Success Awaits

Next week is The Big One.

Just one more run through on Tuesday, followed by The Concert Day on Thursday.

Another reminder of how well we sing together.

We are now in concert formation with our new arrangement of the lower voices being in the middle to enable all the Altos to be in a block together. Although this may seem strange having different people and voices next to you, it worked very well, and we made an amazing sound as we worked our way through Act One and part of Act Two.

All the hard work of practising is paying off and now we need to concentrate on our performance.

Timing is critical and beginning confidently and finishing together at the ends of phrases and songs makes us sound professional. 

The only way to achieve this is to watch Martha.  Although her direction is different from Eamonn’s, you will have got used to her style from last night and will know what to look out for in the concert.

It is important we tell the story of the songs, so the words can be heard by our audience and we can take them on that journey with us.

We will be travelling along singing our songs, Side by Side.

Smile, keep it bright and sparkly; it is a Winter concert with some Christmas songs after all, so let the joy show in your face.

Let your faces be seen.  Position your folder in front of you in way you can hold your head up and let your eyes look down occasionally but keeping them on Martha most of the time.  This will ensure the timing is right and your voices will be heard clearly soaring out over the audience who will see you clearly having fun and your enthusiasm will be reflected in their response.

Coming together is a beginning: keeping together is progress; working together is success

And remember have FUN, perhaps a little too much

The Clock is Ticking Tick Tok Tick Tok

In not ideal circumstances with dim lighting and different acoustics, we could hear that our hard work is paying off. Even with less familiar songs we sang out and harmonised well.

The next two rehearsals will be in concert formation with a pianist and Martha will be able to give us her full attention and conduct us, so it will be critical that we know our words and music well enough to be able to look up a see the instructions and obey them!

Look out for an email from Martha with the running order and then have your music in that order so we can go through from start to finish and then maybe revisit anything that needs extra work.

Just a little reminder of how well we sing, Steal Away

There will also be an email with the choir formation.  The last concert was a great success with the tiered format enabling everyone to see and be heard as we are not singing into the back of someone’s head!  Please be patient and mindful that this is not an easy task placing over fifty singers and it is not always possible to satisfy everyone’s wishes. 

The aim is for everyone to see, be heard and enjoy the experience.

Going through the whole programme will help us build up our stamina as well as instil confidence so we can be heard, especially the Altos, who are quite considerable in number!

Ole Le Loyla – please learn this by heart (not hearth, which is a fireplace and features in couple of our songs).

And another favourite, The Rose

Everyone sings the Sop line all the way through to start

Sops sing on their own once then Altos join in the second time and Tenors and Basses join in the third time

The Sops keep going on their own with the first line and then the Altos join in with their first line then the Tenors and Basses join in with their first line. Then repeat once with Sops holding on their last note, altos holding on to their last note until the Tenors and Basses have finished and then we all raise it up to a loud ‘La’ and then go into another round all singing our harmony to finish.

If in doubt, watch Martha!

Other hints and tips:

Do not to hiss words with an ‘s’.  If you are unsure where the ‘s’ should be, don’t sing it!

If Sops are singing a rare harmony line, don’t sing too loudly so the words of the tune can be heard.

Enunciate your words so the audience will be able to hear them clearly. Some of these songs will be new to them.

Don’t rush the endings.  Watch Martha carefully and she will give you the right timing.

Never doubt you are good enough.  You are putting in the work and we will have a glorious evening of song.

To ensure we have a big audience to sing to and for them to sing along with us, keep selling the tickets!

Remember Remember

Not the 5^th of November, gunpowder treason and plot, however, please remember: Ticket sales are booked by first putting the money into the In Flagrante bank account (do not use Jan Harvey bank account) and secondly sending a list of your guests emailed to janmharvey@icloud.com.

 Tickets are non refundable and non transferrable.  Should your guests not be able to attend their ticket cannot be allocated to another guest, however, they can be re sold.

If a guest is unable to attend, email janmharvey@icloud.com to have their name removed. 

Any additional guests, please pay first and email  janmharvey@icloud.com with their name/s

Running the choir costs money and your fees go towards the cost of hiring the room for rehearsals, MDs, ringers, pianists etc.  We have also purchased the keyboard as well as the staging for our concerts, which has made a huge difference to our look and sound and we will benefit from these for many years to come, so a great investment.

A vote was held as to whether we would donate to a local charity from this concert and the majority vote was not to donate this time, keeping the funds to go towards our 10^th Anniversary Gala Concert next year, which will be a very special occasion.  However, if we have spare funds after all the extra costs are paid for, we will donate the proceeds, between the usual Captains’ Charities and a local charity.

We will NOT be rehearsing on Tuesday, 11 November, but we will be rehearsing on Wednesday, 12 November, in the downstairs bar. Bring any extra lighting if you feel you need it.

We were Happy Together which we sang very well.  Altos, Tenors & Basses, remember to sing boldly and be heard clearly when singing ‘If I should call you up…….’

Crescendo ‘together’

Sop 1s sing your backing vocals gently on ‘Me and you and you and me….’

Remember to look up when singing the ‘Ba, ba, bas’.  You don’t need your heads buried in your music!

We sang Try to Remember at our last Winter Concert, so it is memorable for most of us.

It is a song about nostalgia from the musical comedy play The Fantasticks (1960). It is the first song performed in the show, encouraging the audience to imagine what the sparse set suggests. The words were written by the American lyricist Tom Jones while Harvey Schmidt composed the music.

Sing ‘Try’ as ‘Trah’ which will help to keep the high notes in tune.

The Sops start us off with the Altos joining in with Tenors and Basses following with their ‘Follow, follow’.

In the third verse the Sops sing quietly while the Altos, Tenors and Basses ‘Mmmmm…..’ until it changes into an ‘Ooh’ which should be emphasised so you can hear the difference.

The Circle Game verses need the correct timing for example ‘wo-nder’ and ‘thu-nder’. 

Remember ‘time’ is 6 beats long in ….’carousel of time’.  Watch so we all end at the same time!

Diamonds are Forever, needs to begin quietly but dripping with intensity.  

‘I don’t need love’ needs to be opened up and emphasised.

Remember: Tenors and Basses are no longer singing the ‘Oohs’ from Bar 15 -20

Sops are joining the Altos in ‘Touch it, stroke it and undress it’ and ‘Unlike men the diamonds linger’

Build up to a big crescendo at the end and hold the last note for a long time!

Snow – Sops and Basses sing the top part while Altos and Tenors sing the lower part. 

Crescendo at ‘Soothes the dirty world with white…’ Sorry, not quite what we are singing, but from a favourite Christmas film.

Next week will be our last rehearsal for learning as the following two weeks we will have Tim, our pianist joining us so Martha can concentrate on polishing our performance and conducting us.

Keep up the good work and practice at home.  It does make a difference giving you confidence and enabling you to sing boldly when we are all together.

See you all on WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER