13 November 2014

The one with the Floppy Disc Drive!

Back in the common room again... But next week we will be back in the porch.

Ed reminded everyone about our up and coming events. He didn't mention that you may sing for us, at My Wedding, during the signing of the register, and we have two telly screens to pop the words on for you! 23 November, and any question cathy@raggyrat.co.uk. Big bonus is Ed as our entertainment post lunch. Tops!

Good soloists can apply to be in a new musical!

Dum dum diddly, off we went! With sirens and hamsters to follow. Honestly, it all makes great sense really!

We sang our first song for Glenis who sadly passed away ...

Let's go to San Francisco needed some brighter notes. And possibly some notes in tune. 

500 miles had been split into parts, parts for solos, parts for groups, some for rows and then a super stage left and stage right split. Such fun! The soloists were perfect and got a round of applause. Please do the high harmony if you can. 

Well done to everyone who got north of Cirencester! 

Islands in the stream. Not bad. 

A new song next, all about remembering the Christmases when we were small. Very small. Much smaller. It's written by Ed for wey valley kids. Ed sang it for us. It appeared to be in a key for small people after all, but we got the hang of it after Ed broke it down for us! We learn quickly. 

Seriously. You have to be here. 

Treat time next as we gallop through a Christmas medley! Hanging up our stockings on the wall. Jingle bell rock. Rocking around the Christmas tree. Let it snow. Winter wonderland. I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus. Rudolf the red nose reindeer. White Christmas. We wish you a merry Christmas. 

Next a colour-coded cleaned up fairy take of New York. Men, ladies, both and all. Whatever that means. 

Such fun. Now it's time Ed lays down a track. And ting. I love you. 10 more sleeps xxxx

6th November 2014

The one with the wedding 

announcement! (More practical info below). 

In notices, Ed has been turning down concerts, but we will still rather busy. 

Concert 29th November. Parking at church is a little limited so roads must be used. 

Victorian show night - - pefromance at 1pm Satrday 6th December! So, more of a show day then! We will sing with the Wey Valley choir, numbering around 12. This will be a 20min medley of Christmas songs that we all know and love. 

Wyke square 12-ish on Sunday 7th! 

Monday 15th December is our Pavillion show of course, 7.30 start. 

May 8th 2015 we will sing at All Saints church Portland. 

We will be in the west-wing next week, for our practice, as other rooms are booked for exams. Follow the signs! 

Finally I announced that I would be really pleased to see lots of choir at my marriage to Michael on the 23rd November 2014. Oh yes. (My hands were shaking!) The service kicks off at 10.30 and you are all welcome, either then or nearer to 11 or 11.30 to see us tie the knot! Please do consider singing some songs with Ed while we sign the register :-)

Then we walked 500 miles! And it felt like we ran it! And then Ed made us do it all again. But later. 

Then we went to San Francisco. And Jack was doing really well without a working monitor in front of him. Well done Jack. But choir was behind the beat so Ed had us stand and sing it again only much faster. And a second time, even faster, to ignite some energy! And finally at normal speed!

Never let her slip away, we got to sit down for! Phew! But there only seemed to be Julie on backing vocals. More diction. High cheek bones and cheese! Ed had fun playing at interviewing us. Camply. Oh yes. With the dad dance too. 

Ed thrashed out the harmony parts, and it made a difference. 

Old blue skies next. It has very awkward spots, pointed out by Big Ron. But we have improved. Julie suggested we split into two. 

The way old friends do, had a new backing track which was spelled right. 

And 500 miles again to finish. With impromptu solo parts. Which turned out to be quote a few of us, so there may be competition next week when we decide the real solo parts! 

Keep singing choir, and see you next week in some far flung double classroom!  Xxx

23 October 2014

The one where I borrowed Jenny's glasses, in order to blog. And I think they are much better than mine!

Then we did a lovely new standing warm up, and a bit more sitting down! Will possibly 11 songs to run through, we needed a double portion. 

29 November concert had some nice shiny posters for us to put up, and some sexy red tickets for punters. There is going to be supper for choir members at a bargain £2 each. 

It's half term next week so don't come. Ed will be in Devon. 

1. Islands in the Stream. It had a shady beginning but we recovered well, and had a perfect ending!

2. Let's Go to San Francisco. Coming on really nicely. More work on the papas!

3. Take Me Home Country Roads. Woooo hoo!

4. Never let her slip away. Just one 'but' too many!

5. Mr Blue Sky. Hmmm. In the bag? The main thing is, remain positive. HOMEWORK. 

6. The Way Old Friends Do. Some lines are a bit rushed. 

7. Stars. A manly song. It is going to work, despite a backing track that is difficult to follow. 

8. Save the Best For Last. Ed wants you for a solo for this one. Apply after half term. It's not a song for choir. 

9. I'm Gonna Be. I'm getting drunk. Nice. 

Ed was only sad because only half his backing track was saved. Aw. 

10. Come What May. A tricky one. Maybe another solo?

11. With a Little Help From My Friends. Needs responses. Men and ladies. Not and easy key either!

16 October 2014

Tonight Jean, from Weymouth Samaritans, came to give us a bit of info and say thank you to DFS for giving them out support this year. Remember you don't need to be suicidal to give them a ring and you will find a supportive listener at the end of the line...

16 thousand calls were answered last year by the volunteers. The Samaritans also reply to emails and texts. Jean is looking forward to attending one of our concerts. 

With a few weeks to our concerts, tickets are not available for a pavvy concert on 15 Dec and we are at St Andrews on the 29th November!

Islands in stream first, Dolly Parton parts at the ready! After a sing through Ed announced that he would like a harmony part all the way through, especially as there are some low parts at the beginning, stretching the femail vocals a bit. We broke the song down and also ditched a bit of a scouce accent along the way!

More diction please, and do not under any circumstances put your jaw out while attempting a lovely wide 'Aaaarghs'. Cough. 

Let's go to San Francisco always requires a careful spell check by me and a bit less volume on the backing track this time around! Be really brave in the pah pah paaaahs, because there can be a bit of contrapunzal going on ... In other words stay in key, and let your hair down!

Things got really interesting. There's always one!

'Never let her slip away' made me feel old. I made up some alternative lyrics for this when I was in secondary school but we won't go there! This ones sure to get our fans swaying!

'Stars' we are, singing this sweet number from Les Mis in the wrong key, and stood to sing it again in the original key of D. More anger needed. 

500 miles to the last song, well it really felt like we had been jogging after singing the Proclaimers number, but we had lovely strong lungs for a rousing courus, singing together 'the way old friends do'. Wow. Have I told you I love you lately? You raise the hairs on the back of my neck sometimes! Cat xxxx

Bonus Blog! Because I love you!

Now if you want to set your yearly diaries right, here's a lot of info that Ed shared yesterday!

"Just in case you haven't noticed the forum recently, here at the latest posts

Proposed Trip:

We are looking into the possibility of a choir trip to Canterbury from Friday 15th May until Sunday 17th May. This would be in conjunction with a choir called Lemon Zingers run by a friend who used to teach in Weymouth called Lemon Otter, and is a fab vocal coach. Costings for the trip will be around £175 to include accommodation, insurance, coach travel, two breakfasts, two evening meals and Sunday lunch, bargain! If you're interested please email dfs@live.co.uk and you can reserve a place.

Dorset for Singing Dorchester:

Breaking News! Plans are now in place for the Dorchester branch of Dorset for Singing and the launch evening is almost certainly going to be on Wednesday 7th January at 7pm at the United Reformed Church, South Street, Dorchester. Parking will be available free of charge in the car park by the new council offices, and the entrance to the church is from Charles Street. DfS Weymouth gold members can upgrade their membership for just £10 and can come along to both choirs for the rest of the year, if they fancy! The launch party will hopefully involve a short concert by DfS Weymouth and a Q&A session before rehearsals begin on Wednesday 14th January. More news to follow.

Term Dates

25th September
2nd October
9th October
16th October
23rd October

Half Term

6th November
13th November
20th November
27th November
4th December

Christmas Break

7th January, Dfs Dorchester Launch
14th D, 15th January W
21st D, 22nd January W
28th D, 29th January W
4th D, 5th February W
11th D, 12th February W

Half Term

25th D, 26th February W
4th D, 5th March W
11th D, 12th March W
18th D, 19th March W
25th D, 26th March W

Easter Break

22nd D, 23rd April W
29th D, 30th April W
6th D, 7th May W
13th D, 14th May W
(Fri 15th - Sun 17th May proposed Canterbury trip)
20th D, 21st May W

Half Term

3rd D, 4th June W
10th D, 11th June W
17th D, 18th June W
24th D, 25th June W
1st D, 2nd July W

Now I need a lie down!"

2nd October 2014

The late start to the term - for Cat!

Well back in the deep end of DFS was I, and so efficient was Ed that he handed me a crib sheet with all the notices and songs. I refused to type it word for word of course. 

Tonight was the selecting this years charity night, with nominations being voted for at the end of our session together. 

We discussed the new clothing option which is tops of choice embroidered with our famous rainbow logo. Gave our new groovy pens a plug and moved onto next years trip to perform with lemon otter's choir. 15-17 May in Canterbury. 

DFS Dorchester is being launched in January next year. This is the pound land of choir world. The presence of DFS Weymouth is requested to perform and answer questions from new hungry singers. 

Unlike last week which controversially lacked warm up, we hit a few scales! 

Ed's lovely print out reproduced just for you, here! Thanks Ed, you saved me some typing, but that's not why I love you!

Islands in the stream sounded lovely apart from a bit of a dip at the point of the key change. Then we worked at out country accents and a soft start. Oh yes. Magic three pennies was brought into play for the first time in our 6 years together. The penny dropped. We got it right thrice. Then stood to perform! Don't forget to pause on the dots. 

Last week, 'Let's Go to San Francisco' blew Ed clean away. Looks like a natural choice for Dorset's best choir. A shy start this week especially this week, but then all the harmony people rembered how cool they were and all was well. Coffuffles not required. 

After watching the Rock Choir sing 'Mr Blue Sky' we jumped to singing 'The Way Old Friends Do' with a smashing, although not dog-friends backing track!

And this just in folks- we are supporting the samartans this year. Cause everyone needs a good simaritan. Keep singing. Cat xxxx

10 July 2014

Back in the common room again, DFS followed on from the oxford exclusives and started with notices insead of a warm up. 

Ed asked for requests for lyrics, so that he can bring them on concert night. This was our very last rehearsal and we had the song order ready to run through. I will be printing mine last minute as usual and hoping I don't run out of ink!

Big changes next year to folders for lyrics, and less use of the big screen. I did notice last week just how much you stared at the thing instead of looking at me!

Finally our warm up was singing happy birthday to Jigsaw-Jenny then right on with our songs!

Secret Love - mind the gap!

Dream a little dream - nice big, confident BUMS please men! Ba-ba-ba-ba-Bum!

On top of the world -  ooops bit of an unsynchopated start there! I wonder if that's even a word?

Long and windy road - fine, I fixed that one last week! When I had such fun!

Heaven is a place on earth - free 'woo' too! Nice a Capella too!

Sing - with Linda as Catherine's stand in for Pavillion night. Very nice too Linda. It's always nice to hear new soloists at DFS, even this late into the academic year. 

So happy together - we were tired tonight perhaps we wore ourselves out cracking this one last week too!

The shoop shoop song - hold those lovely long notes. 

You make me feel so young - mind the gaps!

First of May Edge - we did ok it was just two lines missing from the words!

A nightingale sang in Berkeley square - it will be alright on the night folks.. 

Somewhere over the rainbow - our official last song. A very controlled song. Enough of the beery sliding!

You raise me me up - our secret encore. I'll make sure Mike shouts MORE very loudly!

Big round of appluase anyone. You made sure you didn't peak too soon! Email Ed if you want backing tracks and call me if you need a conductor. Love you xxxxx

3 July 2014

The one with the Cat conductor ...

Well you guys, I have had by now a number of occasions to be proud of Dorset For Singing, and tonight was definately one of them. I really mean it when I say I would like to honour you, for all that you do for our choir. I mean, if it was just singing you like, you could do that in the shower. But you give up your time for both practice and concerts, and help to change lives too with our fund raising as well as our amazing entertainment! I can promise you I'm sober writing this and I haven't got tears rolling down my cheeks. 

So anyway, there we all were, and this is a pic of me wondering how I ended up as front man for the evening or even how it was all going to work out! I even had a look back on the Facebook thread to see if I had said anything vaguely along the lines of 'pick me I can conduct a choir', but no - I only found the comments where I had nominated two teacher friends for the job!

So I still have no idea what made Ed ask me last week, and even less of an idea that made me say 'yes of course' but I'm glad I did because I learned something new, and we all got to see Dave again! Yay Dave!

We had a folder of 7 nice backing tracks, but had to hunt to find the words. well done Dave for ferreting out some from the website and well done Ed for giving me a nice yellow folder of all the other songs that we weren't going to be singing tonight, but that's fine i will keep it for our concert on the 22nd July, and i will be bringing my kittens so get your laser pointer out, Jack Von Trap!

Also in notices, Oxford trip dinner choices need to be mailed to  dfs@live.co.uk, and next week would trippers please be in the common room for special practice at 6 pm. Everyone else please at the usual time and in the same place, and with an awesome raffle prize or two, so that Carol can make up those lovely baskets that did so well at the Pavilion last time!

By the end of the Last sing of the King And I, when you all stood up and could barely see me, i think i had really got the hang of this old conducting lark, but i also want to thank you for being kind to a novice and laughing at all my jokes. When Ron popped out to call his agent, i really thought there was going to be a mass exodus to the chip shop, but instead me and Dave got a round of applause and we all had a good sing through which is good for the lungs as well as the soul! I also know why Ed gets to 'glowing' so much out there, because i was cooking when we finished! Thank you for soldering on bravely when i got it wrong and showing me all your super powerful long notes too! You are, truly, awesome and i love you to bits! Keep singing, Cat XXXX