Good afternoon everyone! I hope you’re all staying safe and well in this nasty storm! We’ve fortunately not been too badly affected, but are now a bit apprehensive about moving our furniture in a van tomorrow...
I was really pleased with this week’s rehearsal, especially with the run of the Verdi – not perfect, but a really good thing to do at this point in the term! I’d also like to say a massive congratulations on the money raised for Brain Tumour Research – £300 is amazing. Although Eric may not trust any of my dinner invitations from now on, I think he was very touched by everyone’s commitment to wearing a hat/donkey ears for his birthday and in support of the charity. A huge thanks to the committee for organising it all.
What we did on 16.02.22
As I said, it’s an incredible achievement to have got all the way through the Verdi at this stage in the term. It was then great to dissect the first half of it and do some hard work on the notes, text, and character of the piece – Basses, I’m still not afraid of you! We made some good progress with the Puccini Credo, and have now sung the entire piece in a good amount of detail. Well done with the amount we covered; I feel as though we’re in a really good place with it all.
What we will do on 23.02.22
Nothing! It’s half term, so enjoy the week off. Please do keep listening to the music, ensure your score is marked up, and keep practicing the parts you’re least familiar with. It’s going to be a really good second half to the term, I can feel it, so let’s come really on top of the music in March.
I’ll do another Conductor’s Notes next week letting you all know about the rehearsal on the 2nd March.
To help with any specific parts, please find two links below, to a site called Choralia. It’s a very crude audio quality, but it allows you to hear your own part, slow it down, and loop it for detailed learning. I highly recommend at least checking them out to help your learning specific parts – please don’t rely on it though... I worry you may all come to the next rehearsal sounding like computers!
The final bit of shameless self-promotion – you can still catch the NYCGB Showcase 2022 on YouTube until the end of March. I hop you’ll all check it out, not just to hear some incredible new music sung by yours truly, but to hear all about the phenomenal organisation I’ve been a part of over the past year.
We’ll be singing on Saturday 5th March, with our set beginning at 4pm. Bernard will be accompanying us for this, and we’ll be singing the Kyrie and the beginning of the Gloria. I would love to have the whole choir there, and to use it as a great opportunity to perform together and to the community, so please put this in the diary.
A massive hello to you all from our new house! I’m sorry for the delay in getting these notes posted as the past few days have been filled with frantic packing and moving, but I’m pleased to say we’re a lot more settled now (even if we don’t yet know where everything is!)
At the bottom of this post is some more information about the Chipping Norton Music Festival. It’ll be so good for everyone to come and represent the choir, and I hope you’ll all be able to make it. I believe there’ll be a tick-box on the sign-in sheet at the rehearsal to say whether you’ll be attending or not. Alternatively, if you know you can’t make it, please email Eric to let him know.
What we did on 09.02.22
Brilliant work on the Verdi – it was great to cover that final section, and I’m really beginning to get a sense of the text through your expression now. It’ll be great to piece it all together. I love how well the Credo is coming along; so much was remembered from the previous week, and we were able to do some fabulously detailed work on the opening through to the Bass solo on page 58. Just a reminder to keep the drama alive throughout, and we are the ‘backing vocals’ to the Tenor soloist at figure 3.
What we will do on 16.02.22
Verdi Stabat Mater: All the way through! At this point in term, it’ll be great to see where this piece is, so we’ll sing through it all, then top and tail small sections so we know what to look at over the half term break.
Puccini Credo: Page 60-End – the final bit of the Puccini that we need to cover before the break. There’s a lot here, and a lot of stylistic changes, but you’ll manage it with ease, and hopefully a lot of it will come back from the first week we did it.
Piece of the Week
This week’s suggested listening is a shameless bit of self-promotion: it’s our final Showcase event as part of the Fellowship with the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain. It’s a free, online viewing, at 6:30pm on Tuesday 15th Feb. I hope it gives you an chance to see what I’ve been up to with my work with NYCGB. ‘Tickets’ via the website have sold out, but you should be able to just watch it on their YouTube channel here.
Marked Scores
As before, the marked scores are here. If you haven’t yet put the markings in, I’d greatly appreciate it if you would.
Sarah will confirm this in the rehearsal on Wednesday, but we’ll be singing on Saturday 5th March, with our set beginning around 4pm. Bernard will be accompanying us for this, and we’ll be singing the Kyrie and the beginning of the Gloria. I would love to have the whole choir there, and to use it as a great opportunity to perform together and to the community, so please put this in the diary.
It was so lovely to be back! I know I was only away for a week, but I really missed the fun that we have. I thought Wednesday’s rehearsal was excellent, so thank you all for your hard work, and a massive thanks again to Terry for getting some brilliant work done – I came back suitably impressed!
At the bottom of this post is information about the Chipping Norton Music Festival. As I said in the rehearsal, I’m very excited that we’ll have the chance to perform in the Festival, and we can use it as an opportunity to gel as a choir and new conductor in a performance situation.
What we did on 02.02.22
It was great to start with the Verdi today. I usually put it at the end, but I’m sure you’ll all agree (especially Sopranos with those top Bs) that it was beneficial to start with it. Great job! The Kyrie was fantastic! I’m so pleased with the hard work that you all put in with Terry, and I’m glad we could continue to build colour and character with the music. We made really good progress with the ending of the Gloria. I feel like the confidence with the chromatic harmonies is getting more solid each week, so keep it up. Great watching for the rall. – I wonder if we can do this all of the time, haha! Finally, we ended with a solid reminder of the beginning of the Credo. I loved the conviction with the text and the dark mood you created.
What we will do on 09.02.22
Verdi Stabat Mater: Bars 89-158, with a particular focus on the power needed from bar 143 onwards. Please familiarise yourselves with the text for this section, so we can crack straight on with conveying the incredible meaning behind it.
Puccini Credo: Beginning-Figure 6. A lot to cover in here, including the dramatic colour and dynamic changes, but I want to focus heavily on the homophonic stuff at figure 3, accompanying the soloist.
Puccini Gloria: Figures 24-26, looking in particular at the interplay between the parts.
Piece of the Week
This week is simply Verdi’s Stabat Mater. Hopefully you’ll all recognise it, but now’s a good chance to familiarise yourselves with it as a whole, having rehearsed it in sections over the past few weeks. You can find it on the Spotify Playlist for the concert, by clicking the link below.
A few people have asked me to send round the marked scores again. They’re below, and should be available for download. I really appreciate your time in putting these markings into your parts as it saves so much time in rehearsals! I suggest doing it with a nice glass of gin!
I’ve entered us into the Festival, yay! More details to follow, but the pieces we’ll be performing are the Puccini Kyrie and Gloria (Beginning-Page 16). The date of the performance is Saturday 5th March, so please keep this free in your diaries! If you know you can’t make it, please let Eric know as soon as possible. I’d love to bring along as big a choir as possible to really represent how incredible this choir is!
Well, this is exciting – my first post on ‘Conductor’s Notes’! I look forward to carrying on this excellent tradition from Peter, providing you with feedback on the rehearsals and what we’ll be looking at in the forthcoming week. I’ll also be sharing my ‘Piece of the Week’ – some suggested listening for your entertainment.
I look forward to seeing you all on the 2nd February!
What we did on 26.01.22
A massive thank you to Terry for stepping in at the last minute; I heard it went extremely well, and we’re incredibly luck to have such exceptional accompanists at our disposal! Thank you for your work on the Gloria – I’ve been assured it’s all slotting into place and that everyone is beginning to feel more confident with it. The introduction to the Kyrie sounds as though it was very useful and I look forward to hearing the progress on it next Wednesday.
What we will do on 02.02.22
Verdi Stabat Mater: Bar 160-End. I look forward to your story-telling with the text, and then creating a rich, warm sound on the build-up from Bar 185.
Puccini Kyrie: Full movement, focusing on the contrast of colour between the “Christe” and the “Kyries”.
Puccini Gloria: Figure 27-End, refreshing memories on the ‘fugue’ theme.
If there’s time:Puccini Credo:Beginning-Figure 3, reminding ourselves of the key ‘themes’.
Piece of the Week
Is actually a shameless promotion of the recently-released National Youth Choirs of Great Britain’s new Album from the Young Composer’s Scheme. As part of the NYCGB Fellowship we worked very closely with these 4 incredible young composers, including singing the pieces they wrote for us. Unfortunately I had a throat infection for the recording, but I’m phenomenally proud of the composers and singers on this album. Please have a listen!
Congratulations to everyone who sang carols in town last Thursday and thank you. Councillor Rizvana Poole said ‘It was such a moving experience and loved by all who attended.’ It is important (and fun!) to support town and community events like this and good of you to put in the time.
And by the way – if you forget your mask when shopping, just sing. Masks are not required when singing. Hurrah.
What we did on 08.12.21
Back in St Mary’s we had to adjust to more changes in seating and acoustics. We are learning to be flexible! Substantial progress on Britten no. 4 (Journey to Palestine), we have nearly nailed it, but it did take up a lot of time, increasing the pressure on the rest. We sang through no.8 (His piety) which was pretty good and held its tuning – fab! This just needs more expression now. The three Messiah choruses were fine – well done. We can ‘relax’ into those on the night.
What we will do on 15.12.21
Britten: Nos 5, 7, middle section of 8 and 9
Messiah: Surely (98) NB ALERT – at the end of page 101, go straight to page 113, fig G (and the Lord…) to finish. Paperclip these pages together for easy turning. He trusted in God (115) .
We won’t sing the three carols until Friday. PLEASE know these, they are so simple…..
What we will do on Friday 17.12.21
The carols and the Britten, no Messiah, and we will be in positions on stage.
The programme running order and timetable for Saturday 18th can be found in the Conductor’s Additional Notes of November 29.
I am really looking forward to seeing many of you on Sunday for our ‘gathering’. What’s YOUR definition of a ‘PARTY’?!! Whatever it is, let’s have one.
Holy Trinity Church is a marvellous building in which to rehearse – warm, comfortable and spacious. Wonderful acoustic for the right music, but not so easy for rehearsing as the resonance made it challenging to hear each other so our rhythm and ensemble were compromised. Someone admitted in the pub that the only way to keep together was to watch me! Now there’s a thought…… Despite the new hurdles it was a good rehearsal and we covered a lot, thank you.
Parish notices:
Thank you to everyone who signed ‘Peter’s Podium’. It will be available again for everyone to sign. I will treasure having a CNCS rostrum to stand on whenever I conduct in future, and if everyone’s name is on the back, I will feel truly supported by you all.
Concert programmes: These will be available for the choir to purchase at the Friday 17th rehearsal.
Guests’ refreshments: Thank you in advance to Tenors and Sopranos for providing refreshments for the instrumentalists and soloists after the dress rehearsal. Please sign up if you haven’t already.
What we will do on 08.12.21
Rehearsal will be back in St Mary’s Church at 7.30 and we will sit in the pews for easier distancing.
