Autumn/winter term
20 October - 8 December
This term we will be polishing the two pieces we learned in the last block:
California Dreamin’ by The Mamas & the Papas
Lepi Juro – a Croatian song for St. George's Day
Plus three lovely new pieces for the run-up to Christmas!
December round
O Holy Night
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Below you’ll find all the practice materials you need for each piece. Please read through the notes for tips on how to use the materials and any special notes for each voice part.
California Dreamin’
by The Mamas and the Papas
This “California sound” classic from the counterculture era (AKA the Swinging Sixties) is a strange combination if melancholy and feel-good!
This is a fairly simple four part arrangement by Val Regan - Soprano, Alto 1, Alto 2 and Tenor.
If you have a Bass voice, please learn the Tenor part for now!
Lyrics – download here
Score – download here
Voice part recordings
This simple and beautiful song is a traditional folk piece from Croatia.
The song is sung around the St George’s Day festival, which marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring (yes, wrong time of year we know, but just go with it).
This arrangement is in three parts. If you have a Bass voice, please sing the Tenor line, which you can choose to sing an octave below the pitch on the track, if that’s more comfortable.
For this one, it’s worth looking at the lyrics sheet for this one while practicing, as we’ve added in a phonetic version (which we’ll use in rehearsals too) to help us with ease of reading and pronunciation. There’s also a translation, so we know what we’re singing about!
Recording for pronunciation reference
Lyrics – download here
Score – download here
Voice part recordings
Lepi Juro
December round
A festive round, which we will sing in four parts.
A note to score-reading Sopranos: please sing an octave above the score notation.
And a heads up that the score and the practice tracks are in different keys, which may make the practice tracks tricky for the Tenors and Basses. Sorry about this! Use the practice tracks if you find them useful, but if not, don’t worry – all will become clear when we learn it together.
Lyrics and score – download here
Voice part recordings
O Holy Night
Some of our OG members will remember this arrangement from our very first performance last Christmas! We’re bringing it back because we love it so much.
This is a four part arrangement, with a solo line running over the top. Lucy will split the solo line up, with sections to be sung as a solo or in duets/small groups, but we will explain this in rehearsal.
Tenor and Bass voices share the same line MOST of the time, so please learn this line from the practice tracks and score. Occasionally, Basses have an optional bit that is different, and this is marked clearly on the score. For non-score-reading Basses, Lucy will explain in the session!
Lyrics – download here
Score – download here
Voice part recordings
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
This is a four part arrangement of a classic carol.
We are going to attempt to learn three verses, but we’ll see how it goes - we may stick to two!
Lyrics – download here
Score – download here
Voice part recordings