16 January 2025

I’ve been blogging for 16 years, for choir, and Ed and Jenny had good news … it was the eve of Ed’s and Bobs birthday. 

The Easter holidays might hold a workshop said Ed, before the mic shut down with a snap, crackle and a pop. Tonight we had printouts for seven brand-new-to-choir songs, so we warmed up to happy birthday and dum-dum-diddled too. 

Carol next to me chose YOUNG AT HEART and it blasted out of the speaker. There are harmonies from the first lines which Ed requested lots of. There are 3 parts. 

Next up, a few requests for dots for AVE MARIA and it wasn’t the version I thought it was going to be. I’ll drop the link to the YouTube version. 

FRIDAY I’M IN LOVE filled the room. This has quite an adventurous middle eight, for sure. On went the backing track and we were off again. 

Ultravox HYMN has been on Eds wish list for some time.

Abba again, this time ONE OF US. After a run through we went over the lovely intro and sang the song again with the backing track. Cha cha chaaaaaa. 

Choirs do a fab version of CHAMPAGNE SUPERNOVA. On went the speaker. 

We just had time to sing RUN FOR HOME before we had to … run for home. 

Wow well done on tackling all those new songs. Keep singing, that’s not why I love you x 

5 December 2024

It was the last day of term and festive lights hung in the hall. Don’t come until the 16th January. The eve of Bob and Ed’s birthday. 

Brewery square is cancelled, due to no gazebos or electricity. However, next Wednesday is our Christmas concert, yay! 

I’ve got my ticket for the Xmas party do, please get yours by next Thursday. Jenny went off to the shops to pick up the buffet and Ed turned on the lights for Lesley.

We dived into our running order for our next to appearances, give or take. We didn’t even warm up, just like on real concert days! 

CHRISTMAS MEDLEY 

Ed thanked everyone for the huge turnout for Wyke and its lovely weather, and our unexpected theatre in the round. Ed also knocked his own antlers fell off. 

Do mind your sssssssssssss please. 

SOLOS AND SUETS - come along next weds to see what me and Bob are singing … 

FIRST NOEL

MARY DID YOU KNOW 

Conviction. We attempted it A Capella. Hmmmmm. We broke it down. 

WHEN A CHILD IS BORN

HAPPY CHRISTMAS WAR IS OVER

More Oooh please. It is high. We get it. 

SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW

O HOLY NIGHT

Well done choir, we know it was hard. See you at the concert next week. Can someone pick me up? Ed wished everyone a happy holiday too x 

28 November 2024

This Sunday we sing in Wyke, all officially, performing about 12.55, and the running order will appear below.

SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW kicks off our flash mob of course. Sing loudly, and bounce your voice off the wall of the square. Dress warmly and maybe a teeny bit festively. 

We worked on the syncopation of the piece. 

WHEN A CHILD IS BORN we must avoid sliding notes at all costs. Some worried about the harmony parts but Ed said it’s only Christmas. 

HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) comes with advice to dip up and down the octaves. No snakes allowed. Nice balance said Ed, when we were done.

THE FIRST NOEL was ran thru. 

MARY DID YOU KNOW … perhaps we had forgotten the ending there. Not that it really makes sense or logic. 

Medley time. Phew. Bring your own jazz hands. 

O HOLY NIGHT will be held in reserve so that we don’t run over time. We sang it last. 

Happy Christmas everyone! Xxx 

21 November 2024

We had a treat this week. The Wyke Ukedelics were back to play with us. We warmed up, to entertain them! Not really. 

And with four chords of the ukuleles we were off singing SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW with Ed at the Piano too, and then a second time without the keyboard, before the flash mob trial. 

With the ukedelics leading again we sang WHEN A CHILD IS ROUND. Then followed a huge debate on whether we hummm, ooooh or aaaaarrrgh in the bridge, and a fight almost broke out at the front.

Luckily the next song was HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) followed by THE FIRST NOEL. 

It was Bobs birthday and wedding anniversary so we sang and the ukulele band filed out. 

Back to backing tracks we sang MARY DID YOU KNOW, twice. With a huge discussion in between about this and that. Ed clarified the last held notes for us. 

Medley time was upon us, deep breath everyone! 

Wyke square 12.50 on the first. Other performances are available. 

We finished with O HOLY NIGHT and shuffled off home for a nice mug of hot chocolate. Love you xxx

14 November 2024

Here are all the upcoming Christmas Dates for your Diary:

Sunday, 1st December, 12.50pm, Wyke Square - another flash mob opportunity, when we sing 3 songs with them. 

Wednesday, 11th December, 7pm, United Church, Dorchester, solo slots available. 

Sunday 15th December, Brewery Square, Dorchester, 3 til 4pm. 

Thursday, 19th December, 7pm, Centenary Club Weymouth Party Night! It’s gonna be HUGE Kareoke and a buffet. £10 per ticket and open to our friends and family too. 

Saturday, 21st December, 1pm, Island Garden Nursey 

I got these dates from our Facebook group and added a few juicy details. 

Everyone enjoyed their night out with Gareth and shared a little of the shenanigans. 