Warm up with Ding dong, Silent Night & Coventry Carol
Britten: Movements 4, 5 & 7
Messiah: Amen (p 227 to end), For unto us (p55), Glory to God (p68)
Greetings from Great Western Railway – getting ahead of myself with notes from yesterday’s session and plans for next week. Thank you for a rushed but useful rehearsal. The church was chilly and we were rather cramped, but we did cover some useful ground (see last week’s Notes as we managed everything apart from For unto us…). When we return to St Mary’s on December 8th we will set up as close to concert formation as we can, with due regard to distancing, ensuring no one is left out on a limb.
The Annual General Meeting was swift and I presented my final Conductor’s Report which can be found here:
CONDUCTOR’S REPORT 2020-21 SEASON
Following the masterclass on public speaking by Boris Johnson – our Prime Minister – on Monday, I will be making no references to cartoon characters, will not imitate any kind of motorised transport and have carefully numbered my pages to keep them in order.
It is a pleasure to present my conductor’s report for the 2020-21 season – which is to be my last! My first must have been in Autumn 1998, but I have no record of any until 2001, which was rather perfunctory, and contained the bold statements: ‘The sound continues to be good and poor tuning has been eradicated’ and ‘Everyone rises well to challenges’. Remarkable progress over four years.
(NB ‘Tuning’ refers to performances and your ability to attain it. Rest assured that to this day, in rehearsal poor intonation is still achievable!! – update: November 2021)
I am not treating this report as a ‘leaver’s speech’, but it does present an opportunity to reflect a little on the choir’s enormous achievements and progress over 24 years. BTW, my first concert with CNCS was 24 years ago this week – Nov 22nd 1997.
So, what exactly is the season on which I am reporting? The last 18 months have been incredibly challenging, and dates & timelines get blurred. I did submit a report to the zoom AGM in November 2020, which referred to Belshazzar’s Feast from November 2019, the Christmas concert (Chilcott’s ‘On Christmas Night’) and the beginnings of the Rossini Mass and music festival appearance in March, before lockdown on the 23rd.
Throughout the summer and into the autumn of 2020 I stayed connected with posts from The Man At the Front which were designed to inform, educate, and entertain (BBC’s Charter!!) in an effort to keep bodies and souls together as we couldn’t sing. During that year, in July, we very sadly lost Peter Barber, a bass who together with Wendy, had been in the choir for 20+ years. This loss inspired some digging deep into the publication he edited and produced for many years – Leading Notes – and I was able to quote from it in the blogs – a reminiscence project I enjoyed very much.
As the 2020/21 season began, we very nearly got back together in November for a Return to Singing, but were thwarted until December 17th for ‘one night only’! It was fun, but very strange – wearing masks and standing 2m apart. Not at all a real singing experience, but better than being isolated at home on zoom I feel. A small working party worked hard to set this up, mindful of the pandemic and all the H&S requirements, and I would like to express my gratitude and say ‘thank you’ on behalf of everyone to the team for their dedication and planning make this happen. Sadly, we had to lock down again, but a robust process was in place for the future.
In February of this year, I attended Shauni McGregor’s funeral and, as one of the thirty mourners permitted by covid rules I was honoured to be present as a close friend and representing the choral society. It was very fitting, and a great mark of our affection for Shauni that so many of you gathered outside the school to pay your respects as she took her last journey to the church in Shipton. To those of you who don’t know, Shauni was our accompanist and assistant conductor for many years, conducting a Mozart programme in 2006. Her most profound impact on our musical achievements was as the fixer for soloists and instrumental players, drawing on friends and contacts from a professional career in London. This choir would simply not have become the choir it is without Shauni, and she is a huge loss to the community of Chipping Norton.
The summer of 2021 came, I kept blogging – something I really enjoyed BTW, and we geared up for Return to Singing 2 in May. Unfortunately, the government ignored the amateur music sector, and we were subjected to harsher rules than sport and night clubs, so couldn’t resume singing. I was heartened by the tenacity of the choral organisations (ABCD and Making Music) and some choir members, writing to MPs and the Culture Secretary to plead our case, seeking justification for the apparent ‘discrimination.’ No one got a satisfactory response, so we continued twiddling our musical thumbs and joined online choirs, workshops, and masterclasses.
We finally returned to singing on July 7th, then met every Wednesday to resurrect the Petite Messe Solennelle by Rossini, postponed from April 2020, and performed it on August 14th in Deddington Church.
We were supported by Stewart Taylor (my predecessor at CNCS) on piano and Anne Page, Harmonium, both of whom had been booked for the 2020 performance. Moreover, they had both performed the same piece with us in 2003! In that year’s conductor’s report, I wrote:‘Very exciting and hugely enjoyable. We have the capacity to capture the appropriate flavour of any piece we do. The choir is reasonably mouldable and cooperative and is much better at doing what is asked than it used to be! The vocal soloists were a little disappointing but produced the goods. Anne and Stewart were fantastic and made a significant contribution to the effective performance.’
Much of that comment applies to the August performance but this time the soloists were amazing (James Berry, Philip Costovski, Lorna Day, and Isla MacEwan), the choir was brilliant and totally committed, having really absorbed what was expected of them, and the whole experience was utterly thrilling after such uncertainty and a long absence. Well done all.
Despite the chaos and frustration, isolation and grief, this last academic year has been one of calm endeavour with a triumphant return. We are still here, with new members and growing, able to prepare for a concert in four weeks’ time and looking forward to a bright new future.
My annual reports over the last 24 years (despite some gaps) have steadily got longer, more fulsome in their praise for the choir’s singing and more challenging in expectations and ambition, which have resulted in some spectacular performances – Bach’s B Minor Mass, Belshazzar’s Feast, Elgar’s The Music Makers and Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem in the last 5 years. In my report of 2014/15, I wrote:
‘Thank you all once again for working so hard since January, I’ve enjoyed the journey. We chose Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius as a challenge and could have avoided it – too difficult, too expensive – but I’m reminded of the final verse of Robert Frost’s The road not taken:
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.’
And finally… The process for appointing my successor is strictly this year’s business, but now is an appropriate moment for me to say thank you to everyone for contributing to it so openly and with such sincerity. You have made a sound choice in Ben which I am happy about, and confident you will continue to grow with fresh challenges.
None of the above over 24 years would ever have worked so effectively without the many committees and volunteers, for which an enormous thank you. I have always been supported and encouraged by the committees, none more so than this year, which has been particularly challenging, requiring a lot of extra time and duties, thank you. Strong leadership matters, both on the conductor’s podium and in governance and each committee has enjoyed good leadership from their chairs. Thank you to all of them.
Leadership from the chair has never mattered as much as it has this year! Eric was appointed at the 2020 AGM believing his largest challenge that of emerging from the pandemic after not singing for nine months. In January we met for a walk by the canal in Cropredy to chew the fat and put the world straight, finishing with a whisky in the churchyard. Already exercised by the uncertainties ahead, he met my bombshell that we were moving to Devon, with remarkable restraint. Although dismayed and upset, he characteristically turned all our conversations to what the future might look like and how we would get there, determined to maintain and cherish what we have all created. Eric, you reefed the sails well ahead of the storm and have guided us to calm and safer waters, thank you.
Peter Hunt
24.11.21
What we will do on 01.12.21
Rehearsal is at Holy Trinity Church, London Rd at 7.30.
Parking available in the Primary School playground.
Great rehearsal last night – well done. Nice to welcome Bernard back to the piano stool. The sectional work was particularly useful and paid dividends. For the first time this term we were beginning to pay attention to dynamics and the words so that the drama started taking shape. This is a sign that confidence is growing!
I advised everyone to keep practising – listening to the piece a lot, and in addition to securing the notes, repeat any short phrases/passages over and over like an exercise, so it really sticks.
Sopranos and altos were developing really characterful singing in Nicolas was born. I’m not sure if references to midwives and trainee nurses were helpful, but there was definitely an improvement.
Tenors and basses were sounding positively tribal in movement 8, with a much better tonal blend and energy to the sound. Impressive.
Thank you and keep up the good work.
Peter
What we will do on 24.11.21
Rehearsal in St Mary’s Church at 7.30 (Carol singers meeting at 7.00)
Annual General Meeting at 9.00
Britten: Movements 5 and 9 (p76)
Run through of movt 2 (S&A)
Messiah: For unto us (p55) and He trusted (p115)
Looking forward to 01.12.21
Rehearsal will be in Holy Trinity Catholic Church, London Road 7.30
We warmly greeted the news that Ben Goodall has been appointed as the new conductor from January. I have written to Ben with congratulations and good wishes. I know you have appointed the best person for the job and I am delighted to hand over the baton to a fine musician who is keen to take you to higher and better things. Ben replied: I’m really excited to be taking over, and I’m so grateful for all of the support…. I’ll absolutely do my best to continue the amazing work you’ve done with the choir.
Let’s make sure we do some amazing work over the next few weeks to produce a good concert in December! Last week’s rehearsal was excellent and very encouraging, thank you.
What we will do on 17.11.21
Rehearsal at the school 6.30
After warming up – Britten sectionals:
Sopranos & Altos:
Movt 2, movt 7 (p57) and movt 8 (p68)
Tenors & Basses:
Movt 1 (checking how secure the harmony is),
Movt 4 (particularly the harmony section on p29)
Movt 8 (p69 to end)
We will run movement 8. At the bottom of page 72 (Let the legends…) it divides into 6 parts and taken in the following order: Sops, A1, A2, Tenors, B1, B2
Movt 5
Messiah: Surely (p98)
What we will do on 24.11.21
Rehearsal at St Mary’s Church 7.30 – 9.30
Britten: Movements 5, 9 (p76) and the Hymns (p46 & p86)
I thoroughly enjoyed our rehearsal on Wednesday – thank you everyone for some hard work. Like you, I am anticipating the white smoke from the Vatican, as the appointment committee burn their ballot papers with the results of the outstanding process we ran to appoint a new conductor. I’m sure we will select the right person to take the choir forward and I know you will support him by working as hard as you have for me over the past 24 years, to keep CNCS the outstanding beacon for choral singing that it is.
What we will do on 10.11.21
Britten:
Sing through Movt 7 – Pickled boys (left over from last week)
What an interesting couple of weeks since my last posting! Thank you all very much for the audition sessions which were extremely successful. It was interesting to work with different colleagues who wish to become your new conductor, and I would like to pass on your congratulations to them all for their commitment and helping us with our rehearsal. I am looking forward to your responses, finishing the selection process and making an announcement as soon as we can. In the meantime, it’s business as usual folks.......
We have two more rehearsals in the school hall before more venue changes, so let’s use them as an opportunity to get the Britten ‘under our belts’. I am pleased with progress so far. I have oft stated, that although there aren’t many notes in the piece, they do contain surprises and take a while to become really familiar. You’re doing well, thank you. Please practise as much as you can and miss no more rehearsals without just cause or impediment.
My thanks to Bernard for taking last week’s rehearsal. I received a fulsome and encouraging report of the evening and it sounds like you made much progress. He highlighted the challenge that we are discovering with the Britten and that is the ‘bitty’ nature of the music, being in short sections, with the possible exception of Serve the faith….. Compare that with the Messiah choruses, or the Rossini longer movements, in which the melodies hang around and develop, so you ‘stay in the zone’ for longer. The tactic for mastering this is to listen to the Britten so much and sing it frequently, so it becomes familiar, becomes so ‘sticky’ that it sticks.
