3 November 2022

‘Merry Christmas!’ Ed balled as we commenced our festive half of the autumn term.  People grabbed booklets from the back of the hall. We are having 4 concerts on the books 7 and 8 for our choir concerts, 11 for The Christmas Cracker and finally a smaller number of us for the Chamber of Commerce dinner dance on Friday 9 ballroom, Royal Hotel. They actually only asked for 12 of us but this isn’t confirmed as yet. We don’t normally restrict numbers but they are willing to make a generous donation to our charity. Watch this space! 

We warmed up humming You Raise Me Up because Ed said we had 15 songs to squeeze in! 

Once In Royal David’s City requires support for those high notes so we don’t go flat. Ed demonstrated by not playing the piano for the first verse. 

O Holy Night made good use of a backing track on Ed’s phone. This song calls for great precision, especially when it comes to ssss and t’s. Ed sat at the piano. Beware spoonerism in the opening. 

O Come O Come Emmanuel rang out in the hall. I hope Liz in the office is feeling the festive vibe. But it’s a little weighty and might not make the the cut. 

Hark how the bells lead to a slip, 1s and 2s … Ed guided us through both parts. Don’t forget we have 4 rehearsals. We will be fine. 

Good King Wenceslas blasted from the speakers. Too much Gain. 

See Amid The Winter Snow is lovely. Ed recapped the mens part, covering the first two lines of the course. Can you reach that dramatic last note.

The fun really began at The Holly And The Ivy and we took our places. Or numbers. Rife disobedience ensued. But the result was better than Ed expected. 

Winter wonderland we know very well. Then we jumped to Rocking Around The Christmas Tree. 

Back to Hark The Herald. Know the descant part? Go for it! 

Are You Hanging Up A Stocking on your wall? No me either. One, it’s too early, and two, my ferrets would pull it down and hide it behind the sofa. 

Wow, Happy Christmas and keep singing xxx

20 October 2022

We almost had a dead piano tonight, and had Peter and Ed discussed the possibility of a replacement. This must have upset the piano just enough to get it working again. Just in time for Ed to announce it’s untimely demise. 

That meant we could warm up as usual. Although Ed did set aside the keyboard for some fun vocal-exercises, and a dum-dum-fiddle. 

We were introduced to Because We Believe and listened to it on Ed’s IPad, then to him singing it at the happily resurrected piano. Some of us joined in. Isn’t it lovely? 

But we have all been practicing being Barry Gibb for How Deep Is Your Love and I think we nailed it, making Ed laugh in pure delight as our over-vibrato filled the hall. Oh my. Does anybody read this and gain any insight? I do hope so. Especially if you didn’t come this week. This entire blog is your half term homework. Don’t come next week. 

We practiced the harmony parts then performed it with the backing track. We were allowed to congratulate ourselves heartily, then those who didn’t have one ordered a Christmas booklet from Ed. 

The piano was tinkered with so we could sing The Sound Of Silence. The last verse still has too many words that don’t want to fit. Ed wanted more harmony people, so demonstrated it again. 

We had a little bash at The Greatest Showman Medley and a stamp practice. Then stood to perform, keeping going even when the backing track gave up, and Siri called, I’m sorry! 

Finally The Wellerman filled the hall HUH and then it was time to go home, for sugar and tea and run. 

Well done and keeeeep singing all half term xxx

13 October 2022

With oodles of songs to get through we dived into a warm up. Have you got The Christmas Collection 2019 tucked away safely at home? Do have a look because next week you can order a set of you need one. 

We all ruffled through our pages to find Ave Verum Corpus. It went so well when we first sang it that I almost forgot to blog. I think I ran out of puff out on the last line. Ed sang out each of the parts in turn paying more attention to the second half. 

Time for a calypso so Ed whipped out the recording of the song for us to sing along to, then jumped behind the piano for a go without John. He also demonstrated the harmony for the chorus. 

