- Trills on a Tuesday
- Feb 25
- 4 min read
Eamonn took us through Vincent and has agreed that the natural timing and rhythm is good.
Vincent van Gogh is often remembered as the archetypal “tortured artist,” but the reality is more nuanced. He did struggle with mental illness, loneliness, and financial hardship — including the famous 1888 ear incident — yet his brilliance was not simply born of suffering. His letters, especially to his brother Theo, show a disciplined, thoughtful painter who carefully studied color and light. In just over a decade, he produced about 2,100 artworks despite little recognition in his lifetime.
Don McLean’s song Vincent (“Starry, Starry Night”) captures this complexity. Rather than repeating the “mad genius” cliché, it portrays Van Gogh as a deeply sensitive artist whose vision others failed to understand. Lines like “they would not listen, they did not know how” echo his real isolation, reinforcing the modern view of Van Gogh as not just troubled, but profoundly perceptive.
“Starry, starry night” — the night is short, as is “hills” in “shadows on the hills.” Eamonn will show you the “shut up” sign with his hands so you know when to stop.Keep the ‘Ahs’ a wide sound
Sops – your ‘oohs’ should be a pleasure to hear like angels, and not as if you’re in pain!
Float above the high notes rather than try to reach up to them from below.
Don’t slow down too much at the end and finish ‘will’ on smile.
Next Eamonn asked us if we had listened to Here Comes the Flood and if we liked it. There were mixed opinions, but he said he asks us as if we’re a democracy, but it is really a Musical Dictatorship as he always has the last say!
Here Comes the Flood is a song by British rock musician Peter Gabriel from 1977
He wrote it soon after his departure from Genesis in 1975. He recalled that the song was written during a warm summer evening while on the hillside above his cottage. As an experiment, Gabriel made a habit of running down the hillside one hundred paces with his eyes closed. During one of those excursions, Gabriel recalled that he felt "an energy point on the hillside and after a burst of meditation stormed down the hill to write."
The song centred around a fictional character conceived by Gabriel known as Mozo, an individual loosely based on Moses and the alchemical treatise Aurora consurgens.
Gabriel’s interest in shortwave radio served as a catalyst for the creation of Here Comes the Flood. He observed that radio signals were stronger as daylight faded and believed that this correlated with an increase in psychic energy at night. During one of his dreams, Gabriel envisioned a scenario where the psychic barriers that safeguard one's thoughts would erode and thus manifest in a collective consciousness.
In an interview with Sounds magazine, he said that the lyrics pertained to the concept of a mental flood where the collective thoughts of other individuals would be made publicly available and accessible through telepathy. He posited that extroverted people would tolerate the situation but believed that those who wished to conceal their thoughts would be unable to adapt. He told The Bristol Recorder in 1981 that he viewed the lyrics as relating to a collective consciousness, which Gabriel felt would represent "a psychological breakthrough" and an "evolutionary leap".
This song seemed to be mainly unknown to In Flagrante, so we were all starting from the same point. The rhythms are important with a gentle lilt and mysterious music underneath.
Sing through the whole phrases with no breathing!
‘We cannot choose a side’ - ‘choose’ is long and place the ‘z’ sound on to the next word ‘choo…za side’
Make sure you put a clear ‘d’ sound on ‘Lord’, ‘flood’ and ‘blood’
‘Drink up’ has a short ‘up’
Eamonn was impressed at how quickly we learned this song. It seems that we have no preconceptions as we don’t know it unlike other songs that are well known to us and we have our own versions we want to sing, as in The House of the Rising Sun.
This is an American traditional folk song. It tells of a person's life gone wrong in the city of New Orleans. Many versions also urge a sibling or parents and children to avoid the same fate. The most successful commercial version, recorded in 1964 by the English rock band The Animals
An interview with Eric Burdon revealed that he first heard the song in a club in Newcastle, England, where it was sung by the Northumbrian folk singer Johnny Handle. The Animals were on tour with Chuck Berry and chose it because they wanted something distinctive to sing.
The Animals had begun featuring their arrangement of The House of the Rising Sun during a joint concert tour with Chuck Berry, using it as their closing number to differentiate themselves from acts that always closed with straight rockers.
It elicited a tremendous reaction from the audience, convincing initially reluctant producer Mickie Most that it had hit potential, and between tour stops the group went to a small recording studio to capture it.
‘There is a house’ has a short ‘house’ where you are allowed to take a very quick breath before singing ‘In New Orleans….’
‘Now the only thing a gambler needs…’ ‘on’ of ‘only’ is long
Pull back on ‘sin and misery’ using your chest voice.
Please get the suitcase right for Eamonn, ‘a suitcase and a trunk…’ ‘case’ is long as in ‘suit caaaase and a trunk’
Talking of suitcases.
In Evita, “Another Suitcase in Another Hall” is sung by Perón’s discarded mistress just after Eva moves into his life. The number offers a poignant contrast to Eva’s ambition, showing the human cost of the climb to power and giving the audience a moment of quiet, emotional realism amid the political drama.
Eamonn will be away for two weeks, but we have Tim Jasper who has played for us in a concert, so he knows us and how well we can sing, so let’s impress him!
- Trills on a Tuesday
- Feb 19
- 3 min read
The Range is the house band for Royal Mid Surrey Golf Club and they are having their very first gig on Friday 17 April at 19:30. The backing singers, The Rangettes, will be very familiar to you (Amy, Catherine W, Evgeniia, Karen & Pauline). Come along for a fun evening and support them and the Captains' charities. Can't promise Jim Carrey will be there.
Eamonn was back and he put us through our paces with the songs we had previously sung.
He did seem reasonably impressed as to where we are, but the main thing to come out of last night for all the songs is to be connected with the phrasing and for us to be connected to Eamonn to watch his direction on timing and finishing.
This basically means joining the consonants from the end of one word and joining it on to the beginning of the next word.
e.g. in Irish Blessing ‘….his hand’ would be changing the ‘s’ of ‘his’ to a ‘z’ sound and joining it onto hand so you would sing ‘…hi zhand’
…. and Vincent ‘… they would not listen they did not know how’ would be …’they did not listen they did no tknow how’
You can apply this connection through many of our songs. Once you get this concept it will just come naturally.
We are not "A Choir of Men"… but this term we’ve certainly started to sound suspiciously well-balanced. With the welcome arrival of several fine Basses and Tenors.
In fact, with all this new depth of tone, we could be getting dangerously close to a full-bodied rendition of Dance With My Father — though we’re not entirely sure Eamonn would approve of the choreography.
Hints and Tips
Irish Blessing – Sop 1s be ready for that high ‘again’ as it always seems to come as a surprise.
Make Your Own Kind of Music – melt into the last ‘oh’ at the end.
Altos relax into your ‘ooh, ooh, oohs’
Crossing the Bar – this was a little choppy keep those connections in the phrases as mentioned above.
Vincent – Tenors and Basses, try to learn the first verse off by heart. That way you can look up and watch Eamonn.
This song is all about mental health in the verses, so has a different feel to the chorus which is about the art and beauty.
Watch your breathing in this song, or rather lack of it!
Do not breathe between …’one as ooh’ (Tenors & Basses)
‘…. As beautiful as you’ (Sops)
Altos be bold when you get to sing the tune after harmonising. You are telling the story of suicide. Pronounce the ‘t’ in ‘often’ as it will help with the diction of the storytelling.
‘Now I think I know….’ Is a definite mood change
‘but I could have told you Vincent…’ should be tender and gentle
You’re the Voice – is relentless and requires stamina, energy and smiles!
Really sound out the ‘w’ on the ‘whoas’ you are even allowed to take a quick breath between the ‘whoa’ whoa’
‘How long can you look at each other (wait, wait, wait) down the barrel of a gun’
There should be a VERY LOUD ‘Whoa’ at the end, so keep up that energy until the end!
Here comes the Flood. Eamonn asked us to listen and here it is. We will be starting it next next week, so listen to the Peter Gabriel version in preparation!
another Peter Gabriel. A little more upbeat
- Trills on a Tuesday
- Feb 12
- 4 min read
We were fortunate to be able to rehearse on Wednesday this week, so we didn’t have to miss out. Richard was there to lead us, giving us hints and tips on head and chest voice and hitting high notes.
We started with a song most of us had sung before, You’ll Never Walk Alone. It is amazing how muscle memory kicks in, and we can produce a reasonably good sound before going through it meticulously.
