Yesterday evening was the last sing of the spring term for Red and Green choir, and it seems a long time before the next sing on 9 May – the Easter break being extended by all the extra bank holidays. This is a shame because suddenly we have 3 or 4 new singers which is what every choir wants, plus some past members able to return. This makes the sound much fuller, and we hope the momentum isn’t lost over the Easter Break.
It’s hard to know exactly what to call these sessions; in one way they are classes because we are a WEA class, but of course they are more than that. Yes we learn and rehearse, but we also have a good sing, and take a little time out to plan activities - concerts, demonstrations, outings, parties. We try to avoid political discussions because singing time is precious, so I will call them singing meetings. We aren’t confined to term times, and have singing meetings between times at someone’s house if needed.
There are two singing occasion between now and the next singing meeting anyway. On 12 April we will be singing with other local choirs at Emmanuel Church. This is not a big public concert, (neither is it a religious concert – we are very strongly secular as a choir), more a get-to-know-you, but last night we had a run through of the songs we intend to sing. It was a successful dress rehearsal, so it’s fortunate we’re not superstitious!
Then on Sunday 1 May we will be singing in Trafalgar Square with London’s other socialist choirs to welcome the May Day marchers as they come in. Singing with other choirs is always fun and can be inspiring when you feel the sheer energy generated by so many people singing together. The pitfalls are finding songs not only that we all know, but that we know in the same arrangement. It was great singing with up to a dozen socialist choirs from around the country on the March for the Alternative on 26 March, but one song at least had to be abandoned because the conflicting arrangements made it sound horrible.
This is the start of a Red and Green blog so it is doing a bit of scene-setting. The aim is to give readers an idea of what goes on in a choir like ours – I hope to show over time that it is fun and friendly. We hold our beliefs strongly but we don’t hit you over the head with them, and our songs match that. I also hope that people will be encouraged to come and join us.
It’s hard to know exactly what to call these sessions; in one way they are classes because we are a WEA class, but of course they are more than that. Yes we learn and rehearse, but we also have a good sing, and take a little time out to plan activities - concerts, demonstrations, outings, parties. We try to avoid political discussions because singing time is precious, so I will call them singing meetings. We aren’t confined to term times, and have singing meetings between times at someone’s house if needed.
There are two singing occasion between now and the next singing meeting anyway. On 12 April we will be singing with other local choirs at Emmanuel Church. This is not a big public concert, (neither is it a religious concert – we are very strongly secular as a choir), more a get-to-know-you, but last night we had a run through of the songs we intend to sing. It was a successful dress rehearsal, so it’s fortunate we’re not superstitious!
Then on Sunday 1 May we will be singing in Trafalgar Square with London’s other socialist choirs to welcome the May Day marchers as they come in. Singing with other choirs is always fun and can be inspiring when you feel the sheer energy generated by so many people singing together. The pitfalls are finding songs not only that we all know, but that we know in the same arrangement. It was great singing with up to a dozen socialist choirs from around the country on the March for the Alternative on 26 March, but one song at least had to be abandoned because the conflicting arrangements made it sound horrible.
This is the start of a Red and Green blog so it is doing a bit of scene-setting. The aim is to give readers an idea of what goes on in a choir like ours – I hope to show over time that it is fun and friendly. We hold our beliefs strongly but we don’t hit you over the head with them, and our songs match that. I also hope that people will be encouraged to come and join us.
Get-together with local choirs
Today is 13 April 2011, and from now on I will make a point of indicating the year as well as the date in the text. I hate finding random bits of writing with no indication of when they were written, and it’s amazing how they do crop up.
Yesterday evening we joined 5 other local choirs and sang in Emmanuel church at West Hampstead. The event was packed out, great fun and raised nearly a thousand pounds for the Marie Curie charity. Our own contribution sounded quite good to us apart from the sorts of mistakes that feel like massive blunders to the person who made them (I’m talking about my mistakes here) but possibly were barely noticeable at the back of the nave – well I hope so anyway.
I think it sounded good because the church has such a friendly and helpful acoustic. Standing on the steps under the chancel arch you get enough feedback to hear yourself as well as the rest of the choir. It is something of a joke to us that although we are a secular socialist choir we sing our best in churches. But then one of the functions of churches, certainly before the age of amplification, was to be massive music boxes. Just think of the impact of a 32 foot organ pipe in a soaring double cube space to those used to the quieter days of the past. Has anyone written about the power of noisy activities in a quiet world?
I have decided as a general principle not to mention other choirs or institutions by name unless I have agreed it with them first. This isn’t a privacy policy gone mad; it just saves me from doing the research and ensuring the spellings and web addresses are all correct. However all the other choirs attending yesterday evening are local round this part of North West London, and also welcome new members. If anyone wants more information about them just drop us a line – but we may first try and convince you that joining us is your best option!
Kit, Tenor, 13 April 2011.
Yesterday evening we joined 5 other local choirs and sang in Emmanuel church at West Hampstead. The event was packed out, great fun and raised nearly a thousand pounds for the Marie Curie charity. Our own contribution sounded quite good to us apart from the sorts of mistakes that feel like massive blunders to the person who made them (I’m talking about my mistakes here) but possibly were barely noticeable at the back of the nave – well I hope so anyway.
I think it sounded good because the church has such a friendly and helpful acoustic. Standing on the steps under the chancel arch you get enough feedback to hear yourself as well as the rest of the choir. It is something of a joke to us that although we are a secular socialist choir we sing our best in churches. But then one of the functions of churches, certainly before the age of amplification, was to be massive music boxes. Just think of the impact of a 32 foot organ pipe in a soaring double cube space to those used to the quieter days of the past. Has anyone written about the power of noisy activities in a quiet world?
I have decided as a general principle not to mention other choirs or institutions by name unless I have agreed it with them first. This isn’t a privacy policy gone mad; it just saves me from doing the research and ensuring the spellings and web addresses are all correct. However all the other choirs attending yesterday evening are local round this part of North West London, and also welcome new members. If anyone wants more information about them just drop us a line – but we may first try and convince you that joining us is your best option!
Kit, Tenor, 13 April 2011.
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