Conductor’s Notes

“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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM8fn4sSho0

RETURN TO SINGING  Arguably the most significant occasion for the choir this year was the R2S on December 17^th. 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 17^th 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:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/11/covid-upturned-planet-freedland

   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.

Be safe, stay well.

TM@tF

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!!

Being an accompanist – a view from the piano

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 5^th, 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.

‘The chap at the keys’

Chris

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 16^th) 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).

1  Johann Sebastian Bach

2  George Frederick Handel

3  Richard Wagner, theatre at Bayreuth

4  Johann Strauss

5  Richard Strauss, ‘Der Rosenkavalier’

6  Guiseppe Verdi, ‘Otello’

7  Peter Hunt

8  Claudio Monteverdi, Vespers of 1610

Keep smiling and stay safe, from the M@tF

Hello everyone, good to be writing to you all again; sorry I’ve been ‘away’ for so long. I last blogged over a month ago, how time flies when you’re still painting a kitchen and having a new boiler fitted – some people will find any excuse! But as predicted, the sun did come, then disappeared over the Bank Holiday. Anyway, it’s good to be here again and I hope everyone is safe and well and anticipating ever more eagerly a return to some singing as the time surely gets closer. I would say that not much has happened since I wrote, but to be frank, it hasn’t really! Covid19 ebbs and flows, causing local lockdown, lifting of lockdown so folks can get away on holiday, changes in quarantine rules so they all have to dash home again. It reminds me of the Pirate shanty chorus: We’re going this way, that way, forwards and backwards, over the Irish sea... Eating out in August was delightful – did you make a point of doing it as the state was treating us?! Socialism at its best. I wonder if this policy could be applied more widely – free university education, more social housing, re-opening youth centres, decently remunerating care workers, HS2 (oops, already doing that!).

I digress.

Significant progress was made over the summer by the DCMS however and their roadmap has been carefully thought through and applied effectively. As they promised, rapid research was carried out to assess the real ‘dangers’ of singing (and playing wind and brass instruments) which reported in mid-August. The exciting news is that singing poses the same risks as talking – not greater, as first supposed. In both cases it is volume which makes a difference to the spread of the virus (more air and energy behind the action, which risks spreading droplets further). This revelation enabled DCMS guidance to move to stage 4 of their 5-stage roadmap, which is that it is now possible for up to 30 people to meet in covid compliant venues to rehearse. It is also permissible to perform to an audience provided they are socially distanced. I believe that more than 30 can gather provided there is space and sufficient management of compliance arrangements. This is what people who talk in such ways might call a ‘game changer’!

I am pleased to say that our excellent committee has kept apace of developments and is crafting the CNCS roadmap. You will have received an email from Nick (Chair) setting out the landscape, and also a brief survey inviting your thoughts/ideas about the route to returning. Sub-committees are considering risk assessments and social engagement, and venues are being researched. From here, it looks like a proper concert at Christmas is unlikely but we will endeavour to ‘perform’ in some way, but nothing is fixed and we are a flexible bunch. Thank you committee – we are indebted to you for your careful planning and attention.

If you did engage with the Beatles’ Here comes the sun and have been practising – how’s it going? I am so looking forward to putting it together. If we are not meeting for a while, I’ll find more challenges for you. I am eagerly anticipating singing again; rehearsals are likely to be shorter and gentler, but no less exciting and I am looking forward to being The man at the front in person!

Now it’s quiz time!

Question: What do we all do about 25,000 times a day? Clue: We do it automatically, but if we paid more attention to it we could significantly improve our health.

Answer: We B-R-E-A-T-H-E

I read a fascinating book called Breath – The new science of a lost art, by James Nestor. It is not specific to singing but to life, really, but of course can be immensely helpful to choirs. To whet your appetites, the cover notes say:

Modern research is showing us that making even slight adjustments to the way we inhale and exhale can jump-start athletic performance, rejuvenate internal organs, halt snoring, allergies, asthma and autoimmune disease....None of this should be possible, and yet it is....

Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head. You will never breathe the same again.

Bold claims and I know I’m easily won over, but I’m not completely gullible – it’s a very convincing read. We are all familiar with the importance of breath control in yoga, meditation, mindfulness or exercise practices, but its potential impact on wider aspects of health are interesting. If you want to delve a little deeper, visit www.mrjamesnestor.com/breath and look at the breath videos, particularly the Buteyko breathing exercise An understanding of the power of how to manage good breathing will support comfortable singing, so we must continue to pay attention to this in our warm ups!

Time for music!

At the beginning of lockdown I posted a musical sideswipe at Dominic Cummings’s trip to Durham. Dillie Keane’s enthusiasm got the better of her again on September 1^st, as schools were about to return.....

The popular group Voces8 have made a huge impact in singing circles and they have plenty of youtube postings. This splendid performance of Slap that bass caught my eye; a masterclass in brilliant singing and witty choreography. Given the song’s title, if you were the bass singer, you’d look out!

Closer to home, I heard a new recording of the Mozart Requiem on Radio 3 recently by The Dunedin Consort. It’s a reconstruction of the first performance, with period instruments and some gutsy singing. Here are the Kyrie and Lacrimosa as tasters and they certainly whet my appetite for including it in a future programme very soon!

