30 November 2017

We entered the dining room serenaded by the backing track of So Happy Together. All backing tracks were present and correct, in perfect key and correct tempo, and the running order is finalised. And that was our first song, straight in without a warm-up. 

The dress code for choir could be ‘summery’ with Bermuda shorts and bikinis but we decided to go Christmassy after all. Festive jumpers very welcome, as is sticking tinsel anywhere you like it. Remember the concert starts at 7.30pm sharp. There will be no bar, but feel free to bring you own.

And as we scurry to order our folders, we start the second song Make You Feel My Love. 

Don’t forget your harmonies when you Walk Right Back. We sang it with great aplomb, and slipped into our sea legs for Song Of The Sea. Coming together beautifully. 

And Christmas Medley was upon us again. Shall I bring Ben the singing rat or Elf on a shelf? So the interval is and then we will be Keeping The Dream Alive and remembering the right time to go up and down. More highs everyone. Across The Universe we sang to see if like DFS Dorchester we would keep it in. Let one go at the end of you please, improvisation. Adele, When We Were Young, well we are good at this one! Lovely, lovely. Did anyone notice this little number was more up tempo? 

And down tempo, we Bring Him Home ... our next song will bring them near, O Holy Night. Then our concert will end and we will sing our encore Fairy Tale Of New York. Drunk men to start, then everyone, and the audience to sing too. We will make them. In housekeeping, Ed reminded us not to talk to each other between songs, and to arrive at school early if you want to run through your solo. Ed said there would be some surprises, and I asked if we could eat them. Possibly because I’ll be nil by mouth from midnight on concert day. Then we had some time for revisits, vote by mumble, so we did that, until we were Song Perfeft. 

We meet again on the 11th January all full of sprouts and raring to go after crunching through the frost up to the hall. Yes we will be back in the Hall. Everyone cheered. See you next week ALSO IN THE HALL for the concert. I love you, keep singing. XXX

23 November 2017

And greetings from the dining room where Ed was only armed with a screen and a music stand, and a huge catalogue of fresh backing tracks to boot. 

Dress code for the concerts is a little festive. Think tinsel. Bring your own food and drink and money for the usual fab raffle too. 

With out a sniff of a warm up, we started with Walk Right Back but not before wishing Mike and Cat a very happy 3rd Year Wedding Anniversary. Wait, that’s me. I’m still honoured that DFS came were there that day to sing and break bread with us. Ed suggested you might like to watch the wedding video ...

https://youtu.be/_gOIeTTaFVU

And quickly on to Make You Feel My Love and followed on with So Happy Together with barely any time for me to paste a link from YouTube ... and decided to swap this together the number one song, and pressed on with song number 4, Song Of The Sea. Did you remember your timing? 

And thus marks the end of part one, and the start of part with the Exciting New Christmas Medley which you may recognise from last year. It was the toy piano version. Mind the gap in Mary’s Boy Child. 

And we sang Keeping The Dream Alive without a backing track. Next. Across The Universe. Kangaroo Diva. That’s me. Ed wanted to take it from the top again. So we did. 

When We Were Young will get a new backing track with some drums. Bring Him Home brought us to O Holy Night and Faiytake Of New York that sounded much better with drunk men. I’m excited already. 

Singing Do Wah Diddy Diddy without a backing track was an experiment to say the least. There might have been issues with timing ...

I love you. Keep singing. The Cat xxx

9 November 2017

We were in the hall again, with a mysterious note and a cheerful glee type crowd, pleased that we would be having a concert in this hall because the rest of our practices will take place in the dining room. 

And so to warm up, but Ed hit the keys too hard according to Jack so we had to do it gently. Dum dum didly dum ... 

We also used Across The Universe as a warm up. It won’t spear in our Christmas concert after all. A concert looms on Friday 8 June, our 10th one at All Saints church on Portland. We have been asked to take part in a ‘big singing day’ in Brewery Square in Dorchester. Much more pressing is our concert on the 7th

December here at the school at 7.30pm. 

In breaking news, Ed’s wife has booked him to do a party in Osmington Village Hall on New Year’s Eve. And then it was time for a jolly good sing. 

Walk Right Back kicked us off nicely, it lacked a little harmony so we looked under our chairs and it. 

Moving swiftly on we got ready to make corrections to O Holy Night immediately deleting the last two lines and doing a copy-and-paste job with some other parts of the chorus. We were over singing it at the beginning a bit and must remember not to ‘go high’ during the first round of the chorus. We had another go, this time with a gentle start, building in some drama. 

And so we had a listen to how Keeping The Dream Alive was doing, well not really, Ed listened and we sang. Our diction could do with some sharpening, so we ran a bit through without the piano, and we delivered energy too enabling us to swiftly select The Song Of Sea, but here we found an issue of timing or syncopation for those who might have swallowed a wikki or something. 

I’m other breaking news, we may be singing on the harbour side to serenade MV Freedom on radio solent. Watch this space. 

Dictation may follow if Life’s About To Get Good if the three parts aren’t evenly represented. And it’s got to be good because it will be a capela. Anyway, it was nice when it got going.  

And for Bring Him Home we had a very special large-print edition so we all whipped off our readers. Careful now. And Ed said we just get better and better, but if you weren’t here tonight ....

In other breaking news, there hasn’t been a trip meeting but there will be an opportunity to hang on next week to discuss tour matters. Then we voted for a final song and Run won. And we stood to perform. Oh yes.

Well done DFS you worked hard and sang your seasonal-socks off. Fabulous. But that’s not why I love you. Keep singing. Cat xxx

2 November 2017

On a busy campus in the common room did DFS meet after the half term holiday. We had a big chat about that, instead of notices, like where to meet in future and even using our concert hall hire fee to go straight in the charity bucket. Should we stay or should we go now? 

‘‘Tis only 5 more rehearsals until our lovely Christmas concerts, and we will wait and see if DFS Dorchester will do a stand-alone concert or will benefit from the support of us lot, like last year. It is said they have recently grown somewhat which is nice. 

In the middle of the warm up jack was employed to search the internets for instructions on how to pitch transpose on Ed’s organ of choice, as it lacked a straightforward button. We love it when we have working internets, and we could be Keeping The Dream Alive in the right key. The last ‘note’ was fabulous. 

