Lovely Rita

Today's rehearsal went well despite brass absences. With Rita, we need to amplify the acoustic guitar (which I will fix tomorrow). nad clean the shaker part. the part (after double checking) is correct. It's 4 measures starting at 16 on the words "In her cap" and on the repeat "Got the bill". This will reinforce the vocal part.
we need to clean the trumpet glissando parts at 10 and 19, and we have to bring out the bass clarinet/ bari sax line at the end of the solo (m 30).
When we reach measure 31, enter with confidence. We are jumping from m 22, but that shouldn't make a difference.
The 5 against 4 section is improving.
In the straight eighth note part (2 from the end, be sure you are on the right pitch. Concert Ab in the bass, then Eb and Gb on top.
For the last measure, the first note is long, then attack beat two, gliss down to beat three and you're done. beat one was a bit short.

When I'm Sixty-Four

This one is better. It's more relaxed, and the swing feel is not as bouncy. Also, the slurred triplets in the bass clarinet and saxes came out clearer.

Within You Without You

This came out well. We got a rough start with the tempo, but it did settle in nicely. I like the solo section very much. This tune required more rehearsal than any other tune on the album for us. For grins, scroll down and listen to our February performance of this piece. It's like night and day.

When I'm 64

We should be more gentle with this tune. It's not a rocker, it's a jazz piece. The phrasing will come together when we take the intensity down a few notches and relax with it. Sax parts at the end need cleaning, and there are still some stray accidentals in the upper woodwinds.

Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!

Today's rehearsal went well. We had a few absences, but we were able to get a fairly decent recording of Being for the benefit of Mr. Kite together. I like the timbre of the guitar synth, we just have to control it- it's not easy to play, and it's not an easy part. On this recording, the long notes that end the chromatic runs didn't come out, but the balance was good.
I would like to improve the intonation of the clarinet section on the short notes, smooth out the tenor sax sound and bring up the volume of the horn and trombone to match the trumpets. Finally, I'm still hearing a B flat and a C natural in the second measure of the intro in the flute section.
At the second ending (where the guitar synth plays), I'd like to not have the keyboard sounds play. Let's wait till after the guitar synth has played the line.
here's the file:

Dress Rehearsal

Overall, I was very pleased with how things turned out in the dress rehearsal. You'll recall that the objective was to make sure there were no real disasters in the arrangements, and that our stage set up was good for balance. The decision to put the chorus on risers in the pit, and band on the stage behind them was a good one. If you remember far enough back to when we did Carmina Burana, you'll recall that we ended up with something completely different.

All of these recordings were made with a Zoom H4 on a tripod. I positioned the tripod in front of the first row of seats in the auditorium to the right of the piano (which was in the center) so consequently, we got a bit more of the sounds on stage left (actor's left) of the stage and a bit less of what was going on over on stage right (sax section). Still I think we need to move the drumset and tuba further back on the stage for better balance as they are rather heavy on these recordings.

There were really only two pieces that need a lot of work- Within You Without You and Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!. With both of these tunes, it is the lack of rehearsal time on the difficult sections that is to blame, and that is my fault. Rest assured, I'll be spending more time on these when we return from vacation. Lovely Rita gets an honorable need-to-rehearse-this-one-too mention because the ending totally fell apart. It is 5 against 4 in some places, so it's not easy, but then again, most of this stuff is not easy.

I'm very proud of this group and how far you have come with this music. We are playing in some unusual keys, and performing a new style of music for us. We are also attempting to do what the Beatles never did- perform this stuff live.

You can learn a lot by listening to yourself. Click away. :-)

Mr. Rabuse

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band and Segue to With a Little Help

This sounds good to me. Just a few tweaks:

The band needs to clean up the ensemble solo section just after "may I introduce to you...", (We've been working on it for some time, and it's getting there.)

No timpani rolls in the chorus.

I'd like to have a vocal soloist perform the opening line, then ensemble play the interlude (cleanly), then have the full chorus come in on "We're Sgt' Pepper's Lonely...".

Harmony in the voices on "we're Sgt. Pepper's Lonely". I'm only hearing the top note.