30 June 2016

Our piano was back on the stage again, next week we will be back in the lovely common room. All booed. Then we all dived into a dum-dum-diddley-duuuum. And some more warm up. Ed sat under the screen.

Ed is looking forward to spending the weekend wth Gareth Malone, during a gig on a Welsh farm. And our final rehearsal is next week just preceding our final concert in the rose garden. 

Thanks to all who joined in on Sunday, we will look forward to being in a better space next time because Ed will insist on it. 

When We Were Young is tonight's first song. After a run through, we went from the top changing youuu-do to ya-do! 

Restless has far too much ssss, in fact before we thought about it, I thought it was all ss! We broke down all the hard parts including that shocking high note! Then we stood to run through the backing track. Always so great to have a conductor up front. 

Total Eclipse Of The Heart next. It hasn't improved with age. Confidence needed for this number, and maybe making like divas would help. 

Adiemus meant the attempt at my recorder solo. Well I did threaten to dig mine out. Sorry about the odd squeak. One needs slightly less breath for blowing a recorder than for singing I think! After the first run through we worked without the backing track. Or the pesky recorder, and Ed went over some of the parts including some important notes in the alto line. And we stood for final run through before our favourite treat, any-oke! Jack pounces on you tube for Sing.  And Story Of A Heart, and Ed dives behind the piano for Bridge Over Troubled Water, it's almost a sexy segway. 

Top work again DFS, see you in the on room next week for cheese and wine and possibly a bit of singing too. Love you xxx

23 June 2016

The one were we started by watching an atmospheric video of Adele singing When We Were Young in The Church Studio. Nice. 

Due to a huge assembly for the school tomorrow, there wasn't a piano to warm up to, and several rows of seats were also out of bounds, although people sat in them anyway. 

Updates - 'Out loud' now finds us moved on from The Sausage Factory to The Golden Lion at 3pm. And St Edmunds also will see us singing at 3pm, on the 9th July. There is are events in Christchurch for those missing choirs in the summer holidays, and Ed will possibly find something to fill the gap left by Easter. Keep your eyes pealed for more information. B

Then we sang Life On Mars as a gentle warm-up, and then with a new backing track Adiemus, and groans. Then Ed broke it down a bit, I quite fancy blowing the dust off of my Hornby Recorder for the solo to be honest. Jenny pointed out that we had two do's and a coo, but that there's was a descrepancy between sheet music and words-on-the-the-screen. More to follow no doubt. 

Then it was our turn to tackle the new Adele song and Ed told us all about middle-eights and The-Truckers-Gear-Change, and talked about how excitement builds in this song. And not only that, it has a great chorus, great verse and knows when to stop. When it starts off the piano sounds like Worshipmob, or Hillsong, but that's just me. 

A spot of A Capela next, Only You... Ed played guess the key. And it was fun. But also truly bad. So we quickly chose a new soloist for Sunday's concert and dived into Video Killed The Radio Star. 

Jacqui asked for a run through of Somehere so we did, men only first of course. (And me too but don't tell anyone). "That weren't half bad," said Ed. 

And for tonight's treat Do You Hear The People Sing? So Dorset For singing all stood. Whoo. Now please un-squiffy your chairs.... 

Good luck on Sunday, sorry about the sausages but keep singing! Love you, The Cat xxx

16 June 2016

Ed arrived clutching the future dates for DFS from DCC, right up to the end of term 2018 ... 5th July!

After this rehearsal they are three more left! On the 8th July. Rose garden is on the 9th July. And our 8th year begins on the 22 September! I think we should have a cake, or maybe more lollies!

Out Loud on the 26 June outside the sausage factory at 3pm! Last year it was very hot, so bring your salad cream, I mean sun cream.

And so we warmed up, laaaah laaaah etc! Then we kicked off (pardon the football pun) with Adiemus, and if you can follow those lyrics you definately deserve a free lolly. Ed took time to really break this down today, and even introduced some harmony! That just made me lose the tune for a moment!

Bridge over troubled water we have met before, but never performed. Some people went too high to soon at theend  there. Apparently DFS Dorch did really well with this last night, so we had much to live up to, and we stood for a second run through, minus every single mistake that Ed we had missed the first time! This song has some surprise differences that need to be learned and can't be guessed. Noté bien. Or something. 

Only You next, completely a Capella. This is another revisiting for us today. Now although it's easy to drop out of tune, we must take care that Ed is the only one to drop keys tonight. Bump-Ching. Ba Da Da Daaaaah. No Bums and more Aaahs at the end please!

And after all that hard work it was time for treaty-kareoke time again. Very quickly happy choir members shouted out choices! Rosé kicked us off since we love it so much, and no one sang in the sacred gap. Amen. Something Inside So Strong next with KARAFUN and YouTube, then Fields Of Gold quickly following. And our grand finale, that take that number, Rule The World ...

Well done choir, keep singing especially today, especially that waaaaay, and very especially in tesco's (Adiemus). Lots of love, The Cat xxxx

9 June 2016

The one where we had some fun, sang a silly song, and had a request section ...

Positive feedback came back from our half term concerts, although Fayre in The Square was a little 'on the quiet side' - but it was better than last year. The wind didn't help. 

The Best Of Dorset concert was well received, and Ed thanked eveyone for attending the concerts, next gigs are 26 June and 9 July, wth a fun final rehearsal on the books just to unwind!

We warmed up with Life On Mars, then were completely bamboozled by this ...

Which produced ripples around the hall, maybe of amusement. It was new to us on the front row, anyway! Ed sang it very well and loudly for us all to follow, singing both parts, although not at the same time. No body will ever know if we sing the wrong words, and I recon if Jack doesn't get lost scrolling he should get another Easter egg!

Mowtown medley was deemed to need a run through, and so we did. Ed suggested we put our hands up if we reached a problem point! Not one person raised a hand, and Ed said it was the best we have ever sung it! 

Then the fun, request section! Because we all deserve a treat!

The first request was for Jerusalem, an old choir favourite! Then we sang The Rose and Rosé. The Circle of Life may have been a bit low for many voices, so we quickly cut to Don't Stop Beleiving! Imagine also got the vote, Eternal Flame Followed, and I played air guitar. Finally we sang, one song out of the final four requests, and Vicar Of Dibley Aka Pslam 23 and I think we had forgotten bits of it. So had the person writing the lyrics on the YouTube track!

And then we went home ...