The piano was all pitched transposed so that we could attempt The Sound Of Silence which was interesting. Ed wanted a lot more harmony. Harmony people sang with Ed to practice. 

Some choir members think we have sung How Deep Is Your Love some time ago but some of us only remember The First Of May. We practiced out Bee Gee impressions for the opening bars. The harmony parts needed some work. 

We dived into The Wellerman minus Scottish accents. There was a request to stand for this one, and we stayed stood to sing The Greatest Showman. 

All too soon it was time to go home to bed, well done DFS  Cat xxx

6 October 2022

Here for anyone not on Facebook is our Drop Box Link - 

Our Drop Box Link

Our Christmas concerts are booked for the 7th and 8th in our respective churches and a Christmas Cracker on the 11th of December. I’m sure we can look forward to learning Christmas Medley songs soon. After these fabulous facts we warmed up. 

Ave Verum Corpus to begin with, listening to Kings College acing it. Nothing like a bit of Mozart to get the party started. It actually made me fancy a few Christmas carols. Alexa? 

We have a show of hands for our preferred parts. This being a four part adventure. Ed sat at the piano and sang the alto part. Is there anyone else who wonders what they should be doing when? Takes me back to my days with Inverness Choral Society and I couldn’t quite read dots then either! 

Remember that our drop box has links to recordings of the parts, if you want to check those out this week. Ed felt like our song was coming together and reminded us to sing VERgin not virgin. 

Next, before explaining why he wants us to sing it, we tackled Four Chords. I have been playing this on my iPad while I cook dinner. It was actually mooted as a way to learn some new songs. So he said. There are a lot we don’t know in this entity that is Four Chords. There are even longer versions on YouTube btw. 

And How Deep Is Your Love? Check out Jacob Collier teaching this on YouTube. Lesley is going to ask Alexa. It sounded lovely. Ed woke up the iPad to conduct from the front. 

When first released The Sound Of Silence it flopped. Only when remixed and revamped did it do any good and Paul Simon and Fart Carbuncle went on to do great things. 

Ed sat at the piano to run through the harmony. And so we sang. Lovely lovely and jolly good. 

Time for Calypso which I also enjoyed in my kitchen this last week. It pairs perfectly with The Wellerman. We had a listen to that and a sing along with it. Must add it to your homework this week! 

At almost 8.30 there was enough time to squeeze in our The Greatest Showman and we stood to perform. 

Well done DFS. It’s not your awesomeness that makes me love you.  Cat xxx 

29 September 2022

The one where Jack popped back! Which was nice. He took the mic for a proper goodbye, after serving 10 years at DFS. We should be thanking him but he thanked us and shared some of his best memories. We gave him a huge round of applause. 

Jenny proposed a charity for us to support this year, who provide mental health support for young people. We usually have a vote but there’s really no need this year. We are all behind the choice of supporting WillDoes https://www.willdoes.co.uk/. 

We had a warm up then had a listen and sing along with 4 Chords a choral Medley and I could feel the concentration in the room. 300 songs later they were done. Ed sat at the piano to break it down. He said we did well, anyway. 

Our The Greatest Showman Medley was created by our choirmaster just for us. That’s why it’s so good. We tried very hard to get our stomps in the right place, and then had a sing through with the piano. Then it was time to break it down, especially working out some lovely overlapping to make us sound like a real choir. We stood to perform! 

The Sound of Silence has a sweet harmony. How lovely we all sounded. Ed played with the key a bit. 

Next we had John Denver sing Calypso to us. Sounds like a Disney movie that ought to be made I think.

Wow DFS you worked very hard tonight, go and have a biscuit xx

22 September 2022

Back at choir again, excitement filled the room. We were keen. We were post covid. And we were greater in number. The team put out more chairs! 

Ed welcomed everyone back, and reminded us that Christmas is coming! Everyone cheered. There was a very special farewell message from Alun and we all sent him our best. We also wish Jack who has moved away from Weymouth for work and play the very best. 