The snakes came out for a rendition of Make You Feel My Love. Some people ... well ok, most people, had forgotten how to fit in some of the words so we rehearsed that and added some ‘aaaaarghs’, and went a bit jazz. Very nice. 

Then we were jealous because before singing So Happy Together our choir master showed us the lovely booklet he had created for DFS Dorch, with a posh logo and everything but then we had to let them off because they don’t have internets or screens like how we ‘always’ do. We all worked very hard on some very lovely Baaaaaaaaahs. All layered and long lasting. 

And a nice Carol next, O Holy Night, when Ed started by explaining which ending we will be using. The posh ending we hope. Ed found himself a bit confused, and explained a harmony that wouldn’t actually work as there wasn’t a bit that went up where he thought it did. He blamed the fact that the common room makes him lose so much weight in sweat that he was all delerious but just like the meaning of the song, we instantly forgave him and bravely sang onwards with a new harmony part. This song made the men sound powerful when they sang ‘fall on your knees’. Happy Christmas. 

Walk Right Back was our next song, and easy peasey and followed by Life’s About To Get Good. Who had done their half term homework? Mike had it as an ear worm, and consequently, so did I! I also had an ear worm caused by mine and Ed’s new baby, but that’s a whole ‘nother story. When we got to the three part harmony, did you remember which part was yours? I didn’t. 

S.O.S apeared on the screen, fresh off the internets, and we sang it loud and proud. It’s a pity that the common rooms adsorbs so much, because we sang our socks off. And not because it’s too hot up there! Staying with ABBA we sang Money Money Money one we haven’t tasted in a long time. 

And finally on extra time, Bring Him Home, all nice and gentle like a kind of cool down in the stuffy room. 

Well done DFS, and everyone else who helped get it together on last-minute-room-changes-dot-com. Keep singing, I love ya! The Cat xxx

19 October 2017

Ed welcomed those of us that came to Thursday night choir instead of going to see The Nutcracker Suite. Many apologies from sugar plumb fans were registered tonight. 

Our choir master has been with the WI this morning, and it put him in the mood for a sing-a-thong. Jack had all the tracks lined up ready to share on the big screen after a stimulating warm up with a Dum Dum Diddley Dum and some long vowel sounds...

Make You Feel My Love launched the sing-a-thong. And no the blogger does not have a lisp, Ed made it very clear to the blogger how to spell tonight’s extravaganza. 

And with the piano again for Lean On Me, for it won’t be long, til we need a backing track from backing Jack...

We love nights like this, laughing at the choir masters puns, So Happy Together! We got confused in the second verse. 

I Only Want To Be With You coz it’s the best choir in town, we are the only people to get to sing Song Of The Sea and fantasize about waving gills around. Mike gets a yellow card for singing ‘blue eyes filled with emulsion’ and more than once. 

And a new song for choir, O Holy Night and we got our Christmas on ... which can only mean Santa’s coming and Life’s About To Get Good. So Bring Him Home we prayed and filled the hall sounding like a proper nice choir. It was pure chips and gravy. 

Rosé was missing it’s meaningful gap. How many times do I have to blog it? 

Song number 10, Walk Right Back and we had half an hour of the night left! Keeping The Dream Alive was preceded by The Impossible Dream and this gave us Wings, and we nearly took off in the wrong key! We should try to walk before we Run. We sang that When We Were Young and I wrote that down exactly as Ed said it! 

And finally, to our feet we got. We may not Rule The World we really are, We Are The Champions,  W ow, well done DFS, that sing-a-thong was a marathon and you all deserve musical medals. Then we would really have the bling-bling. Remember this cheeky blogger loves you xxx

12 October 2017

Once more into the hall dear friends ... to begin our practice with a nice little scale, and a none-word version of You Raise Me Up. 

In notices, Ed said he does appreciate when choir give him feedback, and some people have voiced opinions on some of the songs, and also a preference of singing with Ed and his piano as oppose to karaoke tracks. 

We may not use karaoke tracks for the next few weeks, but we will still be using YouTube as we did next to listen to Life’s About To Get Good. And life in DFS is about to go into three parts. Our dear choir master broke these down for us! Concert Ready? Not quite. The middle part seems really hard to grasp onto, but we stood to perform it as we sounded ‘proper choir’...

We didn’t do the crooning version of Walk Right Back, just a nice jolly Ed-and-piano one. He spent some time breaking down the harmonies, which is good coz I think a few of us need to hear it more than a few times! Suddenly we ended up a little harmony heavy...

And next in support of this years nautical charity, we got Jack to dig out Song Of The Sea and Ed tried to remember the song that he wrote some years ago. I must ask the choir master if I can bring my seagull-on-a-stick that I made in 2010 inspired by this very song. We stood to perform and moved onto a slightly more uptempo version of Across The Universe, and the naturally up tempo I’m Into Something Good, right after someone who hadn’t read the blog asked what ‘jai guru deva om’ meant. 

We are just Keeping The Dream Alive when Ed explained which end notes go up and which go down and to encourage a bit of a fluffier flutter in the middle - I love you-ooooo! 

Soon choir will be having a lovely meeting to discuss choir plans and a future tour of course, and we finished with Bring Him Home with Mike’s love and blessing and the healing hands of May on my shoulders as she sang behind me. Choir sounded fab. 

So keep singing amazing choir, even when you’re not in the bathroom... love from Cat Blogger xxx

5 October 2017

Back in the hall again we found Alan the skipper was thrilled that this years charity for DFS Weymouth and Portland is in fact MV FREEDOM, and he gave a vote of thanks on behalf of MV Freedom, because boats can’t talk anyway. We may well be singing Song Of The Sea in fine support of this. Probably not out at see as MPF is a tad small for DFS. 

After our warm up, the screen lit up with the words of Across The Universe as thankfully the hall was free to use, the WiFi was working and a hat left behind last week was reunited with a head. Ed would love us to be brave and daring with some harmonies over the tops all nice and lovely! 

We are Keeping The Dream Alive even if no one knows the harmony, so another run-through was had, in the key of   A  G. And a capela. We did well. Are you sure which bits go up and which go down? I might post some useful arrows ...

