24 November 2022

With two weeks to our concerts, instead of three, we panicked. Then hummed you raise me up to warm up, and Hark The Herald for a second warm up after our notices. 

Friday 9th we are booked for the royal at 7 - 7.30pm. 

Dress code is same for all concerts, bright or choir tops with black bottoms. Tinsel optional. 

Hark The Herald was a little quite. Feeling low in number we needed encouragement from the choir master to sing out. Second run through and we nailed it. 

With songs in order again, we sang O Holy Night with more confidence and volume. Ho Oh Lee Ee night. Over the top annunciation is a must. 

Carol of the Bells a capela as usual. 

Good King Wenceslas fell into line, with only 2 gents in attendance tonight. 

See Amid The Winter Snow has a first verse that makes me think of childhood roast dinners. The tender lamb … 

Merry Christmas Everybody will be a fun ending to the solo and duo section. 

So for a break in festive numbers we listened to Because We Believe which will can sing at Easter. 

Then back to Christmas, Rocking Around The Christmas Tree because concert in two weeks time! Don’t panic! 

Such fun singing The Holy And The Ivy. We don’t know what happened but following a few hiccups we peaked. Let’s just leave it there…

White Christmas crooned it’s way into the room. And only time to squeeze in O Come All Ye faithful and Fairy Tale. 

Phew. I really do feel like I’ve been jogging. Well sung all of you that made it in tonight, and well done to you at home catching up with the blog and drop box. Last practice next week xxx

17 November 2022

Ed began by announcing that tonight’s songs would be practiced in the the order that we will perform them in. So I’d better be extra on-the-ball tonight, thought I. Then I dropped my blogging phone and slidden my gloves across the room picking up my folder. Great start. 

We warmed up. I tried to sing my very bestest, but there are notes where I think they will help us. 

Today Ed learned that next week, the last week in November is the worst week for behaviour in schools. 

Concert Order 

From 7pm to about 8.05pm. 

Hark the herald 

O holy night 

   We had some coaching as we played with volumes and really good diction and remembering the big finish ho-oh-oh-ly night. 

Carol of the Bells 

   Stop frowning down and your lyrics and remember to look up. Well. It’s getting there …

Good king W

See Amid the winter snow 

   As with the last song, the gents, though they be but few, did us proud. Ed was impressed that we had really improved since the first song and felt a little emotional. 

Merry Christmas everybody 

*Solos, duos and trios etc from 7.20 to about 7.40*

Rocking around the Xmas tree 

The holly and the Ivy 

White Christmas 

Walking in a winter wonderland 

O come all ye faithful 

Fairy tail of New York. 

Then it was time to run through these in order! Go! We went home knowing we had done well. 

10 November 2022

We warmed up La-la-la-la and Dum-dum-Diddley before our festive treats. No. Not mince pies. We had a play at sirens before discussing something secret. Hehe. Christmas concerts of course … see last week for information. 

Hark the Herald kicks off rehearsal tonight. At the concert the audience will be invited to sing with us when we start the performance with this song. The descant part is played by a trumpet.

Link to drop box here - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/lzxyga8qb6hhwjaemsvqi/h?dl=0&rlkey=ufd4pdqsmtf2arv5pz92f7xbp&fbclid=IwAR0LamYzJzL7UaW6FCbhN5Yc5o2fN6xBIS_QNGfvHlKuQ7ex3DRnkbiePm4

Roll your rrrrrrrrs during O Holy Night - yes, all of them. Please do keep your mouths open wide for the word night especially. 

We split into 1s and 2s for Carol of the Bells. The bell sound (dong) should be made mainly from the nose. On the second run through we stayed in tune because we all remembered to support the high notes. 

See Amid The Winter Snow was next, giving the men time to shine, in that awesome chorus. Don’t forget the special ending. Let’s revisit that next week. 

We were 1s, 2s and 3s for The Holly and Ivy. We lost part 2s at one point. They seem to be a little quiet, so we swapped about a bit … 

We went Rocking Around The Christmas because Ed said it would already be ready great. 

Next a former solo of mine, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Finally settled in the key of G. 

Then we were Dreaming Of A White Christmas is another one we can already sing well. 

And a descant for O Come All Ye Faithful if anyones up for it? For the finale of course, fairytale Of New York. 

Great work, choir! Keep it up and remember to read this blog. It’s full of top tips and no wrong dongs … xxx

3 November 2022

‘Merry Christmas!’ Ed balled as we commenced our festive half of the autumn term.  People grabbed booklets from the back of the hall. We are having 4 concerts on the books 7 and 8 for our choir concerts, 11 for The Christmas Cracker and finally a smaller number of us for the Chamber of Commerce dinner dance on Friday 9 ballroom, Royal Hotel. They actually only asked for 12 of us but this isn’t confirmed as yet. We don’t normally restrict numbers but they are willing to make a generous donation to our charity. Watch this space! 

We warmed up humming You Raise Me Up because Ed said we had 15 songs to squeeze in! 

Once In Royal David’s City requires support for those high notes so we don’t go flat. Ed demonstrated by not playing the piano for the first verse. 

O Holy Night made good use of a backing track on Ed’s phone. This song calls for great precision, especially when it comes to ssss and t’s. Ed sat at the piano. Beware spoonerism in the opening. 

O Come O Come Emmanuel rang out in the hall. I hope Liz in the office is feeling the festive vibe. But it’s a little weighty and might not make the the cut. 

Hark how the bells lead to a slip, 1s and 2s … Ed guided us through both parts. Don’t forget we have 4 rehearsals. We will be fine. 

Good King Wenceslas blasted from the speakers. Too much Gain. 

See Amid The Winter Snow is lovely. Ed recapped the mens part, covering the first two lines of the course. Can you reach that dramatic last note.

The fun really began at The Holly And The Ivy and we took our places. Or numbers. Rife disobedience ensued. But the result was better than Ed expected. 

Winter wonderland we know very well. Then we jumped to Rocking Around The Christmas Tree. 

Back to Hark The Herald. Know the descant part? Go for it! 

Are You Hanging Up A Stocking on your wall? No me either. One, it’s too early, and two, my ferrets would pull it down and hide it behind the sofa. 

Wow, Happy Christmas and keep singing xxx