Choir has 14 years behind it. Gosh we are old. It might just be the right time to learn a proper piece of 4-part choral music. It just might. We looked at our new music for today so keep reading to find out how we got on. But first Dum Dum Dudley.

Bottom f # Goes up. F goes down. I’m going to make Ed read that each week. Incase your wondering it’s the way you transpose the pitch on the keyboard in the hall. 

On with The Sound of Silence… It’s all about waiting for beats. And not coming in too early with those ssssss. A challenge for choir it would appear. Ed introduced a nice harmony. There were more harmony people than the last couple of years. 

Next, the challenge that was and is, 4 Chords, a Choral Medley paired with trying to play the music on Ed’s phone. Ed demonstrated the chord progression. 

By special request we are singing Calypso a new song for me. Choir asked for it a little lower. In key and in volume. But then it was too low! 

Mozart had us tasting Ave Verum Corpus which is the 4 part harmony we spoke of earlier. I sat and listened and was transported. 

With time to sing just one more song we stood to perform, to the best of our abilities The Greatest Showman Medley. I need to watch the movie again. 

Well done DFS. I STILL love you xxx 

Announcing

Ed just announced the following - 

(Fanfare if it pleases you) 

Upcoming appearances:

Sunday, 3rd July, Sutton Poyntz Victorian Street Fayre, 1.25pm - 1.55pm

Sunday, 17th July, Swingtime in the Borough Gardens, Dorchester, 1.15pm - 1.45pm

Thank you. As you were … 

9 June 2022

Fred was taking choir today, Ed’s terribly organised twin. I wondered if he was any good at jokes, while everyone shuffled through their new song booklets and sheets. 

Fred gave us the details of our upcoming concerts, in Sutton Poyntz and in Dorchester Borough Gardens, 3rd and 17th July. 

Apparently Ed was told Fayre in the square was magical and wonderful and had told Fred to pass on his love and very great thanks. Especially the bond medley. Fred was also quite good at warm ups and playing the piano, but let’s not tell Ed as he might feel a bit sad. I don’t think anyone reads this, so that’s not a problem. 

We sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Sandra, then started our news songs. Then Ed forgot to be Fred and told us he’s supporting Jack’s band at The Boat That Rocks on Saturday. Marvellous. 

Now, if I have got this right, here is the link to all the shiny new words and sounds for our new songs. 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/yxlb5iws42lg7rn/AAADvT6BvEtHtW41ipzzCmZIa?dl=0&fbclid=IwAR3-3ekGjrKnf55M_ACziOJWzcRjN6DhwibVfVK5fNaEeEutdf27FmBk1cQ

Jack popped the kareoke version of DANCING IN THE STREET and we dived in. Meridy didn’t like the ending. Never mind. It was time for HEAVEN ON EARTH while I popped into Facebook to get the link posted above. 

I don’t think we have sang SECRET LOVE since 2013. I know because I sang it to my secret love. Then DFS sang at our hilarious wedding some time after that, and we’ve been married over 7 years! But I digress. 

Ed demonstrated that the harmony was going to be a beautiful cacophony of counterpoint, in the choruses. And it was. We even pulled it off a Capella and it was very exciting and really good, just like a proper choir. 

We sang OUR LAST SUMMER like it was winter. Because it was getting very cold in the hall. 

Next ON THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE, then I ONLY WANT TO BE WITH YOU when we all only really sing WANNA. No Jam and Jerusalem in this number. And it was good. A crowd pleaser. 

Our new song is THE JOKER AND THE QUEEN which Jack thrust under Ed’s radar recently. Ed sat at the piano to demonstrate. There’s a sneaky pause in line two. Be careful choir, it’s only in verse one. In the instrumental we must ooo and aaah like violins. Ed slipped it into F# major. 

For a special treat we ended with a double bill; the ABBA song again, and WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS. Such fun! 

Well done DFS and don’t forget to miss Jack next week while he’s getting some more culture and possibly an award. Keep singing xxx