Don't rely only on Tuesday evenings for learning. Here are some tips to help you learn your part from the music sheets and the mp3 downloads.
Some find it best to learn the words first.
An acknowledged technique is to concentrate on a short stanza - say four lines - for ten minutes or so. Return in about 15 minutes and read and rehearse them again. You will find that you will be able to say the words without looking. Try the next few lines.
Check after 24 hours and the neural networks will have pretty well joined up in your brain and you will be able to say the words. You might be able to visualize them in your mind's eye.
To summarise:
10-15 minutes - concentrate on short stanzas.
15 minutes later - check again and then say the words without looking.
24 hours later - a quick check and you will find you pretty well know the words.
Many songs have repeats and are often shorter than at first appearance.
Two learning tricks many find useful are:
(1) Listen to the teach track and hum your part, just thinking the words - this enables you to hear the track clearly instead of singing over the top of it and blotting out the subtle stuff you need to learn (also gets you in the habit of the good voice placement humming creates);
(2) When you think you have it OK, play the Full Mix track and sing (or hum) against that. You will soon find the bits that aren't secure, and can go back to the predominant voice track to fix them (looking at the dots and marking the places you need to sort). Then go back to sing against the Full Mix again (full mix is good as you can still hear your part in there as a guide, like singing in chorus).
Once that is going OK and you feel really confident, harmony parts can sing / hum against the lead track - that is harder, but great for getting good tuning going and proving you really know the part.
After that singing in chorus will be a doddle!
New guys remember - we have to tune, blend and harmonise, we don't just "sing notes" like most choral societies do. A barbershop singer's ears should work harder than his voice!
There is much more help on learning and memorising music on Music Ed Ted's website.
