What did you rehearse?

Today we started by working on “Anchored to the Truth,” a two-part choir piece that my wife’s grandfather sent to me from California. It is written in neat manuscript, but has no composer or arranger listed. It makes me think it was done by someone in the L.A. music business because it looks like the copy was done by a professional arranger and engraver.

Next we read through Lindy Kirby’s tasteful arrangement of Hymn 127, “Does the Journey Seem Long.” I like this hymn because the verses, written by Joseph Fielding Smith, progressively give a lesson on turning to the Savior in trials. The tune has some unusual harmonies for a hymn; it briefy modulates from Eb Major to C minor and then back to Eb at the end of the verse. Kirby’s arrangement presents the words of the hymn as written while at the same time allowing the piano to have its own part. She also adds variety to the vocal textures by switching from unison to two-part, and four-part harmonies. The main challenge is helping the choir sing the four parts without the support of the piano, since it is playing arpeggios and counterpoint.

Finally, since it is the year of Mozart, we sang through “Jesus, Savior” from “The Choirbook.” It is subtitled as “AVE VERUM” though I would imagine Mozart probably wrote more than one Ave Verum. Although I have done this several times already in ward choir, I still enjoyed working on it again.

For anyone reading this, what did you rehearse?