25 January 2018

Once more into the hall dear friends, Ed began by checking everyone had all the words to all the songs we are working on. Warm up began with some copying of scales and then some of are classics, such fun. 

We have been asked to to The Rose Garden, on the 14 July and we have time to decide if we want to do that, because it will be after choir has finished for the summer. 

4th May is our Chichester trip, and next week there will itineraries available from next week and you can hand in deposits from then too if you like. 

We began with Build Me Up Buttercup and ran head first into that dodgy note, then we had a good talking to, and totally nailed it, to the choir master’s extreme surprise, even though he made us do it twice more before slipping into The Rose. But the naughty high harmonies came in a verse too early, and then everything sounded a bit sad. Maybe choir were scared to get it wrong, so Ed had to reassure us of his love, plus a couple of starting notes for good measure. 

And up tempo again to Voulez Vous just in case The Rose made anyone, not Jack, fall asleep. I decided to do a Facebook Live video just to prove I can actually sing now and I got lots wrong. Haha, or is it Ah-ha? Take good care not to be Pirates, or even emphasise the Ah not the Haaaaa.  

Back to earth, and English, Hallelujah, not forgetting the free-for-all-ending and I waited to see who would go for it. Ed went for it. Well done choirmaster! Then he introduced a harmony, a low one in the second second verse, and a high harmony hitting a note that he’s not achieved before. Nice. No gap must be left between the ends of the verses and the Hallelujah. Hallelujah said Ed, when we seemed to have got it, Lovely. 

And to see who did their homework we sang How Far I’ll Go which is quite a jog. After a run through we did it A Capella to sort out some of our timings, before having a whizz through Karma Chameleon. My mum once video’d this off top of the pops, and we played it twice as fast because our player would do that. Ed sang the nice overlaps and harmonies like a boss. 

Grand finale, I Am what I Am, starting with men only for the first two lines. I love you DFS, keep singing! Xxx

18 January 2018

This week song booklets were by the hall door, just to keep everyone on their toes. Or heelys, if you are my daughter. Before warm ups we had a whistle stop tour of the website. Sadly the blog couldn’t be shared because of the very important school firewall that keeps out all potentially naughty blog posts. 

Then everybody but me sang Dum Dum Diddley followed by some sliding nice lovely scales, and some of our more familiar warm ups. I can hum but I felt like my newly screwed down palate might vibrate off. 

Our first song, is only a bit new. We had sung the chorus before as a choir, when Harry used to come in and play ukulele and Ed was singing all the verses. Hallelujah! Ed played around to find the key and we sang our socks off. At the end there’s a big ad lib section and anything goes. Well, so long as it’s in tune! Ot was declared a work in progress. 

And bang up to date, How Far I’ll Go from the film Moana. YouTube gave us a preview and we all listened while a select few Moana fans sang along. For homework listen and learn, and maybe watch the film, it’s better then frozen anyway. This song is new to half of choir, but it does have a sea theme, and that’s good given this years charity of choice. 

And onto Voulez-Vous that we met last week. I think we remembered most of it. To do some harmony work, we sang with the keyboard beat and Ed conducting. Hmmm. The gentlemen were given a world or two about the execution of the ‘Ah-has’... and generally there was another ‘chat’ about timing. Not on the beat! So we stood to perform it, does it even have an intro? 

And to gentle it all down we sang The Rose, and with all the harmonies too. This song needs to build to a meaty middle and then ease down to a soft ending. 

And to get us going again Build Me Up Buttercup which we sang so well over in Normandy in 2013. Evidence is on the blog somewhere if you look. It’s still a rather good concert filler, and won’t take too much work.

And starting with just the men singing from their boots we launched into I Am What I Am! And Ed set listening to Perfect by Ed Sheeran for homework, but also sang some of it for us. I guess I will slap that one on my Spotify and dance with the dog. 

With the clock at 8pm, just for fun, we ‘sang’ Karma Chameleon and I felt very old. Once we got into it, it sounded pretty good! 

Well done DFS, I love you - keep signing! Cat xxx

11 January 2018

Happy New Year to DFS Weymouth and Portland who were happy to back in the hall again at All Saints school. We will be in the hall for all sessions until half term, so with glee we launched into a warm up, a Dum Dum Diddley Diddley!

But Ed, without the right end on his lead, had his piano turned up so loud that he couldn’t hear us at all so a huge chair shift took place so we could snuggle up. Amen ..

In announcements we met our list of brand new songs. A member of MV Freedom gave a vote of thanks for the money raised at the Christmas concert. 

We started proper singing with The Rose and a brief reminder of the harmony because this song is quite well known to seasoned members of DFS. And then, with Ed conducting, we flatly began to sing Al Fresco. A note about sssssss and another note about syncopation were made, and a note from the piano got us unflattered again. A smiling DFS sang again as our lifted cheeks lifted the sweet little tune right out of the durge it had fallen into. And I smiled too in support, although I’m not yet singing. With some extra work on the harmony parts this song was beginning to sound a lot more confident, as choir stood to perform it. 

We also revisited Build Me Up Buttercup and a fantastic bum note or two and because Ed wanted some more lively numbers this term. Someone was doing a Billy Ocean. Ooooohs are so hard to get right. There was no backing track to work with so Al Fresco again it was to fine tune a thing or three, and back to the piano to refine the second to last HEART ... the C# one before the key change. Oh dear. It’s going to be a looooong term .......

Then we moved to whizz through the rest of the songs beginning with Voulez-Vous and a nice bit of disco rhythm to boot! Choir had to split into AH-HA people and THE INBETWEENY BITS people. Fantastically upbeat, Ed left both Jack and the choir behind!  The beat sure needed sorting out and the French pronounciation too! 

And then to calm things down, Say You, Say Me. And breathe. Wasn’t this once an advert? 

And then to finish, I Am What I Am to see how the key fit. Ed broke the piano. 

Well done everyone, do your homework and keep singing xxxx

7 Dec 2017

As choir starts up again this week I look back at our concerts performed at the end of term. I was not at DFS Dorchester’s do, but I bet it was as good and enjoyable as last year and choir realised £275 for the MS Society. Well done DFS Dorch. I would have come but was having very special family time and saving myself for ....

DFS Weymouth and Portland performed on the next night, a good and varied bunch of songs, some brave soloists, and of course a Christmas medley with real jingle bells. I like it when props make an appearance! At one point a sheep showed up! Solo songs included two really funny numbers, ‘Cheep Flights’ and

‘Earnie’, something I vaguely remember from the olden says. 

Along with a glittering and fabulous raffle and some fun games we managed to raise £814.95 for MV Freedom, and I sang my last song for a while which was written by Hintze and Greenaway, and I’m afraid there was no time to write a blog the next day because of rushing to Poole Hospital for 7.15am. Without, may we add, even a half decent breakfast. I’ll be back blogging for you all again tomorrow but I won’t be able to sing. Enjoy the break, and hope too that you enjoyed the Christmas break and felt loved, free of man flu and other yuck things like that. 

Keep singing, I love you, Cat The Blogger xxx