Last week’s Messiah choruses were less secure than I had imagined so we won’t neglect or consider them an ‘afterthought’. From now on they will get equal billing with Britten in rehearsal and likewise in your practice at home, please.
This is the opportune moment to mention that we will add some Christmas music to the concert too, just a few simple pieces, to be issued later in the term.
What we will do on 20.10.21 and 27.10.21 – Conductor auditions– Starting at 6.00
Eric has written to everyone with the arrangements and explained what is required of everyone involved. Please treat them as rehearsals with a guest conductor! Your feedback is crucial and will form part of the decision-making. You might ask, how is it possible to rehearse and at the same time assess a conductor’s effectiveness and whether you could work with them regularly? It’s a tough call, particularly for something so personal and bound up with your own feelings of satisfaction, enjoyment, and pleasurable achievements. I recommend ‘considered gut instinct’.
Here’s the considered bit – keep these at the end of your antennae:
Are you engaged and enthused?
Are you set any expectations and are you helped to improve – are you learning?
Do you sense any improvement in your singing over the (short) 45 min session?
Based on this small sample, could you work with this person every week?
After each audition, don’t think too much, rely on your gut feeling at this stage and trust yourself that you have sung with enough conductors to know what’s right. I trust you – good luck, have fun.
I am delighted with the news that Mark our Membership Secretary shared with me last night, that we have 81 singers rehearsing this term. That’s brilliant, and still they keep coming! Welcome one and all. It is very encouraging that the new times of 6.30 to 8.30 are manageable and I am pleased with the hall as a space – plenty of room for everyone, and a decent piano. I hope this is true for you too.
What we did on 06.10.21
Excellent progress in sectionals with Britten movement 5 – S/A learning their ‘solo’ sections between the ‘Amens’, then we worked on Serve the faith and pretty much nailed it, for now. Then S/A looked at the similar passages in movement 7. Meanwhile the T/B were studying movement 4 and the evening ended with everyone singing through that movement. A lot of hard work here, well done.
Bernard will be taking the rehearsal next week (13th) and we have conductor auditions on October 20th and 27th, starting at 6.00. Eric has written to everyone, and more people read his email than last week’s Conductor’s Notes – just saying. Seriously, thank you all for keeping on top of things, following developments and being organised. The Committee and Recruitment Panel are working hard and Eric is keeping everything ship shape, of course.
My next Notes will be published on Sunday 17th with some thoughts and guidance on the audition process and what is involved. Thank you.
You might recall that in this week’s rehearsal I went ‘off piste’ and mentioned a Radio 4 programme about doubt and leadership. It was in the series Fourthought, Wednesday 6th at 09.30. Here is the link – it was quite interesting.
Greetings from a very wet and squally Devon. I thoroughly enjoyed this week’s rehearsal, thank you. It was a pleasure to greet more new faces and welcome the return of some longstanding members. It’s good to know you just can’t keep away from a good thing! Everyone worked particularly hard this week and we covered a lot of ground. If you missed it, please refer to last week’s rehearsal list – we worked at everything except pages 2-4.
I’m grateful to Kieron who stepped in to play at short notice and for his effective sectional work with Sops & Altos.
Eric reminded everyone about subs and updated us on the search for a new conductor – we now have six candidates, closing date tomorrow.
Quiz question (posed last week – What is unique about the number 40?):
Answer – Forty is the only number with its letters in alphabetical order. A member of my Banbury Singing for Wellbeing group suggested ‘It’s when life begins’, which may not be true, but an inspired guess. Also minus 40 is the same temperature in both Fahrenheit and Celsius. Nothing at all to do with singing, but a welcome brain break eh?
What we will do on 06.10.21
Warm up exploring SCALES. Please find out what a WHOLE TONESCALE is, in preparation. There is a well-known (French) composer who was fond of exploiting these – who was it? Scales are made up of a mix of TONES and SEMITONES. Um…unless it’s a whole tone scale of course (clue’s in the name), or a CHROMATIC SCALE, which is just the semitones.
E seems to be a very important note in this piece. It is our rock, our anchor, our home, our saviour…..
In St Nicolas, Britten exploits some unusual harmonies by manipulating tones and semitones, so we sometimes feel very familiarly in a KEY, and sometimes uncertain – ‘at sea’ perhaps!
SECTIONALS:
S&A Movt 5 p36-39 and Movt 7 p57, 59 & 60
T&B Movt 4 p28-31, 26/27, 20-25
Movt 5 Tutti
Movt 7 Tutti
If time – Messiah chorus For unto us a child is born
We welcomed Terry to accompany. Busy rehearsal and some confusion with numbers – for which, apologies. Talking of numbers, whilst I think of it – quiz question: What is unique about the number 40? Answer next week.
I recommended online learning tools: www.choraline.com and a free one – www.cyberbass.com Cyberbass doesn’t have any CD learning tracks available, but THEY DO have online tracks. These are very useful for helping to learn notes.
We covered the following music:
Movement 7 p56-65
The opening movement p2-4
Movement 8 p66-68
Messiah – Hallelujah chorus
I gave out some small booklets which are pages 39-46 (of movt 5) written out in open score to make the notes easier to read, with more space. This is to be inserted after p38 and secured with an elastic band. The last page of the booklet must be secured with a paperclip to pages 39-46. There will be a demonstration next week!
I also recommended a website to investigate some very good online training sessions to help support breathing and exploring vocal issues, particularly for older voices. The founder/teacher Anne- Marie Speed is excellent and I picked up a lot of practical tips from her at a conference. See www.thevoiceexplained.com
What we will do on 29.09.21
Movement 5 (using inserted pages so come prepared)
Movement 4 in sectionals. S/A please note that you sing all of the S/A music, there is no ‘gallery semi chorus’, you are it! Please look through the movement in advance to be sure when you sing. On page 28 (bottom line) you divide as follows: All sops take the top line and altos divide (tails down) and I’ll confirm with you who does what next week.
Pages 8-9and revisit p2-4
Messiah – Worthy is the Lamb
Enjoy (or ‘hope you did enjoy’) your weekend. Thank you.
Well done everyone for another fine rehearsal this week. Numbers continue to grow and it was great to see new members, who are all very welcome. Thanks to Kieron for accompanying and taking the S/A sectional – nice work, welcome aboard.
What we did on 15.09.21
Warmed up with page 46 – All people that on earth. Note that we are not observing any of the pauses except at the ends of verses. But of course, you will all be watching anyway!
Sectionals (S/A movement 2; T/B movement 4). We will return to these in detail in future, but the best way to consolidate the learning is to listen to the music as much as you can (see advice below) then the tunes will stick.
Movement 8 – We pulled this apart and tackled the first part of it (up to p68) working in paired voices. The challenge here is sticking to your notes! Each part is quite easy, but when sung in ensemble the ‘close harmony’ effect can lead you astray so chords can sound ‘muddy’ and out of tune. Again, slow patient work and familiarity are key – keep listening!
We ended with the nunc dimitis (p76) and the final hymn (p86) Again, only pause at the end of each verse.
What we will do on 22.09.21
Movements 7 – p56-61
Movement 1 – p2-4
Movement 8 p66-68
Messiah – Hallelujah chorus p171
What we will do on 29.09.21
Amongst other things we will start Movement 5 – p34
Which choruses are we singing from Messiah?
I have chosen some of my favourites, without apology, or any attempt to be consistent with the theme of Christmas or St Nicolas/Santa Claus, just a good sing! They are:
For unto us a child is born
Glory to God
Surely
He trusted in God
Hallelujah chorus (with audience participation)
Worthy is the lamb (Amen chorus)
Recordings of St Nicolas?
In last week’s Notes I pointed you towards my blog of March 23 for a link to an illustrated talk on St Nicolas and recordings. There are plenty available. The Corydon Singers (conductor Matthew Best) is good and the programme notes are also excellent.
Auditions for conductor
These are scheduled for 20.10.21. The following week is the half term break – there is no official rehearsal, but we might need it for auditions too.
There was a good turn out – about 50 – and everyone was on time for the new 6.30 start, thank you.
I thanked everyone again for the Magnificent Rossini concert, welcomed back members who have not sung since lockdown and also new members. I thanked Eric and the committee for their patient and careful work over the summer to navigate the challenges of returning to singing and securing a rehearsal venue following changes at the school. There was a round of applause for this!
I set out our challenges for the term ahead – St Nicolas, Messiah extracts and other music, plus appointing a new conductor, not least. This is a significant but manageable challenge involving everyone and I will help focus your thinking so that you can exercise your responsibilities at the auditions with informed confidence!
We welcomed Bernard to accompany and had an excellent rehearsal of St Nicolas only, covering movements 1, 8 & 9. There are some important instructions for the short section starting at figure 58 on page 72 (‘Let the legends….’). At figure 58 the semi-chorus 3 part will not be sung – you can cross it out. The first voices to sing here will be semi-chorus 1 and there are 6 entries, 3 by S & A then 3 by T & B. We are singing this in sections defined by birthdays, not where you are standing so it is all mixed and more exciting! It’s easy and I will re-issue instructions next time we sing it.
How to learn St Nicolas: Listening to a good recording is probably the most helpful with this piece. The choral parts are very clear so identifying your line is quite easy, and more importantly you will get used to Britten’s harmonic world which will help ears and brain to adapt in rehearsal as familiarity grows.
In my blog of March 23rd 2021 I posted a link to an illustrated lecturette by David Temple, conductor of the Crouch End Festival Chorus (not Bromley as I said at rehearsal) who guides you through the piece. The recording I posted is an oldish one by King’s College Cambridge with David Willcocks which is a good performance but not brilliant recording quality. Amazon has a few on offer and I have just bought The Corydon Singers conducted by Matthew Best; I have not heard it, but the reviews are good.
First of all, a huge THANK YOU to Chris and Bernard for putting you through your paces last week. It’s comforting to know that we have such capable friends and colleagues in the neighbourhood, I am most grateful.
It would give me such pleasure to be able to report that I had a glorious week at the Dartington Summer School, which I was expecting. Alas I can’t, as the week was cancelled. Someone tested positive so a number of people were required to isolate, which made it impossible to run. After this ‘circuit breaker’ Weeks 3 & 4 will hopefully continue as normal. I was gutted and desperate for a week of singing – why should you lot have all the fun?! Anyhow, I consoled myself by reflecting on how little disappointment or ‘loss’ I have had to face compared with many people during the pandemic, and was reminded that we are not over it yet and should continue to ‘hasten slowly’ back to normal. I was happy to leave you in Chris’s capable hands and as a consolation prize listened to the Bm Mass instead.
So, back to work, what will we do on 11.08.21? As promised, we need to sing through as much of the Rossini as we can, for confidence and ‘pre-concert’ comfort, without complacency. Two things will be under the choral microscope – DYNAMICS and LOOKING UP. I am eagerly anticipating seeing your chins as we will no longer be wearing masks. In return you can see how much greyer my beard has become. Or has it?! It’s less than fifty shades for sure….
