23 June 2016

The one were we started by watching an atmospheric video of Adele singing When We Were Young in The Church Studio. Nice. 

Due to a huge assembly for the school tomorrow, there wasn't a piano to warm up to, and several rows of seats were also out of bounds, although people sat in them anyway. 

Updates - 'Out loud' now finds us moved on from The Sausage Factory to The Golden Lion at 3pm. And St Edmunds also will see us singing at 3pm, on the 9th July. There is are events in Christchurch for those missing choirs in the summer holidays, and Ed will possibly find something to fill the gap left by Easter. Keep your eyes pealed for more information. B

Then we sang Life On Mars as a gentle warm-up, and then with a new backing track Adiemus, and groans. Then Ed broke it down a bit, I quite fancy blowing the dust off of my Hornby Recorder for the solo to be honest. Jenny pointed out that we had two do's and a coo, but that there's was a descrepancy between sheet music and words-on-the-the-screen. More to follow no doubt. 

Then it was our turn to tackle the new Adele song and Ed told us all about middle-eights and The-Truckers-Gear-Change, and talked about how excitement builds in this song. And not only that, it has a great chorus, great verse and knows when to stop. When it starts off the piano sounds like Worshipmob, or Hillsong, but that's just me. 

A spot of A Capela next, Only You... Ed played guess the key. And it was fun. But also truly bad. So we quickly chose a new soloist for Sunday's concert and dived into Video Killed The Radio Star. 

Jacqui asked for a run through of Somehere so we did, men only first of course. (And me too but don't tell anyone). "That weren't half bad," said Ed. 

And for tonight's treat Do You Hear The People Sing? So Dorset For singing all stood. Whoo. Now please un-squiffy your chairs.... 

Good luck on Sunday, sorry about the sausages but keep singing! Love you, The Cat xxx

16 June 2016

Ed arrived clutching the future dates for DFS from DCC, right up to the end of term 2018 ... 5th July!

After this rehearsal they are three more left! On the 8th July. Rose garden is on the 9th July. And our 8th year begins on the 22 September! I think we should have a cake, or maybe more lollies!

Out Loud on the 26 June outside the sausage factory at 3pm! Last year it was very hot, so bring your salad cream, I mean sun cream.

And so we warmed up, laaaah laaaah etc! Then we kicked off (pardon the football pun) with Adiemus, and if you can follow those lyrics you definately deserve a free lolly. Ed took time to really break this down today, and even introduced some harmony! That just made me lose the tune for a moment!

Bridge over troubled water we have met before, but never performed. Some people went too high to soon at theend  there. Apparently DFS Dorch did really well with this last night, so we had much to live up to, and we stood for a second run through, minus every single mistake that Ed we had missed the first time! This song has some surprise differences that need to be learned and can't be guessed. Noté bien. Or something. 

Only You next, completely a Capella. This is another revisiting for us today. Now although it's easy to drop out of tune, we must take care that Ed is the only one to drop keys tonight. Bump-Ching. Ba Da Da Daaaaah. No Bums and more Aaahs at the end please!

And after all that hard work it was time for treaty-kareoke time again. Very quickly happy choir members shouted out choices! Rosé kicked us off since we love it so much, and no one sang in the sacred gap. Amen. Something Inside So Strong next with KARAFUN and YouTube, then Fields Of Gold quickly following. And our grand finale, that take that number, Rule The World ...

Well done choir, keep singing especially today, especially that waaaaay, and very especially in tesco's (Adiemus). Lots of love, The Cat xxxx

9 June 2016

The one where we had some fun, sang a silly song, and had a request section ...

Positive feedback came back from our half term concerts, although Fayre in The Square was a little 'on the quiet side' - but it was better than last year. The wind didn't help. 

The Best Of Dorset concert was well received, and Ed thanked eveyone for attending the concerts, next gigs are 26 June and 9 July, wth a fun final rehearsal on the books just to unwind!

We warmed up with Life On Mars, then were completely bamboozled by this ...

Which produced ripples around the hall, maybe of amusement. It was new to us on the front row, anyway! Ed sang it very well and loudly for us all to follow, singing both parts, although not at the same time. No body will ever know if we sing the wrong words, and I recon if Jack doesn't get lost scrolling he should get another Easter egg!

Mowtown medley was deemed to need a run through, and so we did. Ed suggested we put our hands up if we reached a problem point! Not one person raised a hand, and Ed said it was the best we have ever sung it! 

Then the fun, request section! Because we all deserve a treat!

