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Eight Hours Beneath the Basketball Hoops

Chorus members line up to carry props from the rental truck into the gym. Photo: Helen Fields

As the fall goes on, rehearsal starts taking up more time and more space. This weekend we have two all-day rehearsals at a school in Bethesda. Saturday there were props. Today there will be costumes. There are musicians wielding brass instruments. There are musicians wielding every other kind of instrument, too. And apparently we’re going to perform this show in two weeks in front of a paying audience, so Saturday seemed like a good time for the directors tell us where to stand for the second half of the show.

So we spent all day Saturday under fluorescent lights in a gym, walking through the second part of the show. Lines on the floor corresponded to the borders of the Lisner Auditorium stage. We got a bit of music practice with the brass quintet and Trio Sefardi. I used to find these all-day blocking rehearsals exhausting, but I’ve learned over the years when I need to pay attention and when I can zone out. I impressed one of the new people with my ability to knit whenever there was a break in the action.

I made a lot of progress on this baby sweater today. Photo: Helen Fields

One of the teenagers got excited this morning when she heard I was writing a blog and said I should do it Gossip Girl-style. Me: “I heard a rumor that someone hasn’t memorized all her lyrics yet.” Her: “Is it…95 percent of the chorus?”

I think most of us know most of the lyrics already, and I know I’ll have it all down by the time the show opens (hopefully earlier). But the lyrics don’t really get solidified in my head until I put my notebook down, walk around, and sing the songs as if we were on stage. With more than 40 hours of rehearsal in the next two weeks, I’ll have plenty of opportunities to do that.

Makeup designer Roger Riggle saw everyone on Saturday to match their skin tone with foundation. Photo: Helen Fields

Today we’re back for another six hours in the gym. It’ll be our first time running the whole show, our first time rehearsing in costume–and our first rehearsal “off book.” That means the notebook, with my script and music, stays in my backpack. Yikes. I’ll be spending the morning transferring all of my blocking notes onto a piece of paper and copying the lyrics I’m not totally sure about onto index cards. Then I just have to confront the reality of a day where I’m reliant on pieces of paper and wearing lovely white robes…with no pockets.

Want more information on the show or to buy tickets? Click here!

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Ocho Kandelas Para Mi

Trio Sefardi and Flory Jagoda perform. Photo: Helen Fields

Last night at the Trio Sefardi concert we had the privilege of hearing Flory Jagoda sing her song “Ocho Kandelikas.” Trio Sefardi are playing in this year’s Christmas Revels; they’re the specialists in Sephardic music.

The members of Trio Sefardi all learned from Flory, a wonderfully talented musician who lives here in the D.C. area. Flory was born in Bosnia in the 1920s and came to the U.S. after the Second World War. She’s not joining us for the exhausting weeks of rehearsals and performances we have coming up, so this was a special occasion.

For about half of the concert, Flory sang, played guitar and percussion, and told stories about her childhood in Bosnia. Like the one about the aunts who knitted sweaters; one of them always made the sleeves too short and one made the sleeves too long. So if you met someone with a new sweater, you could tell which aunt made it.

“Ocho Kandelikas” is a counting song about the eight candles of Hanukkah. A “kandela” is a candle, so a “kandelika” is a little candle. The chorus goes “Una kandelika, dos kandelikas, tres kandelikas….” We’ve learned a version arranged by Trio Sefardi member Tina Chancey, so it was so exciting to hear Flory singing her composition tonight.

You may wish to study, because this is one of the times when the audience gets to sing along.

Want more information on the show or to buy tickets? Click here!

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Sefardic Celebration!

Sefardic Celebration CD Cover
Sefardic Celebration CD Cover (Trio Sefardi)

Tonight at 7:30pm, Trio Sefardi will be presenting a special concert at Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church.  This will be Washington Revels’ second “salon-concert” presented in conjunction with the 2011 Christmas Revels show–offering a great opportunity to hear and interact with our guest musicians in a more intimate setting than Lisner Auditorium.  Tickets are available online or at the door tonight.

Trio Sefardi

Performers Howard Bass, Tina Chancey and Susan Gaeta share a love of and a wide-ranging experience with Sephardic music. Its members have performed and recorded with La Rondinella, the Western Wind, and with NEA National Heritage Fellowship awardee Flory Jagoda, the renowned Sephardic singer and composer, who will be joining them tonight in this very special performance.

