This afternoon Christine took us through some breathing techniques using imagery as a refresher from when she first took us through these, and Katherina Weyssin drew some diagrams for us showing how the lungs and diaphragm interact when we breathe - there's also quite a lot of good videos on YouTube, using a variety of methods, for those that want to explore this further; searching for "diaphragm singing" and "diaphramatic breathing" gets some good results .
Entries in the Ildhafn journal of Music
For a list of Ildhafn's upcoming regular practices and meetings, please see our Regular Activities page.
Posted by Vettoria di Giovanni da Verona to the Music journal on May 5th, 2013
Posted by Vettoria di Giovanni da Verona to the Music journal on Apr 14th, 2013
Today Katherina led us, with Anna, William de Cameron, Caterine, and Fina singing.
Posted by Vettoria di Giovanni da Verona to the Music journal on Apr 7th, 2013
Today's singing was run by Katherina Weyssin, and attended by herself, Caterine de Vantier, Anna de Wilde, and William de Cameron.
Posted by Vettoria di Giovanni da Verona to the Music journal on Mar 25th, 2013
We mostly focused on singing some of the simpler stuff from our repertoire this week.
Posted by Vettoria di Giovanni da Verona to the Music journal on Mar 3rd, 2013
Singing today with Katherina, William de Cameron, Eleanor, and Caterine.
Posted by Katherina Weyssin to the Music journal on Feb 25th, 2013
An excellent afternoon's singing.
Posted by Katherina Weyssin to the Music journal on Feb 17th, 2013
We learned two new rounds, and revisited the Contrapunto Bestiale.
Posted by Katherina Weyssin to the Music journal on Feb 11th, 2013
Canterbury Faire in 2013 was outstanding for a great deal of part-singing, both in formal classes and casual singing in the campsite or around the fire.
Some of the pieces we sang were:
Posted by Katherina Weyssin to the Music journal on Feb 11th, 2013
We had some visitors from outside Auckland today, which was lovely - thanks for joining in!
Posted by Katherina Weyssin to the Music journal on Jan 22nd, 2013
An excellent session, with last-minute sewing.
- My love hath vowed
- Verbum caro factum est
- Margot
- Il bianco e dolce cigno
- Dona nobis pacem
(See ildhafn.lochac.sca.org/music for details of each piece).
I've assembled those of our current songs that aren't covered in the Snogbook or Cantiones Secundae, and had them printed and bound, as "Ildhafn's extras". They're in my singing box, with copies of the songbooks above, and a plastic tenor recorder (for getting start-notes).
Posted by Katherina Weyssin to the Music journal on Jan 13th, 2013
We had nearly our full complement of singers once again. Thanks for hosting it, Caterine.
Laudemus Virginem
A nice warm-up, as always. I'll get a pronunciation-guide together at some point.
O my heart
It was nice to have all three parts represented again, in their customary octaves.
Posted by Katherina Weyssin to the Music journal on Jan 7th, 2013
We had nearly our full complement of singers once again. Thanks for hosting it, Caterine.
Verbum caro factum est
We've returned to singing it in C, with both men and women on each line, and women singing an octave higher than men. I've updated the sheet music and sound files. William de Cameron has switched to the top line, and Christine to the bottom line. William de Wyke and Emrys learned this for the first time.
We're continuing to vary who sings which verse.
Posted by Katherina Weyssin to the Music journal on Dec 30th, 2012
Another lovely session: long and intense, and very productive. Thanks for hosting it, Anna.
O my heart
A warm-up song. We tried a somewhat unconventional arrangement of voices today: Anna singing the top (soprano) line alone, Christine and William de Cameron singing the middle (tenor) line, with Christine an octave higher than William, and Katherina attempting the bass line an octave higher than it is set, in the alto range.
It was a surprisingly pleasant setting of the song, as well as an effective warm-up.
Posted by Katherina Weyssin to the Music journal on Dec 23rd, 2012
Today we took a break from our Christmas shopping to make our first attempt at Gush forth my tears, a very pretty Holborne piece, that is more rhythmically challenging that the pieces we've tried as a group so far.
My love hath vowed
A pleasant warm-up, as always.
Posted by Katherina Weyssin to the Music journal on Nov 26th, 2012
Il Bianco e dolce cigno is significantly harder than anything we've tried to date, but we made a good attempt on it.
Range testing
We started with the rather intimidating process of checking our ranges, one by one, to determine who should be singing which part. We'll try again in six months or a year to see if our ranges have increased with practice. Thanks Anna, Caterine, Eleanor and William de Cameron for giving this a go! (William de Wyke and Catalina - we should try this when you are well).
Posted by Katherina Weyssin to the Music journal on Nov 18th, 2012
Thanks, Caterine, for offering your house, since William and Catalina were not able to be our hosts today. We had a most productive session.
Laudemus Virginem
Done in the usual way, as our warm-up.
Verbum caro factum est
Eleanor's first time on this piece. We tried all three verses, quite successfully, and for the first time. Anna, Caterine and Eleanor on the top line, William de Cameron and Katherina on the second.
Posted by Katherina Weyssin to the Music journal on Nov 12th, 2012
We managed a little singing as we finished sewing skirts, and even a new piece.
Posted by Katherina Weyssin to the Music journal on Nov 4th, 2012
Laudemus Virginem, My love hath vowed, Contrapunto Bestiale alla mente.
Posted by Katherina Weyssin to the Music journal on Oct 19th, 2012
St John's was full of music this year, both casual teaching and jamming, and rehearsed performances. Some of the pieces are listed below. Feel free to add more, if you can.
Posted by Katherina Weyssin to the Music journal on Aug 12th, 2012
Contrapunto Bestiale alla Mente
(the Animal Noise Song)
By Adriano Banchieri, for five voices (2 sopranos, alto, tenor, bass). The first and last sections are "falala"s, and in the middle each line imitates a different animal.
Sheet Music
We're using the sheet-music in the Big Lochac Snogbook (page 22).