Then we sang a song I’m much too young to know, Walk Right Back. It’s lovely to listen to DFS sometimes. A small slide is permitted in this song, but watch the timing of ‘I’m so lonesome every day’ because some so and so’s sing so too early. 

You tube was fired up, at the third attempt, bad internet, and we sang along to a karaoke version of Lay All Your Love On Me. Ed said this was a new one for choir but I couldn’t help thinking we had done it before. Then it hit me, one day in the old days of choir when we rehearsed in the music rooms, we once handed round some booklets containing the Mama Mia medley and had a reet good sing. Who was there?

You tube came into itself again to show us the new Shania Twain song, Lifes About To Get Good, and then some note bashing on the piano and our words on the screen. How we love the technology when it works. It really started to come together, apart from we need more roughing up ... eh? Sometimes our rythm goes all to pot and needs rediscovering. We have always learned songs quickly, encouraged Ed ... Then we had a stand and perform.

Back to YouTube for Beach Baby complete with bouncing pink letters on a fetching aqua

Background. 

And I’m also mostly much too young to remember that, and we moved to Seasons Of Love an old friend of choir, with our words and the piano. Nice. 

And tonight’s random-oke winner was Don’t Look Back In Anger. Boss. 

Keep up the good work DFS, I love you, sing your hearts out, especially in the supermarket! Xxx

28 September 2017

The one surprisingly in the common room again, with free internets, and secret ballot slips for charity voting. This will allow for anonymity, posting slips and voting for this years charity. 

Nominations included MV Freedom, The Air Ambulance, and Weldmar Hospice Care, tuggling at our heart strings tonight. 

Then with that to ponder, we slipped into a quick warm up, before diving into you tube beginning our new and revisited songs with Keeping The Dream Alive. And after an online run through Ed whipped out his battery-powered piano, and changed the key to G, demonstration the low harmony for the harmonising harmony harmonisers. Ed wanted more brightness which is difficult because the common room eats acoustics for a hobby. 

Then it was time to Walk Right Back in G again, but even as I was blogging that fact, Ed said nothing is set in stone, even the key of G. A slide is permitted in this song, by the way.  There was a possibility of a little choreography slipped in but just as in DFS Dorchester, it was quickly vetoed, before we stood to sing, Ed belting out the harmony nice and loud so it wouldn’t drown in the absorbent carpet. 

We knew that with the next song that Life’s About To Get Good, but the internet would not play so it was time to try I’m Into Something Good with a little piano accompanyment and some a capela while we worked out the harmony part and the ooooOOOOOooooo bits too. Please listen to the middle bit for homework this week. We accidentally ended up in G which wasn’t quite right for this song. 

Across The Universe we went, for a little dabble at another brand new song, not even tested last night with DFS Dorchester, it was an absolute DFS premier. We dabbled in D which made a nice change from all that G, and learned some possibly yoga terminology which I’m going to run through google I think. 

I found out, “The refrain "Jai Guru Deva Om" is a mantra intended to lull the mind into a higher consciousness. The words are in Sanskrit, and they mean "I give thanks to Guru Dev," who was the teacher of The Maharishi.” Nice. 

And then without asking Mike we launched into an impressive Bring Him Home. Its a little high but we can do it. 

Jack got our appreciation for doing so well to keep us singing, and we all scribbled on slips and slipped out the door for another week. 

Keep singing and don’t forget your homework, with love, Cat xxx

21 September 2017

The one without the Internets ...

Back in the school hall again did DFS Weymouth and Portland meet for the start of their 10th year ...

Ed is very organised this year because the 7th December will see us Christmas-concerting in the very same school hall. There were no lyrics to hand out, because that would save trees, but at the mention of  'words on the screen', Jack dived beneath the mixing desk to retrieve the missing internets. When we have decided on songs that pass choir tasting, words will become avaible on paper. Sadly the missing internets could not be found. 

After a successful warm up we had a look at sharing folders so we could at least be last-season. Our first song, Soolaimon, does have a lot words the same so that was helpful! 

Missing from our first night was a sweet medley from Gershwin, a Green Day number called Wake Me Up When September Ends and Bring Him Home, Seasons Of Love and a Jolly song called Life's About To Get Good...Walk Right Back... Do look on our web site if you want the lyrics, that is, if you have internets of course.

Then we sang Wings because we are very good at that. Apart from the people who had forgotten their parts. After some work we were good enough for a stand-and-sing performance, so we did!

After that perfect piece, Ed announced the second coming of our Christmas medley sometime in November, and then gave the old Blog a plug so I had to stop writing and wave!

Do Wah Diddy Diddy what we do'd next, in our 'evening of nostalgia', just one awesome run through, before The Impossible Dream had all the folders shuffled yet again, and we ran through it again in a different key, just for fun. 

The a double bill of The Mamas and Papas It's Getting Better followed by some California Dreaming and do remember your

ooohs! 

When We Were Young was the last of our look backs, before Ed reintroduced the prospect of Random-oke which will return next week with the internets. Simply scribble your desired song on a bit of paper and slip it into Ed's box for completely random selection and no vetting whatsoever. Ed plugged the blog, which meant I had to stop typing, and wave, and I accidentally hit UNDO and not SAVE so this blog is a wee bit late ...

Do You Hear The People Sing? Yes of course you do, especially the men, because not even a lack of internets and A4 sheets will silence DFS, which is good because we are a community choir after all, I don't come for the dance routines.

Finally, do look forward to our AGM, and some forms next week for voting about what matters to you at choir, for example our chosen charity for the year (being chosen next week) and the destination of our next choir tour. 

I love you, keep singing, Cat xxx

6 July 2017

The one with the wine and fans ... 

We opened with Don't Stop Me Now all rousing and lovely. Not nessesarily together but fun. I sat in the welcome fan with my hair all 80's. 

At the front of choir were prices of paper to put song offerings before Jack The Judge, because tonight's the last choir night for round about 10 weeks, but the good news is in 2 weeks time we have a social at Wey Valley School in the diner, for a fab Kareoke night, food provided, and bring booze. I mean pop. 

Have a think about a charity for next term, and about joining the choir travel committee to help choose next years choir tour. 