In preparation please do your own homework if necessary, paying attention to the dynamic markings. From next week, notes are less important than passion, expression, energy and taking it to the audience.
On FRIDAY 13th we will meet in Deddington Church for a 7.30 start please. The first challenge will be sorting out our positions; the second and more pleasant one – growing used to singing closer together in a new acoustic. This should be much easier than usual as we have been rehearsing in a large acoustic for many weeks now.
The DRESS REHEARSAL on Saturday 14 starts at 3.30 and will finish at 5.30 latest. More details to follow next week.
Hello everyone. Once again thank you for a super rehearsal last night, it was lovely to welcome five new singers for this concert, and possibly beyond?! A family sought refuge from the rain by resting in the church before we started and stayed on to listen. Apparently, they are interested in coming to the concert – there’s nothing like live advertising.
I waved the updated poster to encourage you all to spread the word about the concert please. We are not selling tickets in advance, only at the door, confident in the knowledge that we will have sufficient room for everyone. Audience size is not an issue, it will just be wonderful to sing live to other people and enjoy the sound ringing around the church.
We made good progress again and the Christesection of the opening Kyrie sounded particularly lovely – balanced and blended and much more confident. The Sanctus also benefitted from some close inspection and improved considerably. Our challenge now is to remember what we have put in place, so the music sounds assured from the get-go (I think that means ‘immediately’ in familiar parlance). This can be achieved in two ways:
Making sure you know your notes, so check those bits that still allude you
Singing the music through enough to cement it and build confidence
Everything will feel and sound so much nicer without masks, and the addition of a superb piano and the harmonium timbre will give us such a lift. We are on track to give a very good performance, so well done so far.
What you will do on 04.08.21
I will be at the Dartington Music Summer School singing Bach’s B Minor Mass with the Dunedin Consort all week and Chris will be taking the rehearsal, with Bernard at the keys. I am happy about leaving you in such capable hands and I thank them both. Have fun.
The following sections will be given attention in addition to singing through as much as possible for continuity and familiarity, and not least – for pleasure.
Kyrie (outer two sections) – note checking; linking with and revising the Christe
Cum sancto from p101 then running from p77
Sanctus (p180)
Agnus dei (p193), particularly the ending
What we will do on 11.08.21
Running through as much as we can, paying particular attention to DYNAMICS and how to support the quiet stuff, and really thinking about the ‘operatic’ qualities of this amazing piece.
Hello everyone. Thanks again for a wonderful rehearsal last night, you did so well and it was only the heat that caused us to tire towards the end – the spirit was so willing! The feelings of rehearsal routine like the old days were beginning to come back, which was nice.
It was useful to sing through movements we sang last week as the repetition helps familiarity so much. We were sharply reminded that it is the joins, or ‘corners’ and ‘junctions’ as I call them, that catch us out. This is when the music changes key or there is a bridge to a new section or anything unexpected. These mustn’t take us by surprise – always expect the unexpected, of course!! Many of the hurdles will disappear when we sing without masks because we’ll be able to hear each other properly – hang on to that thought.
This week’s rehearsal was brilliant. We got so much done and for me there were flashes of ‘the old days’ – some note ‘bashing’, piecing pages together and building the confident sound back up again. Despite the masks we sounded good (if muted) and the overall quality quickly improved. We went through the Credo in detail, then picked apart and reconstructed the Et vitam, sustaining the long chords and louder passages well. As a ‘warm down’ we relaxed through the Agnus dei. Credit to tenors and sopranos this week who were smaller in number than usual, but congratulations to everyone for a lovely evening.
The challenges of singing through masks and not being able to hear each other properly still remain but we are progressing well. It was good to hear some people admit there are corners of the music they still get wrong and are committing to practise at home – bravo!
What we will do on 21.07.21
Gloriap19 – Only 2 pages of music so good for a warm up!
Cum sancto p75 The Music Festival section and in particular the ending (p100)
We will revisit the Credo and Et vitam from last week as singing through after extra practice at home and forgetting most of it is always useful!
It was great to see so many of you on Wednesday, thank you for coming and congratulations on a super rehearsal. It went extremely well, everyone coped with the challenges of distance and masks and we made good progress resurrecting parts of the Mass. I also enjoyed some down time in The Chequers with a few of you, such an important part of belonging to a choir. I was pleasantly surprised by the rapid improvement in the strength and quality of your vocal tone as the evening wore on; we were all discovering our limits and just how isolating it feels standing alone and singing into a mask. Well done to you all, it was wonderful to be back together again. I will be giving thought to the set up in the church. Moving the sopranos to the front made a big difference and I will consider what else we can do to make everyone feel part of the action – sorry altos! At the very least we can rotate the sections around so nobody feels permanently marginalised. I read out good news from The Association of British Choral Directors, received at 16.00 yesterday and we are hopeful that at least we will have more flexibility in how we operate, mitigating risk in a way which feels sensible and acceptable to us. Losing masks will be a huge benefit if we decide to do that. The committee will confirm any changes in due course.
Restrictions on choirs in England to be removed at Step 4
The Government has announced its intention to end all Covid-19 restrictions in England on 19 July, though this date will not be confirmed until 12 July. In addition to the announcement by the Health Secretary in the House of Commons on Monday that there would no longer be any restrictions on ‘communal worship or singing’ from Step 4, we’re delighted that yesterday the Secretary of State announced on social media that all restrictions on choirs will be removed. No further details have been announced and we’ll be keeping a close eye on what the small print might be, but we hope this is a big step forward. More generally, live music restrictions will be eased and there will no longer be legal limits on audience numbers indoors or outdoors. This is all good news for the music industry, and for choral music in particular. However, Performing Arts Guidance has yet to be published and we will be looking closely at the content of that. We know that whilst some will be ready to return as soon as possible, many choirs will want to plan a gradual return to their usual programmes. We will continue to support, advise & encourage choirs & their leaders as they make their plans and to keep you all informed with any further news. ABCD 07.07.21
What we will do on 14.07.21
REMEMBER: Inalare la voce! Credo (p106) Et vitam (p150) A reminder: We broke this movement down by identifying the musical themes or motifs which make it up, each with a distinctive feature. It starts (fig 42) with the arpeggio tune up to ‘Amen’. This is supported by the scale pattern (‘Amen’ in the tenors). The rhythmic motif – ‘Amen’ in the S & T at the top of page 151 – becomes significant, appears quite frequently and is kind of developed in longer phrases later. The final building block is the stepwise theme which first appears at the top of page 153 (again in S & T). Recognising these and where they appear minimises the time required to learn the music and gives you confidence as you know more than you think! Agnus dei (you start on p196)
On 21.07.21 we will look at the Gloria and the cum sancto (p75) which we sang so brilliantly at the music festival, plus other sections tbc.
On 28.07.21 we will rehearse the Sanctus (p180) plus other sections tbc.
What does that mean to you? Answers on a postcard please…..
Song lyrics with ‘afterglow’ in the title seem to be mostly about relationships, and there is a category labelled ‘afterglow poems’ for loss and remembrance.
In science we are familiar with light or radiance remaining in the sky after the sun has set, a secondary glow from heated metal before it ceases to become incandescent, and of course the dying embers of a bonfire at evening’s end.
Geoff Evans, who is one of the longest-serving members of the Dunvant Male Choir from Wales, revealed in a Guardian article about the choir’s covid experience, that he “…is a regular at the choir’s afterglows, the post-concert singalongs in the nearest pub, hotel, or club…..massed voices whisper together, mesh and soar, often fuelled by ‘a few cwrws’ (beers).” The article is a touching insight to the importance of the choir for the men and their community, keeping their singing up during the pandemic. Read it at ‘We were determined Covid wouldn’t finish us off’: the Welsh choir who sang through the pandemic | Music | The Guardian
I was really drawn to ‘afterglow’, which the dictionary defines as ‘good feelings remaining after a pleasurable or successful experience’ and knew exactly what Geoff meant. I cannot recall ever knowingly using the term for something which is so utterly familiar, and a fundamental component of choral activity. It is even more than that – the reason why many of us sing in a choir – to feel that afterglow.
On reading the article I nostalgically recalled those moments (and hours) after a great concert – and sometimes a good rehearsal – usually in a pub and always with other people who were involved, or at least shared the same experience (audience). It is that warm happy glow of achievement and success, the shared endeavour, the physical release of tension and elation after so much anticipation, the pride, the wash of ‘feel good’ hormones that make us elated, the bonding with fellow travellers that has a heightened special resonance only in that moment, before becoming a fond memory, leaving a thirst for more because it feels so good. Although challenging to explain to non-participants, the impact of the ‘singing effect’ is unmistakable. We all know what it’s like and it has been absent for too long!
The singing effect is so powerful in fact that in 2017, rugby player Warren Gatland, who is coaching the British Lions ahead of this summer’s World Cup in Africa ‘……introduced choir practice every night after dinner as not only a means to ensure the Lions could respectfully reply to traditional Maori greetings in New Zealand, but as a way of unifying his players.’
Contemplating all of this reminded me of the concept of FLOW, introduced in the 90s by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihaly (pronounced ‘cheeks send me high’) who, through decades of research on positive aspects of human experience – joy, creativity, and total involvement with life – established principles by which people can transform their lives into ones full of enjoyment and happiness. He describes the eight characteristics of flow as:
Complete concentration on the task
Clarity of goals and reward in mind and immediate feedback
Transformation of time (speeding up/slowing down)
The experience is intrinsically rewarding
Effortlessness and ease
There is a balance between challenge and skills
Actions and awareness are merged, losing self-conscious rumination
There is a feeling of control over the task
“The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times . . . The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile”.
(Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).
It seems to me these characteristics precisely describe average CNCS rehearsals and concerts, and we never knew this was invented in 1990!! It will not be long now until we are back ‘in the flow’ and basking in well-earned afterglow. Perhaps it should be known as AFTERFLOW? (although this sounds like a kind of plumbing device) Looking forward to it anyway, only twenty-three more sleeps!
I will issue a rehearsal schedule for May 19 the R2S2 via email from Eric, but as a heads up – we will visit the Beatles’ song Here comes the Sun in addition to the Rossini. You will need a copy and possibly some practice – see my blog of 22.07.20 for the materials and links.
By the way…. Did anybody listen to the performance of the Vaughan Williams Dona nobis pacem on Radio 3 on Good Friday April 2? Thanks to a nudge from Ruth Nissim I flagged it up via email and reminded everyone what a superb performance we gave in Banbury in 2018. What was special about this radio concert was that the orchestral resources had been reduced from the normal 53 players to less than half in a special arrangement to comply with social distancing, and to match the reduced choir size – 24 voices of the BBC Singers. Although well-performed I had reservations about this experience, which I will share these with you in the next blog. I wonder what our listeners felt?
Voicebox
The Voicebox section aims to reconnect with your voice and gently exercise it to get it back to singing. The first session (21.01.21) focused on BREATHING; session 2 (23.03.21), making a sound with just HUMMING. Session 3 is about CONSONANTS & VOWELS.
Start with good posture, well balanced on both feet, shoulders proud but not tense
Roll your head round and side to side gently to loosen your neck and check you are feeling tall, confident and relaxed
Spend two minutes taking some long, slow and deep in/out breaths
Continue by adding a sigh and then some hums, gaining in intensity each time, to the out breath
Now take your hum for a walk, exploring pitch range then hum a tune you know well
Now it is time for some CONSONANTS:
In a gentle voice speak the words ‘The lips the teeth the tip of the tongue’, 4 times
Relax, then take a deeper breath and say it 6 times, faster
Notice that, obviously, you cannot articulate this effectively without active use of lips teeth and tongue and that the sound is all produced right at the front of your mouth. The less you move your mouth and focus on the lips and teeth, the easier it becomes!
Choose a comfortable pitch in the upper middle part of your register and sing the exercise 8 times, one to each note of a descending scale for an octave.
Try again two times, once starting on a higher note than the last, and finally starting on a lower note than the first one so you explore a wider vocal range.
Now make space for the VOWELS:
In a commanding voice speak each of the 5 vowels, smoothly A-E-I-O-U For fun, try this in different voices, starting with King Lear!
On a single pitch, sing them
Explore each vowel by singing these phrases – smoothly, to a single pitch:
Clare’s rare bear snares hares
We three fleas need trees
Ah Pa’s fast car’s last
Tom stops Ron’s long songs
Do you glue blue shoes?
Make sure that in each exercise the vowel matches. Tip: Don’t move your mouth too much so that the vowel shape changes, make the consonants work around the shape. Remember ROBERT DEAN’S advice – have your mouth in the right shape for the vowel as you breathe in (‘inalare la voce’!!)
On a different pitch (just in case you’ve been stuck on the same one!) sing:
Are there bees on you? (notice that all 5 vowels are required and in alphabetical order)?
Repeat a few times, paying attention to each vowel, making sure your mouth cavity (and lips and tongue) is in the same shape each time. Really listen to the sound and feel what your mouth is doing. You might feel that too much attention is required and it sounds unnatural, so relax but keep listening. You are aiming for a smooth connected sound; the consonants must not interrupt the flow and tone of the sound.
Well done if you are still here and did it!!
Opportunity knocks
Now that the future for group activities (and shopping) look brighter – but still with care! – you might be searching around for some additional singing opportunities. The support service Choraline has some listed which might interest you.
This is a new resource on the horizon which is targeted at choral singers is coming soon – look out for it on the Choraline website:
During the past twelve months the Choraline team has been working with Deborah Miles-Johnson and Brian Parsons from ‘Choral Clinic’ in developing a new range of singing tutorials starting with a complete beginner interested in joining an SATB choir through to a very advanced singer with years of experience.
Debbie and Brian are two of the most brilliant singing teachers we have ever worked with and we are absolutely delighted to include these tutorials within the choral repertoire. Their individual careers have included work with lots of major UK choirs and ensembles – the Monteverdi Choir, Schutz Choir, The Sixteen, The Tallis Scholars and London Voices.
In our view, most ‘learn to sing’ tutorials tend to be too general and not relevant for SATB singers, but these have been specifically produced with us in mind. You can select a tutorial for your specific voice part and level of experience. Each tutorial is carefully planned and includes exercises and excerpts (from Messiah) to improve your technique, voice, and confidence.
We are currently working on the finishing touches and will make them available via the ChoraLine App and ChoraLine website during the next few weeks.
Music Box
I love being surprised and delighted by chance encounters with music in passing on the radio – usually whilst eating breakfast (home-made muesli btw). Radios 3’s Record Review, April 17th at 10.27 featured the most exquisite singing from a hugely talented soprano from Egypt – Fatma Said. The song – Give me a flute and sing – was from her debut album El Nour and is a setting of text by Kahlil Gibran. Beautiful singing and incredible breath control! The CD is a ‘crossover’ collection of European and Egyptian pieces reflecting past cultural ties and current folk influences with some contemporary settings, some of which are accompanied by a novel instrumental ensemble.
The extracts include Give me a flute and sing, some opera to demonstrate the versatility of Fatma’s voice and her BBC new Generation Artists interview, which reveals some interesting perspectives on her lessons and training as a classical singer.
I have just finished reading the most delightful book called LEV’S VIOLIN by Helen Attlee, which was Radio 4’s Book of the Week in early April. I recommend it. Beautifully written, it takes you on an absorbing journey inspired by the sound of a violin. I quote from the dust jacket – which has a nice cover too!
From the moment she hears Lev’s violin, Helen Attlee is captivated. She is told that it is an Italian instrument, named after its former Russian owner. Eager to discover all she can about its ancestry and the stories contained within its delicate wooden body she sets out for Cremona, birthplace of the Italian violin. This is the beginning of a beguiling journey whose end she could never have anticipated.
Making its way from dusty workshops, through Alpine forests, cool venetian churches, glittering Florentine courts, and far-flung flea markets, Lev’s violin takes us from the heart of Italian culture to its furthest reaches. Its story of luthiers and scientists, princes and orphans, musician, composers, travellers and raconteurs, swells to a poignant meditation on the power of objects, stories, and music to shape individual lives and craft entire cultures.
For once, this is not inflated hyperbole, the unfolding story is a ‘beguiling journey’ and like a good detective story, the end was truly a surprise. Why did I like this book? Not only was my knowledge of the violin and the Italian composers whose music was profoundly influenced by its development, significantly broadened, but I was fascinated by the making process and enchanted by the author’s exploration of the cultural and geographical threads that this popular instrument wove across Europe into the 19th century. The most interesting revelations for me were in the chapter about the ‘foresta dei violini in the Dolomites, where the Alpine spruce trees (‘wood of resonance’) were sourced, and the rich variety of people who were involved in every stage of the transformation from tree to luthier to performer. Through the book, the story of the violin becomes a metaphor for the difference between value and worth – does a multi-million ££ Stradivarius excite and communicate more than a cheap German copy in a folk band? Exactly why IS an Amarti worth millions of pounds and how can you tell when you hear one? Lev’s Violin is an absorbing 202 pages, make it part of your holiday reading.
On a completely different note: If you want an inspiring and gently jaw-dropping evening on TV, I recommend My Octopus Teacher on Netflix. It is a documentary about said eight-armed cephalopod mollusc narrated by a marine biologist who observed and ‘befriended’ it over a year. The director won a Bafta for it. The photography is breath-taking and it out-attenboroughs young David.
And finally…I am most excited about the possibility of gaining possession of a full set of Leading Notes which Shauni collected. Whilst chatting on the phone with her last year about the blogs, and much else, she said I ought to have them. I anticipate sharing more of their priceless contents with you in future blogs.
Hello everyone, so good to be greeting you again. Impossible to believe that we are entering our second year of the pandemic and its limitations, but with significantly more confidence and optimism. I hope you are well. My last blog opened with ‘Happy New Year’ (a bit late) and today I greet you with nearly ‘Happy Easter’ (a tad early). I got rather caught up with moving house in between, but all is settled now and I am looking forward to seeing you for the Quiz Night soon (more later) and being with you in May.
Soapbox
I wrote to the choir with the CNCS plan for Return to Singing (R2S) earlier this month; the committee has discussed it in detail, and we are on course to meet again in the church on May 19th unless circumstances change the national road map. Whatever happens we are ‘good to go’ when allowed and I am confident there is enough rehearsal time to prepare the Rossini for August 14th in Deddington. The harmonium, players and soloists are all booked, and like us, desperate to perform again!
I have been asked to recommend a good recording of the Rossini with piano and harmonium accompaniment. Here is an excellent one from youtube – the choir is small, but this helps clarity and when it comes to the speeds – they’re thinking what I’m thinking!
By the way, here is what the adjudicator wrote for our performance of the Cum sancto movement at last year’s music festival:
Alert articulation here and excellent give-and-take between the voices dynamically to allow the entries to come through the texture clearly. You were rhythmically alert too. You were precise with the rests – just watch those quaver endings to ‘Amen’ never sound clipped. Good warmth in the sound for the soft sustained ‘Amens’. You do watch – look up as much as you possibly can, whilst counting like mad, to give even more authority to your performance. Splendid work – generous warm-hearted singing (Eileen Field 07.03.20)
CHIPPING NORTON MUSIC FESTIVAL: The 2021 festival might have escaped our notice this year, no choirs class, workshops or concerts, but it did happen online and was a stunning success. Sarah Cobb (Chair) wrote in her report:
During the last fortnight, we have held 36 Zoom calls where our fantastic team of 7 adjudicators have between them commented on 303 videos and gave friendly, helpful and constructive feedback to our amazing performers. We have seen performers, teachers, parents and grandparents join the sessions from school classrooms, sofas, kitchen tables, and have been entertained by the presence of a number of your pets coming to see what all the fuss was about! (Music Festival website 22.03.21)
OUR QUIZ NIGHT: This Wednesday, 7.30. You should have received a zoom link for this. If not please ask Eric eric.clubley@braidholm.com It will be fun and I am looking forward to seeing you again – there might even be a sing at the end! Thanks to Nicky Smith for setting this up.
I want to thank the whole committee, and Eric’s chairmanship, for the constant attention to choir matters, in particular the R2S plans, and some first tentative considerations about the process of finding a new conductor. This will take a while and everyone will have a voice, but it is essential to start thinking about options soon.
Voicebox
Last edition’s Voicebox was about breath. This session features only humming. Yes, just humming. I have a book dedicated to humming and health – see Opportunity knocks.
The voicebox activities are accumulative and that preparing to sing requires briefly visiting each step as part of warming up.
Begin with a gentle facial massage: Place your palms on your cheeks and with the carpels (the bony part of the wrists) gently massage your cheek bones in a slow circular motion. Continue, working down your face to cheeks and along your lower jaw, working up to the ‘hinge’ beneath your ears.
The breathing exercises encourage slow deep breaths thinking towards the belly, so the sound is supported. Take a few deep breaths, remembering to take longer breathing OUT.
Now breathe deeply then simply hum as if expressing delight!
Repeat, taking the pitch for a short walk higher and lower; then do it again with a longer walk, exploring higher and lower.
Now hum some simple tunes you know well, not too fast. Two suggestions which stretch the pitch and have reasonable phrase lengths are Chestnuts roasting on an open fire (Merry Christmas) and Edelweiss.
Final challenge: Improvise and hum Moon River along with Jacob Collier in his arrangement (see link below). For the introduction (the first 1’ 26”) sustain any notes you choose – making each one float on the breath for its length and enjoy the sensation of being a part of the rich texture he builds up. For the next two minutes, hum the tune with him, breathing when he does. Aim for a confident sound, using all the breath for each phrase. Then for the final five minutes listen to what happens – sit in awe with your jaw on the floor, quite literally gobsmacked at what this young man can do alone in his bedroom. I don’t even have that many shirts! His creations are not to everyone’s taste (’over the top’ is not even adequate) but you must admire his skill and capacity.
Back to basics – simple sustained humming is very helpful for relaxing and coaxing the voice into action.