Trio Sefardi
Trio Sefardi (Howard Bass, Susan Gaeta and Tina Chancey)

Trio Sefardi combines a respect for tradition with a creative approach to arranging and scoring to bring the vibrant past into the living present. After making their Washington-area debut on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage in November 2010, the trio is now releasing their first recording, Sefardic Celebration this month! In fact, if you attend tonight’s salon-concert, you will have an opportunity to purchase one of the first copies of this new CD (Hear audio excerpts from their new CD online).

Learn more about the performers in tonight’s concert:

Learn More

What is Sephardic Music?
Music of the Sephardic Jews, including traditional songs encompass ballads, romances and wedding songs that were passed on orally and sung originally in various Iberian languages (Castilian, Catalan, Galician, etc.), as well as Hebrew.

Who are the Sephardim (Sephardic Jews)?
Those Jews whose roots can be traced to the Iberian Peninsula where Jews first appeared in the early years following the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, and exile from the Holy Land. There are references to a Jewish presence in Iberia from the time of Solomon, when Jewish adventurers sailed the Mediterranean Sea.  The first notated date is 79 AD.  Spanish Jews in Iberia lived in relatively good times under Moorish rule during the 10th and 11th centuries when Islamic power was at its zenith.  Jewish physicians, advisors, diplomats and financiers were important participants in the Islamic Courts in Spain.  They were classed as politically neutral and used as arbitrators in all disputes between Muslims and Christians.

Information on Sephardic culture excerpted from Susan Gaeta’s Web site (www.susangaeta.com)

Want more information on the show or to buy tickets? Click here!

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A Night in the Cathedral

The Natananjali Dance Group lines up before their performance. Photo: Helen Fields

Yesterday afternoon I had an exciting trip: A fellow member of the Christmas Revels chorus picked me up at Dulles – I’d just flown in from a weekend in Ontario – and rushed me to the Washington National Cathedral. We were headed there to perform in the InterFaith Concert, which is put on every year by the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington. (We made it in plenty of time – we even got there before they cleared away the pizza from the pre-concert dinner.)

This year’s concert included sweet singing from the Mormon Choir of Washington and a really nice performance by a choir from Howard University. A gaggle of talented teenage girls represented the Hindu and Jain faiths with a classical Indian dance. The men and women of Sikh Kirtain Jatha sat on the floor to share one of the gorgeous hymns they sing in Sikh services. We performed right after the choir from Temple Sinai, which also sang in the first two InterFaith Concerts, 30-some years ago.

Revelers practice their handclapping for "Ríu Ríu Chíu." Photo: Helen Fields

Washington Revels isn’t a religious group. We were invited to perform because this year’s Christmas Revels is set in a time and place when three major religions coexisted. They weren’t always living in peace and harmony, but still, medieval Andalusia has come to be seen by some people as a symbol of tolerance and acceptance.

For the InterFaith Concert, we sang the spirited Spanish Christmas carol “Ríu Ríu Chíu.” The music for this year’s Christmas Revels is really exciting – there’s a lot of cool rhythms. A few members of the chorus were assigned to execute the complicated hand-clapping rhythm.

Washington InterFaith Concert - view of combined choir
The combined choir sings to open the concert. Photo: Elizabeth Fulford Miller

Now, here’s the exciting part for me: I sang a solo! In the cathedral! I am told that it sounded good. My completely unbiased source for that review is my parents, who were in the audience.

Singing in the cathedral is fun. The singers from all of the choirs joined together at the beginning and end to sing two pieces. It was so exciting to sing a big chord, cut off, and hear it ringing through the huge stone building. The cathedral has been closed since the earthquake in August; it opened for the first time this weekend, just in time to consecrate a new bishop for the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

The cathedral has a long rebuilding process ahead of it – the building has been declared structurally sound, but they’ll need to rebuild the limestone pinnacles atop the central tower. It was exciting to sing there so soon after it reopened.

Want more information on the show or to buy tickets? Click here!

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Welcome to the Blog!

Helen with a "big spoon" in the 2004 Christmas Revels
Helen with a "big spoon" in the 2004 Christmas Revels. Photo by Sheppard Ferguson

At last, the blog is launched. Welcome, dear readers! I hope you’ll read along with me through the Christmas Revels in December.

