Lee says that we really need to listen to Corey on YouTube and sing along.

Rehearsals in July 2009

Notes on the July 29^th Rehearsal

July 29^th – we spent the rehearsal working on all three of our newest songs:

1. I Wear My Sunglasses At Night
2. Mamma Mia
3. Crystal

Notes on the July 22^nd Rehearsal

July 22^nd – we spent the first half of the rehearsal
doing more work on I Wear My Sunglasses At Night.

We spent the second half working on another of our new songs, Crystal.

Lee says that we really need to listen to Corey on YouTube and sing along.

Notes on the July 15^th Rehearsal

July 15^th – we spent the first half of the rehearsal working on I Wear My Sunglasses At Night, which we finally put together well enough to please Lee on the final run through.
The second half was spent having fun while working on three new favourites.

1. I Wear My Sunglasses At Night
2. Mamma Mia – need to be precise but still sing the duts
3. Time After Time
4. Last Train to Clarksville

Lee has asked us to do some real homework on I Wear My Sunglasses At Night
and MP3 files are now available on the web site.

Tenors: Lee has revised the score for Mamma Mia,
and you need to download and print the new version as soon as possible.

Notes on the July 8^th Rehearsal

July 8^th – Lee’s promised surprise from our last rehearsal appeared as a new song for us:
Crystal by Stevie Nicks of the Fleetwood Mac.
We spent the first half of the rehearsal working on it, covering the first verse and the chorus.

In the second half we worked hard on the details of Mamma Mia, which finally came together in detail, and then spent the rest of the time with Corey and his sunglasses.

1. Crystal
2. Mamma Mia – still need to learn the words
3. I Wear My Sunglasses At Night – need to listen to Corey on YouTube and sing along

Lee offered us the choice of which of two possible new songs we wanted next, “Drive My Car (The Beatles)” and “His Old Man’s a Rolling Stone.” We all voted for Rolling Stone.

Notes on the July 1^st Rehearsal

No rehearsal – Canada Day!

Notes on the June 24^th Rehearsal

June 24^th – the first half of the rehearsal was the gig at St. Patrick’s. We sang through the song list, skipping Mamma Mia by choir vote, and then were asked to sing an encore and so ended up singing Mamma Mia anyway. Overall the gig went well, although having the men at the back caused them to lose cohesion and punch, partly because of the acoustics, so after a couple of songs we switched to regular choir formation.

Afterwards, Lee said that we had tended to be tentative on the opening of every song, although we did get into each song by the second half (!!), and in the slow numbers, notably Houdini, we kept trying to rush ahead of her tempo.

Overall, a success. We then headed off to the church, with everyone arrived by 8 p.m. for a regular second-half rehearsal.

In the second half we tackled two of the songs that had particularly demonstrated problems at the gig, then we had a go at Sunglasses, which we had not looked at for several weeks.

1. Calling All Angels – need to sing through each held word on the vowel
2. Mamma Mia – need to learn the words
3. I Wear My Sunglasses At Night – need to listen to Corey on YouTube and sing along

Lee promises that we will work in detail on Sunglasses next week,
plus she might have a surprise for us …

Notes on the June 17^th Rehearsal

June 17^th – we spent the first half of the rehearsal working on Mamma Mia, and Lee decided that we were well enough into it to add it to the programme at next week’s gig!

In the second half we tackled some of the songs we are working up for the June 24^th gig, and had some discussion on which songs to include in or drop from next week’s programme.

1. Both Sides Now
2. Time After Time
3. Fields of Gold
4. Last Train to Clarksville
5. Heart Like a Wheel
6. Houdini’s Box

Lee’s general comment is that we are too eager to rush through the songs. Especially in the slow songs, we really have to relax, absolutely watch Lee’s beat, and let the songs flow at their proper pace. Remember, whatever Lee chooses for the tempo is always right!

Homework for next week is to work with the MP3s for all the songs on the programme for the June 24^th gig, especially those that we didn’t rehearse today. Also, check that you have the music for the June 24^th programme in the correct order for the gig.

Lee’s final words for this rehearsal: “BTW, you sounded fabulous last night.”

Notes on the June 10^th Rehearsal

June 10^th – Lee was back, and with a new song: Mamma Mia (by Abba). This was one of the songs learnt by the crew who went to Cuba in January, and Lee decided to try an experiment by giving out only the lyrics so that we would learn the music by ear. This was generally deemed not to have been a great success, although we did persevere, and did get a significant chunk of the song under our belts. Scores will be forthcoming.

After spending the first half of the rehearsal working on Mamma Mia, in the second half we tackled some of the songs we are working up for the June 24^th gig. This was the set we worked through last week, but after we had sung the first three, we focused on Kimbieni, which had been the most problematic at last week’s rehearsal.

