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 .
We warmed up with Jubilate Deo, first together, and then splitting into three groups (Emrys, William de Cameron, and Eleanor; Caterine de Vantier, Katherine of Glastonbury, and Anna; Cicilia, Katherina Weyssin, Christine) and then in six parts (Emrys & William de Cameron, Caterine de Vantier & Katherine of Glastonbury, Anna, Eleanor & Cicilia, Christine, Katherina Weyssin).
Then we put in some solid work on Contrapunto Bestiale alla mente - it was really good to have some new voices added to the mix, and lovely to hear it coming together for our group.
William de Cameron showed us a number of clips from YouTube:
- Margot
- Gush Forth My Tears
- Sa Qui Turo (by the King's Singers)
Anna also mentioned a YouTube tutorial with singing exercises that she had found helpful.
Addition from Katherina:
Nine people was almost unprecedented, but lovely. Hearing Jubilate Deo work beautifully with all six parts, and getting to experiment with tempo and phrasing: that was wonderful. Thanks, all!