RESOURCE PAGE FOR CHOIR MATRIX
Tuition for Session I WINTER 2024 is $30.
​
How to pay tuition:
--bring a check or cash to the first rehearsal
--mail a check to Consonare Choral Community, P.O. Box 338, Mansfield Center, CT 06250
--pay online via in the new registration system (above)
If paying tuition is a hardship for you, please send Sarah an email. If you would like to add a donation to your tuition, you can do so easily and your donation is tax deductible.
REHEARSALS -- SUNDAYS 3:00-4:30pm
Storrs Congregational Church
January 12
January 19
January 26
February 2
February 9
February 16
February 23
March 2
March 9
March 16
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Concert: Sunday, March 23, 2025 at 3:00PM
St. Mary's Chuch - Willimantic
CONCERT ATTIRE:
All black with an optional splash of blue (scarf, hair accessory, jewelry, etc.)
INCLEMENT WEATHER:
Please check your email one hour prior to rehearsal as any rehearsal cancellations will be advised by 2pm the day of rehearsal.
Special Events:​
We are the Stories Festival
Sunday, March 2, 2025 from 3:00-4:30pm at SCC
WINTER SESSION CHOIR PARTY
Sunday, March 23, 2025 directly after the concert (location TBD). Families are welcomed and encouraged to attend.
MEET OUR MUSIC LEADERSHIP
Sarah Kaufold, Director of Choir Matrix
Sarah is a conductor, soprano, and music educator who advocates for inclusion on the podium, within the choral ensemble, and in the choir folder. With extensive choral conducting and leadership experience, Sarah has directed choirs for singers of all ages, range of abilities, and in a number of settings, which include: church choral programs for children and adults since 2000, teaching middle and high school choral and general music classes; conducting collegiate choirs; directing adult community choral programs and a professional vocal ensemble.Sarah holds a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from UConn with extensive graduate study in choral conducting from Cal State University, Los Angeles and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Cal Poly Pomona where she began her studies as a music educator. Sarah is current and founding Artistic Director of Consonare Choral Community. Learn more on our Consonare website.
Janice Castle is our collaborative pianist. Jan is a music educator and has accompanied adult and youth choirs throughout our area for over 20 years.
Meghan Ryan is our conducting intern for Choir Matrix. Meg is a professional singer with a Masters in Music from UConn in Vocal Performance and performed all over New England. She has her CT music education teaching certificate and currently teaches elementary music in Avon, CT. She completed her Suzuki piano Book 1 teacher training in 2023 and recently comspleted the Suzuki voice teacher training this summer. She is thrilled to be chosen as the Consonare Choral Conducting Intern and can’t wait to learn and make music with Sarah Kaufold and the other musicians! Learn more on our Consonare website.
GENERAL RESOURCES
SONG RESOURCES
The theme for this session is "Crossing Over" where we will explore how older songs can still be relevant today and how our stories are not that different from other generations.
BEGLI OCCHI
Barbara Strozzi (1617-1677)
Text:
​
Mi ferite, oh begli occhi.
Pensate che farebbono quei baci
Si cocenti e mordaci;
Langue l'anima, langue e'l cor vien meno.
Ahi, ch'io vi moro in seno.
Pensate che farebbono gli strali
Si pungenti e mortali;
Langue l'anima, langue, e'l cor vien meno.
Ahi, ch'io vi moro in seno.
Ma forse non morrò senza vendetta,
Ch'al fin chi morte da la morte aspetta.
​
Translation:
You wound me, oh beautiful eyes.
Think what those kisses could do,
so fiery and biting;
the soul languishes, languishes, and the heart swoons.
Ah, how I'm dying for you in my soul.
Think what those darts could do,
so sharp and deadly;
the soul languishes, languishes, and the heart swoons.
Ah, how I'm dying for you in my soul.
But maybe I won't die without revenge, because
in the end death awaits the one who causes death.
Practice Tracks
mm. 12-22
mm. 39-50
mm. 1-12
mm. 21-38
mm. 68-87 (soloists will sing after this to the end)
THE LASS FROM THE LOW COUNTRY
Old English ballad / arr. Edward F. LaManze Jr.