Opportunity knocks
I was recommended a book called The Humming Effect – Sound healing for Health and Happiness by a member of the choir. It makes very grand claims about the beneficial therapeutic effects of self-created sounds and the proven physiological impact of humming. The American authors are Jonathan and Andi Goldman. Some salt is required for pinching when you read it and a better case is made for the life-giving properties of the breath and the hum through yogic traditions, but it is an interesting and thought provoking read.
Music Box
Our proposed concert on December 18th will feature the cantata St Nicolas by Benjamin Britten. This work is not performed as much as it ought to be. Typical of Britten it was composed with amateur performers in mind, apart from the solo tenor – Nicolas, and a small cohort of instrumentalists. I found a very good, illustrated lecture which promotes a recent recording by the Crouch End Festival Chorus, but ignoring that aspect, the presentation is helpful in getting a good overview of the story and the music.
For this blog, the chatterbox section is devoted to reminiscence and reflection as we remember Shauni McGregor, to whom we bade farewell on February 26th (however formal, the grammar just had to right, or she would not forgive me!) The choir owes so much of its success and quality to her work as accompanist, assistant conductor, fixer, music adviser, singer, supporter and dear friend. During my move, I found a card she sent to me on April 10th 2006 after conducting the Mozart Requiem and C Minor Mass with you. She had temporarily moved back to London.
I quote: I shall miss the Choral Society very much; I have learned a lot from it, not least how to address a large number of people without quaking, but much more musically. I have been encouraged by both you and Stewart (Taylor) to try repertoire ‘foreign’ to me. I think especially of Merrie England, Elijah and Child of our Time, all totally different, but where I thought the music wouldn’t be either satisfying or particularly edifying. I was wrong.
I had the opportunity to conduct a professional band with the Mozart C Minor and Requiem (albeit made up of friends!). Thanks for having a sabbatical – it made me take the decision to have a go. I well remember standing in the procession for Midnight Mass next to Judith (committee chair) ready to start ‘Once in Royal’ when she whispered: ‘Peter is going to have a sabbatical – who can we get to do the Mozart?’ To which, I replied ‘I’ll do it’. ‘That’s alright then’ she said. I spent the rest of the service wondering what I let myself in for!!
The card was a photo of an expansive lush meadow, blue sky, wispy clouds and in the middle is a single stout oak tree – tall and majestic. Rather fitting I thought.
Leading Notes – the original choir newsletter – has been a delightful source of Shauni memories. In his conductor’s report from 1996, Stewart Taylor said: ‘Shauni it was who showed us the way into the big wide world of ‘real’ music making. I have learned so much from her expertise…. It was her idea to perform Israel in Egypt – I don’t think I would have had the nerve.’
This ambition set a benchmark of expectation because I inherited a choir which expected to perform major choral works with top professional players and soloists who regarded Shauni as family! The next 24 years was set.
…and finally, an extract from Roger Stein’s ‘farewell eulogy’ in LN after Shauni’s 2006 Mozart concert:
When Marian and I joined the Choral Society in September 1993, Shauni was already established as Assistant Conductor to Stewart Taylor. We quickly realised what an asset she was, at first as an outstanding rehearsal accompanist. But it soon became obvious that her qualities went beyond that. Her sheer professionalism, coupled with infectious enthusiasm and an ability to communicate, made rehearsals with her a real joy. She had high standards and was quite ruthless in making us reach for them. And yet she did so in a way that made sense to us amateurs: her delighted smile when, at last, we did wat she was aiming for, made all the effort worthwhile. It made a refreshing change to learn Latin pronunciation vis Italian food: RAH-VEE-O-LEE AHND SPAH-GE-TEE….
…and then there is all her work for the Music Festival, her organising of carol singing in the hospital – one could go on. But I cannot close without mention9ing her stalwart support of post-rehearsal socials in The Fox. Cheers Shauni! We’ll miss you.
I’m trying a new-year resolution format for the blog, with headings to keep it organised and focused and hopefully a little more frequent than last year. I may not be able to fulfil these ambitions, but it’s courageous to have some! It works for H. M. Government and they seem to get away with it. So look out for:
Soap box: Headlines, general news and info, thoughts and Man at the Front rants and ramblings.
Voicebox: Practical activities for you to try at home (and I do mean ‘try this at home’) e.g. warm ups, voice work, exercises, songs.
Opportunity knocks: Links to stimulating stuff which will feed your souland keep you connected – online activities, articles, books etc
Music box – The inspiration slot – for your listening
Chatterbox – Quotes, extracts, articles, funny and serious, including gems from the old Leading Notes
SOAPBOX
Return to Singing (R2S): The current lockdown and general uncertainty about the course of this pandemic makes planning impossible, but we are constantly reviewing the way ahead. R2S will continue as soon as we safely can, similar to our session in December, building in capacity as conditions allow – that’s all we can say right now. The Rossini Petite Messe Solonelle is still on the table! If this is too tantalising, there is an opportunity in November with the Oxford Orpheus Choir (see link below)
STOP PRESS – CHIPPING NORTON MUSIC FESTIVAL (March 6 – 20)
Important announcement: Undaunted by the pandemic restrictions, the festival is committed to its principles of inclusion and opportunity, so this year it will be a virtual festival. Performers will enter a video recording which adjudicators will adjudicate in the usual way, in their own time. Feedback to performers will be given via a zoom session during the festival fortnight. There will not be any workshops or concerts; ensemble classes (e.g. choirs) might happen if there are enough entries. Please pass on this info to anyone you can. We already have an entry for Edinburgh! See website for details: www.cnmf.org.uk
Voicebox
Are you singing at all? Whether or not you are participating in online activities, it’s essential to give your singing voice some attention regularly to prevent atrophy, and better still to keep it in good condition! This Voicebox section of the blog encourages you with exercises, activities and things to sing, developing over time. Find yourself ten minutes as regularly as you can to develop a vocal practice. Of course, as members of an outstanding choir you can already sing brilliantly and have performed some of the most challenging pieces, so don’t let this stop you ‘giving it large’ whenever you like. It’s good to reconnect with basic techniques though and particularly useful if you haven’t sung for a while.
Session 1 is just b-r-e-a-t-h-i-n-g. Future sessions will link with huMMMMing, then singing, using a range of simple material to create an engaging and hopefully useful warm up routine.
Here are some suggestions for you – no equipment needed! Try the following routine:
SESSION 1 – BREATHING No equipment is required, just a quiet space....Allow yourself 10 mins in a quiet space to JUST BE – Sitting or standing comfortably with relaxed shoulders, breathing slowly, through your nose at all times if possible
Attend to your breath and notice how it is
Place one hand over your heart and the other over your belly – keep breathing
Attend to your belly hand and notice how it is moving – imagine the air is filling the space behind it. Close your eyes.
Establish a beat or pulse in your head (about 60 beats per minute [bpm]) – breathe in for 4 beats and out for 4 beats.
Repeat this cycle four times then breathe normally – i.e. without counting or thinking!
Repeat above and exhale for 6 beats
Now inhale 4 – hold 4 – exhale 4
Repeat above and exhale 6
Relax and breathe normally. Congratulate yourself for achieving this, or if it’s no challenge then just for bothering!!
Now link all three exercises in cycles of four, with no breaks for normal breathing
Relax
Extended finish: Inhale 4 – hold 7 – exhale 8 for a cycle of four times.
Relax. Notice how you are. Do you feel any warmer, colder, no different? Is your mouth drier or more moist than when you started?
Do you do YOGA? You might enjoy the Youtube yoga sessions with Adriene which started this month. She was a hit during the first lock down. Her latest series of 30 sessions is called ‘Breath’ and she makes a point of exploring breathing techniques through the yoga practice. You can join for free, go to:
An Oxford group called newChoir is offering something online which looks exciting and everyone is invited. Their new conductor, Benedict Goodall says:
“The first session, which will be on Tuesday 26th January at 19:30-21:00, will be a webinar on the wondrous piece Belshazzar’s Feast by William Walton. In these sessions, I will be dissecting the piece, analysing it, and giving as much information as possible on the history of the work, as well as describing what it is like to perform it. We will then have the opportunity to talk about it as a group to really understand these masterworks.
BOOK IMMEDIATELY AS NUMBERS ARE LIMITED TO ACCOMMODATE THE DISCUSSION
The second session is on Tuesday 2nd February at 19:30-21:00, and will be a fun quiz, heavily focussing on choral music.
Rossini Petite Messe Solonelle – Workshop on 13th November 2021
Depending on what is allowed and sensible by then, here are some provisional dates for the Oxford Orpheus Choir workshop. Wesley Memorial Methodist church in Oxford has been booked for a celebratory daytime workshop and evening concert of the original version with piano and harmonium.
The day my voice broke: What an injury taught me about the power of speech
This ‘Long Read’ from the Guardian is very interesting. It highlights how we should be careful with our voices and what our spoken voices say about us. Do we really know what we sound like?
This is the inspiration slot. Lovely and/or interesting music which is worth sharing. Tiri vamwe means ‘we are together, we are one’ with multi languages added by The Joyous Choir
Dixit Dominus by Handel – This 40-minute work was completed in 1707 when Handel was in Italy. It’s uplifting and full of energy with some delightfully reflective solo movements. CNCS has never performed it – a future challenge?
Chatterbox
Deserted Discs I bet that somewhere in your collection of CDs there is lurking a favourite piece of VOCAL MUSIC (choral or solo), a recording you had forgotten about, or something you think everyone might like to hear. Maybe there is a significant piece associated with an important time or occasion in your life. With a nod to Radio 4 and Roy Plumley, if you have something you are prepared to share from the CNCS desert island, let me know. Include a youtube link or just the details and I’ll find a recording if I can and post it. A short introduction or biog reference would be interesting OR let the music just speak for itself. You might even enjoy provoking your listeners by stretching their ears with something different.....
“The exercise of singing is delightful to Nature, and good to preserve the health of man. It does strengthen all parts of the breast, and doth open the pipes.” (William Byrd: Psalms, Sonnets and Songs – 1588)
Hello everyone! I hope you have had the best Christmas possible, however and with whomever it was celebrated. It is New Year’s Eve as I write, a moment to reflect on the past year and seek some optimism for the new one. Sadly the “what-a-year!” conversation tag will not be disappearing from our lexicography as covid-19 knows no calendar boundaries – the wagon rolls on. The date changes of course, so we’ll feel hopeful 2021! There is something about which we can be absolutely certain at the turn of this year however, something which will affect our united kingdom (or is it Island State?) and have considerable impact on our lives which is not a virus, but for which we are fully prepared of course, and have the resources and capacity to meet and greet. BREXIT. It got done. Whether you are whooping or wailing about this, welcome to the first day of the rest of your life, enjoy!
It has been a grim year for the choir, resulting in us being together for only 21 hours (9 rehearsals, music festival and Return to Singing this month) and no performances. That does sound bleak, but I know many of you participated in online singing, staying engaged. This will improve in 2021 and we have every reason to be very hopeful. The committee is still exploring ways of making music as soon as we can and I am considering what we can do online too!