MORE BLASTS FROM THE PAST – EXTRACTS FROM LEADING NOTES

A fine feature of the termly newsheet Leading Notes, was the occasional Editorial Mutterings from Peter Barber:

Dog-sitting during the summer holidays at a daughter’s place, I came across three brand new as yet unopened books of songs: traditional American, Welsh and Irish folk melodies. Folding back the new crackling pages of each in turn, lo and behold there were titles familiar from the Dark Ages (i.e. just before and during the 39-45 lot), when as a youngster (teenagers did not exist then – “Mozart was never a teenager” I yell at the radio whenever an announcer perpetrates that solecism) I joined in the family Sunday evening sing-song round an aunt’s piano. ‘Did you sing this?’ I asked W, knowing full well that her family, like many others from Victorian times and earlier, had followed the same weekly ritual. Persuading her to the piano, we spent a nostalgic half hour ‘rendering’ I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls, Ash Grove...and so on. Then we came to the American book, and there were the negro spirituals, in simple form, that had inspired Michael Tippett. Very affecting. The last time I had sung those must have been about 1943.  From Issue 14, December 2005

In 2006, CNCS performed Messiah in Chippy Church and Catherine Bott was the soprano soloist. You don’t hear her so much these days but she was big then, also presented on Radio 3 and lived locally. Peter Barber wrote some more Mutterings about Messiah being a staple work of the burgeoning choral music scene in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. He also enlightened us about the outcome of the Conference of Sunday School Teachers in 1841 which resulted in a form of musical notation which enabled thousands of working people to access singing together and hence join in with Messiah. More on this in a future blog....

The Messiah Edition of Leading Notes, Winter 2006, featured some personal recollections from choir members about their first or early experiences of singing this masterpiece; here are a few:

About 1960. We had both sung the work earlier during our (separate) student lives. But we remember especially this performance in Walsall Town Hall, or rather the Tuesday evening rehearsals, because of the delicate touch of the 17-year old rehearsal pianist drafted in from the local sixth form – Andrew Parrott, on the threshold of a distinguished musical career.

Wendy and Peter Barber

When singing the chorus ‘Messiah’

The altos’ performance was dire.

The tenors were lower than basses, and slower,

While sopranos sang higher and higher!

Kate Smith

It was 55, or even 56 years ago. My school prospectus brooked no argument. ‘Boys who have any musical ability are expected at least to join the choir’. So I did; and either at the first Christmas concert or the following summer we sang Messiah. I can’t say I fell in love with the music at once. The entire treble section had to sing Rejoice greatly, and a right struggle it was. But I was thrilled the first time I heard The trumpet shall sound. And singing Hallelujah was great – I could easily manage a top G in those days.

Roger Stein

Ah, I remember it so well, for it was all of 42 years ago, because it was one of those rare-as-hen’s-teeth occasions when we sequestered schoolgirls were allowed contact with the male of the species. No amount of stick-on beards or burnt cork moustaches were going to produce an adequacy of tenors or basses in an all-girls boarding school, to say nothing of trumpet players, so joy of joys, we had to link up with the Boys College – and not just boys, masters as well. Heady stuff!

All of a sudden the choir was the place to be and it was amazing how many tone-deaf pubescent nymphettes suddenly started paying attention in Musical Appreciation....We few, we happy few, were let loose on the delights of Going Astray like Sheep (oh yes please)...I will never forget the physical shock of being joined by tenors and basses for the first time. It sent so many prickles down my spine that I could barely get a note out, and it didn’t have much to do with the Glory of the Lord.

But when it came to the performance in the faded splendour of the Winter Gardens, to those soaring Hallelujahs complete with golden trumpets, the occasion transcended banal consideration of teenage hormones. Those peculiar beings in trousers were there, like us, for the music, the whole music, and nothing but the music.

Helene Barratt

Thank you for being here – more next time. Take care and look out for announcements about our return to some choral normality. Regards, TMATF.

‘There’s a sunrise and a sunset every single day.

They are absolutely free.

Don’t miss so many of them!’

Greetings all, how goes it? It’s been a while since the last post of June 29^th and a fair bit has happened, but I have been busy preparing something special for you to ‘take away’ and get singing. More later!

You would think covid’s been conquered judging by the distances we see between people – including most politicians – and yet we all have to wear masks in shops from Friday. The words horse, stable and bolted spring to mind. Beauty salons are open now – does that include nail bars? I do hope so. As time drags its weary feet, CNCS folk are pondering exactly what proximity to another human being is acceptable to be able to engage in our dubious activities of sharing aerosols and droplets.

Before exploring this, I need to tell you that Chris, our Chap At The Keyboard, has finished a successful (and very weird) term at school and is looking forward to a relaxing break. He has been personally very busy too – but I will leave him to share that with you when next we meet! He sends his love and can’t wait to get rattling the ivories again for us asap. Sticking with pianos for a moment, I have a slightly amusing anecdote from an encounter with my piano tuner. We were having a ‘man chat’ about how the early stages of lockdown resulted in accomplishing dozens of small tasks that have been outstanding for a while (bet you’ve got your own list?). Steve had proudly fixed something that had been irritating him for about 40 years, which when he applied himself, took less than two minutes. Any guesses? It’s something that every DIY enthusiast will relate to. Answer at the end...

So, what developments in our return to the new normal (speech marks not required any longer!). The good news is that the performing arts professionals now have a road map detailing their route back to public performances in theatres and opera houses – hurrah! Sadly for we amateurs, trials and investigations are required before any guidance can be given. What this man at the front can’t fathom, is that surely amateur singers are far less dangerous than the trained ones? Strong consonants are responsible for the ‘fluid burst’ of mucous which potentially spreads the virus through the air according to the science, right? With the greatest of respect to my amateur friends who try really hard with their diction every Wednesday, they are not nearly as threatening as the likes of Pavarotti or ___________ (insert your favourite opera singer). But then, what do I know about singing? Forgive me for being a tad churlish – I completely understand that our professional friends have livelihoods to regain, and that theatres need filling, but we amateurs don’t have careers to resurrect or company bank balances to improve, we just wanna sing and tweak our mental health! Get on with it!

On that note (C# probably), I can bring you the latest update from the DCMS, which is rather encouraging (at least for the pros). It was issued on 15.07.20 – here is an extract:

Non-professionals should currently not engage in singing or playing wind and brass instruments with other people given these activities pose a potentially higher risk of transmission and whilst research is ongoing. DCMS has commissioned further scientific studies to be carried out to develop robust scientific data for these activities. Existing and emerging evidence will be analysed to assist the development of policy and guidelines.

