You Were Warned - DO NOT BREATHE!

 I was sorry I wasn’t in the room for Eamonn’s return, but I was confined to his computer screen on Zoom. I heeded the warning: Do Not Breathe!

However, we hit the ground running with our excruciating tongue circles and tricky tongue twisters: “Susie showed her sushi at the super sushi show.”

Then, straight into a new song, Sea Fog, an English song released in 2012 by Keane.

Keyboardist and principal songwriter Tim Rice-Oxley inspired this intimate song by the fogs rolling off the English Channel down the valley where he lives. He added: "Even on a sunny day, you'll look out of the window, and suddenly you can't see anything apart from the blank mist. It's spooky

Rice-Oxley discussed the song's meaning: "The nagging feeling of 'Is there somewhere I'm meant to be?' is a feeling that I think haunts a lot of people as they get a little older," he said, "and the feeling of being 'rolled' along by life is part of being human, I think.

The Tenors start by repeating the first part apart from the last notes, giving it a little question-and-answer feel. Remember, the first ‘Ooh’ is long. Listen and feel the tempo.

Then, the Sops and Altos join in, followed by the Basses with the words.

DO NOT BREATHE during these long phrases – you were warned that Eamonn doesn’t like you breathing! You can snatch a quick breath after…’ sorrow’ and ‘it makes things better’ as well a quick one after ‘…. tomorrow’ and ‘if luck will let…’

Let ‘tomorrow’ flow and sound like one word, not broken as in ‘to-more-row.’

The ‘us’ on ‘…let us’ is relatively short, so watch Eamonn for the cut-off.

The Altos, unusually, have the tune from ‘Can anyone fly into these grey skies.

Do not breathe!

Tenors take a big breath before singing, ‘Is there somewhere I’m meant to be?’.  Enjoy the last part of that phrase, and DO NOT BREATHE in the middle of it! Easy for you to say! Poor, poor Tenors!

The Ng sound is like a hum but more resonant as your mouth is open.  It is like warm-ups we do with the ‘ng’ sound of singing without the ‘si’ at the beginning.  Practice, and you’ll soon get the hang of it!

Sops & Altos, your Ngs follow the same pattern of notes in the words that follow in bar 27; ‘Sea fog comes like a river …..’ which is one long phrase, so sing it to the end. 

DO NOT BREATHE and build and emphasise ‘stone’

Basses feel the pulse, don’t get carried away, and get ahead of everyone else.

Listen to the tracks and familiarise yourselves with them, ready for next week.

We then sang through Elliot’s arrangement of And So It Goes, which was quite impressive from my point of view, sitting on the little computer screen.  However, it did highlight how important it is to watch Eamonn’s direction to build it up to a climax with ‘you can make decisions too’ and then bring the volume down, especially at the end with the finish when we should all be together.

After a well-earned break, it was back to True Colours, a song written by American songwriters Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. It was the title track and the first single released from American singer Cyndi Lauper's second studio album. Steinberg originally wrote "True Colours" about his mother. Tom Kelly altered the first verse, and the duo originally submitted the song to Anne Murray, who passed on recording it, and then to Cyndi Lauper. Their demo was a piano-based gospel ballad like "Bridge over Troubled Water." Steinberg told Songfacts, "Cyndi completely dismantled that sort of traditional arrangement and came up with something breathtaking and stark."

The chorus of this song is famous, whereas the verses are less well-known, so it is essential that the words be heard and the story told. This won't be easy, as the words fit oddly into the notes.

Altos starts us off with their soloistic sound. Drive through, ‘it’s hard to take courage…’ and when you get to the part, ‘like a rainbow,’ be ready to come in as the piano drops out briefly.

Make the verses gentle and emotional, even though so many words exist.

I look forward to joining you in person next week, our last week before the two-week Easter break.

We will probably finish Sea Fog and True Colours, look at Cloudbusting, and sing one of Elliot’s songs, so keep them all refreshed in your mind and listen to the tracks.

Add a note for the diary:

On April 29th, upon our return after Easter, Alan will bring the books he ordered for us. He has also offered to give a small presentation before choir practice. If you want to hear Alan, he will start at 7 PM sharp. Please try to arrive 10 minutes early.

We cannot, and I mean cannot, run over into Eamon's time for fear of "The Glare."