23 January 2020

A very cold evening still resulted in a full hall of the lovely and not-so-lovely (Ed’s words), the anxious (waiting for DVDs) and the ones with smelly feet (also Ed’s words). Seriously. I don’t make this stuff up you know. 

We warmed up with Wild West Hero in order to make good use of our limited time together each week. We started when the choir master had retrieved his copy of the lyrics sheet from the person who stole them. 

We worked on harmony parts, wished for coconuts, sang it through again trying to be ready for the bits that overlap. Perhaps the kazoos could come out of handbags again?

Jack popped the official choir website up on Facebook he screen to remind us of concert dates again it being only the second week back. We have been in the Echo this week advertising our good selves, and here is the cutting that got passed forward. 

Then we whipped out our Andrew Lloyd Webber Medley which will be henceforth known as the ALW Medley because it’s not such a mouthful to type.  This needs to be concert ready for March 7th guys! 

We broke it down. And no one broke down. We worked on it a long time, sorting out parts, and erasing slides. And well. March is a long way away ... Ed has seen some improvement and kindly let us know. 

Next Shine which was once performed on stage by a wee bunch of men-and-women-who-sing-like-men like 100 years ago. 

Next either act like a fine Weymouth seagull or sing your way through Speed Bonny Boat our final song was the hymn My Song Is Love Unknown. 

Well done DFS, not only are you on a par with tea and coffee but you are a proper lovely choir too. Now put this blog down and practice ALW ..... love you x

16 January 2020

So the year started with Ed as a piece of pop art and an argument about how old choir is, which I will always win by just asking you to scroll back and read the first blog post. This blog is 11 years old this month folks. Because I didn’t take over the blog until our second term. 

Ed and jack showed all the concert dates for this year on the big screen, and all scribbled to write them down except me who was busy waffling on about something or other. 

Some people want a trip but a chin wag is needed to decide what might me fun, and then we headed to warm up with a Dum Dum Diddley Dum! And other exercises  some of which were not taken seriously at all. 

We had 11 brand new songs to learn, including a hot new medley and it’s an epic. We began though with a hymn, My Song Is Love Unknown with the words writ large on the screen ... it was also rather sweet as another warm up before we looked at our medley. We had a little run through with YouTube. I wonder if Alexa has this in her armoury? 

After listening to another choir try their best, and attempting to sing along we were pleased to start braking down songs with Ed and the piano and a slightly lower key. Phew. We have until the seventh of March to perfect that baby. 

And for a change of pace we dug The Skye Boat Song out of the pile. It might be time for the return of Seagull-on-a-stick, perhaps? 

Our last song to send us off nicely was Wild West Hero after Ed retrieved his dongle, and we checked how we should leave the chairs in our wake. 

Wow well done DFS a good start to the new year, and the best is yet to come. Love you, Cat xxx

14 December 2019

For the Shire Fun of it!

So two days after our concert at St Aldhelms the two choirs joined forces again, this time at Shire Hall in Dorchester. I was pleased to see we were singing in the court room and not the cells. That would have been a bit squishy but as you can see from these lovely photos we would have added a fine splash of colour to the dungeons down below! 

And Ed looked fabulous, quite perfect as he stood in the dock, to conduct his marvellous choir. 

 

This was our longest concert ever with only a short break, we even took requests as we had sang all our songs before our slot was filled. Everyone loves Jingle Bells. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing all these jolly pictures, a reminder of the day we had the most fun you can have in a court room. Next time perhaps we can follow Ed’s lead and wear all the fancy hats too! 

Thank you Michael Greenaway for the photography shared in these last two blog posts. 

12 December 2019

The 12th Concert Of Christmas....

Have you had a lovely break Weymouth and Portland branch? For 11 years this branch of choir has been having their annual festive sing along in the familiar setting of all saints school. But for its 12th year we were looking for a new space to raise funds and raise the roof. 

As we practice at St Aldhelms anyway, it was lovely to move up from the Church Centre to the Church itself and there was plenty of room for us and no one knocked over the advent candles at all. Well ok maybe someone did, as we shuffled about. 

And didn’t we look lovely all next to the tree and the stained glass window. Jack and Jenny served mince pies and hot drinks to help boost our charity funds out in the lounge at half time, and a few of DFS best soloists sang after the intermission. Of course some other of our best soloists didn’t perform this year but we hope they will be back. We are sure their efforts help fill the buckets too. 



We raised £370 for The Veterans Hub and the next day Ed said, “Yet again, massive thanks and appreciation to the wonderful people in Dorset for Singing and their supporters.  What a belter of a concert last night, the moment that you started I was presented with a wall of strong, passionate singing.  Even the kazoos stayed in tune!  I'll let you know the total raised as soon as I know.  Thank you again, hope to see as many of you as possible [at] Shire Hall, Dorchester. Much love, Ed x” 

And I love you too. Well done DFS, both branches x