From: John Alexander Blyth
Subject: Re: starting round sing group
To: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

>From my experience (and I love rounds) it can get a bit dry to spend even
more than 10 minutes singing just rounds. Definitely intersperse with other
kinds of material. The details of my experience: mediaeval themed "feasts"
(in reality most of the music is usually renaissance) in which sheets with
five or so rounds are passed round and a master of ceremonies teaches the
material to the whole group. Madrigal evenings at my house where we go
through a lot of madrigal material with occasional lightening from rounds
and animal-noise-type pieces.
With experienced singers, unless they are quite devoted to the material,
they like to read through each piece just once before moving onto the next -
repetition can only be borne if it is aiming towards some kind of public
performance. I suspect the catch-clubs and glee societies of yesteryear did
at least as much drinking as singing. Just my n cents worth. John


At 13:18 06/01/00 -0700, you wrote:
>I love to sing rounds and am interested in starting a community round
>singing group that would include whole families of all ages. (I have Sol
>Weber's book of 340 rounds for material).Has anyone done this and would you
>mind sharing what worked, what didn't work, etc. Would monthly be about
>right? Thanks.
>
>
John Blyth
Bass/Baritone (as opposed to Bass-Baritone) etc.
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada