The community choir

Text: an original contemporary personal account-style practice extract.

At choir rehearsal, I liked the director’s decision to let us hear our own part on its own before combining the voices. I also found the marked breathing points helpful: I no longer had to guess where a phrase would end. We still made mistakes when the groups came together, especially where two melodies crossed. The director did not simply sing louder to rescue us. She stopped, separated the parts again and asked us to notice which note had distracted us. By the end, I could recognise my mistake before repeating it.

From the extract, give two rehearsal arrangements the writer found helpful.