Amd after notices we warmed up with Dona Nobis Parcem because we are a very classy lovely choir who never drink too much wine. 

The first song (to revisit) shouted out from stage left Down Town but the school web had other ideas and banned the lyrics for quite sometime. Eventually Jack overcame the naughty hedgehog and found us some words to sing along so Ed wouldn't feel silly. Choir members bustled forward with pieces of paper and tried not to fall up the steps to Jack!

And from stage right One Day Like This left, Song Of The Sea. We giggled because ed wondered if he could remember the chords. Stage left chose The Way Old Friends Do for old times sake! Fields Of Gold pleased us before Rosé warmed everyone's cockles! 

We had a quick snack break and dived into Seasons Of Love as well as popcorn and brownies, before the clean version of Rolling In The Deep washed down with more lemonade. Rule The World just about raised the school roof, and Dancing Queen is a choir favourite that's for sure! 

And for the finale, we didn't have to put any chairs away, Ed counted hands of who is coming next week and made us cry saying how much he loved and appreciated up doing what we do. We gave Jack a huge round of applause and we stood to sing A Little Respect and we saw that it was good. 

See you in 2 weeks, have fun singing in your everyday and have a great summer too. See you in September, when choir will be 9! Love you xxx

29 June 2017

The one with the gap ....

We had an unreasonably large Isle, so Ed had 'stage right' shuffle over to 'stage left', to facilitate a more intimate evening. Then he launched into notices without letting my blogging thumbs warm up! Saturday may be raining but if you can, be at the rose garden for our one o'clock aprearance. 

Ed has proudly booked Christmas concerts up to 2019 but won't be releasing dates until a little later, and whipped out a laser pointer to clarify the way the sheet music works, and fired up Dona Nobis Pacem on the old piano, by way of a warm up. It's really easy until we put it into its three parts, then as a part three, I'm lost. Mind you, it sounds like Christmas! 

And God Only Knows was sung through before dissecting, and followed by California Dreaming, and Do Wah Diddy Diddy, with voting for the concert repertoire after each number. That was exciting. Soolaimon was sung too and along with The Impossible Dream and then a round of voting and a creation of a set list for Saturday. 

 

Then we decided some of these songs to sing again, and sang Wings, well, we flew through it, with a recap of the three parts of 'Damn These Walls'. Oh and a revisit of the Oh Oh Oh's before the Worzels showed up for a cider. 

God Only Knows was given a stand-up performance, but with Ed playing live it was easy to mis a cue or two. 

To dream The Impossible Dream, yes that's Ed and his driving to separate do-dos from Bah-Bahs, and the rest. So we stood proud, to sing it in his honour. It's ready for our final sing song. Didn't we do well. 

And even though there was no random-oke this week, because we were working so hard, we were not sad because we knew that next week would be wall-to-wall random-oke, rosé, pringles and cake. 

See you next week I love you, Cat Xxx

22 June 2017

The one where it had very much cooled down again ... and that was a good tho because we needed a warm up! Daisy said we sounded like geese or ducks. Clever us. 

Socially we can all meet in the holidays at Goulds Garden Centre in the summer holidays which is fab. And friendly. Our official choir social is Thursday 20 July and more details will follow. 

And we started with our Latin flavoured round, Dona Nobis Pacem. We all sang it together to revise is from last week, then split into our three parts. Well I say we. I was away last week so sat open-mouthed pretending I was in dead posh Inverness Choral Societly again, where you have auditions and have to sit in parts. Mike listened too, and gave everyone a huge clap when they had completed 2 complete rounds a Capella and beautifully. Wow. Just wow. 

Then straight into California Dreamin' on such a summers day as this. Ed had to help us with the melody at the end of the verses. Thanks Ed. 

God Only Knows how we got this good, but we have and that's that. Hands up Oo-ers, said Ed? And Who are Do-doos? Show of hands, he continued. Oo-ers got 8 out of 10. There were only two Do-doos, but they were marvellous. Finally Ba-ba-bahs got 7 out of ten and might have been a bit jealous of the do-doos getting 10 out of ten. I could hardly blog for the tears in my eyes. 

Then it was stand and perform time while the going was good and oooohs, doos, and baaaahs were all scoring 9! 

But to gain full marks will be to dream The Impossible Dream but here at DFS we always do. Earnestly and sincerely. Remember this one starts steady and softly and builds. Revisit the art of shifting gears which I blogged about originally some years ago. 

Soolaimon brought forth another wow. Meridy wanted some long notes in the chorus so we did some, before standing to perform again. 

A revisit song, Story Of A Heart I remember singing at the Wey Bay Church many ancient moons ago. We had worked hard and it was time for our reward and Rolling In The Deep with er, strong lyrics. That one slipped by the censor. Just another passing ship. 

I love you DFS keep doing what you do and see you next week xxxx

8 June 2017

And once again we gathered together for the final weeks of year eight, and began an invigorating warm-up, so apt for a night like tonight. 

Then Ed plugged a musical event, to kick off notices, and gave stunning feedback on the fair in the square. We are already booked for next year. 

We kicked off with Wings, with the treat of new any-oke songs and two new choir songs to enjoy tonight. We were marvellous. I love you DFS. 

Soolaimon was a really new song, and introduced to us by Ed singing it, and I sent a snippet to a certain 11 year old, who thought it was cool. It was really fun to work with, as it split into such sweeeeet lovely harmonies that Ed was visibly moved and we were able to stand and do our first performance! 

There are no other choirs doing Soolaimon on you tube, so get ready to be the first. I have a SONY don't forget...

And, to continue the 'religious bent', The Impossible Dream filled our eager mouths and our powerful lungs and we gave it a good run through, apart from a few tricky bits, and after a careful dissection, we stood to perform. Perhaps it wasn't so new as it sounded a lot like a certain song from Les Mis ... 

God Only Knows how well we worked tonight because we gave that a run through before singing All Around My Hat that I had mostly remembered wrongly from childhood! How we love random-oke!

Well done tackling those new songs today DFS. You rock. Keep in rocking it, love Cat xxx

25 May 2017

The one where Mike and Cat came back. So sorry about that, normal blogging has been resumed. 

