Do Do Do- Learn them by Heart

With Eamonn supercharged, the keyboard connected to speakers, the music is much louder; therefore, we need to sing out and project our voices to be heard!

We are now at the stage where we have all the music for the concert, and we will be going through as many songs as possible on Tuesdays from now on. Please keep them all fresh in your minds and build up your muscle memory, so there are no surprises when we sing through them.

Everyone should now be familiar with their respective roles.  So SING OUT!

If there are areas you are unsure of, concentrate on those with your voice part in Dropbox. 

Eamonn will now concentrate on performance, bringing the songs to life with dynamics, from loud to soft, and an ebb and flow, knowing when to breathe and when not to.

This may sound daunting to some of you, but be comforted by knowing that if you watch Eamonn, he will guide you.  He is not called the Musical Director for nothing! He is encouraging us to tell the story and make it interesting for our audience.

The key to watching Eamonn is to know your music so well that you don’t need to keep your eyes on the score all the time; instead, have the confidence to look up and follow Eamonn’s instructions.

Cilla Black or Shirley Bassey. You decide? Eamonn is challenged with some of the songs as he has inherited arrangements from Elliot. Fortunately, he likes the arrangement of "Anyone Who Had a Heart," which has a strong rhythm, is relentless, and sounds as if it is going to stop but then carries on; drive through this.

The Doo doo be doos should be punchy and Halloween like and then the contrast of ‘Anyone who ever loved, could look at me ….’ Would be buttery and silky.

Be melodramatic!

In the section where Altos, Tenors and Basses sing, ‘Anyone who had a heart. Anyone who had a’; do NOT breathe after heart; join ‘heart. Anyone together.

Please note that the ending has changed with a slight pull back on ‘why won’t – you’ with no big gap between ‘won’t’ and ‘you’.

Every Time We Say Goodbye has very long phrases.  Do NOT breathe after goodbye which will help to emphasise ‘die’.

There is only a light pull back the first time we sing, ‘major to minor’

The humming section is hard work, so smile and open up the inside of your mouth so the ‘hum’ resonates and can be heard. It should be like the string section of the orchestra.

‘Goodbye–oh’ does not slow down and do NOT breathe!

Matthew and Son, another relentless song that needs drive, punchiness and attack giving the feeling of being overworked and underpaid!

Keep ‘years’, ‘dares’, and ‘arrears’ short.

Altos takes ownership of your ‘do do dn do do’s at the end.  Make them sassy and lean into them and feel it! Learn them by heart.

Side By Side was magnificent apart from the Doo, doo dah doos by the Altos, Tenors & Basses. 

Feel that internal pulse and keep the rhythm. Learn them by heart.

The Sound of Silence is not like the original.  There are gaps where you least expect them.

Mark your music score so they are not a surprise! 

Believe me, you do not want an Eamonn glare in the concert if you fall into one of his dunce holes, and there are plenty in this song!

At the end, ‘sounds’ slows down, but ‘silence’ is back on tempo.

Cloud busting is nearly there.  Ensure that when you get to ‘But every time it rains….’ It comes in like a thunderbolt and with pizzazz!

Walking on Sunshine is to be reviewed with a slightly different arrangement, so put this one on hold and keep an eye on Dropbox. Should we send this version to Eamonn?

There are a lot of Doos, dahs and doo be doos in several songs.  Learn these by heart so you can feel the pulse of them and look up a watch, Eamonn, enabling us to all come together crisply and cleanly.

Keep up the good work, and we will create a beautiful sound.

Why Don't You

It’s always a little disconcerting to rehearse in a different room, which sometimes means sitting next to someone who may be singing a different voice part from you.  However, it is beneficial to listen and adjust.

That seemed to be Eamonn’s theme of the night as he was going through the parts of our songs.  We were so enthusiastic we just wanted to sing along straight away, but were told in no uncertain terms to ‘Shut up and just listen!

We revisited Side by Side, which has the last ‘side’ pushed.  You are allowed to take a quick breath after, ‘just as long as we’re together,’ and before, ‘it doesn’t matter at all.’ Keep ‘all’ short, so you can go straight into ‘When we’ve all had our quarrels…’

Altos as you start your solo part, ‘Through all kinds of weather….’ ‘Through’ is the same note you’ve just finished on with ‘side’.

In the ‘doo dah doo dah’ section, feel it rather than trying to read the music (and especially if you can’t read music!).  Learn it by heart, and then you can watch Eamonn, and he will guide you.

There should be absolute silence between the doo – dah - doos so it is crisp and clean.

Altos after your ‘do dah doo’ go straight into ‘We all forget about moonlight….’

Watch Eamonn for the ending, and he will direct you on the length of the notes.

Next, we tackled the relentless Matthew and Son.

Matthew and Son is a song written and released by singer-songwriter Cat Stevens in 1966. Matthew and Son had been inspired by one of Cat Stevens's girlfriends at the time, who, according to him, worked for a large firm, and he didn't like that she had to spend so much of her time working. In a later interview, Cat Stevens recalled that this was a form of "social commentary" about "people being slaves to other people".

