[raven]

I landed a spot with a group singing a Tallis motet this summer. We had our first rehearsal last night and it was so much harder than I'd anticipated. There are 40 moving parts, one person to a part, and it's very easy to get lost. And in this case the conductor isn't giving entrance cues. Because there are so many parts, I don't have the full vocal score and can't look for a distinctive bit in the other voices and use that to find the place.

I did better with finding my notes than I'd thought I would, but that was still rather dicey.

I have a recording and a partial score and can prep for the next rehearsal by counting the measures between entrances and listening for cues in the other voices.

Really I think this is going to come down to counting measures and making confident entrances - for now, at least.

Any advice?

 

[tenor02]

durufle has a great set of motets that are readily accessable to almost any choir. they can be challenging at times, but on the whole they are a lot of fun to read and the final product is very rewarding.

 

[Norse]

You're talking about Spem in alium, right? Maybe this page can help with preparing at least. It has the full score, part scores, choir scores even a two stave (piano) reduction:

http://imslp.org/wiki/Spem_in_alium_nunquam_habui_à_40_(Tallis,_Thomas)