One beacon of hope, a bright shining light at the end of the covid tunnel is the fantastic progress with vaccines. Like me, I’m sure you are particularly proud of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine which was approved only yesterday! The world is rejoicing, but it feels special to us being led by our county city. We all owe the research team our thanks and gratitude for their dedication. By way of public appreciation there was a concert in The Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford on December 18 given by the choir of Merton Chapel and Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by John Rutter and featuring Bryn Terfel. Threaded together with tributes from dignitaries and musicians it makes a delightful 40-minute concert. You’ll really enjoy it, and I defy anyone hearing Rutter’s arrangement of You’ll never walk alone not to well up, at least! His Joseph’s Carol is also lovely and pushes all the right buttons, adding to the swell of longing to be engaged in singing as soon as we can. There is a blast of Hallelujah Chorus to finish, ramming the point home! Thank you Nikki Rycroft for sending the link to this concert.
RETURN TO SINGING Arguably the most significant occasion for the choir this year was the R2S on December 17th. I am so pleased that we achieved this in the small window left ajar between lockdown and tiers and it was wonderful to see so many of you. Eric emailed everyone after the event with some lovely feedback – thank you to the team involved in organising it and to St Mary’s for supporting us. Gatherings of any sort look unlikely for a while now but we will grab any opportunities arising provided we can remain safe. In case you missed the email, here are some comments from those who took part:
“The Choir was awesome tonight….”
“Mission accomplished with great success! All went well, brilliantly executed. The hour passed quickly, schedule as planned – I can see clearly... worked well. Fascinating how the dynamics change completely when singers are separated and masked – the atmosphere is gentle and slower as communication takes longer to sink in! The singing was confident …..and everyone was thrilled to be together and doing something!”
“I think last night was a success! We were all highly delighted to set real eyes upon each other, and the sound in St Mary’s was beautiful. I have never had the chance to hear it properly before, in the nave, and the fact that we had been enjoined to avoid strain produced a magical, pure sound from the choir. Interesting and enjoyable, and Peter the old pro paced it and directed the whole operation perfectly.”
“The CNCS with a difference on 17th was good, so nice to be together. Vocally nowhere near our best of course but that didn’t matter one bit. Singing in a mask is weird as is the necessary distancing.”
“It was truly a golden hour to sing together with other like-minded souls and I believe Peter did an outstanding job in the circumstances – he didn’t even check if we had brought pencils so the strain is obviously getting to him”
“It was so nice to be singing again and to see people. Thank you to everyone who made it happen. Great to do some vocal and breathing warm ups as my voice is definitely rather rusty, and then nice to put a piece together in an hour”
“During Lockdown I found it very hard to sing alone. The online things just didn’t appeal and I tried singing along to recordings but that didn’t motivate me either. I think it was the solitary nature of it. I don’t enjoy just hearing myself sing. So I hadn’t sung for months before the 17th and had no idea how it would work. In spite of all the differences from our usual rehearsals there was still enough of a sense of community and shared experience to help me find my voice. I can’t pretend I sang quietly but I sang with feeling and thoroughly enjoyed it. If it happens again I’ll be there!”
“I thought it was lovely for some to get together again, very well organised and socially distanced”.
“Just a belated note to say how fantastic it was to get together last week. I know it was just an hour, but I know how many man hours of work must have gone into making that hour possible, so a huge thanks to the team involved. It felt really safe. Let’s hope it is not too long until we can do it again”
I really appreciate being called ‘an old pro’, because let’s face it, that’s how it is, and thank you for the compliment! I am also struck by the comment about no pencils! Do you know, it hadn’t even occurred to me, I had forgotten, it had ceased to be an important matter. How symbolic! It was certainly lovely just to sing gently and get the old band back together.
Did anyone sing carols at all? I’m sure some of you did, but this year must rank as the leanest for opportunities. I overheard people talking about ‘singing around the village’ and other Christmas celebrations, but overall there must have been fewer renditions per head of the population. I only got one opportunity this year, at Swinbrook Church, two miles from Burford. I mention it, not because the occasion so magnificent that I was temporarily transported to a higher spiritual dimension beyond the toil and strife of this weary world. We were outside in the graveyard, it was raining, cold and my music had turned to papier mache, but we were edging towards that Christmas feeling – carols, readings and a warm community. The highlight of the evening though was being ‘raided’ and shut down by the Thames Valley Police before we could sing the final carol – O come all ye faithful, because the gathering was too large. We were not in Salisbury or Swansea, Sheffield or Stirling, where hoards of young people were probably five deep at the bar in a Weatherspoons, but Swinbrook – population 139. Most churches would give their collective cuspids (eye teeth) to have a congregation large enough to be considered a potential danger to society, I suspect. Anyway we all duly obliged and hummed the descant in the car on the way home. So near, yet so far.
It’s a new year tomorrow and I want to wish all of you a very happy one and all the best for a brighter 2021. Made any resolutions? Good luck if you have. Until we meet again the blogs will continue and in the spirit of moving forward I will aim to stimulate – activities, music links, thought provocation related to singing and less to political commentary perhaps.
As a parting gesture though, I am going to point you towards a very readable retrospective of 2020 called The lost year – how coronavirus changed everything, by Jonathan Freedland. It’s a thoughtful piece about how the pandemic has exposed society’s weaknesses but also illuminated what strengths we have. If you don’t read it, just take in the final paragraphs:
We learned what we are by what we missed. Life without even the possibility of a trip to the pub; a night of laughter at the theatre; tears at the cinema or the thrill of live music; an afternoon of shouting yourself hoarse at the football; a quick chat over a drink or a long meal with friends; a few hours with your parents or your children; or a simple, wordless hug – that kind of life was hollow and hard. We longed to know those pleasures once more.
The pandemic took away so many lives, but it also reminded us what life was for; the simple joy of being with other people, close enough to touch and be touched. Like a magnifying glass placed over each one of us, the pandemic revealed what is our greatest weakness but also our most precious strength: our need for each other.
Robert Dean, who led our amazing Belshazzar’s Feast workshop in October last year, shares some thoughts and advice from his experience of the covid crisis and the impact on his students and teaching, with some helpful hints and a link to an excellent resource at the end....
LOCKDOWN! Isn’t this the worst term for any singer to contemplate? It goes against the whole ethos of what we as singers do and what I, as a teacher of 30 years standing have been constantly trying to discourage as the antithesis of the necessary liberation of breath and body if we are to sing with our best tone. The performance of Elijah we gave on February 29th this year was the last live music performance in which I was involved. Looking back now, it seems in some way fitting that it was the story of a good and visionary man (for which read ‘an everyman singer’) who was crushed by those who hated him but who despite adversity, rose once again to even greater glory. Covid the enemy has almost sapped the life blood out of us all and in particular the performing arts. Sadly, singers have come under particular scrutiny, the experts warning that singers pose the greatest of dangers with their droplets being dispersed much more readily in the air whilst singing loudly rather than softly. The answer? We all have to sing quietly! Now we all know how technically difficult this is and how that simply wouldn’t work in a performance of “Elijah”!
Watching the BBC Singers on TV in a live Prom, sing in a socially distanced way in an empty Royal Albert Hall was a dispiriting experience – taking away the joy of performance for the online audience as well, I imagine, as a true sense of ensemble for the singers themselves. If anything needs to be recognised, if the thrill of live music making is to be regained, it is a reminder that the communal act of being together is what makes it so satisfying; which might also mean standing right next to your fellow singer even if they are singing the wrong notes or are sounding terrible! Whilst I am delighted that so many online opportunities in lieu of the real thing have found a place in singers’ lives during this pandemic, it can be nothing more than an inadequate and lonely substitute for doing what human beings do best – social undistancing.
Once I recovered from having the virus myself in March (the finger points to a student at the Guildhall – or was it that workshop I gave on the Brahms Requiem the week before falling ill, where I was encouraging the singers of the choral society to sing lustily but healthily in those fugues?), I was faced in my teaching life with two problems. Firstly, so many of the singers I work with had their work – and as a result their livelihoods – taken away from them overnight; and secondly, the young students I work with at the Guildhall were at a loss as to know how the School was going to continue their musical education. The depression and lack of motivation in the former group was most distressing. All I could offer was to give them their lessons via Skype for free (a surprising number did not take me up on this) and to keep encouraging them by telling them this was not going to last forever. But when work is taken away, and even the future work you have been booked for might not happen, why bother to open a score and learn a role that you may never be required to sing?
In the second group all lessons were moved to online – and something startling began to happen. Without exception, all my young students began to make excellent progress! Without the continual rushing around between classes, and with many of the outside pressures removed, the young singers with my help became their own teachers in their living rooms and bedrooms; and were able to concentrate and learn during the course of a lesson in a way that I hadn’t experienced before. Inevitably having to sing continually into a computer screen made them much more self aware of bodily ticks and tensions, and the screen became something of a friend as well as a harsh critic. However much I as a teacher disliked hearing and seeing them electronically (and by the way it is so much more exhausting teaching this way), I could not deny that they embraced the compromise and made it work for them with enthusiasm.
Now, six months down the line we are taking tentative steps to get back to some sort of normality. I have once again opened up my studio to singers replete with a 7 foot perspex screen for them to sing behind and with proper health measures in place on arrival. This week I heard live singing for the first time since March 13th and I was deeply moved but encouraged by the thought that there is nothing quite like it. Even if one listens as I do to recordings of many great singers, nothing can replace the sheer visceral quality of a live singer or singers in full flood, right in front of you – LIVE!
So it seems apposite at this point to give you a pointer to a website, the creator of which – Deborah Miles-Johnson – was my co-director at the Philharmonia Chorus for 10 years, and whose vocal exercises I can heartily recommend; along with some tips on how to keep your voice shipshape for that time when we shall all be back together again, singing our hearts out. “THEN DID ELIJAH THE PROPHET BREAK FORTH AS A FIRE”. Like the Prophet, let’s look to the day when the singers of Oxford Orpheus and of choral societies throughout the land most certainly will be back and now, with the added realisation of what they have been missing, they’ll be singing better than ever and with even greater enthusiasm! https://dmilesjohnson.bandcamp.com/album/vocal-exercises-for-classical-singers
Tips before you use the exercises:
· Remember to breathe before you sing – don’t overfill the lungs, just breathe comfortably and in a natural expanded way, letting the abdominal muscles naturally move outwards but not locking; lifting the soft palette as you breathe gets you into a place of openness at the throat.
· Feel this space as the gateway to your breath and so sense the lift occurring internally whilst making sure your neck, jaw and tongue are relaxed as you take the breath.
· Feel the vocal folds come together as you precisely sing the vowels a – e – i – o – u on a comfortable middle pitch keeping that space, even increasing it as you sing the sequence.
· Use your hand on an inward gesture on each one to help with this. The idea is to invite your voice onto the breath and therefore the body.
· Then try out some of Debbie’s exercises – they are gentle but effective.
Remember to sing every day if you can – the muscles like to be used and become more toned and efficient the more you use them. There is no such thing as lockdown in this way of singing!!