We started with a jolly good warm-up with the good old piano which cheered up our Jack no end, and then in notices, we start at 11am in Brewers Quay on Saturday. Please don't show up at Brewery Square in Dorch. And the sniff of a social at the end of term. 

We winged through God Only Knows, then broke it down for overlapping analysis. Next rehearsal there will be lovely sheet music available for those that read music. And for those like me, who's heads go interesting places there will be sheep-music (baah-bah-bah-bah etc). People were not quick to volunteer to do do-doos but after some more reception we had a nice handful of do-doo. Then Ed grabbed a microphone and recorded all the parts one after the other, and several times! 

And when we had tamed the men back from being feral, it was all sounding smashing, even without Ed. And he gave us an 'oooh' for a wonderful 8 bars! If only our listening ears knew just how much we put into our songs! 

Next we were California Dreaming together ... lots more breaking things down carefully to improve our confidence and volume, and it didn't sound too badly at that. Thanks Ed. 

Do Wah Diddy Diddy was To Be Done next, and it sounded like we had practiced in Asda compared to last week, so that was smashing. And btw it's ok to practice in Morrisons or Sainsbury's if you prefer. I wonder if I can now get them all to sponsor or bar-b-que now? Don't forget the HUGE meaningful gap, a silent trap set to trip up unwary singers in choir. Count 5 and breathe...

Here at DFS I think we do all with love, but we did the next song Sealed With A Kiss! It needed a drastic key change, and not absolutely a Jurassic key change, to make it more friendly. We are nothing if not Man-Friendly here at DFS. Hmmmm I wonder if Kervin still reads this? Don't forget that soft LETTER. Lesley wrote down D minor, minus 4, so we won't forget for next time. Ed will. 

We made a decision together for the running order for Saturday. I think everyone was happy, and we gave Wings a run through with a little bit of extra harmony, and another go at the ending a Capella sounding like a heavenly host and making me all glad to be back at choir again. 

And random-oke time arrived at last. A-ha Take On Me blasted mainly from one speaker and 24 bars later we joined in. Such fun. Especially the 32 instrumental break in the middle. It was quickly followed by 9 To 5! 

I love you song-singers keep doing what you do, Love, The Cat xxxx

4 May 2017

Back in the common room again, as parents evening rumbled on in the hall, we pretended it was summer and opened all the windows to set the bunting flittering. 

The holiday news was a reminder to be ready to leave at 4pm and a concert and brewery trip added in to Saturday, and an earlier dinner. 

Busking at Preston Garden Party is on 20th May and then we are at Fayre in the Square the Saturday after that!

And then some special common room warm ups, with some special friends of Ed, beginning with Roger Burnley, in a pinch. Let's try to make our chords to make a nice clean connection. That really helped. Vocal Genie next, starting with a long hiss or three, and then some lovely lip trills, and some smashing bending too. 

Fantastic. And to a song as we Can't Help Falling in Love. The relief was palpable. Although the room absorbed the sound we gave it much more welly the second time around and we were allowed to move on to It Must Be Love, staying with that loving feeling that being part of DFS brings us. Ed introduced a lower harmony and we almost all ran with it. Cue a mission to rediscover the melody before it floated out of the windows and graced parents evening. 

When We Were Young sounded superb and lovely. 

Annie's Song next, with Ed singing the low harmony and the squeaky people singing the high. It needed more life, but again, we could blame the carpet again if we wanted ...

To Wings, which was lovely lovely lovely but some people were still sliding technique such as that of a church congregation singing How GREeeeEAT Thou Art. 

In a new key, It's Getting Better, but I need it like mama Cass, so I mimed. The key change was fab, but the last bit caught most people out again. Oops. Ed apologised for leading us astray. 

Let It Be Me sounded lovely "even in here," said Ed, sweetly. 

And in the last two concerts, We Are The Champions has been a real crowd pleaser, some of the problems we initially had dissolved but we did get a reminder about SENTENCE which turned out very helpful. 

The last song for practice, we stood to sing Uptown Girl because everyone could still some words. 

For random-oke this evening, the noise makers chose A Little Reapect and had it with great joy. 

And it remains to wish holly-bobs-peeps a fantastic and enjoyable trip. They stayed behind to practice and we all went home. I love you DFS, and I'm sorry not to perform with your recently. Please forgive me and completely keep singing, Cat XXX

28 April 2017

All Saints Church Portland Comcert

A spokesperson for choir said, "It was a pleasure to perform, yet again, at All Saints Church on Portland.  This was our 9th concert in as many years here and all the stops were pulled out for a great performance.  Although we had slightly fewer members of the audience than in previous years, we still raised a very impressive £280 which has been split between the church and DCH Charity Cancer Appeal.

Our next appearance is at the Fayre In The Square, Brewers Quay on Saturday, 27th May at 11am  (singing before midday!!)."

PS That was Ed. 

27 April 2017 .... cold

Back after the Easter holidays, those of us who are early birds found the hall locked and the caretaker running for the key.... 

Ed reminded us of our exciting concert tomorrow, at All Saints Church, and gave some feedback about the Wool job, which went down very well. 

Then we started to work through our running order but I was also texting two of the sweetest 11 year olds, but they do like being sent sound bites of our practice, and always clap and cheer. I thought you would like to know that ...

We looked at the middle eight of the Adele song, because that needs to be very percussive and bouncy, and of course closely followed by a nice BIG high note. We then sang it loads more better. 

Please make sure that Annie's Song is sung with gusto, and not from a Volvo parked in a layby. Honestly. You have to be here, really. Only carol bravely sang the solo so we went through it again. 

Then the running order changed a bit, bumping Do You Hear The People Sing and making Wings the next song ...oh the fun we had, before moving on to Uptown Girl, with a new machine-gun intro. 

And this is the new possition for It's Getting Better and on it goes ... it ended on a good note, but Ed forgot to press his magic button twice. 

Let It Be Me rolled off our tongues like Manuka Honey and Ed saw that it was good, before digging out another kind of Wings with Paul MacCartney, My Love. We tried along with YouTube then lucky us, we had time for a random-one, selected carefully from great songs shouted out by DFS members. Daydream Believer!

