September 23rd

We've been back for three weeks, and learning some new songs. Last week we did 'Feeling Good' - Nina Simone. This week it was Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah - some very tricky parts, but once they fit together it sounds amazing!

Next week we're going to work on them a bit more, and start on our Christmas repertoire.

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July 21st

Oh dear - no rehearsal tonight due to problems at the school. Better go down the pub instead!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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July 14th

We didn't have a rehearsal tonight - we all went to see Jon as NankiPoo in The Mikado at the Little Theatre. Great!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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July 7th

For the past couple of weeks we're been working without Jon, as he was off rehearsing for the Mikado. We did work hard, honestly - we went through all our current repertoire, though we did find it harder to keep tempo and avoid going flat. 

 

June 9th

Another new member last night - Cathy's mum. Very welcome! We worked on the tricky bit in Kiss From a Rose, Roar, and then two of our favourites - Feel My Love and And So It Goes. We're really getting those two down pat. 

   

Jon will be rehearsing and performing in the Mikado so he won't be at rehearsals on June 30th, July 7th and 14th. We're going to use those dates to have section practices on our current repertoire, so we're ready to put the music down when he returns on 21st July.

   

That will be our last rehearsal before the summer break. We're going to have a good sing that evening, then go to a pub. And over the summer break we'll meet up for a social evening.

    

And finally... Something to look forward to. We're hoping to have a gig on 21st October, a concert with Jon's private music students. 

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May 26th

Ooops - missed updating for a couple of weeks. Sorry!

  

We're building up the membership - which is great. Mostly Leads and Tenors, plus one Bari, so the balance is good. Next week is half-term, and there's some kind of Jubilee thing going on, so no rehearsal. Then back to working hard through June. 

   

We did some work on This is Me (from The Greatest Showman) particularly to get the 'shaping' (the quiet and loud bits) right. And a bit more on Roar (the one with all the 'dit-dits'. And we sang through Best Day of My Life, which is sounding really good.  

 

May 5th

We worked really hard this evening. Chasing Cars is a beautiful song - the lyrics are so romantic: "All that I am, all that I ever was, is here in your perfect eyes, they're all I can see." But it's really hard to sing. Then we did Roar - the base line has twenty bars (20 - count 'em) of 'dit-dit-dit-dit'.

   

We have emailed our 'lapsed' members to update them on what we are doing, and assuring them of a warm welcome if they wanted to come back. Members will remember Pamella, who prompted us to put on a concert for Children in Need a few years ago. Would you believe she's 90 this year?! 

 

April 28th

A busy evening, not just singing. All our costumes were being moved from one storage to another, and we had to unload them from Pam's car, check the inventory and then load them into Dave's. Who'd have thought we had so much stuff! 

   

Then we returned to the real business of the night. We sang And So It Goes, Make You Feel My Love and Best Day of My Life. We're really getting them now. Next week we're making a start on Under The Boardwalk - really looking forward to that one. 

 

April 7th

As we have several new members, Jon arranged to have a rehearsal just for them, to give them a chance to learn the songs without feeling the pressure of trying to keep up with the more established members. As it turned out they were all leads and tenors, which worked out well. They went through And So It Goes, Kiss From a Rose and Can't Buy Me Love. They'll probably be better than the rest of us when we all get back after the Easter break!     

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March 24th

Oooh, we worked hard tonight! We cracked on with Chasing Cars, and got to sing it pretty much all the way through. Each part is really tricky, but when you put them all together they sound fantastic. Then we worked on Roar (Katy Perry) We started learning this one a few years ago, but we never really got it up to performance level. But tonight... well, it wasn't half bad.

Jon has two new ones for us to learn. Under The Boardwalk - the Drifters, from 1964! One of my all-time favourites. And Sound of Silence. Love the Simon and Garfunkel version, of course - but have you heard the David Draiman (Disturbed) version? It's incredible - it takes interpretation to a whole other level.

 

March 17th

Tonight Jon was so pleased with us that he recorded our performances of Best Day of my Life and And So It Goes. Then we worked on Chasing Cars again - we started at the end and worked forward. At some point I suppose we'll meet in the middle.

As we have four new members, and hope to have a few more, Jon is going to hold a rehearsal just for them on 7th April - a chance for them to learn the songs without feeling they have to try to keep up with the rest of us. 

 

March 10th

That was a good rehearsal. We went through the two songs from last week, then started working on Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol) Lovely song, but very difficult to get right - mainly due to the tricky rhythms. The first twenty-five bars have a lot of doo-doos with each section coming in on a different beat. Jon was helping by counting 1-2-3-4 - by the time we got to the end he was very nearly collapsed on the floor. But we're getting there!

And we have another new member - Denise. Welcome!

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March 3rd

Back to singing tonight, after two weeks off (a Covid scare which fortunately was negative, then half-term.) We worked on Make You Feel my Love and Best Day of my Life, and then And So It Goes. Jon was a bit nit-picky, but we didn't mind. As he said, when you've been singing something for a long time you can easily slip into bad habits. Got to remember it's 'lovers parst' not 'lovers paist' ('cos we ain't from Brooklyn!)

We were also delighted to welcome some new(ish) members - Caroline, Rachel and Mirela (well, Mirela was with us back in the '00s, so welcome back!)

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January 27th

We had our AGM tonight. Jon told us that a lot of choruses and amateur theatre groups have gone under during the two years of lock-down, so we have done very well to survive - even if our numbers are a bit depleted. Hopefully as people get their confidence back to go out and mingle, we will get some of our old members back and recruit some new ones.

Although the lower numbers mean that we aren't quite breaking even financially, we have plenty of reserves to dip into, so we decided not to put the subscription up. Most other choruses in the area charge more, so we're good value.

Other changes. Jon is going to take on the Sing-Out Co-ordinator role - this makes good sense as whoever holds the role has to co-ordinate with him anyway, so it cuts out the middle-man. And we're going to set up an Instagram account. 

Then Jon made us coffee!

 

January 20th

Well, that was fun! Chasing Cars is a lovely song, but it's very complicated. But it'll be great when we get it.

Next week we're going to have a look at Roar (Katy Perry.) It's also the AGM so we wont start singing until 8pm​

 

January 13th

Working on key changes - especially in Fever. Was it the bases or was it the leads? Who can say? Next week we're going to work on Chasing Cars - that should be quite a challenge!

 

January 6th

We're back, and starting on our new repertoire, picking up some of our old favourites and learning a couple of new ones.

To be honest, we sounded a bit ropey at first - poor Jon was almost tearing his hair out. But it was amazing how quickly we got back into it and soon Kiss From a Rose was sounding really good.

 

January 1st

New Year, new website. Several of the pages are still under construction, but do check back to see our progress.

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