The first request was for Jerusalem, an old choir favourite! Then we sang The Rose and Rosé. The Circle of Life may have been a bit low for many voices, so we quickly cut to Don't Stop Beleiving! Imagine also got the vote, Eternal Flame Followed, and I played air guitar. Finally we sang, one song out of the final four requests, and Vicar Of Dibley Aka Pslam 23 and I think we had forgotten bits of it. So had the person writing the lyrics on the YouTube track!

And then we went home ...

26 May 2016

Linda handed Ed and Jack thank yous for the trip and Ed dished the dirt on the trip. It will soon be time for the next trip, and we will be looking to arrange our next trip in September, welcoming feedback of course. 

£589.11 was raised for the MS society on the IOW and there are proper recodings on DVDs for sale for £4. Just see Ed if you would like one. 

Monday 11.30 and Sunday (best of Dorset) 11.30 as well for this half term, but remember we do not have rehearsal next week. 

Ed presented us with a new running order, also revealed on facebook earlier in the day. 

Then, without a formal warm up, unless you want to count laughing at Ed's jokes, it was time to run through to see if the set would last 30 minutes.

The first song was fab, nice energy, and quickly followed by Motown Medley, which is a lot like running the Race For Life, but more sweaty.  'Lenon's on sale again' is often sung wrong but it kinda works. Ed went over the timing of some parts of the medley, 

'Video' next, Ed having spotted an extra word and made everyone delete it quickly. No one volunteered for the solo, so we wil get by ...

Somewhere was quickly followed by Totlal eclipse. Hairbrushes are a must and don't forget hairdryers - or maybe better yet those wee face fans, for our hot flushes! We spent extra time working on our 'Ahs'.

Penultimately, Elbow ... Ed changes one line and removes a stumbling block. Hoho. See what I did there? And just the other side of the half hour, we sing Do You Hear The People Sing!

Our patient choir master goes through some issues with the songs, as noted above, then we dive back into The Medley around the half way mark! 

'Somewhere' was sung similarly from the halfway mark, to practice the timing again. 

Thinking of Monday's concert, Iast year there were rather a lot of people squeezed onto the stage so we are going to have to have everyone down on the ground. 

Love you DFS, enjoy your concerts and if you miss me there I will be in my DAW mode and would love to see you. Flash mob? Xxxx

19 May 2016

The one before the grand choir trip ...

After I plugged the DAW brochures and offered free birthday lollies, Ed thanked everyone for a great concert on Friday night which as you know was fab. I'm now the average age of DFS. Maybe. 

Happily dinner will be served on Friday night - tomorrow - in the IOW on that contencious table for 36 ...

Fur in the square and Best of Dorset fall in the half term holidays. Ed put out the idea of singing during this years Weymouth carnival and will ask for a show of hands to find out if there's enough interest in this. I remember singing on the beach before during the sea food festival some years ago. Back when our choir t-shirts were new to us! And in the near future we will be filmed for a promotion, such fun. make sure you look for best from here on, DFS!

Songs for tonight were the songs to be sung on the IOW trip and we kicked off with our Karen, low voices to start! 

Life On Mars next. Ed pressed on as he was running a timer especially as DFS are sharing concert time with another choir. I'm sorry not to be there but I'll be sooo busy running the race for life on Sunday and I need all the oxygen I can get for running .... Ed loved this one, saying at the end that we sounded like a real choir!

Talking of needing oxygen, Forever Motown is next in the running order. We put a lot of energy into this one! Someone said the backing track was loud but Ed said that had sorted out any timing issues! And that much was true. 

For Video killed the radio star, I won't be there to be pinched in as the final voice so someone else better volunteer quick before you get picked on! It was Jenny.

Men Only to start Somewhere, which sounded fab to me as they were all together. I joined in a bit as I like male parts. Which I why I love singing Karen Carpenter songs I guess ... Just watch your Sssss's please. 

Next Make You Feel My Love gets another Sssss warning tooo.

Total Eclipse of The Heart brought us to 33 minutes ... And it was time for our apraisal.

Only yesterday had a missing harmony part and a bum note. It might get booted off next week. Mars sounded good but too much sailors sliding in the dance hall. Mowton is hard work - words words words said Ed and demanded even more ooomph. Grapevine isn't working so well because there are too many words. We should have a word about that. Diction. There was life in the key change and ain't no mountain was EXCEPTIONAL yes oh yes... Video killed is ooo-wha and a second verse caught a few people out! Somewhere had an early s, so we had a little test. And we passed. Make you feel my love s s s ... Breathing must be staggered. Finally, Total Eclipse which sounded great in church didn't sound so good tonight. So we broke that down. Do you hear the people sing really needs to sound in time, which it didn't on Friday but we did realise and rectify the matter. Maybe the flags put us off but the audience smiles were a sight for sore lungs!

