30 January 2025

We had a fresh sheet of paper tonight, and Ed said we were going to do something different, and start by listening to our new song to see how many of us actually know it. 

He pressed play on ALL MY LOVE and it filled the hall, and then we turned to AVE MARIA as a warm up, to Dah. I was instantly lost. Never mind I warmed up at a funeral this afternoon. 

Careful with the graaaaaaa and the doooooooh whose notes drop down before you sing the next bits. Can I get an Amen? In at the deep end, we tried to sing it so Ed could listen but we didn’t get much beyond page one. 

ONE OF US begins with a lot of Aaaaahs. Or it was going to but Ed’s battery was flat, so he slipped back behind the piano. 

Once plugged in again Ed guided us thru the melody and the harmony of the intro. We tried a capela. 

Next YOUNG AT HEART yeeeeeehaaaaaa. There are lots of overlaps and interruptions. And lots of opportunities to be removed from choir. Not really. 

And on to HYMN which we are getting more used to.

We went back to ALL MY LOVE with Ed at the piano. That was nice to listen to as I think I’d only heard it once before.

We swished the pages to RUN FOR HOME but Ed said Lindisfarne and we had to guess which song that meant. But we got there. We sang along. 

We stood for the chorus of CHAMPAGNE SUPERNOVA, twice. 

Super smashing singing, see you next time xxx 

23 January 2025

This week we ran out of music. Especially the dots for Ave Maria. We shuffled and fluttered, passing pages back and fourth. Such that there was no time for propper warm up so we aaaaaghed to AVE MARIA.

Latin pronunciation is always a challenge and it became a good hearted debate. Then it was time for the backing track we were loads better than last week. 

We changed the pace with ONE OF US and the backing tracking track. We broke it down at the second verse as it goes up and down more than people were singing it. That was helpful. We also went over the intro aaaaaahhhhhs and added the harmonies which were new last week! 

And another run through and Ed said very well done. We flipped over the page to sing RUN FOR HOME with the original. Ed demonstrated the lower harmony like Yoda then dug out a backing track. It was rather loud. 

Muttering as Ed announced CHAMPAGNE SUPERNOVA and sat at the piano to tinkle bash plonk. We only got halfway through before Ed explained that, for once, we can slide in this one. 

Satisfied we flipped to YOUNG AT HEART yeeeeehaaaaa and had a good look at the intro with that echo. Well we tried. 

We stood to sing (and dance) FRIDAY I’M IN LOVE. 

Fab. Now go home and rest. You deserve it. Cat xxx

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