Well done choir and Ed, and Jenny on the door tonight, and Jack-in-the-corner. Have fun in Portland tomorrow, and keep singing!  Love the Cat xxx 

Dorset For Singing Have a Huge Heart!

On the 29 March 2017 DFS Weymouth and DFS Dorchester joined forces at URC Dorchester and looked like this, Thanks to Carol and Phil - a wonderful pic of us all ...

But of course we sounded much better, and although or audience was moderate in number, Ed reported on Facebook the next day, "So proud of Dorset for Singing, great concert last night raising a grand total of £299.85 for Diverse Abilities."

Many biscuits were gobbled and some fabulous solo/duet/and trio acts performed too, in the name of love, and community. We heard about what Diverse Abilities do, and you can find out more just clicking that link. Some people stopped me to ask what was happening with My Reckless Love, but dont worry. Its the first song on our new album ....

Then of course the Easter holidays were upon us, but many members of both choirs came and performed together with others on Friday, 21st April, for a night of Busking, Wool Village Hall, and before he could even put himself to bed Ed popped onto facebook to add, "Thank you so much to the lovely singers and supporters of Dorset for Singing together with the Drax Guitar Club for tonight's concert in Wool. We raised £680 for the Purbeck Workshop who are dedicated to providing creative escapes to those touched by cancer within the Dorset area." And that's all really amazing and fantastic."Big thanks to our lovely choir member, Chris Smith for organising the concert," continued Ed ....

Finally don't forget, the community choir with the biggest heart return to rehearsals on Wednesday, 26th April (Dorchester) and Thursday, 27th April (Weymouth & Portland), keep singing and Thanks for sharting the LOVE XXX

23 March 2017

The one where Ed got his organ back, and played us in with The Pink Panther which was nice.

Next weeks concert is for all DFS 

Members to sing, and we will be standing at the front of church without any chairs this time. No playing stand up and sit down. Our running order I will paste later from the Wobbly-Web for your folder-ordering pleasure. Right here -

Running Order!!! DfS Dorchester Easter Concert Wednesday, 29th March, 7pm United Church,
Dorchester

Part 1 Can’t Help Falling In Love With You
It Must Be Love
When We Were Young
Annie’s Song
Solo/Duo Act 1
It’s Getting Better
Do You Hear the People Sing?

 Part 2 Wings
Uptown Girl
Solo/Duo Act 2
Solo/Duo Act 3
Let It Be Me
We Are The Champions

Please don't come here next week, because it's the end of term for DFS, but do come to URC Dorchester if you are performing in the concert! 

And so after a quick Dum-Dum-Diddle we dived into Can't Help Falling In Love following a demonstration of the into we will next week, and a reminder to give it some oomph, so it doesn't go flat! 

Next It Must Be Love and we fell into it as we went, and Ed said that It Was Good, and we sang When We Were Young like there was no tomorrow. It was well remembered, just a little more confidence injected please. 

Come in slightly less softly in the softly bit of Annie's Song and indeed please don't forget to stop oooooo-ing and start singing. Dorch are very good on the harmony for this so we might balance each other out a bit. 

Time to see if It's Getting Better during which I was pleased to notice the blogger-phone was remembering our song titles and suggesting capitalising ahead of me which was rather exciting! Keep your eyes on Ed folk! 

And for the rousing end of Act One we sang Do You Hear The People Sing which DFS always do a good job of belting out! And then of course is interval time with virtual tea and all round. Please bring some next week if you feel so inclined. 

Next our voices took Wings and we did find some bits that need ironing out, but we carried on with Uptown Girl and gave that some propper welly too and had a new cheese-free ending. A very giggling section of choir appeared some where around the second row, but don't Let It Be Me please. ''Tis a sweet gentle number this one. It's sounding lovely by the way, just watch the notes for 'each time' and 'I find'. 

A few mistakes popped aptly into We Are The Champions and set off a ripple of amusement again. There was definitely something in the water tonight. And so completed our full-setto. 

And then it was time to go live. Were you there? I'll put my blogger-phone away!

We revisited We Are The Champions because of the odd timing. I think we might have to fake it to make it on the night. Mike thought we should mine. It Must Be Love seemed to come in flat but we must be thankful that anyone comes in at all, and Annie's song harmonies were looked at again. 

And for Any-ole, out well deserved treat, we sang Hallelujah! 

I love you DFS have a great Easter see some of you in Dorchester next week xxxx

16th March 2017

The one with the New Chair Layout and the return of Tony Leach ... 

Following his rather helpful diction-flavoured  warm-up, we did some scales. Our piano was perched at the back of the hall, so we were going to be very inventive this week! 

In news, Ed updated us on polo shirts, concerts and the up coming choir trip which is full steam ahead, and we sang Its Getting Better and it really IS getting better! Everyone was very happy to hear that. 

Annie's Song had a lovely harmony, and we put on our smiley faces to sing it through again. Then after looking quickly at another choirs version (my lips are sealed) we sang Uptown Girl and gave it some welly. 

After rather a lot of welly we remembered that  We Are The Champions! Still a few words we don't fit in so well. 

And it's not that You're So Vain but you might think this song is about you? Just Let It Be Me and all will be well. Our Carly Simon number will not be ready to perform in two weeks, but the everly brothers were sounding well balanced in terms of harmonies. 

Then it was time to cosy round the piano for a couple of re-dos before Any-oke!

 

We had to get into the ragae for Wise Men Say and then became Champions again! 

Suddenly though, Ed remembered we should do Wings so we did. And for any-ole we sang Mama Mia and I do apologise if that's not  two words. Until next time!

How I love you all, keep singing! Cat xxx

9 March 2017

Back in the hall again, with our chairs in our favourite semicircle, and 428 songs to get through, we watched the choir master hump his keyboard back into the right spot. From next week, the chairs will be further back to accommodate a larger front end. 

And then it was warm-up time, without any special guests though, when we redirected the angry hamsters of old, and played the counting game too. Such fun. 

Our first song today was Wings. It was sounding really lovely, and Ed only had to point out a few things. Then he had everyone stand to perform it, this time with the backing instead of the piano. We worked on the ending and the harmonies too. 

