MONDAY from Marie:
I am pleased to observe the character that is emerging from the chorus as our rehearsals progress. Last Saturday (March 13) while rehearsing scene one, Sarah said that the chorus is “the head of Jonah”. I love this analogy: that, God plants a dream into Jonah’s head while he is sleeping. The chorus enacts the nightmare that God knows will finally move Jonah to action. On Sunday (March 14) we had a chance to play with the storm: using sound and movement to create the disaster that shipwrecks our hero Jonah, dumping him into the ocean. As the rehearsals progress it will be fun to watch the interaction between Jonah and the chorus. The final Voice of God in Scene seven, when Jonah finally understands God’s message is delivered from a children’s choir that sings “respect me”. The innocent voices of the children are eventually joined in this message by the adults singing SATB.

In the two weekends of rehearsing our chorus is already taking on a distinctive personality. On Saturday we worked to embody our sound, feeling grounded in the sanctuary space and connected to each other, projecting our sound over the vast space from the balcony to the front of the sanctuary. We will continue to work this way throughout rehearsals. Yesterday (Sunday, March 13) we got a sense of how the storm scene will work with movement and sound.

Next Saturday,March 20, we will rehearse upstairs because of the Fred Penner concert in the sanctuary. On Sunday, March 21 we will use the sanctuary to try out the storm and then the scene of Jonah in the whale. Be ready with lots of under water sounds! See you next week.

Marie