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| Welcome to the Your Accompanist newsletter! We're bringing you an update on some of the things that have been going on at Your Accompanist since our last newsletter: It's been a busy time. We've been responding to your requests for new accompaniments and we've added almost 300 new tracks and learning packs to the catalogue. As you can imagine for the time of year, we've also been looking ahead to Christmas, and we've almost 40 new carols and Christmas songs, and there are plenty more to come. We've also been making music for school plays and Pantomimes. There has also been a very lovely surge in Facebook fans! A huge thanks to all of you who have been spreading the word about our singers resources. In particular we're delighted to welcome so many Icelanders and hope to be finding out a bit more about the Icelandic singing scene in a future edition. In this issue... In this issue we bring you a very special audio profile of London-based lyric Soprano Naomi Scott de Moncloa. Our pianist, Michael, would like help with a little musical experiment in his article: Key Colour and me. We take inspiration from the story of a Scottish soprano Linda Esther Grey, encourage you to take part in the greatest virtual choir project yet, bring you a round up of the Singing Ds and a short biography of one of Britain's long-lost musical heroes. Not forgetting our usual round up of singing related links and websites. Best wishes from, All the team at Your Accompanist PS: If this is the first time you've received a newsletter from us, you might like to take a look at the Newsletter Archive. All our back issues available to view online. You can view them in the original format, or browse the article archive. We've been so busy adding to the catalogue. Here's the full list of latest additions since our last newsletter... Rolling updated list of most recent additions: www.youraccompanist.com/latest Latest additions RSS: www.youraccompanist.com/additionsrss Collections: www.youraccompanist.com/collections |
Issue 12 In this issue: Singer profile: Naomi Scott de Moncloa Singer Profile: Naomi Scott de Moncloa
Listen: Naomi Scott de Moncloa Singer Profile by YourAccompanist For more pictures, and continuous audio while you view the rest of the newsletter, please view this article on our website. Find out more: interact with Naomi
--- Would you like to be our featured singer? Contact us for more information. Behind the scenes: Key colour and me For composers, keys are just like background colours to a painter. I think of it like the under-painting that an artist would start with when he or she is preparing a canvas. It sets the picture up for how it has to look in the end.
Read the full article and take part in Michael's Key Colour experiment --- Michael loves to hear from the people using the Your Accompanist products. If you would like his help with any of your particular accompaniment requirements, please don't hesitate to get in touch! Helping school plays to go with a swing! It's that time of year again when your little ones are starting to get ready to take part in the annual Christmas play. We've teamed up with Playstage Junior to help bring real piano accompaniments to their diverse catalogue of enchanting plays for primary children. It's a great way for schools to put on a good show.
The packs contain high quality piano accompaniments, printable sheet music and song books for the kids to learn from, as well as helpful teacher’s / leader’s notes which explain how to stage the plays, dress the actors and make the props. Just some of the titles which come with music packs: Da Capo Aria - (an early use of 'from the top') an aria in 3 sections. The middle section is usually contrasting in mood and thematic content and the last section is a repeat of the first up to the point marked. Much favoured by Baroque composers -second half of 17th cent to about 1750 particularly Handel. Good examples - well, lots but 'Where'er You Walk' is one of the best known. Decani - the side of a double choir in English cathedrals or churches that sit on the south side of the chancel near the Dean's seat (stall). The Cantoris is on the opposite side. Deceptive cadence - (or ‘Trugschluss’ in German) the American term for an 'interrupted cadence' - end of a phrase or section that doesn't finish where you might expect it to... Descant - originally a melody added above an existing melody (so in this sense 'counterpoint). Now it’s mostly a higher line that a composer adds to a well known tune - a good example is David Willcocks' one for "Sing , Choirs of Angels in the carol "O Come All Ye Faithful’. (like the 'Fauxbourdon' in organ music). Virtual Choir - don't delay, get your video camera out NOW!We were lucky enough to be able to attend Eric Whitacre's recent concert at the Barbican Hall in London, and experience Sleep and Lux Aurumque firsthand along with a number of his other compositions with the marvellous London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.
It's prompted us to remind you that, if you've been toying with the idea of taking part in Eric's latest Virtual Choir project, don't delay a moment longer! The December 31st deadline is looming! Eric hopes to outstrip his previous records by involving hundreds of singers worldwide to come together in song. You can find out everything you need to know here: Sibley Digital Scores ProjectCheck out this great project happening in the States. Sibley Music Library is the largest academic music library in North America, with total holdings of some 750,000 items. Four years ago they received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to digitise 10,000 to 12,000 musical scores which are in the public domain, reside in the Library’s general collections, and are held by not more than two other libraries in the world. If you love beautiful sheet music, this is a must visit link! digitalscores.wordpress.com/about/ French Wikipedia Opera PortalWe recently found a great opera-related resource on Wikipedia. Great links for opera with a really well-organised opera chronology, and an opportunity to practice your French. History of song: Arthur Goring Thomas A Summer Night is very much a through-composed ‘mélodie’ rather than the characteristic English art-song or parlour-song of his day. As in Fauré’s work, the melody is an evident part of the harmonic scheme, consisting of short and exquisitely shaped phrases. The initial optimism of the song’s opening question is transformed into understated desolation in the impassioned and rhetorical coda – ‘have you forgotten, Love, so soon?...’ Goring Thomas appeared to prefer to set songs in French and this originally French lyric,’ Une Nuit de Mai’ is by Theo Marzials (the English-born son of a French Protestant minister in London). The English version is a free translation of this poem and possibly also by Marzials (who was rather harshly judged to be Britain’s worst poet as recently as 2007 but was much favoured by his contemporaries). In English, it differs in that the month of May is not mentioned at all. Inspiration: Linda Esther Gray
She was proclaimed as the New Callas and internationally acclaimed for her effortless production and sublime tone. Sadly, her career stopped abruptly in the early 1980s when she became seriously ill. She needed a life-saving operation - one which cost her her voice. She vanished from the stage, and from public view. You'll aslo find a Woman's Hour programme to download and listen to (in Real Player). Tribute to Joan Sutherland There's very little that we can add to the superlatives in many of the published articles that mark the passing of Dame Joan Sutherland.