We plucked out THE FIRST NOËL. It’s got some tricky timings because some of the words needing to be stretched to fit. Ed vanished while we found the words for WHEN A CHILD BORN. 

We changed the hmmmmm to oooooooh and aaaaaaargh because they will carry better at our outdoor concerts. We revised the harmonies. 

In SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW we looked at the aaaaaaargghhhh section first, before singing the whole song. Lovely. We split into groups to try out our flashmob technique. Plinky plink … 

HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) needs careful consideration as to when to come in. Tricky. I think even Ed got it wrong. I think I’ll practice with my Alexa. We Segway into the MERRY MEGA MEDLEY, where typing all the titles takes as long as signing all the bits of song. 

Phew. The jumps between songs are a little hard pitch when you start singing. 

We stood to perform O HOLY NIGHT. 

Well done choir. Stay cooooool, love Cat xxx 

7 November 2024

Welcome back after half term, which promises to be busy. Only 5 weeks til our Xmas concert begins in earnest. We get to sing with the ukelele guys right at the start of December. Brewery square will accommodate us on the 14th December with the 21st for the Island Garden Nursery. 

Ann had a spare ticket for Gareth tomorrow. Jump up if you want it. 

We warmed up with WHEN A CHILD IS BORN. Ed sat at the piano, and after a run through demonstrated the gorgeous harmony which begins at verse two. It was a lot easier to get it when he played and sang the notes at the same time. 

Our epic Christmas medley contains a number of raucous songs. 

MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY

I WISH IT COULD BE CHRISTMAS EVERY DAY

do please leave an air gap between between WISH and IT. Think about it. 

JINGLE BELL ROCK 

ROCKING AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE

LET IT SNOW 

WINTER WONDERLAND 

I SAW MUMMY KISSING SANTA CLAUS 

SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN 

instrumental where we go doo dooo dooooo

MARY’S BOY CHILD

WHITE CHRISTMAS 

WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS 

We ran through the whole lot, to time it. It was 12 minutes long. 

With barely enough time to catch our breath, Ed pressed the backing track to MARY DID YOU KNOW. Ed counted the timings for us, 10 clicks.

Another backing track for HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) but it had a very strange ending. Not that it matters because we will be backed by ukeleles of course. Ed sat at the piano and we sang it again. 

Lilly Allen next, SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW with a very twinkly sounding backing track. 

OH HOLY NIGHT was our finale, and many stood. 

Good start back DFS, stay sparkly xxx 

24 October 2024

We warmed up to that Cannon thing, you know the old wool advert tune? That was nice. We sounded better than Weymouth Choral Society, Lesley said. 

We listened to Ed sing the first verse of MARY DID YOU KNOW and then it was our turn, with the piano then a very fancy backing track with harps and shaky eggs. Ed bashed out the melody for clarity, and that helped us get it right. 

Sandra requested that we count so that we know when to come in. That was also very helpful. We worked quite hard on that one. 

One of my favourites SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW was attempted in its original key. Sadly though, it wasn’t Keane, it was the Lilly Allen one. Oh well. The backing track sounded sweet. We can look forward to singing that with the ukelele band. 

Don’t come next week. I won’t come either with Susie books. We sang our Bee Gees mash up then BANNER MAN which was also pretty lively. 

Diva mode next, for LOVE LETTERS STRAIT FROM YOUR HEART. No big RRRRRs are allowed. 

Nuns we were for I WILL FOLLOW HIM. 

We stood to perfom TIL THERE WAS YOU / HERE COMES THE SUN. 

Another fabulously song filled Thursday evening. Well done DFS see you after half term, and thank you for buying my charity books, too xxx

17 October 2024

Poor Ed braved Big Man Flu to join us this evening! Everyone got their hankies out in a floaty salute. We warmed up. 

Hot news - we get to performing again with the Ukulele guys at Wyke Christmas early in December. ROCKING AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE, WAR IS OVER and SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW. 

Then I got lost trying to type the songs out and missed some notices but i am sure we will have updates and reminders. 

Then with Ed at the piano, we listened to him singing the lovely harmony parts and overlapping parts. He guided us through the music, we don’t often follow dots but I feel very clever when we do. 

And so we sang. Slightly under-sung but Ed blamed his claggy ears. Nice. 

Some more nice long notes not for LOVE LETTERS STRAIGHT FROM YOUR HEART. After a run through Ed said we needed to be Elaine Page and add loads of emotion. Channel those inner divas. And go! 

We nailed it. It sounded good, so good, then Ed blew his nose before pushing through BANNER-MAN. Smashed it. 

Ed asked for a B Gees sound …. Ok then. 

Come bras out for Madonna, LIKE A PRAYER. Bottom d. Remember the overlap at the end folks. But we didnt worry too much about that one. 

Time for ATOMIC which we muddled through after being lead astray. 

Beatles mash up next, the first part needed some looking at then we stood to perform’TIL THERE WAS YOU / HERE COMES THE SUN. 

Cool beans DFS and thank you for buying and ordering Susie books, that’s not why I love you x