And It Must Be Love that is the reason we sing together. Do you like what I did there? Ed decided a fade out might be a fab ending but then wasn't too sure. 

Moving swiftly onto Moondance. The wee chorus tripped us up. Jack made a lyric change, and we moved on to Let It Be Me, and then to It's Getting Better. But I am not sure if it was. Ed crushed an invisible violin on the floor and left it for the cleaner to deal with. Then I believe it got better. Come on. And everyone stood to perform it. 

And we know The Things We Do For Love and we pressed on towards the end of the night, put up and coming concert and our next cup of tea ... we made the decision to pop this one on the back burner but I made mental note that Ed felt the key was too low. 

On with Annie's Song we galloped. Ed recapped the harmony, and we made like a proper choir, then someone asked if we could 'do Elvis' so we did Can't Help Falling In Love, and then it was time for notices. Just to spell it out that choir are jolly well invited to the Wool concert on the 21st April at 7.30pm in the D'Urberville Hall. 

Please do come to support the Dorch concert on weds 29th March at URC. 

Tonight's Random-Oke was the beach boys number, Sloop John B, which we have sung as choir before of course. Tops! 

I love you DFS, keep up the super-duper-smashing good work, and definitely keep singing! Xxx

2nd March 2017

Back in a common room due to yet another last-minute parents evening, we beheld on the screen the delight of a brand new vocal warm ups ... Ed had found a new friend, Mark Baxter, to help us along from plan A to plan B. Loses points for entertainment but plus points for finesse. Maybe. 

Then choir stood to warm up with The Grand Old Duke York. This would definitely be fun if people were OUT when they got it wrong but that might take all night, and we had to fit in a 1-2-1, 1-2-3-2-1 etc again. Once we get to ten we tend to slip into the teens. Dum dum diddle!

Our first song, with kareoke backing, was The Things We Do Love. Another classic I thought I knew really well, until I came to sing it! We did on according to Ed, then we cracked on with Let It Be Me. We had a few errant notes, and a bit of a sad sound, so please raise those cheekbones as high as you can. After another run through we were still a little harmony heavy and I don't mean too much hairspray. Ooh, that's an old one. 

And to see if It's Getting Better we sang it loud and proud! Cheek bones everyone! The key change was MUCH better but we still needed to work on the ending. There will definitely not be a 'star-pose' at the finish. 

Our other newish song Wings next, with a new backing track too. Ed introduced a harmony as we sang along. After breaking it down we had another run through, and did rather well. 

Next Annie's Song, done in two different keys just for fun, followed by We Are The Champions on our feet! Which was proper singing, it was. 

Out any-oke song buy audience vote was Sweet Caroline and it was duly tackled with such enthusiasm it fair cancelled out my memory of Tom Jones last week. 

Well done DFS you worked hard, and I know you are going to home and do your homework. What is it anyway? Can I copy off yours? Love, The Cat xxx

23 February 2017

Back in the common room again we were treated with a new warm up, which involves counting to 10. We had no laptop until one expressly arrived and while it was powered up we tried the counting warm-up which is almost impossible and accidentally ends up in the teens. 

And in news, our live video has been watched many times, clocking up 2703 views! 

Then we did 'The Grand Old Duke Of York' you know, the one where we clap and stamp in all the right places. 

Then Jack hit YouTube for a fun Choral warm up with Tony Leach. You simply must try it! 

 

We have a new song to try tonight and a revisit to an old song. Ed flashed the new dates section of the website which is really helpful then threw some extra information at us. All are invited to attend the Easter concert at United Reform Church in Dorchester. 

So we kicked off with It's Getting Better and a bit of copy paste from Jack to fix our ending, then dived into Dropbox again to sing Uptown Girl with lots of energy, and we were asked to do it Alan Car, no A Capella, or as Ed likes to say, Al Fresco. 

And at choir we Can't Help Falling In Love and it shows. We sang that one Al Fresco too, but then the speakers are a bit odd in the common room. Next though we fired them up again to listen to Birdy - Wings and yes it's from a horsey kind of TV advert. Learn the 'single version' for homework please. 

Annie's Song we have tackled before, and Jack popped on a nice YouTube backing track so we could tackle it anew. ''Tis one of those songs in a fabulous key for our male members and of course me, and we will leave it at that key, thank you very much!

Just two more songs before random-oke dictator-oke, You're So Vain first, and the news that full gamut of approved-oke songs can now be found on our own YouTube channel so take a sneak peep if you dare!

We Are The Champions was our final song tonight, before Jack chose You Can't Hurry Love and we all left Freddie and became phil Collins. Quickly followed by a bonus roomful of Tom Jones (Delilah) Uncanny. Man, I love this choir. Keep singing and see you next Thursday, Cat XXX

9 February 2017

The Thursday after DFS Dorch went live ... it was our turn. We were all looking forward to that. 

Please don't come next week, it will be half term and Ed will be in the New Forrest managing fires. Nice. Well done for turning up in the very cold night and mind you do not fall down the hole in the car park that Lesley vacated on her way in. Mike gave me an odd strate for harmonising in the warm-ups, well if ya it it .... naughty me. We Dum-dum-diddleyed for a special quest. 

I got very excited for the live-test because then I would be seen blogging live. I'm ready to flash the blog App and smile with everyone else. That was fun, did you see me? 

Then it was time to rehearse our Live-song and Ed recorded the backing so he would be ready to conduct us as we Can't Help Falling In Love With You, our fans! The harmony parts were a bit quiet and we need to be careful not to hold any of those notes that should be short. Then we gave it another run through, and left that to mature awhile. 

And of course It's Getting Better all the time here at DFS. We sang this one with the piano not the backing track and still tripped up over the key change and the double chorus. Despite this we gave our choir master a lovely warm feeling and we were complemented on our energy. That key change took a hammering. It was getting there. Jack had a good time and we all laughed away the tension preceding our star moment as his marvellous and helpful live edits. 

I think tonight we believed that We Are The Champions, well maybe until the bit with too many words in ... garbled was a word used here. Repetition worked here too. We had a little stand and perform. 

And with less than 5 minutes till broadcast and with the wrong words on the screen we had a rest with Let It Be Me, but nerves or forgetfulness may have caused a bum note. 

And then it was time to possibly get caught on my phone at choir, finishing this actual sentence and waiting for the big moment ... 26 viewers later, we sat back to enjoy some comments, before cracking on with Uptown Girl to use up the rest of that nervous energy. And well done us, we really kept it going. I wonder what we all had for tea?

And the not-very-random-oke but it was very wall-of-sound. Da Do Ron Ron filled the hall before we all skipped off merrily to our cold cars and warm houses to spend a fine half term in song. Love you loads, keep singing xxx

2 February 2017

The one with lots of dates announcing, which we got to after our warm up. 

29 March DFS Dorch concert at the church there. Feel free to join them. 

21 April is the Wool concert, 7.30pm in the village hall. 

28 April at All Saints Portland where they love us loads. 

20 May Preston Village Fete

27 May Fare in the Square 

And don't forget our tour too! Deposits were arriving already 

And the first song was MacArthur Park which I think may have gone better than last week. But as Michael and I were not here we could hardly be the ones to judge. 

Then Ed mentioned our future facebook LIVE which will happen next week. Oh joy. Jenny is going to hide at the back. Then we sang Can't Help Falling In Love, breaking it down a lot before standing to perform, only Mike, less one gallbladder was sitting beside me (blogging away frantically as usual). Whooo. 

And one of tonight's tasks was to work out the ending of It's Getting Better. The key change is a bit of a pickle, and the ending might just have gotten worser. The key change might leave (Vote on our facebook page).

To save our choir master's sanity we quickly moved him to tears by singing whatever we wanted followed by a noble attempt at Uptown Girl and avoided a breakdown by Ed breaking it down a bit for us again. He demonstrated some American twang because we were sounding a bit to choral. 

And for something more gentle again we had Let It Be Me. Ed usually says this number is over-harmonised, but today it was very lovely and worked. We responded appropriately to some small corrections and suddenly the harmony disappeared, then returned again. Such fun. It was rather hard to keep up blogging live tonight. 

Suddenly it was time for We Are The Champions and our hearts and voices swelled with pride. It was no bed of roses. 

With the any-oke box no where to be seen it was up to dictator-ed to pluck something suitable from the air to reward us before hometime. 500 Miles was the way to go ...

And didn't they do well. Keep singing, I love you DFS XXX

19 January 2017

Cold and well wrapped, DFS arrived for another song-filled session, diving straight into a Dum-Dum-Diddley. 

Updates included the tour dates and itinary all printed out and a warning that the trip would be alcohol free! Next concert is in Wool on 21st April time tbc. Ed was nearly recovered from his worse-case-ever-man-flu and his girl-voice was almost back too. Jack rebooted the school computer and we were good to go. 

'Wise' should be very short remember, when we are singing Can't Help Falling In Love. This ones gonna be a cracker for choir, I can feel it in my water. Ed declared it concert-ready, and we stood to perform. We can just leave that to mature like an old cheese ...

And again, starting with the harmony first, we tackled Uptown Girl, Ed throwing them all at us with gusto, til all was clear as proverbial mud. But after an ok run through, it was time to try it al fresco. Uptown ghost was born. We mastered, nay perfected the skill of singing in 12 different keys. I'm not going to list them here because we are quickly moving on to Let It Be Me, and there was a hope that we could achieve the perfect balance of harmonies displayed by Dorchester DFS last night. Well done guys! We sounded a little harmony heavy, a little like The Everly Brothers themselves, but it only took a little work to get us sounding more balanced and then was happy to have us stand and perform again. It's coming together nicely. 

Operatic section at the ready for our next song, We Are The Champions, and a quick focus on the timing of the too-many-words in verse two, such fun, and very soon we were on  our feet again, and Ed calling for more volume. 

And then most of It's Getting Better, was to be followed by our Any-oke song, but the key change on the YouTube track sucks. The winner was a blank piece of paper, well three, and following a reject we sang Roxette It Must Have Been Love and went home full of love. See you next time, keep singing, love Cat xxx

My didn't we do 

12 January 2017

The first practice of the year was held at the end of a soggy day, but with lots (six) of new songs to whet our appetites. Many of us braved the weather conditions, to hear Ed croak about the lack of snow, and enthuse us. He had the worst cold on record, having been poorly since New Year's Day! 

Choir are almost confirmed to be visiting Truro next year, from Friday 5th May leaving Wey Valley at 4.30 and staying in Newquay. We will be mingling ourselves with other choirs, visiting Killterton House to sing and lunch, and getting back home on Sunday 7th. 

Concerts booked for next year include the rose garden on July 1st and a date in May to sing at All Saints church, and in Bear Regis on the 21st April. More info to come on the website of course. We will have another of our own concerts this year at Easter time too!

Look out for DFS live sometime later, gosh, how exciting! Kervyn and Ronnie can tune in and turn 'Em on .... but not tonight. We have not had time to do our hair! Then we hit a warm up, and Ed slipped into housekeeping and delighted us with the news that random-oke will continue, and jack demonstrated downloading and printing lyrics from our own website, and make them very large. Nice. 

It's Getting Better was our first song, and the solo I sang at Christmas. How honouring. We ran it through with a you tube backing track, and then sang The Everly Bothers' Let It Be Me. Ed broke it down for us, and sat at the piano. It was completely new to little (old) me. 

Then we woke ourselves up again with Uptown Girl yay! After a go with you tube Ed opted to shift the key and slipped behind the keyboard, reminding us not to sing GIRL in a Dorset accent. Why ever not? Hahahah just kidding. I thought it made us sound like pirates. 

Then it was time for Can't Help Falling In Love and we began by listening to our choir master demonstrate the harmony. Nice. It's really important to leave those little air gaps where Ed wants them or he might get quite cross and we will all have to hide in Jamaica. 

And we already know We Are The Champions in terms of rocking concerts. This song has too many lyrics in the second verse that are needed to fit. More revision with YouTube me thinks, who's up for it this weekend? Our final song was some Carly You're So Vain along with YouTube who had some of the words wrong. 

Tonight's random-oke's song was the first one picked out Be My Baby Such fun! That one might even make it to the set. Well done everyone, happy new year! Xxx