Well! Where to start? Being an accompanist can be the most exciting and thrilling experience – and it can also be very occasionally scary! I’ve had the pleasure of accompanying many different groups, from cathedral choirs to solo singers, choral societies to school productions. There are so many nuances that come with the territory, working with musical directors and their differing methods, different instruments and venues to name a few.
My earliest experience of having to accompany anything was when I was 14. I had been having organ lessons for around 6 months, and our local parish church needed someone to play for midnight mass (as the incumbent organist was not keen on being out at night). This was to be my first ever accompanying engagement – only a church full of 150 people, a choir and extra hymns and carols to play for! I was terrified – having to actually play hymns with people singing and keep in time, listen for consonants to work out which verse we were all on, play the fun last verses from the various Carols for Choirs books – and improvise when required. This really was being thrown in at the deep end! I came out elated, unscathed, but exhausted.
This led to several years of playing at various churches on Sunday mornings in and around Peterborough every week – practising my trade, as it were, learning new music, meeting different people. Most of this was me alone at the console, just getting on with it, no choir. I was lucky to be taught by one of the Peterborough Cathedral organists, Mark Duthie. A master of accompanying (and word painting in particular) I picked up some brilliant (if slightly naughty) tricks and habits from him. The hymn ‘He who would valiant be’ has a super line of ‘though he with giants fight’ – this, for me, meant bringing out all the low, trembly, thunderous stops – I distinctly remember being partly ‘told off’ for doing this at one church!
Accompanying isn’t all about playing the right notes all the time (as I’m sure many of you have noticed…), but supporting the music going on elsewhere in the room. Sight reading is one of my favourite things to do, reading lots of lines of music and making sense of where the music is going, and what it is doing. For me, it is about supporting everything that is happening in a rehearsal or concert, predicting what might happen next and then acting on it! Working with different conductors is exciting as well, getting to know mannerisms and movements, and taking the rehearsal, in some sort of ghosted parallel with them. Lots of ‘if this were me, we’d go back to page 5 now, probably with the basses, I better play an F# for them just before he tells them…’. The partnership between conductor and accompanist, I have often thought, can make or break a rehearsal. You must be on the same page/stave and in the same key/note! Sometimes this can take a bit of getting used to, but often becomes a well-oiled machine over time.
The most exhilarating moments of accompanying have been those last-minute changes of plan – perhaps the conductor is ill, and there is no other option than to go it alone. A few years ago, I was lucky enough to be working with the King’s Lynn Festival Chorus. One evening, the conductor was delayed (puncture in the car tyre, I think?). We were working on the Mahler’s epic Symphony 8. For those who don’t know, it is a monstrously large work – double-double choir, hundreds in the orchestra, all sorts of peculiar extras like brass bands, mandolins, organ etc. Well…I’m at the piano, surrounded by 130 singers, and I have to rehearse the music with them. 8 different vocal lines on the score, with the solo lines also included, the piano part is a ‘reduction’(?!) of the orchestra, and there are page turns seemingly every 2 seconds! And to make matters worse, I couldn’t sit down, as my vertically challenged nature meant no one would be able to see me! I definitely earned my money that evening. As a side note, my first rehearsal with the choir was with the same piece, and a cat managed to get into the school and within seconds came and sat on the piano and told me which notes weren’t quite purr-fect….I did wonder what I had let myself in for!!
Things don’t always go to plan. My most frustrating and embarrassing moment took place when I was organ scholar at Wakefield Cathedral. There are two organ consoles, with one being in the nave. When this one was used, there was a button which HAD to be pressed on the main console, otherwise you would be unable to reduce the number of stops used. At one of my first carol services playing for the choir, we had completed the opening carol – cathedral full, lots of loud singing, full organ at the end. The next piece was a very quiet, gentle piece for the choristers to sing, which started unaccompanied, before me joining in a bit later. I had to give a quiet chord. I chose a suitable stop on the nave organ, and when indicated I played the simple D major chord. Disaster – I had forgotten the special button. The chord I actually played was a thunderously loud full organ sound – the congregation almost jumped out of their seats, the choir were a mix of shocked, annoyance, and stifled laughter, and the conductor was…well…to put it mildly ‘unimpressed’. Anyway, the choir did start the piece – and I then ran to the other console (quite some distance away), pressed the correct button – but then had no choice but to stay there and accompany, blind, for the remainder of the piece, as I didn’t have time to get back before my next entry. I was not in the good books that day!
There have been lots of funny moments at the piano. One of the most bizarre I can recall was at a school concert back in Norfolk around 10 years ago. All the department buildings had their own alarms, rather than one centralised one. We were halfway through a solo performance evening when we heard the distinct sound of the burglar alarm in the technology block. Jokingly, my boss suggested out loud to the audience ‘It’s OK, Mr Brown will just improvise something that fits’. Challenge accepted! For several minutes the audience were ‘entertained’ with various tunes, including (but not limited to) Thomas the Tank Engine, Beethoven 5th, EastEnders, Postman Pat, some of the pieces already played that evening (but in a lounge piano style), O come all ye faithful…it was very, very silly!
I’m sure there are many other anecdotes I could include, but maybe they can wait for another day.
Stay safe everyone, take care, and hope to see you soon.
It’s been a while, but here we are and our covid lives look set to get bleaker, if that were possible. I do hope everyone is keeping their spirits up after the slight ‘respite’ (I guess) over the summer months. Substantial and carefully considered plans are being prepared for those of you desperate to sing together again in St Mary’s Church and I can’t wait to get going.
I am involved in planning for the North Cotswold Chamber Choir to sing a concert at St Kenelm’s Church Enstone, on December 5. Sarah Tenant Flowers will be conducting a 60-minute programme of carols with readings reflecting on the Christmas story, possibly twice in succession if audience numbers demand and even live streaming if we can. This is perfectly permissible within the guidelines, at the moment, and like CNCS, a detailed Risk Assessment with substantial mitigations has been prepared. It could all come to nothing of course and might possibly end in tiers (ha ha), but they are hopeful. Fingers crossed that we can make our return to singing work too – please join the joy.
FACING UP TO FACE MASKS
Despite being pretty comfortable with wearing face masks routinely now, people’s opinions and feelings are divided about doing so for singing. I don’t like the idea much, but all the advice suggests it is essential, both to help protect yourself and those around you. I found this interesting perspective from a singer posted on the Making Music website on October 16.
Opinion: In praise of face masks?
When face masks were first introduced, I was not happy.
I struggle with hearing, so a mask makes it even harder for me and cuts out the possibility of lip-reading. I didn’t even realise how much I was relying on lip-reading until masks became widespread. I now find myself constantly apologising in shops, as I have to double check everything a shop assistant is saying to me if they’re wearing a mask.
And I was not thrilled about having to wear one, especially for any length of time, finding them suffocating and hot. So when I was told I had to for choir rehearsals, I was totally dismayed. Perhaps I wasn’t that keen on in-person rehearsals after all? Or maybe we could just turn up in a mask and then take it off? That hope was dashed when the choir committee issued dire warnings about not wearing one, with penalties, like we were back at school.
But now, a few weeks down the line, I’ve changed my tune (pun intended) and consider myself a new fan!
We’ve just been told that complacency is one of the biggest risks for a second wave of coronavirus: people not following the rules, either because they don’t think it’s necessary or (far more likely in my view, judging from my own experience!) because they forget. When you’re out and about, life can feel quite normal and so you automatically start behaving as such, often walking too close to people in the process.
But face masks are the perfect unmissable reminder on everyone’s face that life is not normal, that we are still in the middle of a pandemic, and that we need to be careful, all the time.
And one more thing: wearing one shows respect. It says, ‘I take fellow human beings/choir members’ wellbeing seriously, so I’m doing what I can.’ It’s about respect for others’ anxiety, as much as for their physical health. It is not really about me.
So now I own half a dozen snazzy face coverings and have worked out the most comfortable ones for singing in. And you know what? Wearing one really is a very small price to pay for the joy of singing together again.
Plus: that’s Christmas stocking fillers sorted for everyone this year, right?
How do YOU feel?
I’m sure you have found something comfortable which stays in place. I bought one with a clear plastic patch over the mouth which makes lip reading sort of possible for the hard of hearing, thinking that might help singers at a distance from me stand more chance of engaging – at least that was the sales hype! It cost £15 plus p&p – and is rubbish. It’s poorly made, uncomfortable and the plastic window steams up – of course it does! Buyer beware.
If you fancy some simple, delightful and reflective singing crafted online, you might like this simple song written by the most energetic song writer and community musician I know – Gitika Partington. I like its message and inspiration and even if we are in different boats or trains, driving on different roads and walking other paths – we are all in the same storm and under the same sky. Here’s the link, and the words below:
SINGLE SKY by Gitika Partington and Andy McCrorie-Shand
The Dialing Tone Chorus released their 5th Virtual Choir Video on 24th October 2020 to coincide with UN Day and the clocks going back. On October 24, 1945, 51 countries came together to create the United Nations. Its purpose was to promote peace and cooperation around the world. ... The event was to be observed by all member countries. United Nations Day continues to be celebrated globally, as part of United Nations Week. Reminding us there is a Single Sky.
1. We’re on the same boat, crossing the same sea. Oh woh
We’re on the same road, walking the same street. Oh woh......
2. We’re on the same train, rolling the same lines. Oh Woh
We’re on the same flight, crossing the same times. Oh woh...
LEAVING DARKNESS PASSING BY, SHARING STARS UNDER A SINGLE SKY
LEAVING CLOUDS YOU TELL ME WHY, SHARING LIFE UNDER A SINGLE SKY
3. We’re on the same train, rolling the same lines. Oh Woh..
We know the same songs, we’re singing the same rhymes. Oh woh...
CHORUS
Everyone tells us, it’s gonna work out fine They say it’ll turn out in the end All we know is we share a single sky (In love in faith in hope my friend x2) (leaving darkness passing by single sky leaving clouds you tell me why single sky x2) Way oh ..single sky
CHORUS (x2)
And finally to this edition’s selection from the Leading Notes newsheet of spring 2011, no. 26. A pretty regular feature each term was some kind of quiz, often related to the forthcoming concert or music in general. The upcoming programme (April 16th) was Bach’s St John Passion in Deddington Church (oh yummy, if only!). This rather clever little programme note played with the theme of translating composers’ (and one conductor’s) names into English. The text gives clues – see how you get on, good luck. Answers a bit further down in very small text!
You will certainly be familiar with Joe Brook (1) who spent his life writing church music for wealthy patrons. Freddy Trade (2) was in much the same line of business, but in addition wrote music for hooty horns celebrating a right Royal Thames Barge Festival. Later, this chap called Dick Coachbuilder (3) built himself a wooden theatre for the performance of his long music dramas, with uncomfortable seating to discourage inattention. A waltz-king was Joey Ostrich (4), whereas Dick Ostrich (5 and no relation) was in the opera business and is well known for a sexy one about a rose-queen. Further south, Joe Green (6) packed the opera houses year after year on into his old age, Shakespeare inspiring his take on the one about the Moor of Venice. At the beginning of his reign, Peter Jagd (7) inspired valiant CNCS troops to tackle a performance of the great and early Evening Service by Claud Greenhill (8).
