Ticket Sales

Good news! Tickets for the jazz concert will be made available at Tuesday night rehearsals beginning this coming week, February 5. The member discount is as follows:

General: $12 (regularly $15.75)
Student: $8 (regularly $10.75)

If you would like to buy tickets at rehearsal, please come between 6:30 and 7:00 so as to avoid the rush during break. No tickets will be sold once rehearsal begins. Make checks payable to Salt Lake Choral Artists.

Tickets can also still be purchased online via the website.

This is shaping up to be a great concert, so let's fill the hall!

Chamber Rehearsal

There's a Chamber Choir rehearsal this Wednesday from 7:00-9:00 at Olympus High. Drive safely! The roads (and stairways) can be treacherous.

P.S. Name the reference and get a cookie!
P.P.S. Just kidding about the cookie.

Chamber Choir Rehearsal

Don't forget that there is a rehearsal this Wednesday night from 7:00-9:00 at Olympus High School for Chamber Choir members.

No Recording

In case you missed the announcement at the end of this week's rehearsal, there is no recording session for the Chamber Choir on Monday, January 21.

What's a kirtle, anyway?

Let's face it. We weren't born in the 16th century and some Shakespearean language can be a little confusing. Archaic words and odd spellings can make it hard to understand exactly what you're singing about.

Maybe this will help.

Live with me and be my love
A kirtle is one of these. It's just the outermost layer of clothing. Myrtle is a variety of plant with shiny green leaves and often flowers. So, the line "A cap of flowers, and a kirtle embroidered all with leaves of myrtle" simply describes an embroidered piece of clothing.

Philomel refers to Philomela, who was the victim of some rather nasty Greek events which led to her losing her tongue and being turned into either a swallow or a nightingale, depending on the version of the myth you read. What exactly is meant by the line "And Philomel becometh dumb; the rest complains of cares to come" seems to be up to debate. Anyone have any interpretations?

(Incidentally, though Shearing attributes this text to Shakespeare, it's actually by one of his contemporaries, Christopher Marlowe (with a little bit by Sir Walter Raleigh in the "Birthday Madrigals" text). Rutter gets it right. If, however, you want to argue that Marlowe or Raleigh was Shakespeare...well, that's a whole other discussion.)

When daffodils begin to peer
According to The Riverside Shakespeare, pugging means thieving. This makes sense in the line "Doth set my pugging tooth an edge, for a quart of ale is a dish for a king" when you consider that this song is pretty much all about giving into your passions.

Spring/When daisies pied
In case you were wondering just exactly why the cuckoo is mocking married men, here's the short answer: cuckoos, along with many, many other things, were symbols of cuckoldry.

There's of course a lot of other stuff going on in these pieces, which can be discovered based on the poetry itself and, in the case of the Shakespearean texts, the context of the plays from which they come. For those of you that see this and think, "Ugh, I've never liked Shakespeare," don't worry---there won't be a test and you don't have to write an essay.

Welcome Back!

Welcome back to the second half of our 2007-2008 season! Just a few reminders:

Rehearsals
Please be on time! It's disruptive for everyone if you have to climb over a bunch of people to get to the one empty seat in the back row. It's also hard to pick up any music you might be missing. Plus, if you're late, you won't get your massage!

Music
Everyone should now have copies of "Songs and Sonnets" by George Shearing, "Elijah" by Mendelssohn, and a photocopy of "No Words" by Rob Landes. Chamber Choir members should also have "Birthday Madrigals" by John Rutter. If you are missing any music, please talk to the librarians before or after rehearsal, or during the break. The librarians won't be passing out any music once rehearsal has begun.

Please bring all music to rehearsals, including "Elijah."

Concert Dates
Our first concert is not too far away: Saturday, February 16. This is the jazz concert, so make sure to be working on this music outside of rehearsal if you need to.

And tell your friends! This is going to be a fun concert that people won't want to miss.

With that business out of the way, here's some fun stuff:

Dr. Allred in the News
If you missed last week's rehearsal, you may not know that in The Salt Lake Tribune on December 29, Dr. Allred was named on a list of "Utah's top 25 cultural power brokers." The article reads, "In less than five years as director of choral studies at the University of Utah, Allred has led his U. of U. Singers to two international championships. His leadership of the Salt Lake Choral Artists has been similarly ambitious, and this year's inaugural edition of his Summer Choral Institute drew more than 1,000 singing enthusiasts to the U. campus."

Way to go, Dr. Allred!