Eamonn was looking a little anxious and the scowls were slightly showing his disapproval with all the work we had ahead of us and a lot of chatter was ongoing, but he soon had us quietened down and warmed up. Then we forensically went through some more songs picking them apart and rebuilding them step by step to a harmonious sounding choir!
The Logical Song, a maniacal upbeat sound with lovely syncopation. Lots of words to fit in, but if the Doos and Bahs do not sound casual and full of enjoyment will be DOOMED!!!!
This is the last song of the first half and the then the audience will be heading for the bar. The Logical Song is a song by English rock group Supertramp that was released as the lead single from their album Breakfast in America in March 1979. It was written primarily by the band's Roger Hodgson, who based the lyrics on his experiences being sent away to boarding school for ten years.
Fields of Gold needs to sound luxurious and big breaths required to hold on to the long golds and watching Eamonn for the cut offs, as in all of the songs! In Lyrics By Sting, the singer described the view from his 16th-century Wiltshire manor house:
'In England, our house is surrounded by barley fields, and in the summer it's fascinating to watch the wind moving over the shimmering surface, like waves on an ocean of gold. There's something inherently sexy about the sight, something primal, as if the wind were making love to the barley. Lovers have made promises here, I'm sure, their bonds strengthened by the comforting cycle of the seasons.' The Irish Blessing is another song that should be a lush and lovely sound with the second verse, when everyone joins in, feeling like a warm hug
You’ll Never Walk Alone is challenging not only from the high notes to reach with accuracy and brightness, but the long phrases where no one is allowed to breathe!
We only have two more rehearsals and when Jenny, our pianist, joins us, Eamonn will have both hands, as well as his head to conduct us and give us the cut offs, highs and lows etc. The key to this synchronisation is we have to keep our eyes on him and not have our heads buried in the music. Especially on the endings when we all know the words and tune by then!
Sing Out is our gift to the audience for returning from the bar to listen to the second half of our performance. As such, it needs to be crisp and concise with good annunciation. This is an old favourite of ours that we sang in a pop up at St Pancras Station with Eamonn accompanying us on an old battered piano. It was well received there and it will be even better here.
Eamonn does think we are in a good place and we will definitely sing through all of the first half of the concert next week. If we have all done our homework, we might surprise him and get through some of the second half too!
With only a few weeks rehearsal time left, Eamonn is concentrating on tightening up our performance and to ensure we tell the story of the music clearly, especially with the tradition songs, like The Leprechaun, which I sang to two of my grandchildren on the school run. I had learned the words by heart from our previous rendition a few years ago and they were enchanted. However, I didn’t sing the tongue twister to them, ‘She slit the sheet, the sheet she slit and on the slitted sheet she sits’ just in case I slipped up on that one!
We started with The Rainbow Connection last night which Jim Henson, as Kermit sings in the Muppet Movie from 1979 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqDBTzvkIZ4. It is a very inspirational song and Eamonn’s arrangement has all the different voices singing and entwining around each other creating a magical sound.
Next came the Irish traditional songs, She Moved Through the Fair, Lark In The Clear Air and The Leprechaunneeding that ‘sob’ quality to give the intensity and enunciating the words for the storytelling. Although not a lot of harmonies, it is important to keep the rhythm and timing as the underlying piano appears to slow, but in reality, it is keeping steady pace.
After the break we went through the last week’s red list and improvement had been made. Concentration is now on getting a professional sound with the voices singing in unity, especially with the beginnings, ensuring the first letters of the first words are strong. The endings are also critical and whether you are able to read music not, it is essential to look up from the music scores to watch Eamonn for the cut offs (he sometimes just goes by feeling rather than the actual notes!) He wants glitter ball endings for certain songs like Side By Side!
Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis-Side By Side 1956 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50xGa0rQ3s4
This is not the version that Eamonn is expecting from the choir but Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis do it their way. This song is so bittersweet. On one hand, they perform it so well together-- plus it's such a catchy tune! But on the other hand, it's so closely associated with the end of their partnership. Their farewell appearance was at the Copacabana Club on 25th July 1956.
The acoustics in the room we are performing are unforgiving and every note that is not finished completely together will sound dreadful!), so there can’t be any deflating tyres hissing. If in doubt, don’t sing the ‘s’!
Once Eamonn has a pianist he will have both hands to conduct and he will guide us through every number with light and shade, when to ‘shut up’ at the dunce holes and when to finish the notes. All you have to do it watch him carefully and it will be simple!
Eamonn has sorted the songs for the concert in order, however there are some numbers on The Red List! These are the ones that need extra work; the focus this week.
Generally, we need to smile a lot and sing into our cheek bones to get the high notes bright (squeezing oranges under the arms too, of course!). Only breathe when necessary and mark these places on the music scores.
Beginning with Bridge Over Troubled Water, well, we did go through without too much trouble and then it was emphasised we need to syncopate the phrases making it more dynamic and interesting.
Next, we were Side By Side where Eamonn gets a little carried away and goes too fast in his enthusiasm and checks his metronome to get him back on track. The Altos and Tenors practiced their Doo da doohs while the Sopranos sang over the top of them. Harry Woods, who practiced 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 piano, despite the fact that he was born without fingers on his left hand. The song has been covered by many artists from 1927 on wards.
I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You was in danger of not being included, but we all tried hard and after going through the Alto and Tenor lines and gradually building it up, we did well enough to keep it in. There was an element of an Elvis impression of ‘lurve’ instead of a well rounded ‘Love’. This was soon corrected! I Can't Help Falling in Love" was featured in Presley's 1961 film Blue Hawaii. During the following five decades, it has been recorded by numerous other artists, including Bob Dylan on his 1973 album Dylan, Dick Smothers, Swedish pop group A-Teens, and the British reggae group UB40, whose 1993 version topped the U.S. and UK charts. It has also been regarded as one of the greatest songs of all time by Rolling Stone, ranking #403 in the list's 2012 edition.
A well earned break for a cup of tea or glass of wine.
We’ll Gather Lilacs was next to be dissected and rebuilt which emphasis on yearning and longing and giving the phrases deliciousness. Also the Tenors need to remember to sing the second verse words when the Altos and Sopranos join in on the second verse.
A crazy ending with not a lot of the choir knowing if they were singing the main part or the echo in Crazy Little Thing Called Love. This was sorted last week with the first row as the main part and the second row as the echo. All we had to do was remember the allocated part and if we sat in a different row in the following weeks the original allocated part sat with you. Once that was sorted, we did sing it through and the echo part got ‘Ready Freddie’ loud and clear. As reported by Freddie Mercury in Melody Maker, 2 May 1981, he composed "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" on the guitar in just five to ten minutes. The song was written by Mercury as a tribute to his musical heroes Elvis Presley and Sir Cliff Richard.
Freddie Mercury and Queen.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO6D_BAuYCI
Eamonn was quite happy at the end and feels we are in a good place and we will continue to fine tune over the next few weeks. Keep doing the homework!