If you want to catch up, you can read my introduction. (Short version: I’m a veteran chorus member.) I’ve already blogged about trying on my costume, a truly amazing pumpkin, and singing a song with the word “nimrod” in it.

Enjoy!

Want more information on the show or to buy tickets? Click here!

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Meet Daphna Mor

Daphna Mor playing the ney
Daphna Mor playing the Ney
Daphna Mor playing the Ney. Photo by Elizabeth Fulford Miller

As I mentioned previously, we have two guest artist groups joining us for this year’s Christmas Revels show.  Over the next few days, I would like to profile each separate musician so you all can learn a bit more about them and the many talents and skills they bring to our show.

Daphna Mor is originally from Tel Aviv, Israel, and began her music studies at the age of eight. She graduated as the valedictorian of her class in the Boston Conservatory of Music for recorder performance. She plays all size recorders from the sopranino to bass recorder. In other words, she is a master recorder player who specializes in early music of the Rennaissance and Baroque era. But, I guess that just wasn’t enough…

In that spirit, over the last several years she has also included in her wind collection, the snakecharming sounds of the crumbhorn, the turkish outdoor party instrument, the Zurna, the melodica, and has been specializing in the classical Arabic flute, called the ney.  As part of Layali El Andalus, Daphna plays various neys and recorders.

When Daphna worked with the chorus on October 29 (with Rachid Halihal), she told us all about the ney.  First of all, it is hard to play (really hard…) — you have to both blow into the mouthpiece as well as over the mouthpiece so that 50% of the air will go in and the other 50% out. This is why it is played from the side of the mouth. The ney is made of a hollow cane or reed with five or six finger holes and one thumb hole. Daphna explained to us that she had a different ney for every key that she plays in (as evidenced in the bag of instruments shown below).

Daphna's bag of recorders and neys
Daphna's bag of recorders and neys. Photo by Elizabeth Fulford Miller.

Daphna will be featured in the 2011 Christmas Revels, playing the ney, as part of the Layali El Andalus group.  But, we are very lucky that Daphna is also a master recorder artist, and she will be featured in many of the Spanish Renaissance pieces in the show as well.  Did I spark your interest?  If so, here are some links to learn more:

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Greetings from Music Land

Rachid Halihal and Daphna Mor of Layali El Andalus working with the Washington Revels adults and teens
Rachid Halihal and Daphna Mor of Layali El Andalus working with the Washington Revels adults and teens

One month from now, we will be opening The Christmas Revels in Lisner Auditorium!  Whoa…

Over here in “music land,” there are lots of moving parts this year.  First, there is the chorus — made up of adults and teens, and numbering about 55.  We have been learning music in Spanish, Catalan, Judeo-Spanish (otherwise, known as Ladino), and Arabic.  We have been rehearsing since the beginning of September, but things are really picking up now!  This year, we have two groups of specialist musicians (in addition to the fabulous Washington Revels brass), and we have already gotten to work with both of them.

Last weekend, Layali El Andalus came down from New York City to  teach us their music, and then they performed in a salon-concert that evening.  You can learn more about them at http://revelsdc.org/revels2011/layalielandalus.html.  They are fantastic musicians and really great teachers.  We had lots of fun learning their music.

Last night, we had a visit from Trio Sefardi (Howard Bass, Tina Chancey and Susan Gaeta).  They specialize in Sephardic music (music of the Spanish Jews).  Howard plays lute and guitar, Susan sings and plays guitar, and Tina… well, she plays just about everything (there will be more about her later).  Learn more about these great musicians here: http://revelsdc.org/revels2011/triosefardi.html.  They will be presenting a salon-concert with Sephardic singer, Flory Jagoda, on November 17.

Meanwhile, we have an amazing group of children, busily learning their music — and guess what, they sing in Spanish, Catalan, Ladino, and Arabic too!  And we have lots of guitars (who happen to be members of our chorus), and some fiddlers, and a recorder player… so, stay tuned for lots more about this year’s music.

Want more information on the show or to buy tickets? Click here!

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A Visit from Trio Sefardi

Trio Sefardi
Trio Sefardi (Howard Bass, Susan Gaeta and Tina Chancey). Photo by Jeff Malet, MaletPhoto.

