Hi Laura,
FWIW, here's some of the offertory/Communion solos I've done for Nov.
and Dec. this year and in the past...
Handel, "Thanks Be to Thee" is something we've used for Thanksgiving
the last few years. I've seen arrangements for it ranging from solo
to duet to full choir, depends on what you like.
Ivanoff, "Bless the Lord, O My Soul" -- would also work for
Thanksgiving, I imagine. It went over very well last week. The
arrangement I have lies mostly in the middle range, but I still found
it challenging enough because of the slight rhythm variations (just
enough to throw me) and the infinite dynamic possibilities. (YMMV --
I've only been taking lessons for 2 years -- this might be a piece of
cake for you.)
Mozart, "Laudate Dominum" -- another sort-of-Thanksgiving one, and
lots of fun to sing with or without a chorus in the background
(although I did have to juggle the overlapping entrances a bit when
doing it in a quartet situation, as there were no other sopranos to
overlap with.)
"Rorate Caeli" in chant could be neat, just the unaccompanied voice,
for Advent. Sometimes the simpler the arrangement is, the more
effective it is.
Handel, "O Thou that Tellest Good Tidings to Zion" from Messiah.
Being an alto aria, it lies pretty low (I have trouble with the low
A's so I sometimes ask the organist to transpose it up a couple of
notches). We end it just before the chorus would have come in, as
that's usually about the amount of time we need to fill.
Hope this isn't TOO far off the sort of thing you had in mind. Please
forgive the fact that, never having been in a music school, I usually
don't know what I'm talking about.
Robin
Fach-challenged critter-in-training
(Thought I was shaping up to be a mezzo, but our new director, who has
loads of experience in opera, fingered me as a coloratura sop! Now I
don't know WHAT to think!!)
|
|  |
