Here are the parts to Sure on this Shining Night. The accompaniment is included, so for instance, at the beginning, you’ll hear the tenors and basses part, and some of you will just have to follow along because the altos and sopranos don’t come in until measure 16. It’s good practice to follow another part so huzzah for that. My advice would be to listen to it a few times, follow your part with your finger- make sure you mark your staff with a check or an x so that visually you can go from system to system with out getting lost. There is a good video link on our page here in the “parts for rehearsal” section that helps to de-mystify following a choral score if you might find it helpful.
- listen and follow
- after your part is familiar and you are an expert at following it, hum or sing on a vowel- ah or oh- until you can sing it accurately
- Lastly, add the text. This should always be the last thing that’s added. Be aware of phrasing. Never breathe in the middle of a word. Bad form.
- Don’t forget to use your breath. A long flowing part with many notes on one vowel sound is called melisma– it takes a lot of air to sing melismatic passages. Notice the beautiful open vowels the chorus below uses. That is our goal.