Text:
​
Oh, he was a lord of high degree
And she was a lass from the low countree
But she loved his lordship so tenderly.
Oh sorrow, sing sorrow
Now she sleeps in the valley where the wild flowers nod
And no one knows she loved him but herself and God
One morn when the sun was on the mead
He passed by her door on a milk white steed
She smiled and she spoke, but he paid no heed
Oh sorrow, sing sorrow
Now she sleeps in the valley where the wild flowers nod
And no one knows she loved him but herself and God
If you be a lass from the low countree
Don't love of no lord of high degree
They haint got a heart for sympathy
Oh sorrow, sing sorrow
Now she sleeps in the valley where the wild flowers nod
And no one knows she loved him but herself and God​​
Practice Tracks
mm.7-25
mm.26-37
mm.37-50 (in A minor)
mm.50-65 (in D minor)
mm.66-end
solo at the end (starting in m.71)
Practice Tracks
All parts
Soprano
Alto
PLENA
Diana Saez
​The Plena is an early twentieth-century Afro-Puerto Rican rhythm that was also a popular musical form among sugar-cane workers. The rhythm has its roots in West Africa, and in Diana Sáez’s engaging original work, the singers establish the rhythm in a clever introduction. The piano accompaniment employs salsa rhythms, hand percussion adds to the textures, and the singers alternate between dance-like melodies and rhythmic improvisations.
​
Text / Translation:​
​
Practice Tracks
mm. 23-30 - slow tempo for learning
mm. 31-47 - slow tempo for learning
SOPRANO 1 PART - mm.75-end
SEIKILOS
Joanna Metcalf
​The Seikilos epitaph is an Ancient Greek inscription that preserves the oldest surviving complete musical composition, including musical notation.
​
Translation of the Greek:​
​While alive shine
Grieve none at all
Life amounts to little
Time demands the end
Voice part distribution:
​
Each singer will be assigned one of the following parts for this song that will not change throughout the song (called your "assigned voice part"):
S1 up
S1 down
S2 up
S2 down
A up
A down
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There is only these division up until Letter B (m. 29).
​
Letter B through D, you will sing your assigned voice part (as above), but while the choir is divided into two separate choirs. It will sound like we are singing in 12 parts with solos on top, but each assigned voice part has an ostinato that is repeated over and over with the two separate choirs in canon. Therefore, you need only to learn and memorize this ostinato.
Practice Tracks
OSTINATO - letter B thru D (same for both choirs)
mm. 1-17 (choir parts - choir 1 & 2 same)
mm. 7-17 (SOLO parts - if your are interested in auditioning)
mm. 17-29 (choir parts - choir 1 & 2 same)
mm. 53-end CHANGE IN PART DISTRIBUTION
All singers are nearing the end of their ostinato by m. 53. Choir 1 and Choir 2 will sing their part as written in mm.53-57. In m. 58, Choir 2 will continue as written. In m. 58, the Choir 1 written part will be sung by the soloists; which means the Choir 1 singers will stop singing the choir 1 line in measure 57 and jump to the Choir 2 line in m. 60 and sing your designated part (S1, S2, or A) through to the end. Therefore, from m.60 to the end, both choirs are singing the Choir 2 line while the soloists sing the Choir 1 line. I hope solution fixes the issue with altos singing high G's. The tracks reflect this change
Choir 1:
Choir 2:
mm. 58-end (SOLO parts singing the Choir 1 line)
TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN'
Bob Dylan, arr. Adam Podd
​Text:​
​​
​Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin'
And you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'
​
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'
​
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin'
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'
Practice Tracks
mm. 5-8 (also m.22, m68)
mm. 17-20
mm. 22-36 (fixed)
mm. 37-41
mm. 43-60
THE STORM IS PASSING OVER
Charles Albert Tindley / arr. Barbara W. Baker
Text:
​
O courage my soul and let us carry on.
For the night is dark, and I am far from home.
Thanks be to GOD. The morning light appears.
The storm is passing over. The storm is passing over. The storm is passing over,
Halelujah
Halelujah
Ha-le-lu-jah
The storm is passing over. Hallelu…
​
Practice Tracks
mm.4-23
mm.24-end