Slava!

We are delighted to announce our second musical course of Orthodox Church music:

“Hymn of Praise” by Rachmaninoff from his Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, Op.31
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt37Yb2hN5E

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“Ukrainian Prayer” by John Rutter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJl3kVwl2-U

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“Our Father” by Nikolay Kedrov
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxez1ZHlcVw

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“Shchedryk” a Ukrainian New Year’s song, known by many as “Carol of the Bells”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UmvUy1LziE

"Shchedryk" is a Ukrainian New Year song, known in English as "The Little Swallow". It was arranged by composer and teacher Mykola Leontovych in 1916, and tells a story of a swallow flying into a household to sing of wealth that will come with the following spring. "Shchedryk" was originally sung on the night of January 13, New Year's Eve in the Julian Calendar, which is Shchedry Vechir.

Early performances of the piece were made by students at Kyiv University.

"Shchedryk" was later adapted as a Christmas Carol, "Carol of the Bells", by Peter J. Wilhousky following a performance of the original song by Alexander Koshetz's Ukrainian National Chorus at Carnegie Hall on October 5, 1921. Wilhousky copyrighted and published his new lyrics (which were not based on the Ukrainian lyrics) in 1936, and the song became popular at Christmas time.

We shall learn the original lyrics and the music is based on a traditional folk chant whose language was thought to have magical properties.

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“Hymn of the Cherubim (excerpt)”: by Tchaikovsky from Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Op. 41
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6veaj2gst8

 

Join us for
Slava!

To get you in the mood, here we are singing LET MY PRAYER ARISE by Cheskokov which we learned, recorded and performed last year:


And here is a Spotify playlist with all the music, except for John Rutter’s piece which is yet to be placed on Spotify:

 

Course Director

We are delighted to welcome back our Musical Director, Ben England BEM, for this course, who will take us through these pieces in thorough detail from start to finish.

Ben has led Choir of the Earth on many choral journeys, including Messiah, Elijah, The Creation and the Mozart Requiem to name but a few.

How it Works

We shall learn the music in live online sessions at home with Ben from 23rd - 27th May 2022. We use high-definition LIVE digital broadcasting in our sessions (not Zoom) so there is no interference or sound delay in the process.

We meet regularly in full choir and voice-part specific rehearsals and are given professionally-recorded backing tracks with our own voice part louder than the others which make it easier to learn our own part.

There is no need to be there on time - all our sessions are recorded for you to watch later and as many times as you wish. The online chat allows us to communicate with each other and with Ben.

When we have learned our part, we are invited to record our own voice onto our mobile phone. We do this by watching the conductor on the screen and listening to him/her on headphones. When prompted, we press record on our phone and sing. As we are wearing headphones, the only sound being recorded is our own voice.

We then send our recordings to Choir of the Earth who combines all voices in a recording studio. When everything has been mixed, we invite you back to an online Concert Performance where we play the finished pieces to everybody.

Timings

The course will run from 23rd May to 27th May 2022 in 90 minute sessions (please note these are 90 minute sessions) at UK time as follows:

MONDAY 23rd MAY 2022

10:00 - FULL CHOIR

11:00 - 12:30 Sopranos

15:00 - 16:30 Sopranos

TUESDAY 24th May

11:00 - 12:30 Altos

15:00 - 16:30 Altos

WEDNESDAY 25th May

11:00 - 12:30 Tenors

15:00 - 16:30 Tenors

THURSDAY 26th May

11:00 - 12:30 Basses

15:00 - 16:30 Basses

FRIDAY 27th MAY

15:00 - 16:30 FULL CHOIR

CONCERT - date to be announced

Scores & Rehearsal Tracks

The scores are included in this cost of the course and will be sent to you by email before the course starts. All rehearsal tracks will be available on the UNIVERSAL LINK, which is the place where everything is stored for you. You will be sent this before the course starts.

Recording

At the end of the teaching, we are asked to record our own voice if we wish (no video). We then send this to Choir of the Earth who combine all the voices to create the choir. Please feel free to record more than one voice part and as many times as you like!

Concert Performance

When everything is ready, we shall send you a link to the Concert Performance when the Choir of the Earth will be heard for the first time, conducted by Ben England BEM.

Cost of the Course

The cost of the course includes the scores, teaching, the concert and combining all the voices to create the choir. The cost of this course is below:

For those on a budget - £25

Cost of course - £50

THANK YOU - £75