1. Both Sides Now
2. Time After Time – everyone needs to work with the MP3s for this one.
3. Fields of Gold – we didn’t watch Lee and kept rushing…
4. Kimbieni – after lots of work this was mostly OK!

Homework for next week is to work with the MP3s for all the songs on the playlist for the June 24^th gig. In particular, focus on Time After Time, which revealed some glaring weaknesses. Try hard to learn the words to all the songs, so that you can spend more time watching Lee and therefore not rush away like we were doing in Fields of Gold at the rehearsal.

Also, check that you have the music for the June 24^th playlist in the correct order for the next rehearsal – we wasted too much time trying to find songs at this rehearsal.

Notes on the June 3^rd Rehearsal

At the rehearsal of June 3^rd Lee was sick, so Niel Weller and Michael Trepanier stepped up to the plate, and we ran through all the songs on the list for what was to have been the June 10^th gig, now rescheduled for June 24^th.

1. Both Sides Now
2. Time After Time
3. Fields of Gold
4. Circus Girl
5. Last Train to Clarksville – not a great effort!
6. Heart Like a Wheel
7. Knowing Me, Knowing You
8. Houdini’s Box
9. Kimbieni – needs lots and lots of work!
10. Calling All Angels
11. If You Could Read My Mind

After completing all eleven songs on the list, we went back to revisit Last train to Clarksville, and did much better than we managed the first time. We then finished with a run through of I Wear My Sunglasses At Night, by no means perfectly, but enough to refresh our collective memory.

Notes on the May 27^th Rehearsal

At the rehearsal of May 27^th we spent the first half of the rehearsal working on:

1. Going Home
2. Calling All Angels

We then went downstairs and performed both songs for the group that was meeting there.

We spent the second half on I Wear My Sunglasses At Night, getting to the end of it and finishing by running through the complete song.

Lee wrote, “Hello Fab Ones; well done! Sunglasses At Night is shaping up well.” She also said, “We’ll be starting Mamma Mia and Drive My Car after the 10th.”

Next week we will be working on the songs that we will be singing at the June 10^th gig at St. Pat’s.
These will probably be: Both Sides Now; Calling All Angels; Circus Girl; I Will Survive;
Time After Time; Last Train to Clarksville; Fields of Gold; Knowing Me, Knowing You;
Houdini; and If You Could Read My Mind.
All good songs to take a look at before next week!

Notes on the May 20^th Rehearsal

At the rehearsal of May 20^th we spent the first half of the rehearsal working on
a brand new song (yay!) – I Wear My Sunglasses At Night by Corey Hart.
In the second half we ran through:

1. Last Train to Clarksville
2. Heart Like a Wheel
3. Calling All Angels

For next week, Lee asks us to please study MP3s for Come Home Someday and Time. We’ll work on those in the second half, spending the first half on I Wear My Sunglasses At Night.

Notes on the May 13^th Rehearsal

At the rehearsal of May 13^th we spent the first half of the rehearsal working on “Going Home”.
In the second half we ran through:

1. Knowing Me, Knowing You
2. Time
3. I Will Survive
4. Heart Like a Wheel
5. Cheap Hotel
6. Fields of Gold

Lee asked us to work especially hard at home with the MP3 files for “Time”,
meaning listening to the MP3 with the score in front of you
– more than once and not (only) just before the rehearsal!

Notes on the May 6^th Rehearsal

At the rehearsal of May 6^th we spent the first half of the rehearsal working on “Going Home”.
In the second half we ran through:

1. Time After Time
2. Last Train to Clarksville
3. Houdini’s Box
4. If You Could Read My Mind
5. Both Sides Now

Lee asked us to work especially hard at home with the MP3 files for “Houdini’s Box”
and “If You Could Read My Mind”.

Notes on the April 29^th Rehearsal

At the rehearsal of April 29^th we spent most of the rehearsal learning “Going Home”,
then we ran through:

1. Knowing Me, Knowing You
2. I Will Survive

After the rather poor showing in “I Will Survive” (no real improvement over the plenty wrong in the previous week) Lee exhorted us to work on the MP3 files at home.

Notes on the April 22^nd Rehearsal

At the rehearsal of April 22^nd we rehearsed the following works:

1. Calling All Angels
2. Circus Girl
3. Fields of Gold
4. I Will Survive
5. Knowing Me, Knowing You
6. Last Train to Clarksville

Lee asked us, particularly the guys, to work on the MP3 files for “Knowing Me, Knowing You”
and “I Will Survive” at home.

Rehearsals in March 2009

We had not yet started to keep records at this time.

Rehearsals in February 2009

We had not yet started to keep records at this time.

Rehearsals in January 2009

We had not yet started to keep records at this time.