An Evening of Light Music

An interesting and illuminating evening in the downstairs bar, where the lovely staff at RMS had set us up with extra spotlights.  Some choir members had their lights of various guises so we could all see what we were doing.  We just had to convert the sight into sound!

"Someone To Watch Over Me" is a 1926 song by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Howard Dietz. It was created for the musical Oh, Kay!, initially sung by Gertrude Lawrence on Broadway while holding a rag doll. The show ran over 200 performances in New York and gained acclaim in London in 1927, with the song as its centrepiece. Lawrence later released the song as a single, reaching Number 2 on the charts in 1927.

In 1926 and 1927, Gertrude Lawrence performed a solo scene in Act II, wearing a maid's uniform and singing to a rag doll. In 1934, George Gershwin referred to the doll as male and noted that he found it in a Philadelphia toy shop during the play's development. He gave it to Lawrence to enhance her character's vulnerability, which surprised the director.

It was originally a fast, jazzy tune, but in the 1930s and 1940s, singers recorded it as a slower ballad, which became the standard. More than 1,800 recordings of the song have been released, almost all of them in the slow ballad style by various artists, including Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Barbara Streisand and Willie Nelson.

Elliot’s arrangement is straightforward, with lots of repetition and jazzy-sounding notes, which you will hear when playing the piano. Listening carefully will help you find your notes.

Look out for the rests in the music score; they are different in each verse.  Use them as a place to take a quick breath.

Sops, be ready to come in at the start, as there is no delay after the short intro.  

In the first verse, it is ‘…who’ll watch over me’ NOT ‘…to watch over me’. Who, who will it be? De Niro!

Keep it clean, and do not slide!

Sop 2s, after ‘long’ of ‘longing to be…’, you start cascading down in semi-tones.

As the melody descends, it tends to go flat, so keep it bright – smiling usually helps!

This song should feel tenderness throughout, so Tenors and Basses don’t sound too macho at your entrance.

The little echo of ‘Watch over me’ makes it interesting, with a schmooze sound, as if you have something to say.

Tenors and basses have that sob sound in your voice when singing about little lambs, making it smooth like caramel!

‘I know I could always be good to one who’ll watch over me’ – no breathing! Get used to this, as Eamonn is not fond of us breathing either!

Try to breathe only once in the bridge section, after ‘handsome’ if possible.

Near the end, a gentle crescendo should be from ‘Follow my lead’ to ‘Oh.’ Then, there should be a definite gap and silence after a strong sounding ‘Oh’ and before ‘How I need…’, which is gentle.

Watch out for the dunce hole at the end after ‘watch’ and then a smooth ‘over me’.

And so It Goes needs to be kept with long phrases and no gaps between the verses.

Remember, ‘lovers’ is quick.

In the chorus, make a ‘z’ sound at the end of ‘rose’, ‘goes’, and ‘suppose’ and place them cleanly on the beat so there is no hissing.

Build up to ‘Silence’ in ‘and if my silence’; it should be a surprise!  Then, leave a gap of silence for two beats before dipping down to ‘made you leave.’

Listen to the tracks and familiarise yourself with the rhythms. The aim is to sing this unaccompanied, which will sound fantastic if we all do our homework.

Walking on Sunshine needs to be bright. You need to constantly feel the song's pulse, which will help you keep in rhythm.

In the chorus, ‘I’m walking on sunshine who oh oh’ should be bouncy and off the beat.

‘Don’t it feel good’ comes in quickly, so be ready!

We only have three more weeks to work on our songs, and another new Gershwin song

dropping into Dropbox. Please bring ALL the songs with you, as we will be perfecting them for a little concert on Elliot’s last night with us at the end of March. 

We then need to impress Eamonn at the beginning of April – No pressure!

Peace in the Jigsaw

We have put Piece in the Valley (plus the other three songs) on the back burner, and we now have two new songs to learn. 

Although they are fairly simple songs and very different in tempo, we are learning both similarly. We start by getting the notes in the right order, and then, piece by piece, we will build the jigsaw as the notes are replicated (well, nearly) for the remainder of the songs.

Walking on Sunshine is a song for British rock band Katrina and the Waves 1983 written by Kimberley Rew (the band’s guitarist)

Kimberley Rew told The Guardian in 2015, “I'd love to say Walking on Sunshine relates to a significant event in my life, like walking out of my front door, seeing a comet, and being inspired. But it's just a simple, fun, and optimistic song, despite us not being outstandingly cheery people. We were a typical young band, insecure and pessimistic. We didn't have big hair and didn't look anything like a Motown-influenced group. We lacked credibility or a fanbase in awe of our mystique. We were a second-on-the-bill-at-a-festival-in-Germany pop band. But we had this song."

The rest of the band did not like the song at first. Lead singer Katrina Leskanich thought "it wasn't really us", while bassist Vince de la Cruz found it irritating.

This song has a relentless riff running underneath all the time.  Feel the pulse and keep the bounce going.

Sops and Altos start us off remembering that ‘sure’ and ‘door’ are short on ‘..baby I’m sure’ and …’knock on my door’

Tenors join in on the tune until their last notes where ‘..hold myself down’ goes up giving a slight clash with Sops and Altos, so keep it bright!

Basses now enter on ‘Cause I just can’t wait ….’

Tenors and Basses sing the tune for the chorus, ‘I’m walking on sunshine, Whoa oh’ while the Sops and Altos sing ‘Aah’s’ over the top. 

Make it an open sounding ‘Aaah’ with an American twang!

And listen for the ‘Whoa – oh’ when your Aah note comes down.

This is repeated twice, and the third time, a triplet is sung together on ‘Whoa oh oh’ with a short ‘good’ before the ‘Hey’. 

