28 January 2015

Dorset For Singing - Dorchester 

The night opened with Ed stating if anyone in the hall was there for the meeting its nextdoor! Through the first warm up a man stood up and sharpishly left the room (think he was waiting for the meeting hehe).

We had the chance to think of any charities we would like to put forward for the term, in which we voted for at the end of the evening. Songs for the evening where ON THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE, I GET AROUND, CHIQUITITA and DONT SLEEP IN THE SUBWAY. We sung each song and then broke them down into the verses, getting the harmonys sounding right and not ''sliding'' from high to low and low to high.

The evening ended with chior members speaking out as to why they would like to put forward each charity. After voting lastnight Ed has today anounced we will be supporting Motor Neurone Association for West Dorset. 

Written By Chelsea Lauren xx

29 January 2015

The one without poorly Jack ...

Ed showed off the new hot link on the DFS hame page leading straight to the DFS YouTube Chanel so you can all get right on with your homework when you have read this blog ...

Last night Ed forgot the words to dum-dum-diddley. Let's never let him forget it! Everyone needs to keep a look out for his missing memory stick, last seen resting on his lanyard. Sorry about the massive hiccup. I seem to have turned into my dad. Maybe I'll never live that down, either! 

While the mixing desk didn't look well, it was really fine. It comes out on flexible arms. The call from Jenny was charming to say the least. Well hello, Jenny!

Tonight's new song was 'On The Street Where You Live'. I felt like the only one who didn't know it and that was good because I felt very young! Ed taught us a harmony for the BVs, and we had a go once Jenny had put the phone down. Remember folks, if you are off-sick-from-choir you can now join in by Skype. DFS living the 21st century. 

The middle-eight really demands a tap dance but no one was up for it. We are not really a set of dancing queens. 

Next notices. Ed read out a nice Mo Jive poster but I couldn't get it all down. See Becky/Paddington for details. Then he plugged the Elton show tomorow and I can't wait. Ed was also on radio Solent again for half and hour, talking choir on Saturday. 

'I Get Around', was the next thing to tackle. Brand new to choir and blimey complicated if you ask me. We didn't have any groovy, braketed and colour coded words on account of the missing stick. But it started to make sense after ed broke it down lots. 

In the middle of that last nights (Dorch) blog post arrived and I quickly slapped it up! Anything to look busy and not sing any bum notes. I did enjoy the bit where Ed ran out of air! But we did make progress. Yes, I know! Finally we had some volunteers to whoo-woo at the special place for those sort of things! I would just like to know what making bread means in this song. I do hope it's not frightfully rude ....

Moving on, after quite a while, we downloaded chicken-tikka. Well, Jenny-as-Jack did ... Ed and Julie demonstrated the Low harmony. It's a third below for anyone that that means anything to. 

Next week we will be back in the diner, as the hall is occupied. You will find it beneath the common room. 

'Don't sleep in the Subway' to end with. Ed thanked us for our hard work, then shared the superb total we raised for charity for our Christmas concert. Everyone cheered. Much love and keep singing, Cat xxx

22 January 2015

UThe The one where we worked on THE HARMONY in a very adventurous warm up! 

Followed by the relief brought by a good dum-dum-diddle! And a satisfying yawn, during which the blogger became amused and horrified at the automatic word suggestions offered by the recent software update by the trusty blogger-phone!

Didgeridoo-Ing made us all sound like cats. Hmmm. 

Chicken-tikka to start with, looking out a fun you tube karaoke, which took some doing I can tell you! Thank you kar@oke80s. Ed liked it so much he decided to tease out some harmony, and some long notes for both harmony and melody parts. 

Then we stood for a run through and ex wated all our effort and singing the song as if it was our own. Or something. It started out the best Ed had ever heard, but our confidence and also our volume dropped as mistakes crept in. We had a few ups and downs! We spent a long time on this song then moved on to IMAGINE at 7.37pm. 

We discovered there were huge gaps in the song and then Lennon goes aaaah aaaahhh where Ed had assumed he went wooo- hoop! But the wait wasn't .... Worth the wait, so we dropped it!

