23 March 2017

The one where Ed got his organ back, and played us in with The Pink Panther which was nice.

Next weeks concert is for all DFS 

Members to sing, and we will be standing at the front of church without any chairs this time. No playing stand up and sit down. Our running order I will paste later from the Wobbly-Web for your folder-ordering pleasure. Right here -

Running Order!!! DfS Dorchester Easter Concert Wednesday, 29th March, 7pm United Church,
Dorchester

Part 1 Can’t Help Falling In Love With You
It Must Be Love
When We Were Young
Annie’s Song
Solo/Duo Act 1
It’s Getting Better
Do You Hear the People Sing?

 Part 2 Wings
Uptown Girl
Solo/Duo Act 2
Solo/Duo Act 3
Let It Be Me
We Are The Champions

Please don't come here next week, because it's the end of term for DFS, but do come to URC Dorchester if you are performing in the concert! 

And so after a quick Dum-Dum-Diddle we dived into Can't Help Falling In Love following a demonstration of the into we will next week, and a reminder to give it some oomph, so it doesn't go flat! 

Next It Must Be Love and we fell into it as we went, and Ed said that It Was Good, and we sang When We Were Young like there was no tomorrow. It was well remembered, just a little more confidence injected please. 

Come in slightly less softly in the softly bit of Annie's Song and indeed please don't forget to stop oooooo-ing and start singing. Dorch are very good on the harmony for this so we might balance each other out a bit. 

Time to see if It's Getting Better during which I was pleased to notice the blogger-phone was remembering our song titles and suggesting capitalising ahead of me which was rather exciting! Keep your eyes on Ed folk! 

And for the rousing end of Act One we sang Do You Hear The People Sing which DFS always do a good job of belting out! And then of course is interval time with virtual tea and all round. Please bring some next week if you feel so inclined. 

Next our voices took Wings and we did find some bits that need ironing out, but we carried on with Uptown Girl and gave that some propper welly too and had a new cheese-free ending. A very giggling section of choir appeared some where around the second row, but don't Let It Be Me please. ''Tis a sweet gentle number this one. It's sounding lovely by the way, just watch the notes for 'each time' and 'I find'. 

A few mistakes popped aptly into We Are The Champions and set off a ripple of amusement again. There was definitely something in the water tonight. And so completed our full-setto. 

And then it was time to go live. Were you there? I'll put my blogger-phone away!

We revisited We Are The Champions because of the odd timing. I think we might have to fake it to make it on the night. Mike thought we should mine. It Must Be Love seemed to come in flat but we must be thankful that anyone comes in at all, and Annie's song harmonies were looked at again. 

And for Any-ole, out well deserved treat, we sang Hallelujah! 

I love you DFS have a great Easter see some of you in Dorchester next week xxxx

16th March 2017

The one with the New Chair Layout and the return of Tony Leach ... 

Following his rather helpful diction-flavoured  warm-up, we did some scales. Our piano was perched at the back of the hall, so we were going to be very inventive this week! 

In news, Ed updated us on polo shirts, concerts and the up coming choir trip which is full steam ahead, and we sang Its Getting Better and it really IS getting better! Everyone was very happy to hear that. 

Annie's Song had a lovely harmony, and we put on our smiley faces to sing it through again. Then after looking quickly at another choirs version (my lips are sealed) we sang Uptown Girl and gave it some welly. 

After rather a lot of welly we remembered that  We Are The Champions! Still a few words we don't fit in so well. 

And it's not that You're So Vain but you might think this song is about you? Just Let It Be Me and all will be well. Our Carly Simon number will not be ready to perform in two weeks, but the everly brothers were sounding well balanced in terms of harmonies. 

Then it was time to cosy round the piano for a couple of re-dos before Any-oke!

 

We had to get into the ragae for Wise Men Say and then became Champions again! 

Suddenly though, Ed remembered we should do Wings so we did. And for any-ole we sang Mama Mia and I do apologise if that's not  two words. Until next time!

How I love you all, keep singing! Cat xxx

9 March 2017

Back in the hall again, with our chairs in our favourite semicircle, and 428 songs to get through, we watched the choir master hump his keyboard back into the right spot. From next week, the chairs will be further back to accommodate a larger front end. 

And then it was warm-up time, without any special guests though, when we redirected the angry hamsters of old, and played the counting game too. Such fun. 

Our first song today was Wings. It was sounding really lovely, and Ed only had to point out a few things. Then he had everyone stand to perform it, this time with the backing instead of the piano. We worked on the ending and the harmonies too. 

And It Must Be Love that is the reason we sing together. Do you like what I did there? Ed decided a fade out might be a fab ending but then wasn't too sure. 

Moving swiftly onto Moondance. The wee chorus tripped us up. Jack made a lyric change, and we moved on to Let It Be Me, and then to It's Getting Better. But I am not sure if it was. Ed crushed an invisible violin on the floor and left it for the cleaner to deal with. Then I believe it got better. Come on. And everyone stood to perform it. 

