17 October 2019

We were a little late because Ed had lost his voice and was trying to find it. But we did find the source of his Worst Ever Cold among the choir members, in the form of a stolen kiss. 

There are only two rehearsals before the British Legion concert, and we peeped at some of the details on the screen. No going to the pub inbeteeen rehearsals etc, without inviting all the other members of choir. 

We began our singing with I Vow To Thee Vowing one day to have proper silly warm-ups like we used to back in our ‘other venue’, then switched to a less squeaky key. But what key will the band play in on the actual day? 

A hymn next, one which I should know well, as my grandma once heard my father sitting on the front step singing, ‘For nosey Beryl on the sea’, and Beryl is the name of my aunt. Eternal Father may have been sung well by choir but not by yours truly who does only actually know the last line. 

We stood to sing The National Anthem because it would be rude not too, and it was followed by the end of the telly, or the strange feeling that we should go home. But we didn’t and Ed left the piano because You Raise Me Up came with a backing track. Mind the gap everyone! The Air con fired up and we tackled a key change as Peter popped in to warm us up again, and we practiced the harmonies and uniqueness that was the last line. 

We mostly missed the intro and therefore our cue to start singing The Pipes Of Peace. Take two. What are we gonna do on the night as I think only I sing a certain line, and I’m not absolutely sure i can be there on the night. Perhaps someone will win that opportunity next week? 

A mood change is provided by Oom-Pah-Pah remembering to sway from the second time we Oom-pah-pah, and gently back down to earth with Wartime Medley because it starts with White cliffs of Dover ...a few odd notes crept in, around Jimmy’s bedroom area. 

Ed nearly missed out Get Here but we all shouted at him. I find the phrasing hard in this one. Ed went over some parts of it with us. 

So Keep The Home Fires Burning perhaps to warm us up before heading off into the cold night air. There are some parts of this we are certainly more confident with indeed! There was a request that we try and make sure we all sing the same melody. Ed bashed it out on the piano and Matty waiting outside for me thought we were singing tiptoe through the window! Oh well, that’s not far off! We stood to sing to end the evening on a good note, well maybe...

Well done choir, lovely as usual, keep singing, Cat xxx

10 October 2019

Before we opened our vocal folds we recived our running order for the royal British legeon concert.  

You raise me up

The pipes of peace 

Oom pah pah

Interval

War time medley 

Get here 

Keep the home fires burning 

And we began with You Raise Me Up which was a warm up, and following a mini debate on which folder is best for wielding at concerts. Ed reminded us of the new harmony part again, and about the gap in the waiting here in the silence sort of area. 

Moving on to The Pipes Of Peace and it also has a backing track. This one has long and lovely overlapping backing tracking tracks. We practiced those a bit and had a good and useful chat about them. 

Bravely Ed has already added Oom Pah Pah to a concert without us ever having sung it, until now! We were wanted to be very careful with Mr Percy Snodgrass! Fabulous ending I have to say. We are required to sway for the chorus parts and come back to a still stance for the verses. 

A War Time Medley moment was upon us. After a run Ed did a wash up, found the missing rabbits and firmed up a few notes. There’s an extra rabbit-run to cross out too. Don’t lets run on too long. 

It was quite a night. It was time to Get Here. Ed’s interpretive dance was breathtaking. Ed’s going to sing a version of this to record and help us learn the right notes. We don’t follow the original very closely, but he sat at the piano to help us sort things out. 

And in the correct key this week we Keep The Home Fires Burning whether the backing track (too busy buffering) or on the piano, 2, 3! Ed will also record a version of this too because there were some bum notes again.

Finally for a treat and because the backing track worked, we sang Wild West Hero and it was very meaty indeed with lots of depth. Remember your a Womble. 

Keep up the good work DFS, I love you, Cat the Blogger xxx

3rd October 2019

We began with a kazoo in our eager hands and an opportunity to share our charity nominations for this academic year. Did I say we are now 11? Well we are! 

We had a few words on the five charities and still had some time to sing, leaving our departure for voting, and we produced our kazoos with a triumphant sound of russling and a lot of hot hair blowing round the room. We used them to play Tequila and it was very marvellous! 

With our lips tingling we pulled out The Pipes Of Peace and put away the buzzing things. All the backing tracks are all on Dropbox just in case you wanted to do your homework using them. More conviction with the harmonies, said Ed, before shifting the key to something that was a little more comfy for choir in general. E + 3 is where the magic starts. 

And to Wild West Hero we went. Remember you’re a womble! We did it first with the piano and then the old backing track. It’s starting to come together. Meridy has to dig deep. We are singing this a little slower than ELO do it. 

Another song with a shiny new backing track was Keep The Home Fires Burning and we had to look out for the long notes that are surprisingly held. Sadly the backing track is in the wrong key so we then had a sing song round the piano and it was proper lovely and stirring and was followed by Footloose. 

We simplified some of the words but I think we still had trouble keeping up! Then Ed said Get Here and we waited for things to load. We just tried a little of this one. Get us. 

To finish we whipped out our Wartime Medley as we pack up our troubles, stack chairs and head out into rainy October again. 

Shire hall has asked us to do some Christmas carols at 12 TIL 1pm on the 14 December,  We may have our kazoos our then! Can’t wait! 

Well another evening comes to an end DFS, you have hearts of gold and super singing voices, I love you xxx