The ‘Hey’ should sound loud and jubilant

Tenors and Basses remember that only the word ’walk’ is on the beat in, ‘I’m walking on sunshine’ the rest of the phrase is OFF THE BEAT to give it that ‘rock’ sound’

This is the first piece of the jigsaw, so practice the timing. Then, next week, we can move on through the song, and it will be repeated with maybe a few adjustments along the way. A simple fun song, so lets have lots of fun, fun, fun singing it.

And So it Goes has a different feel and aims to sing this acapella.  If possible, learn the words, or at least familiarise yourselves with them so you can look up to watch for Elliot/Eamonn to direct.

And So It Goes is a song written by Billy Joel in 1983, though it was not released until six years later.

Billy Joel wrote the song about a doomed relationship with model Elle Macpherson. Due to their 15-year age difference, their relationship was dramatic. In 1983, Macpherson was about 19 years old while Joel was around 34. Joel dated Macpherson for only a brief time and shortly after became involved with model Christie Brinkley. She ultimately became his second wife in 1985.

The song was inspired by the Scottish ballad Barbara Allen, and is unique for Joel as it is written in iambic tetrameter. In the original demo version of And So It Goes, Billy Joel sings the melody simply, accompanied by a simple piano backdrop, in a style reminiscent of a hymn.

Many subsequent artists have covered it. The King’s Singers and others have developed several vocal harmony arrangements of the song, which are often performed by high school and college choirs.

In our version, the Sop 1's and the Basses join forces. The Tenors are on the tune for the most part, and only a few notes at the end are harmonised.

The verses soar upwards

The altos have the most challenging part, with just note changes by semitones, but their jigsaw piece brings us together and makes us all sound wonderful.

Come in quickly after ‘…a sanctuary safe and strong’ into ‘To heal the wounds …’

When singing ‘past’ place the ‘t’ carefully on the end of the word.  We don’t want any hissing!

In verse 2, the Sop 2s have a clashing ‘feel’, which should have a yearning sound.

Practice these two verses and in bed them in, and next week, we will be able to continue and then build the ebb and flow to give the song some shape and meaning.

Please bring all your music to date, including anything new, to Dropbox, as we will refresh some of the older songs so we don’t forget them!

And remember, let's have fun

I'm Walking on Sunshine. Hey!

An Energy-Packed Evening

An energy-packed evening enjoyed by all.

Elliot went through all the songs he has arranged for us, selecting the parts that need some extra work so we can park these songs and move onto some new arrangements from next week.

This allows us to know what parts we are unsure of and concentrate on them in our own time to get it right.

Anyone Who Had a Heart is probably the one that needs the most work. The arrangement of notes is fairly simple, but it has intricate rhythm and timing.

This song needs lots of energy as it is relentless. 

Altos, Tenors and Basses work on your: ‘Any ‘- ‘one who had’ – ‘’a – ‘heart any’ – ‘one who had’ – ‘a’  (don’t sing ‘heart’ before ‘take me in his arms.....’

 Ultimately, don’t sound like a train running out of control.  Keep it structured with a slow, dramatic ending.

Try to look at this at least once a week to keep it fresh in your mind.

Peace in the Valley is in good shape but needs work on the dynamics.

The first ‘Oohs’ need to swell while keeping them bright.  Gradually increase the volume and then bring it back to where you started.

It should have the feeling of a tide ebbing and flowing.

Basses, keep your vowels long as you sing under the ‘Oohs’.  Make ‘Oh yes,’ dip slightly in volume.

After ‘trouble I see. There will be peace…. ‘ keep the energy going.

In the ‘beast from the wild’ section, Sops, Altos and Tenors gradually build up the volume as if you are an army approaching and keep up the energy and volume until a very quiet, ‘Oh yes’.

‘There will be’ should be fairly loud and then surprise your audience with a very quiet ‘peace in the valley….’

Down By the Riverside is in good shape.  The Basses excel themselves with ‘Tell me where!’ It was spine-tingling!

Near the end, after ‘war no more’ ‘Well’ comes in very quickly, so be prepared. ‘Well. I ain’t gonna study...’ Be strong and confident. Get your ‘Stu – dy’ right!

The ending has an Eamonn-style dunce hole – don’t fall into it.  Watch for the timing.

…’study’ is a long note, then a gap ready for ‘war no-oh’, which is very loud with another gap until ‘more’.  ‘More will gradually swell and get louder until the end.

Again, this song needs lots of energy.

Any Dream Will Do is the one we have done the least work.

The ‘Oohs’ need to crescendo up until ‘I close my eyes’

Sop 1s, don’t miss that first note on your ‘Oohs’

Altos, Tenors and Basses give your ‘wonderful and new’ lots of energy and make it sound exciting and bright.

Sop1s and basses, your ‘new’ is long and grows in loudness, whereas the Sop 2s, altos and Tenors, your ‘new’ is short.

‘I was left alone’ crescendo this to the end even though the piano stops.  Keep up the volume!

Work on the ‘crash of drums’ section, followed by a duet with me and Flo.

Look at the ending with missing words, and resist the temptation to put them in. 

Remember the warm-up with the numbers singing and the number four missing!

Having run through all the songs from start to finish in our mini-concert at the end, you know the parts you need to work on.  Don’t forget to practise them now and then.

It is important to keep all these songs fresh in our minds, so when Eamonn returns on 01 April, we can showcase all we have learned in his absence and make Elliot and us look good!

Elliot will be taking us until the end of March, and he will send us some new songs, so check Dropbox and print them off.  Just in case, bringing all the music each week is always wise!

Beware of the Maestro