And we know The Things We Do For Love and we pressed on towards the end of the night, put up and coming concert and our next cup of tea ... we made the decision to pop this one on the back burner but I made mental note that Ed felt the key was too low. 

On with Annie's Song we galloped. Ed recapped the harmony, and we made like a proper choir, then someone asked if we could 'do Elvis' so we did Can't Help Falling In Love, and then it was time for notices. Just to spell it out that choir are jolly well invited to the Wool concert on the 21st April at 7.30pm in the D'Urberville Hall. 

Please do come to support the Dorch concert on weds 29th March at URC. 

Tonight's Random-Oke was the beach boys number, Sloop John B, which we have sung as choir before of course. Tops! 

I love you DFS, keep up the super-duper-smashing good work, and definitely keep singing! Xxx

2nd March 2017

Back in a common room due to yet another last-minute parents evening, we beheld on the screen the delight of a brand new vocal warm ups ... Ed had found a new friend, Mark Baxter, to help us along from plan A to plan B. Loses points for entertainment but plus points for finesse. Maybe. 

Then choir stood to warm up with The Grand Old Duke York. This would definitely be fun if people were OUT when they got it wrong but that might take all night, and we had to fit in a 1-2-1, 1-2-3-2-1 etc again. Once we get to ten we tend to slip into the teens. Dum dum diddle!

Our first song, with kareoke backing, was The Things We Do Love. Another classic I thought I knew really well, until I came to sing it! We did on according to Ed, then we cracked on with Let It Be Me. We had a few errant notes, and a bit of a sad sound, so please raise those cheekbones as high as you can. After another run through we were still a little harmony heavy and I don't mean too much hairspray. Ooh, that's an old one. 

And to see if It's Getting Better we sang it loud and proud! Cheek bones everyone! The key change was MUCH better but we still needed to work on the ending. There will definitely not be a 'star-pose' at the finish. 

Our other newish song Wings next, with a new backing track too. Ed introduced a harmony as we sang along. After breaking it down we had another run through, and did rather well. 

Next Annie's Song, done in two different keys just for fun, followed by We Are The Champions on our feet! Which was proper singing, it was. 

Out any-oke song buy audience vote was Sweet Caroline and it was duly tackled with such enthusiasm it fair cancelled out my memory of Tom Jones last week. 

Well done DFS you worked hard, and I know you are going to home and do your homework. What is it anyway? Can I copy off yours? Love, The Cat xxx

23 February 2017

Back in the common room again we were treated with a new warm up, which involves counting to 10. We had no laptop until one expressly arrived and while it was powered up we tried the counting warm-up which is almost impossible and accidentally ends up in the teens. 

And in news, our live video has been watched many times, clocking up 2703 views! 

Then we did 'The Grand Old Duke Of York' you know, the one where we clap and stamp in all the right places. 

Then Jack hit YouTube for a fun Choral warm up with Tony Leach. You simply must try it! 

 

We have a new song to try tonight and a revisit to an old song. Ed flashed the new dates section of the website which is really helpful then threw some extra information at us. All are invited to attend the Easter concert at United Reform Church in Dorchester. 

So we kicked off with It's Getting Better and a bit of copy paste from Jack to fix our ending, then dived into Dropbox again to sing Uptown Girl with lots of energy, and we were asked to do it Alan Car, no A Capella, or as Ed likes to say, Al Fresco. 

And at choir we Can't Help Falling In Love and it shows. We sang that one Al Fresco too, but then the speakers are a bit odd in the common room. Next though we fired them up again to listen to Birdy - Wings and yes it's from a horsey kind of TV advert. Learn the 'single version' for homework please. 

Annie's Song we have tackled before, and Jack popped on a nice YouTube backing track so we could tackle it anew. ''Tis one of those songs in a fabulous key for our male members and of course me, and we will leave it at that key, thank you very much!

Just two more songs before random-oke dictator-oke, You're So Vain first, and the news that full gamut of approved-oke songs can now be found on our own YouTube channel so take a sneak peep if you dare!

We Are The Champions was our final song tonight, before Jack chose You Can't Hurry Love and we all left Freddie and became phil Collins. Quickly followed by a bonus roomful of Tom Jones (Delilah) Uncanny. Man, I love this choir. Keep singing and see you next Thursday, Cat XXX

9 February 2017

The Thursday after DFS Dorch went live ... it was our turn. We were all looking forward to that. 

Please don't come next week, it will be half term and Ed will be in the New Forrest managing fires. Nice. Well done for turning up in the very cold night and mind you do not fall down the hole in the car park that Lesley vacated on her way in. Mike gave me an odd strate for harmonising in the warm-ups, well if ya it it .... naughty me. We Dum-dum-diddleyed for a special quest. 

I got very excited for the live-test because then I would be seen blogging live. I'm ready to flash the blog App and smile with everyone else. That was fun, did you see me? 

Then it was time to rehearse our Live-song and Ed recorded the backing so he would be ready to conduct us as we Can't Help Falling In Love With You, our fans! The harmony parts were a bit quiet and we need to be careful not to hold any of those notes that should be short. Then we gave it another run through, and left that to mature awhile. 

And of course It's Getting Better all the time here at DFS. We sang this one with the piano not the backing track and still tripped up over the key change and the double chorus. Despite this we gave our choir master a lovely warm feeling and we were complemented on our energy. That key change took a hammering. It was getting there. Jack had a good time and we all laughed away the tension preceding our star moment as his marvellous and helpful live edits. 

I think tonight we believed that We Are The Champions, well maybe until the bit with too many words in ... garbled was a word used here. Repetition worked here too. We had a little stand and perform. 

And with less than 5 minutes till broadcast and with the wrong words on the screen we had a rest with Let It Be Me, but nerves or forgetfulness may have caused a bum note. 

And then it was time to possibly get caught on my phone at choir, finishing this actual sentence and waiting for the big moment ... 26 viewers later, we sat back to enjoy some comments, before cracking on with Uptown Girl to use up the rest of that nervous energy. And well done us, we really kept it going. I wonder what we all had for tea?

And the not-very-random-oke but it was very wall-of-sound. Da Do Ron Ron filled the hall before we all skipped off merrily to our cold cars and warm houses to spend a fine half term in song. Love you loads, keep singing xxx

2 February 2017

The one with lots of dates announcing, which we got to after our warm up. 

29 March DFS Dorch concert at the church there. Feel free to join them. 

21 April is the Wool concert, 7.30pm in the village hall. 

28 April at All Saints Portland where they love us loads. 

20 May Preston Village Fete

27 May Fare in the Square 

And don't forget our tour too! Deposits were arriving already 

And the first song was MacArthur Park which I think may have gone better than last week. But as Michael and I were not here we could hardly be the ones to judge. 

Then Ed mentioned our future facebook LIVE which will happen next week. Oh joy. Jenny is going to hide at the back. Then we sang Can't Help Falling In Love, breaking it down a lot before standing to perform, only Mike, less one gallbladder was sitting beside me (blogging away frantically as usual). Whooo. 

And one of tonight's tasks was to work out the ending of It's Getting Better. The key change is a bit of a pickle, and the ending might just have gotten worser. The key change might leave (Vote on our facebook page).

To save our choir master's sanity we quickly moved him to tears by singing whatever we wanted followed by a noble attempt at Uptown Girl and avoided a breakdown by Ed breaking it down a bit for us again. He demonstrated some American twang because we were sounding a bit to choral. 

And for something more gentle again we had Let It Be Me. Ed usually says this number is over-harmonised, but today it was very lovely and worked. We responded appropriately to some small corrections and suddenly the harmony disappeared, then returned again. Such fun. It was rather hard to keep up blogging live tonight. 

Suddenly it was time for We Are The Champions and our hearts and voices swelled with pride. It was no bed of roses. 

With the any-oke box no where to be seen it was up to dictator-ed to pluck something suitable from the air to reward us before hometime. 500 Miles was the way to go ...

And didn't they do well. Keep singing, I love you DFS XXX

19 January 2017

Cold and well wrapped, DFS arrived for another song-filled session, diving straight into a Dum-Dum-Diddley. 

Updates included the tour dates and itinary all printed out and a warning that the trip would be alcohol free! Next concert is in Wool on 21st April time tbc. Ed was nearly recovered from his worse-case-ever-man-flu and his girl-voice was almost back too. Jack rebooted the school computer and we were good to go. 

'Wise' should be very short remember, when we are singing Can't Help Falling In Love. This ones gonna be a cracker for choir, I can feel it in my water. Ed declared it concert-ready, and we stood to perform. We can just leave that to mature like an old cheese ...

And again, starting with the harmony first, we tackled Uptown Girl, Ed throwing them all at us with gusto, til all was clear as proverbial mud. But after an ok run through, it was time to try it al fresco. Uptown ghost was born. We mastered, nay perfected the skill of singing in 12 different keys. I'm not going to list them here because we are quickly moving on to Let It Be Me, and there was a hope that we could achieve the perfect balance of harmonies displayed by Dorchester DFS last night. Well done guys! We sounded a little harmony heavy, a little like The Everly Brothers themselves, but it only took a little work to get us sounding more balanced and then was happy to have us stand and perform again. It's coming together nicely. 

Operatic section at the ready for our next song, We Are The Champions, and a quick focus on the timing of the too-many-words in verse two, such fun, and very soon we were on  our feet again, and Ed calling for more volume. 

And then most of It's Getting Better, was to be followed by our Any-oke song, but the key change on the YouTube track sucks. The winner was a blank piece of paper, well three, and following a reject we sang Roxette It Must Have Been Love and went home full of love. See you next time, keep singing, love Cat xxx

My didn't we do