Don't Sleep In The Subway next, which needs really good diction, and probably exaggerations too! This song covers quavers to swinging! But Linda just wants us to sing DOWNTOWN. Well at least I know that one!

And so, bowing to pressure, we did! And that was fun. Keep singing DFS, I love you, Cat XXX 

21 January 2015

The one from Carole M ...

A great turn out for very early days of D F S Dorchester, everyone had a great time, enjoying Ed's relaxed, yet very informative style teaching , just keep peeling the grapes and he is no trouble at all.

We had a fun (as always) warm up, then we sang through the songs,  Ed gave us notes on how to improve our breathing and on the timing and feel after each rendition , posh word eh ?

The songs were, Lean on me, Don't sleep in the subway, Chicken Tikka, (cant stop myself) and Imagine.

Everyone left on a high, looking forward to the next session. From where I was sitting, the future is looking good. Carole M x

14 January 2015

Dorchester Section Of DFS'S First Rehersal 

Firstly a great turnout by the Dorchester group!

We started the evening off with some stretches to loosen us up and relax those of us who were anxious. This was then followed by warming up our vocals and pretending we were shouting to someone across the road to get their attention and hold the note.

Our First song to practice was 'Lean On Me' For a first attempt i personally think we did ourselfs proud. Ed told us about shortening our S'ss so that we dont sound like snakes hissing at the end of the verses.

This was then followed by 'Imagine' which was also sung well for our first performance, although the group went quiet when we hit the You-hoo-ooo's . 

Also mentioned was the membership we could opt for or to pay for each session as we turn up. Also the fact that water is avalible in a ''sports cap bottle''.

We look forward to seeing you all next week, Chelsea xx

15 January 2015

The one where Ed first did it twice in one week ....

Notices first from Ed, who was very pleased because lots of people turned up despite the horrid weather. Happy New Year. 

He woffled on about the 'other' choir, and the cantenbury trip. Two choir special rates. And a quick aside on the demise of Ed Zelton and last concert plug. 

Choir is booked for the Best of Dorset, again on March 22nd. Would choir like to sing at The Music Festival this year? 7th March for that one, the time varies. 

'Lean On Me' received a revisit while Jack skipped to the back of the room to play with his green lazer pointer and a fresh new power point. To make it sound good, we need 'Bart' not 'but'. Sounds odd but it works! Ed worked hard on getting gaps in the right places!

Jack demonstrated how to access your homework, and we hit up the karaoke version of Chicken-tikka, and had a mama-Mia moment! And I had a quick google to find out what we were really on about ...

1. "Chiquitita" (a Spanish term of endearment for a womanmeaning "little one") is a song recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA. It was released in January 1979 as the first single from the group's Voulez-Vous album.

Next up an old Petula Clark number, 'Don't sleep in the subway' ... We tried it in the original key then bumped it up a bit. 

We also soured 'On The Wings Of Love' for our final song and I slipped in last nights blog written for all by Chelsea. Cool beans. 

Love you all, keep singing, Cat xxxx

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7 January 2015

The Dorchester launch ...

The Dorchester DFS boasted a good turnout, both former choir members, and excited potential new ones! 

Ed introduced us, set expectations, and proudly showed off his wife and son, before leading us in a short warm up. That's the first time I have performed 'Dum-dum-diddly' and I hope it won't be the last!

Then the Weymouth-Portland branch sang So Happy Together and You Raise Me Up, then Ed dug a speech out of his pocket and gave a lovely history of DFS and shared the reasons behind it's joyous birth in September of 2008 - just ahead of this humble blog!

Flexible memberships were mentioned, along with flexible seating and the free session for new member plugged too. Also if you help out on the door, you can have that nights session for free too!

DFS Dorch can choose a different charity if they want to. 

With prompting Ed mentioned the weblinking-website chock full of useful information, and of course the blog. Any budding bloggers can contact Ed or myself and be added to the blogspot account so the exploits of the Dorch branch can also be published. 

After the very informative Q&A session all present sang you raise me up, apart from me who caught up with the written word.