
This week, we went from the light and bright Something Inside So Strong, with radiant-sounding aspects, to the dark side of Nights in White Satin.
We had our regular warm-up first, which was a waste of time. However, it gets the muscles moving in our faces, making us ready to sing all the different vowel sounds in the songs, making them clear and distinctive. Especially in the ‘Oh eh, oh eh, ah’ sections
Smile when you breathe in.

Tongue twisters certainly get the tongues, the lips and the brain working all at the same time.
Eamonn is always looking for new ones, so if anyone has any suggestions, please let us know.
They can be in any language!
Here are a few hints and tips:
Something Inside So Strong:
Basses – you are singing the T (Tenor) Line
Tenors – you are singing the LT (Lady Tenor) line
Sing ‘You can’t deny me’ and ‘you can’t decide’ as ‘y’can’t deny me’ and y’can’t decide’
Watch out for the cut-offs:
‘The higher you build your barriers’ – ‘barriers’ is short
At the end of Bar 33, with ‘strong.’
‘The further you take my rights away’ – ‘away’ is short
In this song, they are ‘Ohs’, not ‘Oohs’. It may be only one letter different, but it makes a huge difference to the sound.
‘Oh ehs’ and ‘Ahs’ should sound tribal.
Take a quick breath after ‘…blind you’ so you can sing out ‘Cause there’s, Something inside so strong….’ Make it sound like a shaft of light.
Aim for the ‘so’ on the key change and make it strong.
Altos, be brave and sing out loudly in your ‘Brothers and sisters’ part, where the other voice parts are singing around you.
Don’t fall into the Eamonn dunce hole at the end. Wait and watch when to sing the last note!
You’ll Never Walk Alone:
Sops engage your whole body when singing the top notes.
Be prepared for the high notes so you are not surprised and squawk from your throat!
Altos & Sops – clear diction on the verses so all the words can be heard.
The ‘Oohs’ should be warm – it’s hard work to get this sound, but you can do it!
Nights In White Satin is a song by the English rock band The Moody Blues, written by Justin Hayward.
When first released as a single in 1967, it reached number 19 on the UK Singles Chart and number 103 in the United States in 1968
When reissued in 1972, the single hit number two in the US for two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 (behind I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash) and hit number one on the Cash Box Top 100, making it the band's most successful single in the US. It earned a gold certification for sales of over a million US copies (platinum certification was not instituted until 1976)
Band member Justin Hayward wrote and composed the song at age 19 while touring in Belgium. He titled the song after a girlfriend gave him a gift of satin bedsheets. The music itself was a tale of a yearning love from afar, which leads many aficionados to term it as a tale of unrequited love endured by Hayward. Hayward said, "It was just another song I was writing, and I thought it was very powerful. It was a very personal song, and every note, every word in it, meant something to me. I found that many other people have felt the same way about it.
We last performed this song in our Summer Concert 2023.

Eamonn’s version takes us to the dark side, with the ‘Oohs’ being round, not smiley and bright as usual. They should sound like Acker Bilk playing the clarinet and challenging the Sops as they sing the words.
The Sops start this one, and then the other voices join in on ‘Beauty I’ve always missed…’ with ‘always’ and ‘missed’ being slightly longer.
The twiddly sounding ‘oohs’ at Bar 27 can bring us back into the light and be bright and smiley.
Sops don’t get carried away and screech up to the top notes. Be in control!
‘I love you’ Basses and Sops have the exact timing, which differs from the Altos and Tenors.
Next week, we’ll sing Waterloo Sunset and Thank You for the Days, plus anything else
Thank you for the Days singer Kirsty MacColl – whom Bono once described as “the Nöel Coward of her generation” – would have turned 65 this month had she not been killed by a speedboat in Mexico in 2000. Her legacy, from There’s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop, Swears He’s Elvis to Top of the Pops in 1981. And is it too early for Fairytale of New York?
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