Here’s an instruction I haven’t gotten before: “I need you to channel your inner Fiddler on the Roof.”

Tonight was our first time practicing with all three of the members of Trio Sefardi – Susan Gaeta, Howard Bass, and Tina Chancey. They’re a local group that plays Sephardic music.

When Tina instructed us to find our inner Tevye, we were singing “Quando El Rey Nimrod,” one of the Sephardic songs in this year’s Christmas Revels. In the song, Nimrod, a king in the Bible, goes out to the fields, looks at the sky, and foretells the birth of Abraham.

Nimrod seems like a funny name for a king. But of course the king came first; it was only recently that his name came to mean “stupid person.”

I thought maybe dictionaries could tell me how that happened. The first one I tried only gave two definitions: the great-grandson of Noah, noted as a great hunter; a person expert in or devoted to hunting. The next dictionary was the same. The third, a dictionary of word origins, skips the issue entirely, going straight from “nimbose” to “nincompoop.”

A brief internet search tells me this question comes up a lot. One possibility is that it was because Bugs Bunny used “Nimrod” sarcastically to describe Elmer Fudd. Because he’s not a great hunter – get it? (The Online Etymology Dictionary refers to this hypothesis as “amateur.”)

Anyway, the song we were working on is about King Nimrod. It’s lovely, with flowing, melodic choruses and a bouncy refrain. Tina, Howard, and Susan sat facing the chorus, playing instruments and, in Susan’s case, singing. Tina leapt out of her chair to demonstrate how the song’s refrain should move and dance. And we all got even more excited about the music we’re singing for this year’s Christmas Revels.

Want more information on the show or to buy tickets? Click here!

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Happy Halloween

Nerluc in flames (pumpkin carved by Barry Galef). Photo by Barry Galef.

Every year, Reveler Barry Galef brings us a special treat: One of his carved pumpkins. These aren’t the jack-o-lanterns you’re used to, with the triangles for eyes and the half-moon for a mouth. He treats the pumpkin as a work of art, carving a detailed scene into their orange skin.

The pumpkin always relates to the theme of the Christmas Revels. We had a flying canoe for the French Canadian show in 2008 and Henry VIII for 2007’s Elizabethan show. (Hey, he was Elizabeth’s dad.) So during the break in tonight’s rehearsal, we all filed upstairs to the mezzanine to ooh and ahh over this year’s offering.

The main pumpkin this year has the tale of Saint Margaret and the Tarasque. The Tarasque is a sort of dragon-like creature with lots of legs. It makes an appearance this year in the Christmas Revels, as the monster in the mummers play. In the story, the Tarasque ravages the town of Nerluc, in Provence, and sets it on fire.

Taming the Tarasque (pumpkin carved by Barry Galef). Photo by Barry Galef.

A young woman goes out with a jug of holy water, tames the Tarasque, and brings it back to show everyone how calm it is. But the angry townspeople kill it anyway. In remorse, they name their town “Tarascon.”

You can see some more of Barry’s pumpkins on his website.

Want more information on the show or to buy tickets? Click here!

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Hello Revels World!

Helen Fields in the 2005 Northlands Christmas Revels
Helen Fields in the 2005 Northlands Christmas Revels

Hi! I’m Helen Fields and I’m the brand-new Washington Revels blogger. Yay! I’m so excited! I’m a member of the Christmas Revels chorus.

This is my seventh time in the Christmas show, which means I more or less know how it works now. For example, I can tell the new people that they should use pencil for the notes they’re taking about where to stand on stage, because it’s definitely going to change.

This year I’ll be blogging about the process of getting from slightly-confused chorus member (we have to memorize lyrics in what languages?) to confident, costumed, finely-coiffed member of our on-stage community. I’ll report on costume fittings, rehearsals, and whatever else crosses my mind between now and December. In this blogging venture, you’ll also see occasional posts by our artistic director, Roberta Gasbarre, and our music director, Betsy Miller.

The adults auditioned for the chorus back in May and had our first rehearsal June 1st. We met each other and sang a bit, and the costume folks took our measurements so they could start their work over the summer. Since the beginning of September, we’ve rehearsed every Wednesday night and the occasional weekend day, too. Opening night – actually an afternoon, Saturday, December 3rd – is in a little over five weeks! Yikes!

Want more information on the show or to buy tickets? Click here!