Little Things Mean A Lot

We were certainly put through our paces last night, covering half the concert! 

We are now at a stage where learning songs and individual parts is complete, and it's a matter of embedding these into our brains so they become second nature.

By now, you will know where your weak spots are and only you (to quote a song from our repertoire) can make them right!

Just remember how far we’ve come.  We have done the hard work of learning new songs (or refreshing old ones for some of us).  Now we are focusing on the little details to bring these songs to life, making them interesting for us to sing, but more importantly, to tell the stories to our audience.

The secret key to this is simple: just watch Eamonn!

It is not quite as simple when he is playing the piano as well as conducting us, but he does his best with nods of his head, a hand gesture and, of course, the famous Eamonn glare and snarl!

Once we have a pianist, which will be the two weeks before the concert, as well as the day of the concert, Eamonn can give us all his attention, as indeed, we should be giving him all of ours!

Some general hints and tips from last night to work on:

DO NOT breathe in the middle of long phrases; but I need, The air that I breathe. Learn to take deep breaths and control them

Mark your music score where you mustn’t breathe, as well as the rare occasions where you can take a quick breath!

Where a word ends in an ‘s’, ensure you make the cut off clean with no hissing and sounds of deflating tyres!

At the top, high notes (especially Sopranos), smile and squeeze the oranges under your armpits and keep it bright.

Be prepared when your part arrives; don’t let it catch you off guard so you miss the first notes.

Watch Eamonn; he will indicate when your part comes in and ends, where it slows down, when it needs more energy and especially for the gaps (dunce holes).  There are plenty of these in The Sound of Silence, and the gaps are not all the same length!

Eamonn keeps the tempo – he’s the boss, so keep watching him!

Please consider the style of music for each song and lean into it, allowing yourself to feel it. E.g., the "do do do do" in Matthew and Son; the relentless positive energy in "Walking on Sunshine," etc.

Know when your part is essential and sing it out, but take it back a notch when you are the backing singers and let the other, perhaps more critical parts, be heard.

Some songs are slow, but not necessarily sad, like "Everytime We Say Goodbye." It is a love song, so keep it moving forward.

With Eamonn taking on some of Elliot’s arrangements, he has made just slight changes:

Peace in the Valley – ‘Oh, yes’ is now short with a crisp ‘s’

Walking on Sunshine – the end will have a slightly longer ‘good’.

Walking on Sunshine is a challenge for Eamonn as well as us!  The music under the singing gives the driving force for us to sing over, but it doesn’t help with the notes we sing!  We need to build and drive on regardless with no dip in energy, even if you are feeling tired; keep going! 

It may be the last song of Act One or Act Two, so you’ll have time to recover when you’ve finished singing it!

Once Eamonn has a pianist to play, he can then concentrate on keeping up our energy. Can I suggest Eric Morcombe, priceless!

Peace in the Valley – Basses need to work on ‘there will be no sadness and no (‘no’ is long) sorrow’, so it can be heard as you are the only ones singing at that time and it gives emphasis to the song, so it is important to get this right!

It's just a case of practice.  If you know your part, you will sing out confidently and be heard, which in turn gives confidence to others in your voice part, and they, too, will sing louder. As each voice part gains confidence, we can then listen to one another and hear the beautiful blend and harmony of our In Flagrante Choir!

The best thing about harmony is that you can’t sing it alone!