Hankies at the ready. You’ll Never Walk Alone is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel. In the second act of the musical, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the protagonist Julie Jordan, sings You'll Never Walk Alone to comfort and encourage Julie when her husband, Billy Bigelow, the male lead, stabs himself with a knife while trying to run away after attempting a robbery with his mate Jigger and dies in her arms. The song is reprised as an epilogue in the final scene to encourage a graduation class of which Louise Bigelow (Billy and Julie's daughter) is a member, as the Starkeeper is about to give them a graduation sermon. The now invisible Billy, who has been granted the chance to return to Earth for one day in order to redeem himself, watches the ceremony and at the end of the Starkeeper's homily is able to silently motivate Louise and Julie to join in with the song as the whole congregation unite in singing along with them urged on by the Starkeeper as he ascends to paradise.
The song is also sung at association football clubs around the world, where it is performed by a massed chorus of supporters on match day; this tradition developed at Liverpool F.C. According to former player Tommy Smith, lead vocalist Gerry Marsden presented Liverpool manager Bill Shankly with a recording of his forthcoming cover single during a pre-season coach trip in the summer of 1963. "Shanks was in awe of what he heard. ... Football writers from the local newspapers were travelling with our party and, thirsty for a story of any kind between games, filed copy back to their editors to the effect that we had adopted Gerry Marsden's forthcoming single as the club song." The squad were subsequently invited to perform the track with the band on The Ed Sullivan Show, with Marsden stating, "Bill came up to me. He said, 'Gerry, my son, I have given you a football team, and you have given us a song'.
The Altos start us off using their chest voice. Even though it is marked as ‘piano’, sing out boldly so you can be heard.
Sops, when you join in keep it smooth and don’t breathe in the middle of phrases.
Sop 1s also have the very high notes, so look up and engage the muscles at the side of your neck and smile. This will help to keep you in tune. When Eamonn returns, he will remind you to squeeze the oranges under your arms and engage your back muscles too. Again, be bold and don’t be tentative as that will guarantee you will not hit the note!
Ensure you sing, ‘Walk on, walk on (slight gap) with hope in your heart…’ and Basses remember you only have The Tune for part of it, when you reach ‘you’ll never walk alone….’ You have a harmony.
Make sure the ‘ooohs’ are ‘ooohs’ and not ‘ohs’, as they are very different sounds.
A lovely cover by Josh Groban
Another one from our back catalogue was next, Vincent, a song by Don McLean, written as a tribute to Vincent van Gogh. Its commonly known opening lyric, "Starry, Starry Night", is a reference to Van Gogh's 1889 painting The Starry Night.
McLean wrote the lyrics in 1970 after reading a book about the life of Van Gogh. It was released on McLean's 1971 American Pie album. He said, "In the autumn of 1970, I had a job singing in the school system, playing my guitar in classrooms. I was sitting on the veranda one morning, reading a biography of Van Gogh, and suddenly I knew I had to write a song arguing that he wasn't crazy. He had an illness, and so did his brother Theo. This makes it different, in my mind, to the garden variety of 'crazy' – because he was rejected by a woman [as was commonly thought]. So I sat down with a print of Starry Night and wrote the lyrics out on a paper bag."
The Tenors and Basses sing together mainly in this song, with the ‘Oohs’ coming in on the second verse, so don’t be tempted to join in straight away. Your tum will come!
Tenors and basses start us off but sing gently and quietly. Even if you think you are not making a lot of noise, it will sound beautiful. Watch our for the tricky timing e.g. ‘blue and grey’ which is ‘blueand grey’ and not blue - and - grey’ with a long ‘and’
The Alto line is split, so the Sop 2s take the higher part.
The line, ‘They would not listen, they did not know how…’ should be fortissimo and really build up until the quiet ‘perhaps they’ll listen now’
You’re the Voice is much more percussive than the two previous songs. Again, Altos are using your chest voice.
‘We can write what we wanna write….’ Basses, you are on one note, don’t be tempted by the Tenors to change notes!
Make sure you are singing ‘Ohs’ in the chorus and not ‘oohs’.
It was suggested that some Sop 1s learn the Sop 2 part for the chorus, so the harmonies are not overwhelmed by the tune. Richard may suggest this to Eamonn, but it will be his decision when he returns. Perhaps Sop 1s can practise just in case!
American Pie. Another from Don McLean, a little more upbeat.
Prehaps one to suggest to Eamonn