A biography of her life, written when she was only in her thirties, by fellow Australian, Russell Braddon also told graphically of her stoicism in an early struggle with sinus and dental problems. Her brightness and generousity of spirit in her latter years - when not in the best of health - again demonstrated what remarkable strength of character she had. Add this to perhaps the most glorious female voice the world has known in our lifetime and any one of us, singer or non singer, is humbled. Have it your way: our custom recording service Your Accompanist welcomes requests for additions to our standard catalogue, but we also offer a bespoke recording service. Use the custom recording service if you need the recording by a certain date, in a particular key or with specially tailored dynamics. To talk to us any time about your requirements, simply contact us and one of the team will be in touch. Let's make beautiful music. Together.
Then, drop us a line to let us know it's there, and we'll add you to the playlist. If you don't have a YouTube account, we'll upload it for you. Whatever kind of singing you enjoy, alone or with others, you'll
find your favourite public domain songs in our catalogue. We cover
a wide range of singing styles: classical to traditional; lullabies
to lieder; operetta to art song; nursery rhymes to shanties and sea
songs; oratorio to music hall. We've got over 1300 titles to choose
from. So, get rehearsing and recording, and get in touch! http://www.youtube.com/YourAccompanist Here are a few hints for getting great results from your video: Tips on making a YouTube Video Feedback please If you've enjoyed this issue of the newsletter, if there's something you'd like us to talk about in the future, if you've got a question you think we could answer or a singing tip you'd like to share with others, please let us know. Use our online contact form: --- Like what we do? Want to help us improve our services? Register your interest in joining our focus group. Tell a friend!Do you know someone who would enjoy this newsletter?You can pass it on by simply forwarding the email you got from us to their inbox, or copying the address of this page and pasting it into an instant message or shaing it via your social networks. As more people use our service, the broader the selection of songs will become!
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We make real piano rehearsal tracks for singers. All tracks are recorded by a real pianist on a real piano in a single take. You download them directly to your PC in MP3 format. They can then be transferred directly to any portable MP3 player (such as an iPod or, Sony MP3 walkman, Archos box or iRiver), or burned to CD. They are ideal for soloists, ensembles, choirs and classrooms, for those who sing professionally, recreationally or secretly. The quality of the musicianship and sensitivity of the performances means that the accompaniments make great listening, even for those who don't sing along. Our catalogue covers a large part of the standard repertoire and is growing all the time. We bring you a wide variety of genres and composers, and aim to cater for all vocal ranges and levels of proficiency. Each track can be sampled on the site so you can be sure you've got the piece you want. We believe very strongly in the importance of music in education, and have a great deal of experience in the field. We hope to support music teachers, promote singing in the classroom and provide an effective low cost solution for singing teaching situations where good quality live accompaniment is not readily available. All of our tracks are available for instant download, so if we've already got the piece you want, there's no need to wait for a CD via post. If you'd like something we don't already have, or you need it in a different key, let us know. If it's in the public domain and we can get hold of the music, we could have it online for you quite quickly. Read more in our User Guide: www.youraccompanist.com/userguide. |
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Composers do the same thing when they choose a key for a piece - it sets the mood. I also think of chords and intervals as the individual colours and brush strokes that are added as the work is built up and the finished composition is like the completed picture.
People have known about key colour for a long time, but now is identified by some psychologists as a kind of 'synesthesia' (having simultaneous sensory experiences) - hear a particular sound and instantly see it as a colour in your mind’s eye. Consequently, it’s likely to be highly subjective. It is certainly a matter of sensitivity - but when you talk to composers and musicians generally, there seems to be a remarkable consensus on the question of key colour. 
It's a touchy subject though, because there is a danger of suggestibility about it. Also, just as with colour vision, there are probably as many cases of key-colour blindness as there would be in any population. We know people even see different colour casts through each of their own individual eyes, so ears are not going to be that different. It's all a question of perception then, but in the end, I think most people would agree that the sky is often 'blue' and Van Gough's Sunflowers are a quite 'yellow'. Even if not everyone has experience of key colour in this way personally, we have to allow that it does exist for many musicians...
Since his tragically early death in 1892, English composer Arthur Goring Thomas has been sadly neglected. We’ve recently uploaded two of his beautiful atmospheric songs 
She was as Pavarotti said, 'the voice of the century'. Modest and self-effacing, Joan Sutherland said of herself that she was not a great beauty or the world's best at stage-craft but she'd just been given this gift of a voice. (We'd be inclined to disagree with her first two observations but certainly not the last!) She also said that to be an opera singer, you needed to have the 'constitution of a horse'.
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