- Trills on a Tuesday
- May 24, 2023
- 2 min read
The concert is surprisingly only seven weeks away! In reality we have six more weeks of practice before the dress rehearsal on 11 July.
Everyone should now have copies of the music and access to the tracks in Dropbox.
Please bring a pencil to mark the pieces in your scores that need special attention.
e.g. a smiley face when you need to brighten words, dunce holes, do not turn the page at the end of a song etc
Having sung through all the songs in our full repertoire we all know the notes and words, so Eamonn is now taking us through each song piece by piece and fine tuning them to get us to performance level.
Blowing in the Wind is a song all about peace.
The questions asked should be emphatic whereas the answers should be gentle as they are blowing in the wind!
The lyrics ask how many people must die? At the time, the United States involvement in the Vietnam war had many people asking this exact question, wondering when their leaders will listen to the protests.
The important piece and feature of this song is the Scotch Snaps.
The Lombard rhythm or Scotch snap is a syncopated musical rhythm in which a short, accented note is followed by a longer one. This reverses the pattern normally associated with dotted notes or notes inégales, in which the longer value precedes the shorter.
The Altos first note is quite high, so be prepared!
Smile as you sing into the verse.
Verse two is a battle of voices emphasising that ‘too many people have died’ and thinking up as you sing this.
Altos remember that ‘people exist’ is different in the second verse.
Tenors and Altos; the tune is what you make it. If you are not singing your piece on the actual tune of the song, own the notes you are singing and make them YOUR tune.
The Tenors pin all the pieces together by making it chordal. If it’s too easy to sing you are probably on the wrong note!
The Rhythm of Life is a challenging song. No harmonies as such. We all sing the same pieces of phrases, but at different times overlapping with each other making a cacophony of sound. Great concentration is needed to follow the parts you are singing as well as being aware of what everyone else is singing too.
Make it a light, cool sound at the beginning, like a soft shoe shuffle and gradually build it up. As I said before you can never have enough of Sammy Davis Jr.
KEEP YOUR EYES ON EAMONN for the cut offs, especially at the end. This is important for all the songs and cannot be stressed enough.
Bridge Over Troubled Water; the rhythm of this is important especially with the chorus which is different every time.
Remember ‘lay me down’ the first time is syncopated, but the second time it is sung it is separate notes and NOT syncopated. Smile when singing ‘down’ to brighten it.
Don’t forget the Eamonn’s famous Dunce Hole at the end. Eyes up and watch your Music Director.
Tip of the Week
When not taking a breath in a phrase, connect the consonant of the last word to the beginning of the next word. That way you will not slow down or leave a gap that shouldn’t be there.
- Trills on a Tuesday
- May 17, 2023
- 3 min read
After our usual warm up with a near impossible tongue twister (the sixth sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick) we finished off Those were the Days.
The Tenors just need to find their first note, which is in the base line, and then they will be fine.
If they can’t find it, they tend to sing the tune!
Each chorus must more be joyful as it goes along, giving a different sound each time and making it more interesting.
Do not breathe into the last chorus when singing ‘Those were the days, my friend…’ Keep it going as one phrase.
And remember, the days are short before the ‘Hey’!
The Rhythm of Life was next. It was fairly fresh in our minds from having sung it at our last concert. However, Eamonn was not leading us then and had only been through a part of it with us. I don't think you can ever have too much of Sammy and The Rhythm of Life
We sang it through and he was very impressed with the sopranos (for a change) who did well on the ‘Daddy was a new sensation’ section.
He loved the Tenors enthusiasm, although the key change sounded a bit strange.
Going through it bit by bit at a slightly slower pace, gave the opportunity to recap the notes and words, especially for those who had not sung it before.
‘The voice said, Daddy there’s a million pigeons’ prompted Eamonn to remind us to use our pigeon wings to hit the high notes or was it our bingo wings or maybe both?
Bella Signora!
