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.