So we ran through Do You Hear The People Sing. The ends of lines are getting lost in the fights for breath of those tired lungs, so we had a chat about taking turns to grab some air. We stood to improve our capacity! Then still standing we sang One Day Like This to finish. Some lower and middle parts were missing but we can work on that next week. 

You worked so hard that little Cat Blogger says woo hoo, I love you, and have a great trip and enjoy your lollies! Well done xxxx 

13 May 2016

The concert at All Saints Church Portland ...

The day dawned much less soggy than the one before and a nice wee crowd of choir and audience members gathered at the church to raise the roof yet again. I think we have been singing here a good five years now, we are always asked back!

Our concert raised a noble £150, not counting all the purses that got emptied into the collection tins! Choir sounded super and after the interval and the raffle Ed sang a handful of songs, and Mike P and Cat-the-Carnival-Queen-Blogger also sang one solo each. Mike and Ed really raised the roof, and I proved that in Dorsets bestest community choir, your best really is good enough, when I forgot my words, but was loved anyway! 

It wasn't that I hadn't learned my words, as I proved it to myself while practicing with a hairbrush all week. It was just one of those Frozen Moments (let it go ...) where your brain closes the drawer on the file cabinet for no reason at all. It's a challenging song to sing anyway, I would love to sing this one with choir. We could really make it big and you lot can keep going when I have a brain-fart!

The applause says it all really, especially when choir have been worrying about a particular song and then the audience loves it. Our special moment was taking a gamble on a brand new song and pulling it off amazingly, and no hair-dryers needed. Total Eclypse Of The Heart was our smashing encore. And we didn't even hear anyone shout, 'More!'

Well done DFS, see you next week with sweets and I bless the sun to be shining on us all, Cat XXX

12 May 2016

Dorset For Singing always singS the best Happy Birthday ...

On the night when a days rain fell in about 30 minutes, I didn't make it into choir. The old bypass was found to be at walking pace, my speedboat got stuck in a queue on Radipole Park Drive, and lightning flashed as I returned home to watch the end of a game of UNO.

Suddenly my phone rang and I stared at is suspiciously before it erupted in the multi harmonising sounds of DFS, blessing me at the top of their lungs on the night of my 45th birthday. 

I blew my nose and decided not to eat all the birthday sweets after all. I will bring them next week before you all leave for the isle of whyte. 

Thank you Ed and Choir. XXXXX 

5 May 2016

The one where Ed brought many printed copies of the new tidy lyrics to one of our songs, and then people ate them all up very quickly. 

Before warm ups Jack and Ed demonstrated where to find the lyrics and had fixed any broken link issues you may have had this week. 

Ed was very excited about his new backing tracks trialed in Dorch DFS last night, and was ready to conduct. And we can now sing the single versus the album version of Total Eclipse. 

At 8pm next week there's an Isle-Of-whyte rehearsal be there or be named and shamed. And then of couse on Friday night it's out concert at All Saints Church. 

So first up was To Make You Feel My Love, followed by Somewhere. The latter has rather a lot of potential for sssssnakes... Mob rule has lead part of this song completely universally out of time, even if Carol said it sounded lovely. Watch out for the triplets too. You will always have your hands full with triplets. After breaking it down for us, Ed lead us trough it again. 

Only Yesterday had a new backing track. Slightly shorter ending and some subtle backing vocals. Nice. 

Total Eclipse Of The Heart makes me want to bring hairdryers for the front row. I might. Anyone got any hairdryers we can set to cold? Quiet motors preferred of course. Ed was actually rather happy with that, and we moved on. 

Video Killed The Radio star got another few Whaaaas added and the backing track was fabby! Then we had too many Oh-ers so we had to axe those. Julie and I sang the last voice. It's really cute that bit. 

Forever Motown. Reach out needs echoes dear choir! Part way in Eds arm refused to cooperate and gave him cramp. We were utterly lost. So we tried again and left out the big manly HUH. Hmmmm. 

Finally One Day Like This to finish, before invitations to leave solo info on Ed's yellow folder on the way out. Don't forget your holy cows to the end!

Keep singing DFS, we have only one more practice until our concert and we might have to squeeze in an extra copyright free tune next week and a little fun. See you there! Cat xxx