This song is full of light and shade with a bit of sass and we need to sound like cool cats (when we’re not being pigeons!)
Smile on ‘down below’ to keep the note bright.
At the end the feet get bigger and bigger – the coolest the Tenors have ever been.
Sing a meticulous ‘of life, of life, of life’ before Yeah Man!
Asteroid will be performed from memory either at the beginning of the first half of the concert or just after interval. That way it not only looks impressive, but no one will have any excuse not to have their heads up be looking at Eamonn for direction.
Monday Monday was not at all bad and that was followed by Here Comes the Sun.
This cover is by the Petersens a Bluegrass family band consisting of siblings Katie, Ellen, Matt, Karen, and Julianne, their mom, and dear friend, Emmett Franz. The four siblings grew up playing music together throughout their childhood.
Tenors were slightly behind the Sopranos on ‘and I say’, but the solution for them was not to breathe before the phrase. It worked!
Talking of not breathing, don’t do it between the Doo, doo, doos’ either!
Timing again is important with a long ‘lonely’ on ‘long lonely winter’
Streets of London was in good shape. This has a long introduction and a long instrumental ending.
It cannot be emphasised strongly enough that you keep your heads up and watch Eamonn for cut offs and timings, especially at the end of songs.
You will know them well enough, especially as most phrases are repeated, so you don’t need to look at your music score and turn pages.
Look up and stay still until the last note has been played. Anyone who moves or shuffles their music do so at their own peril. You can be guaranteed a famous Eamonn glare!
- Trills on a Tuesday
- May 10, 2023
- 2 min read
As we now have all the music for our concert on 12 July (unless Eamonn sneaks in an extra one!), we will be revisiting and refreshing our memories on songs from the list.
Make sure you print everything and put the music in a purple folder and bring it with you.
Even though Eamonn gives advance warning as to what we will cover, always be prepared for him going over something he hasn’t mentioned.
Pearl & Dean is known for its distinctive theme tune entitled Asteroid, composed in 1968 by Pete Moore.
Asteroid doesn’t really need the music. Once you have learnt it you can just feel the rhythm and you can also keep your eyes clearly on Eamonn as he will conduct you precisely! It needs to sparkle!
We revisited Waterloo Sunset with the ‘Sha la las’ still being a challenge for the sopranos! The Tenors were a little late coming in on ‘Waterloo sunset’s fine. Timing is critical so listen to the tracks and, of course watch Eamonn!
Monday Monday, is a 1966 song written by John Phillips and recorded by the Mamas & the Papas, using background instruments played by members of the Wrecking Crew. Phillips said that he wrote the song quickly, in about 20 minutes. The song includes a pregnant pause before the coda, which modulates up a semitone. On March 2, 1967, the Mamas & the Papas won a Grammy Award for this song, in the category Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
In Eamonn’s version, it needs to by lyrical keep the ‘Ba das’ bright and sing as phrases rather than individual sounds.
The ‘Every other day’ section needs to be punchy with the Tenors and Basses starting and the altos and Sopranos echoing. Remember to connect the ‘fine’ and ‘yeah’ at the end together as a phrase.
Those Were the Days was sung through and just tidied up in sections, but generally ‘Not at all bad!’ Contrast needs to be given to the nostalgic and wistful verses and then slowly crescendo into the chorus with muscular ‘la, la, las’
Tenors remember you are not on the tune as you go into the chorus.
Whatever happened to Mary Hopkin? In 2023 Hopkin released an album called Two Hearts, alongside her daughter Jessica Lee Morgan. The album featured newly-written material and well loved covers from The Bangles to Dire Straits. It was released on 3 May 2023, Mary's 73rd birthday.
The concert may seem a long way away, but it will soon creep up on us. Prepare, by practising at home
And think about your In Flagrante outfit, which will be all black for everyone with lilac flowers and buttonholes so we have a uniform look.
Sorry, Alan Black is the new Purple!