Lyrically, Matthew and Son acts as a criticism of employers of the working class. The titular Matthew and Son aren't characters but a business that provides their employees with a substandard work environment.

It is among the few songs from his early career that Cat Stevens still performs; notably, it was performed in a surprise set at the 2023 Glastonbury Festival.

The Altos start us off with the refrain ‘can’t be late’, he won’t wait’, and are syncopated.

The end of ‘Matthew’ is long like, ‘Mathyoooo and Son’, quick breath, ‘he won’t wait’

Altos on your ‘Oohs’, you only have two notes, but you do have permission to slide!

Again, with the ‘Do do do’s. Feel them, keep them light and get in the groove.

When everyone else is singing ‘Matthew and Son’, altos are grooving with their ‘do do’s, which are in pairs, and the first pair is on the beat of ‘Matthew and Son’.

Remember, 'And So It Goes' is a tender song of heartbreak, not a heartbreak of a tender song!

Homework is especially needed on "With or Without You," "Only You," and "I Got Rhythm."

Eyes Locked

With only six more weeks to learn and fine-tune all the songs in Dropbox, there is a lot of work to be done for us all to keep on top of all the numbers we will be performing at the concert.  The last two weeks will be dedicated to refining the performance aspects. Essentially, the work is never done, as exemplified by Matthew & Son.

We went over Only You, making sure that the ‘Ba das’ are sung gently, especially by the Basses who sing with Tenors, so they are not overwhelmed.

Ba das needs to be a heavier sound, so pronounce it as ‘Bar, dar’ with a lightness on the ‘dar’

When singing the ‘Ba da’s, listen to the Sops as they are more important than you and they need to be heard as they are singing the lyrics and telling the story.

You don’t need to look at your music score when singing the ‘Ba da’s, look at Eamonn and keep your eyes locked on him, and he will keep you in perfect time.

Sops, squeeze those oranges under your arms when singing the top notes on the ‘Oohs’ and ‘All I needed.’

‘Only you’ sung at the end does not slow down! Tenors and Basses, you are not on the tune for the last ‘Only you’.  (No surprises there!)

The Sound of Silence (originally "The Sounds of Silence") is a song by the American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, written by Paul Simon.  Paul Simon wrote The Sound of Silence when he was 21 years old, later explaining that the song was written in his bathroom, where he turned off the lights to concentrate better. "The main thing about playing the guitar, though, was that I was able to sit by myself and play and dream. And I was always happy doing that. I used to go off in the bathroom because it had tiles, so it was a slight echo chamber. I'd turn on the faucet so that water would run (I like that sound, it's very soothing to me), and I'd play in the dark. 'Hello darkness, my old friend / I've come to talk with you again.

Art Garfunkel, introducing the song at a live performance (with Paul Simon) in Haarlem (Netherlands), in June 1966, summed up the song's meaning as "the inability of people to communicate with each other, and not particularly internationally but especially emotionally, so that what you see around you is people who are unable to love each other.

Eamonn’s version is very different to the original.  The timing is critical to give the atmosphere and drama of the song, so it is imperative to keep your eyes locked on Eamonn to know when there are breaks in the music and how long they are, as they differ each time.

Although the Tenors and Basses are singing the same parts, the Basses don’t join in and only start singing ‘And in the naked light I saw…’

The song is quite repetitive, with notes that remain mostly the same throughout; however, the piano part changes underneath to give a different feel to the verses, and the tempo doesn’t change, so it doesn't slow down.

‘silence’, ‘prayed’, ‘made’ are long notes, as is ‘halls’

You know what to do, keep your eyes locked on Eamonn for direction and cut-offs.

Put a definite ‘d’ on ‘sound’ and ensure there is no hissing sound with the ‘s’ sound at the end of words.

Make the verses sound full of drama and mystery, enunciating each word.

We managed to surprise Eamonn with our rendition of Every time We Say Goodbye and only had a comment about keeping the ‘t’ sound loose, e.g. ‘aboud it’ instead of ‘about it’ and ‘liddle’ instead of ‘little’.

Cloudbusting is getting there, and we were impressed with Anyone Who Had a Heart, which was the first time Eamonn had heard us sing it.

Side by Side was next, new to some of us.  It is a popular song by Harry M. Woods, written in 1927, who practised songwriting only as a sideline, wrote numerous 1920s standards, including When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin Along), I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover, and Try a Little Tenderness. He composed his songs on the piano, despite being born without fingers on his left hand. The song is best known in a 1953 recording by Kay Starr.

Unlike The Sound of Silence, Cloudbusting and With or Without You are fairly true to the originals, so have a listen to them and familiarise yourself with the songs if you don’t already know them.

We need to keep on top of the practice at home.

Don’t be the one who hasn’t been working on their voice parts; you will be found out!

Who Me?

Remember, we are rehearsing downstairs next week.