We have developed a five-stage roadmap to bring our performing arts back safely. These five stages of the phased return to performing arts are as follows:

• Stage One – Rehearsal and training (no audiences)
• Stage Two – Performances for broadcast and recording purposes
• Stage Three – Performances outdoors with an audience and pilots for indoor performances with a limited socially-distanced audience
• Stage Four – Performances allowed indoors and outdoors (but with a limited socially-distanced audience indoors)
• Stage Five – Performances allowed indoors / outdoors (with a fuller audience indoors)

From the 11 July, we will move to Stage Three. This means that performances outdoors with a socially distanced audience can take place in line with this guidance. DCMS will work with sector representative bodies to select a number of pilots for indoor performances with a socially distanced audience. Dance studios can fully reopen from the 25th July, and should follow guidance for providers of grassroots sport and gym/leisure facilities. We expect to say more on a possible date for Stage 4 soon and Stage 5 in due course.

Initial Phase Recommendation that singing and wind and brass playing are carefully controlled and limited to professional contexts only (i.e. for work purposes only as per this guidance). This is the current phase.

You can get a feel for the direction in which this is heading, a gradual loosening up and increase in numbers of performers and audience. My hunch is that a similar trajectory will apply to amateur groups in due course when we know more about the aerosol/droplet distribution science. Again – watch this space.

There is more guidance, and careful reading of this suggests that if small groups aren’t suitable for the artistic outcomes, then larger groups can be considered if appropriate risk assessments are undertaken, so hopefully in time we will be able to interpret the guidance to suit what we need! Read it here:

WHAT ABOUT OUR OWN CNCS ROAD MAP? I hear you cry.

I have written to the committee today based on all this advice and the science and together we will hatch a plan to meet our needs as soon as is practical. Thank you to them. You can see some suggestions I made in the blog of 29.06.20 for reference.

BRING ME SUNSHINE – AT LAST!

I am aware that CNCS has not partaken of any online singing, although I know some of you have engaged with it elsewhere. I thought it would be a nice idea to have a song that you can sing at your leisure and gently practise so that at our first rehearsal we can put it together. Here comes the sun seems appropriate as a metaphor – the ‘long cold lonely winter’ of the pandemic and lockdown has prevented us singing, but a sunrise is on the horizon as we emerge from isolation.

You will need the following:

Link to the song on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc1ta1UMGeo

Copy of the music. This is a full score so you can follow the accompaniment and what the other voices are doing

The Learning Notes! These support you by pointing out some of the musical features and orientating you around the score which should make the task easier.

YOU NEED TO KNOW – Being an arrangement, obviously you won’t hear your part exactly as written (apart from the tune which is always in the soprano and shared with everyone at times) but it’ll be pretty close as the harmonies match the original and the parts shadow the melody rhythms, mostly. Give it a go, have some fun and we’ll rehearse it together in _____________(insert month here!!).

There is also a cool version of Here comes the sun sung by George Harrison and Paul Simon ‘unplugged’ in 1976 (Saturday Night Live)

OUR REGULAR TONIC – QUOTES FROM PAST COPIES OF LEADING NOTES

On the theme of consonants and their newly-discovered hidden dangers for all mankind (um, fluid burst), it seems that over a decade ago, French singers had got this sorted and were playing safe, as Geoff Hunter explained in LN Issue 23, Winter 2009:

The perils of the final consonant – Lesley and I are members of a small choir which goes every few years or so to Vaison la Romaine in Provence to take part in a singing festival. We give an English programme...and take part in the available workshops. On our last visit I decided to join the workshop doing the Rutter Requiem. I was the only Englishman in the group, and since everything is in French at the festival, I thought I would have an easy ride. However, my point of collapse came in an unexpected fashion.

The work contains a gradual crescendo, ending fortissimo, with...’in you O God we put our trust’. This sounds rather innocuous until you realise that the French don’t generally pronounce the final consonant in words, so hearing a hundred or so people offering their surgical supports to God was too much for me. After stifling my giggles, I quietly told the conductor what the problem was. He laughed, told the rest of the choir....they laughed, but they still did it!

I wonder how many choir members reflect on why they sing in the choir? In my collection of Leading Notes (which is sadly not that many) there are a few accounts of people’s background in singing and what it means to them. Here’s an early recollection from Mike Terry in 1997. He was a real character who made no pretence of the fact that he couldn’t read the notes but joined in anyway! I learnt from him a simple approach to sight reading –“the notes either go up, or they go down”. Here’s his account from Issue 2, June 1997:

Confessions of a Bass Fellow –  Len Brigwood said: “Why don’t you come and sing with us? You’d enjoy it”. I said: “But I’ve never sung in a choir and I can’t read music. I wouldn’t have the courage to tackle heavyweight stuff with you lot. I’ve only sung blues with a Fleet Street pick-up group; all you people know what you’re doing and I’d be floundering.”

He said: “Just come with me to our next practice (note his subtle avoidance of frightening technical terms) and stand next to a bass who knows what he’s doing. Take your cue from him and you’ll be fine. Bothering about what the conductor wants will come later.” So I came.

I was terrified. There you all were, gearing up for Bach’s B Minor Mass, no less. But there was Stewart Taylor, guiding, chivvying, making everyone laugh yet never allowing the concentration to relax. There, with equally high standards was Shauni McGregor with her warm smile.

And.... Ah! There was THE SOUND. Slowly I lost my fears and began to enjoy myself. Len had been right. Now, save for illness or holidays, Wednesday nights are sacrosanct. At home in between Wednesdays, my wife Sheila patiently hears the latest pieces played over and over again until musical rote-learning disguises my ignorance.

I had always viewed musicians with awe, but now I have found their beautiful gift brings with it great friendliness and spiritual generosity. Shauni quickly found out I’m not good at counting – but at least I now realise that when the dots climb up so should the voice. And vice-versa. And I’m having a lovely time....

Another thing Mike discovered from his new-found choral experience was that not only do the dots go up and down, but all the instructions are in Italian! We all think we know what they mean, but in truth their translation suggests something more personal and close to home. Here is a selection, unattributed but I suspect it was Peter Barber, from Issue 9, Spring 2003:

Defining moments – allegro molto: see who can get there first (molto belto: basses get there first)

allargando:  slowing down (but take your time about it)

crescendo: from ppp to fff in one bar

diminuendo: as above, normally vice versa

piano: help in trouble times

mezzo forte: fff, but depends on ambient relative humidity

forte: ffff, ditto

da capo: see who’s dozing

rallentando: like allargando but avoid watching Peter

accelerando: leave the room without stacking your chair

unison: discussion with possible subsequent agreement about the melody

legato: sensitivity to composer, or excessive lower body movement during warm up

G.P.: raffle time

andante: walk in late, miss warm up

tutti: join in when the spirit moves

parlando: soprano seminar during warm up

That’s all folks, I’ll be back soon and I really promise to include some more music clips! The last two blogs have been rather issue and data heavy, but understandably given how things are. I hope you enjoy singing along with the arrangement and I look forward to hearing it.

Take care y’all and stay safe.

BTW – Piano tuner Steve’s amazing success after 40 years was to grease his Black & Decker Workmate to stop it squeaking. Incredible.

Afternoon all – how goes it with you? My last blog required a lot of reading and I hope you found it informative and encouraging, despite the lack of consensus about the science. Basically all that floats between us getting back together or continuing in isolation is understanding the difference between singing and shouting. It’s that simple (almost).

Quite by chance last Saturday lunchtime I listened to Music Matters on Radio 3. The programme examined how music can return, with a focus on singing and pleasingly attention was paid to amateurs as well as trained singers. There is a link below and the whole programme is worth a listen, but the relevant item starts at about 13’30” in and lasts eight minutes. Tom Service interviewed a laryngologist/teacher and a scientist who were keen to dispel the myth that ‘singing caused covid clusters all over the world’. They also question why it is we accept loud speaking but not singing, as we know that the aerosol behaviour is the same, and why we aren’t treating them with equivalence. The science still isn’t there yet, but the good news at the end of the item was that research into this issue would start on Monday (July 6) and that hopefully results would be available in weeks rather than months!! This is most encouraging and should keep our spirits up for a while longer.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000kmyx

I have just read that the World Health Organisation (who?) is acknowledging emerging evidence of airborne coronavirus spread. Welcome to the party guys! Read it here:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/08/who-says-evidence-emerging-of-airborne-coronavirus-spread

The other fantastic news recently is the £1.57 billion for the Creative sector to open up theatres, concert halls, museums etc. Although making no difference to us directly, it at least acknowledges the importance of the arts to the nation (er... and the economy) and keeps the issue centre stage which is helpful for our cause too.

This news is like a ray of sunshine piercing the temporary gloom of CNCS’s non-singing world. To cheer us all up I had an idea which I will share with you, hence the weak link. Here comes the sun (Beatles, Abbey Road Album 1969) is a perfect song to lift morale and celebrate the return of hope, happiness and wellbeing. Wouldn’t it be lovely to make this the first song we sing together again, whenever that is? In my next blog (soon, I promise) I will attach a copy of my arrangement which you can practise by singing along with the original – it all fits, nothing too fancy! Like an astronomer, watch this space.

Leading on....In my recent tribute to Peter Barber I promised that I would include some gems from past editions of the news-sheet Leading Notes which he edited for years. It’s especially poignant to include a reminiscence from Wendy. Savour and enjoy.

Quotes and Notes (from LN Issue 12, Autumn/Winter 2004)

A Christmas card form the Grosvenor Library of Recorder Music in York, prints Choir Rules in the Good Old Days, circa 1915 and offers the following:

‘The Tenors shall consist of many fair gentlemen who do not mind straining their voices. All gentlemen left over shall sing bass.’

The choir meets for the following purposes:

‘To discuss politics, tennis, scandal and/or church affairs....and of course, to flirt.’

‘No notice shall be taken of the conductor. He is always pleased to receive advice from individual members. He likes to have....suggestions as to tempo and expression, and is delighted to be instructed in the elements of musical grammar’.

Your Man At The Front notes the comments about taking no notice of the conductor and considers that little has changed in 105 years! However, modern choirs are far more sophisticated and express their collective opinion about tempo and expression through their singing, usually slower and louder than the conductor would like!

Advert spotted in a Victorian magazine at an exhibition in the Bodleian, from Issue 22, Spring 2009:

A private choral society is being formed consisting solely of amateurs occupying good social positions. There will be none of the elements of the ordinary choral society.

A lovely personal contribution from Wendy Barber, written for Issue 21, Winter 2008:

‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’

As a penniless student the chance to earn some extra cash was attractive, but to be paid to take part and sing in a Hitchcock film was irresistible. Alfred H, who was shooting the climax of ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’ in the Royal Albert Hall and needing singing extras, sent across the road (to the Royal College of Music) for students to fill the role.

The filming was scheduled for the end of the Spring Holiday and was almost scuppered by a national rail strike; however, after a very tedious journey on Easter Sunday from my native Worcestershire, I was at the Albert Hall in good time for the first rehearsal. This being a Hitchcock affair, there was a huge chorus and the orchestra, if my memory serves me well, was the LSO. After hours of singing, hanging around, being issued with costumes resembling shapeless nightwear, we were ready for the drama.

The stars arrived! James Stewart and Doris Day (‘Che sera, sera’) were involved in a heroic plot thwarting an assassination intended to happen as the Arthur Benjamin score reached its fff climax. It was for me an exhausting three days – chorally a unique experience. Seeing the film occasionally since, I scan along the second to back row, five from the end – but, how well have I remembered? However I clearly remember how rich I felt with £15 in my pocket.

https://www.contagioncabaret.co.uk/

Most of you will have caught up with the very sad news that Peter Barber, one of our basses, died last week. The choir has sent condolences to Wendy and his family and our thoughts and prayers are with them. Peter last sang with us in Cheltenham Town Hall and he and Wendy have been members of the choir for twenty plus years.

I shall miss Peter a lot. Although unwell for some time he doggedly attended rehearsals and gave his all, and as his hearing deteriorated, he would cup a hand behind one ear to try and catch my rabbiting in case it was important. This always reminded me to improve my delivery. More recently he asked me to wear a clip on microphone in rehearsal and we enjoyed a unique relationship of direct communication; he only had to wave occasionally to remind me to turn it on!

Peter was a kind man, and between the singing made a quiet contribution to the choir community in many ways. The most significant, and remembered fondly by many members, was as Editor of Leading Notes. This was a termly ‘newsheet’ as he called it, with many contributions from members of the choir. It featured Chairman’s Ramblings from Roger, Chairman’s Chunterings from Toby and Sarah’s Scribblings, concert and festival reviews, programme notes and miscellaneous musings about the next concert, soloists’ biographies, plenty of short reminiscences and reflections by members with heaps of amusing anecdotes, tall stories and puzzles. Occasionally there would be Editorial mumblings from Peter himself, often written on holiday in France or imploring people to contribute to copy! There are two lovely extracts below. Incidentally, all of this came for just £1 a throw – a healthy contribution to choir funds.

The patience and dedication required to pull each edition together and present Leading Notes so well was part of Peter’s commitment to the choir and we were all the richer for it, so a heartfelt posthumous ‘thank you’ from us all Mr Editor.

As a tribute to Peter and in his memory, I will be quoting something from past editions of LN in my forthcoming blogs, and as you read them spare a thought for the contributors (who might still be in the choir!) and the man who kept it all together.

Extracts from Leading Notes. Here Peter reflects on an amateur music experience in France and makes a gentle political point:

Missing a rehearsal, black mark, I was in France last week, and one evening, with glass in hand was talking with the mayor of a small town near Mayenne. We were at a buffet following a concert in which we heard English amateur string groups playing at the close of a week’s course (Wendy was playing, I was hanger-on). Then it was the turn of a large group of local people present, between 20-30 of them, ages from about thirteen upwards. Stands were set up, flutes, clarinets, some brass and percussion, were put in place and careful tuning followed.....They played delightfully and musically....There was a strong local musical tradition the mayor explained and many of the youngsters had lessons at the town’s School of Music. Once upon a time the lessons had been free, but that had changed now and families had to pay. Oh tell me about it, just like home. The Venezuelan youth musicians who, rightly, have been accorded an ecstatic welcome wherever they have performed, are the products of an enlightened system of fostering talent in urban and rural communities regardless of origin or parental financial status.....But did we not have our own sistema, called county peripatetic services and serving the whole population excellently, until poleaxed by political shenanigans? Leading Notes Issue 22, Spring 2009

Peter considers how music soothes and challenges us:

Sops, challenges and barbed wire:

Music as emollient: Classic FM makes much of playing ‘easy listening’ selections as a background wash to persuade us to put up our feet after a busy day. Fine. After all, who needs a challenge when you have end-of-the-month accounts/preparation of tomorrow’s lessons/children’s bedtime on your mind? Indeed recent press articles have reported on the therapeutic value of music played in clinics and hospitals. Mozart’s name seems often to recur in this context too. A very successful enterprise, according to these reports. If music be the food of love..... Baby therapy too – Mention of children’s bedtime reminds me of the popularity of a DVD called Baby Mozart with certain very small people of my acquaintance. Teddy bears cavort, toy trains loop-the-loop to Mozart minuets and marches engagingly played on what sounds like a glockenspiel, and the audience goes quiet.

But music as challenge: As amateur choristers we are conscious of performance challenge, but listeners get challenged too. From the beginning composers have thrown down the ever-evolving ‘sound worlds’. Notes that fall discordantly on the ear of one generation can become sweet music to the next. To lend an engaged ear to as wide a spectrum of sound as possible can be a stimulating antidote to sugar overdose. (Will A Child of our Time prove a double challenge?!

Then how about music as barbed wire?

Mozart (again!), piped to doorways and to open exterior areas of department stores or malls to repel ‘up-to-no-good’ likely lads who gather there after closing time. Music as therapy OK – but oh! – please not the aversion type. Leading Notes Issue 12, Autumn/Winter 2004

Thank you Peter, it was good knowing you. Go well.

Hello everyone. I hope you are well and starting to spread your wings a little in a responsible fashion, whether at 2m or 1m with mitigation. Isn’t it so good to even be thinking about meeting family and friends and I hope you enjoy getting out, or staying in if that’s preferable! Some rum things happening around the place which are disappointing and rather worrying, shaking one’s faith in human behaviour, but we’ll not dwell. I promise in today’s blog, to avoid all political references and any temptation to make pointed remarks about leadership qualities (offer limited to one week only!). Heartening to see our ‘High Streets’ opening gradually, despite some contrary advice, but I deeply regret that Nail Bars are not included. How am I to lecture a devoted crowd on a point of music theory or the merits of pencil ownership?  Good luck getting a hair appointment, if that matters to you. I have not been near a pair of scissors since before our Christmas concert, which will probably matter to everyone except me! Owing to the sheer amount of material to share this time, the music clips are limited. There are a couple at the end, but the next blog can feature more music and less chat perhaps.

So, to business: I am delighted to be in a position to update you on progress and developments towards CNCS being able to get together again – hurrah! Like the regular (and now much lamented) daily government briefings I will of course over promise and under deliver, just to comfort you with a false sense of security (oops, hint of sarcasm, apologies).

In the blog of 12 June I included my letter to Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport, drawing the department’s attention to the needs of amateur music groups and encouraging the DCMS to consider when we can function again. His department responded this week:

Dear Mr Hunt,                                                                                 June 23

Thank you for your correspondence of 11th June to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, regarding your concerns over local choirs during the current pandemic. I am responding as a member of the Ministerial Support Team. This has been an unprecedented time for the arts and culture sector, and the department is fully aware of the difficulties many singing groups are currently facing. The government recognises the huge contribution the cultural sector makes, not only to the economy and international reputation of the United Kingdom, but also to the wellbeing and enrichment of its people. Local choirs are vital to the lives of so many people across the UK, providing a creative outlet and strong sense of community for choir members and excellent entertainment for those that attend their performances. The government published its COVID-19 recovery strategy on 11 May, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/our-plan-to-rebuild-the-uk-governmentscovid-19-recovery-strategy.

I appreciate the difficulty the pandemic is creating for community arts groups, particularly for singing groups. For now, practicing (sic – ed.) in a virtual setting is the best option for choirs. The current published guidance suggests that activities such as group singing should not restart yet, and this position will not be revised until a future review of restrictions indicates that it is safe to do so. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/furtherbusinesses-and-premises-to-close/further-businesses-and-premises-to-close-guidance.

The department’s priority is to work with the arts and cultural sectors to address the challenges of reopening, as and when it will be possible to do so. From the information we have been receiving from various organisations and professionals, we know that the picture is nuanced across the country, with different organisations facing different challenges when it comes to the question of reopening. The government recently announced that representatives from the arts, cultural and sporting worlds will be joining a new taskforce aimed at helping to get the country’s recreation and leisure sector up and running again. The Entertainment and Events working group, which is one of the eight working groups that will support the government’s Recreation and Leisure Taskforce will include Arts Council England and other organisations from the arts and culture sector. Community arts will be one of many issues discussed. Alongside this working group, the department has had ongoing engagement with a number of organisations and individuals who represent the hugely diverse nature of the cultural sector, including representatives of voluntary and community arts. This is of course a fast changing area of work, and so we would advise that the best way for you to keep up to date with the situation would be to subscribe to our weekly bulletin capturing recent government announcements associated with the arts and cultural sectors and the current COVID-19 pandemic. Please sign up by emailing the following email address: arts-and-libraries-covid19@culture.gov.uk.

Yours sincerely, Ministerial Support Team Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

This is the kind of reply I expected and is as encouraging as it’s possible for them to be right now, but they do need to consider more carefully the evidence relating to singing and possible viral contamination, and be flexible in their interpretation. The advice to practise (see sic) virtually is limited but there are online opportunities to keep singing going this way. This hasn’t floated our boat so far, but it’s an option. I have signed up to their weekly bulletin to keep us informed.

Since I wrote, there have been more letters to the DCMS – from John Rutter et al and two significant interventions under the banner Singing Network UK which represents 27 organisations involved with singing in choirs. This network connects with pretty much every singing group in the UK and has the authority and clout to represent us very strongly. They make the case well and this higher profile is going to help the process:

Making Music (to whom we re affiliated)

https://naturalvoice.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/letter-from-Making-Music-to-Oliver-Dowden-MP.pdf

Association of British Choral Directors (ABCD)

https://www.abcd.org.uk/news/2020/06/Voicing_our_support_of_the_performing_arts

The ABCD submission includes an excellent research paper by Martin Ashley (Editor in chief of ABCD Choral Directions Research) called Where have all the singers gone and when will they return?  It wasprepared during the Covid-19 lockdown and contains extensive references to recent publications and research relating to virus transmission and infection rates etc, shedding light on the science which is influencing the strategic decisions which will produce the policies for safe return. It is very informative and well worth reading and highlights many contradictions about air-borne virus transmission. The full report is 31 pages long; I have provided links to the conclusions and an information sheet for the fainthearted!

Where have all the singers gone? – full paper

https://www.abcd.org.uk/storage/Choral_Directions_Research/Where_have_all_the_singers_gone_publication_version.pdf

Here is a single page of conclusions. I’m not a researcher but they read more like reflections and thoughts to me. Helpful all the same

https://www.abcd.org.uk/storage/Choral_leader_resources/ABCD_Where_have_all_the_singers_gone_-_conclusions.pdf

The full report has a lot to say about aerosols and droplets. It’s looking like the future of group singing is coming down to our understanding of the risk level posed by air-borne particles and how to mitigate their impact! This is a clear and useful summary.

https://www.abcd.org.uk/storage/Choral_Directions_Research/Aerosol_Information_Sheet.pdf

Still with me? To break the intensity for a moment here is a quiz question, to which you will know the answer if you have read the full research!

Q: When was the first time that (as now) choirs were silenced totally?

A: The English Civil War! Recruitment of singers was banned and there were no sung services from 1652 to 1660.

Interesting facts: Neither of the world wars silenced choirs in England. The King’s College Cambridge Nine Lessons service was broadcast despite all the stained glass and heating having been removed from the chapel. During WW1, the boys singing matins at St Paul’s were disturbed by the sound of anti-aircraft fire and a bomb landing 150yds from the cathedral. They continued singing and were commended for their ‘calmness under fire’. Plucky eh?

What are the immediate challenges for us?

Any activity contains risk. We need to assess the risks of singing together, take a considered view (‘wisdom and judgement must step in at the limit of knowledge’) and set out clear guidelines for activity and behaviour from what we’ve learnt, that enable us to function effectively, whilst minimising these risks to our health. Statement of the bleedin’ obvious, but it’s important that the route map to the new normal meets our needs and enables us to enjoy what we do. There is not a ‘one size fits all’ solution. We need to be proactive, hence this analysis of the research to keep us informed, close monitoring of the campaign, and  beginning to sketch out a plan. I hope the govt can be persuaded that our type of activity needs assessing separately from the professional arts (theatres etc) as the considerations are very different. If we are in a queue behind the West End it could take a while!

What does the research tell us?

There is much uncertainty about the nature of immunity from Covid-19. Breathing and speech can carry viruses, likewise singing. The action of speaking, shouting and singing are the same – mucous lining the lungs and vocal tract ‘ bursts’  and moisture particles are released and travel through the air (see aerosol info sheet above). Opinion is divided about particle size and the extent of the virus carried, but aerosol particles (the smallest) are likely to travel furthest and linger longer, particularly in enclosed spaces. Currents of air circulate in random directions, so if aerosol particles DO carry virus, and DO ‘remain active in the rehearsal room for at least an hour’ then a closely spaced choir is at risk of infection.  The louder you sing and the more you project then ‘singing would appear to be at least as harmful in this respect as loud speech or shouting, possibly more so.’

Some research and reports have declared singing to be safe, but this evidence is less robust (sample size), and ‘most authors with relevant knowledge, but whose work has not been peer-reviewed, have declared singing to be unsafe’. One paper stressed the significance of asymptomatic transmission and that the danger posed by this meant ‘there are at present no conditions under which choirs could safely resume rehearsal.’

Masks? Where do we stand?

There is insufficient evidence to make a recommendation on the use of masks to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory virus. One review revealed evidence that ‘the retention properties of masks used during deep breathing in vigorous exercise can lead to infections that would not happen without the masks’. Masks might also contribute to difficulty in breathing, particularly for older people. Experts are divided on this but the consensus seems to be that any protection could make a contribution to limiting infection spread, so: ‘Recently, due to the lack of clear evidence....the use of masks has been promoted due to applying the ‘precautionary principle’’ . The jury is out on this, but if masks are to be used, they must be proper surgical ones and not ‘homemade fashion statements’! Wearing masks in rehearsal would be challenging for singers and would compromise the results, but if we consider it worthwhile/essential we could manage this with the way we rehearse (e.g. not always singing the words)

The certainty of Social distancing (which I prefer to call ‘physical distancing’ as socially we are all still very close – but there you are!) seem unequivocal and was set at 2 metres for the UK which is regarded as a minimum by many researchers. Two reports conclude that ‘any environment that is enclosed, with poor circulation and high density of people spells trouble’ and that ‘social distance guidelines don’t hold in indoor spaces’. There is support for the view that contagion can be mitigated when singing indoors by keeping the air as fresh as possible (open windows/doors) and limiting numbers so that spacing can be adequate with no singers facing each other.

The European Choral Association (ECA) represents choirs in Europe (and beyond) and has been studying and surveying the effect of the pandemic on choirs and singing. I have only dipped into their report but found much useful information about what European countries (+ others) are doing, consideration of the issues and some fun musical clips. Worth looking at sections 2.1.3, 2.1.4 and 2.1.5 if nothing else. Two German women model a very practical face mask (see last item at 2.1.5)!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QHhJbirrbPWQ6CFxbj-uy_3QwjNvXlPptchFvVoLlHg/edit#heading=h.tfh434q70g2s

Where to next?

We need a route map ready for our journey out of lockdown once approval is given. We know the likely challenges, so armed with information presented here and available widely, it’s possible to lay the foundations for a swift start.

The following are my suggestions for our planning. The committee is responsible for final decisions.

Large venue – e.g. School hall, Town Hall, Church or other. It is unlikely that at start-up all +/- 80 singers could meet so we could consider splitting the choir in half (2 lots of SATB) and meet on two nights each week.  Crucial to the venue is plenty of space and ventilation. Sadly the music room is too small to allow for the appropriate distancing

Hygiene – If required, a small squad of volunteers could wipe down surfaces such as hand rails, door handles etc and check loos prior to use. Hand sanitizer on entry. Venues with two entrances (e.g. school hall and TH) could have separate in & out.  

Spacing – Each singer would have a 2m square, with chair; no physical contact allowed

Masks in rehearsal – Preferably not (because of the effect on singing quality and audibility), but it would be an individual choice

Activity – Until we know the likelihood of being able to perform a concert, rehearsals would consist of singing a range of varied repertoire for fun and engagement to get back into the habit of singing. Once we have our future programmes agreed we can start work as appropriate. Warm ups would be based on our usual approach without compromising the health risks, e.g. gentle movement/stretching, humming, avoiding high volume and explosive consonants. Particular attention will be given to limiting the mobility of tongues and lips (!).

Rehearsal length – Possibly 7.30 – 9.00 with short ‘comfort breaks’. If necessary we could consider some online learning aids too

Attendance – Once underway, regular attendance would be expected; anyone unwell should not attend

Future programmes – Re-establishing our meeting again is the priority. Performances/concerts present another layer of risk assessment and management, and in this regard we are more closely aligned to public venues generally and will have to wait for a steer on that. If our Christmas concert can proceed we could for example make it short and offer two or three ‘sittings’, late pm into evening. It is unlikely that the Rossini will be possible in October as rescheduled so will be considered for the spring, or later.

If you are still here – thank you for reading!

I’m sure the committee will be happy to hear your thoughts and I encourage you to keep abreast of developments. Any decisions are OURS, but in line with national expectations.

I have included links to some additional articles for those with time to spare!

This is fascinating but quite technical and a tad more yawn worthy, about aerosol emissions during human speech:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-38808-z

From Australia this is a gentle read with some interesting ideas, including a video of two tenors singing behind plastic spit shields. Absolutely NO WAY will we be going down this road......

https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2020-06-14/how-can-we-resume-choir-practice-without-spreading-coronavirus/12344812

A little light music. We have all seen many examples of online choruses which have painstakingly constructed performances from individual voices. This one captures the challenges in ‘The Birth of the virtual choir’

How can I keep from singing? This traditional song has been given a nice groove and really lifts the spirits.

I hope you are managing to sing somehow, and if you are having to ‘keep from singing’, be patient and keep the faith – it won’t be long now.

Best wishes to you all.

To: Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State DCMS

Dear Secretary of State,

Coronavirus: Standing up for amateur choirs and community music groups

As the UK begins to ease out of lock down, I am writing to ask that your cultural task force pays attention to the thousands of amateur musicians who in normal times would meet regularly to make music. Choirs, orchestras and community music groups of all types are a major source of pleasure, social cohesion and physical and mental wellbeing for people of all ages across the nation – at no cost to the government. Their loss is having a profound impact on quality of community life.

I was heartened to read in your recent Evening Standard London Indoors interview https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/arts/oliver-dowden-interview-culture-secretary-arts-coronavirus-a4462456.html  that you are passionate about the arts, and are engaging in ‘intricate discussions’ with HM Treasury about supporting the sector to protect its viability. This is welcome news and I wish you luck.

You will be aware of the recent intervention by Sir Simon Rattle and Sir Mark Elder, making a strong case for the protection of our cultural sector, exposing the potentially bleak landscape for professional musicians in general without some urgent action. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jun/10/orchestras-might-not-survive-after-coronavirus-pandemic-uk-conductors  I would like to know what strategies you are proposing for amateur musicians to continue making music. Unlike the high-profile organisations, my choral society needs no extra financial support, or to be made a special case, we just require guidance for starting up safely; and this needs to happen quickly.  

The article by Richard Morrison in the Times (Will no one in Government stand up for British choirs? June 4^th) https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/times2/sing-it-out-will-no-one-in-government-stand-up-for-british-choirs-7nb28sl0q  draws attention to the current plight of British choirs, in particular how inconclusive are the small amount of data for Covid19 infection amongst the singers. What evidence there is suggests that it is not singing per se that spreads the virus, but more likely the social interactions, physical contact and singers standing close together. Further research is essential please. Careful management of safe conditions for a large choir to meet are relatively easy to achieve and groups around the country would relish the challenge as the activity means so much to them, but we need your task force to address this creatively and advise government without delay.

Please let me know when this matter will be considered by the cultural task force and what recommendations you will make to Government to ensure that the country’s amateur musicians can start sharing music together again soon. Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Hunt  – on behalf of Chipping Norton Choral Society

Copies to: Victoria Prentis (MP for Banbury). Radio 4 Front Row, BBC Newsnight

Hello and welcome to Week 12 of lockdown, but looking up?! I hope you are still well and keeping body and soul together. When I started this blog on the 2^nd (oh my how time flies when you’re locked down) we had just been told officially that we could meet five other people in the garden. Now single dwellers can visit another household and stay overnight provided the bubble arrangements are appropriate. This could result in a lot of ‘bubble bursting’ surely? I’m confused, so I’ll stay at home and write letters to the Culture Secretary and my MP urging them to let 80+ singers make music together asap – see below.

I would like to congratulate everyone who was involved in the Self-Isolating Choir Messiah performance on Sunday May 31. Even if your voice was not a part of the concert, well done if you engaged in learning it, or just dipped into some of the rehearsals. I gather nearly 4000 singers were involved from around the world (although the performance only sounded like about ?50) and it was an impressive undertaking. Lovely to hear a small band and great soloists (btw – Carolyn Sampson has sung solo for us before!). Did anyone else notice that the violin was the wrong way round (bowing with left arm)? I’m sure this was a trick of the filming or editing. Enlightenment on this welcome please. In the fullness of time it would be interesting to discuss how you folks found the experience of learning online and participating. Did anyone send in their voice recording and what was the process like? Is there anything we can learn from all this for our programme preparations? Maybe we can do all rehearsals online – you practise when you want to (but we still meet in the pub on Wednesday evenings!), have a grand ‘live’ workshop on concert day and perform in the evening. Bingo! Hmm, somehow that doesn’t feel right does it? Anyway, judging by online comments, many of these initiatives have been popular and enjoyable, which is the most important thing.

Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday greetings on May 24. I was touched by your kindness and there were some lovely personal comments which I very much appreciated. If this pandemic goes on much longer we might all be a year older by the time we meet again.....

The brouhaha surrounding Dominic Cummings was live when I started writing so I was all set to run with it, but as it’s old news now and he is back at his desk running the country, the moment has passed and satire has already chewed it to death. I predict that Barnard Castle will be the most visited monument in the North East next summer; I gather the teashop is offering free eye tests. I located something musical inspired by Mr C’s alleged suggestion that pensioners dying due to C19 would just be collateral damage. Curiously this rather casual attitude towards our elderly crept into policy when patients were later discharged from hospital without testing. Ah well, we were listening to the science no doubt. I hope song this will neither frustrate further the already angry, nor upset the passionate supporter. Apologies if it does. It’s called Song for Dominic Cummings by Dillie Keane.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dominic+cummings+song

Dillie Keane sings with an all female trio called Fascinating Aida and if you were tickled to be sure (they’re Irish) you might like something by the group. It will put you in holiday mood. I think the language is a bit ripe in places, but being an Irish word, I’m not sure.

I am indebted to one of the ‘boys at the back’ for keeping me informed and ‘on task’ as conductor, with responsibility for your learning. Recently I instigated my ‘Nail Bar’ which opens occasionally in rehearsals when there are titbits or gobbits to explore. Its mission, like the BBC’s charter, is to Inform, Educate and Entertain. Arguably it fails to achieve all three, but I do like to try and help everyone understand the context of everything we do. This includes a little background to the music we are singing and more recently introducing some basic theory to help folks understand what’s happening on the page. The musical device called a Hemiola has featured intermittently over the years when preparing Baroque pieces. It is a very common 18^th century rhythmic and harmonic feature but dashed difficult to explain clearly. I thought my last attempt (Vivaldi’s Gloria – 2018) with Bernard providing live illustration at the piano was brilliant, but for those who missed it here is a much more engaging and visually arresting lecturette. I am delighted that here too could not resist the rather feeble joke about it sounding like a disease! Toby the secretary always reassured the choir that ointment was available....  

You will be relieved to know that I will not be juggling next time the Nail Bar opens –  I talk balls most of the time as it is. Incidentally, hemiola should not be confused with semolina – a slow dance-like movement served as part of a baroque sweet!

Returning to the loosening of lockdown and the government’s ‘roadmap’ for our route to normality, the spotlight is fading up slowly to highlight arts and sport. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden is heading a cultural task force to explore ways of opening up theatres, concert halls, sports venues etc. The country is thirsty for its culture and those employed in the sector need their work. The two metre social distancing rule is posing a significant challenge, but I’ll wager that changes soon – watch this space (just as theatre directors are watching theirs – large and empty – ha ha). Incidentally, did you know that five different social distance measures between 1m and 2m have been adopted around the world, with 1.5m being the most common? Whose science are we listening to?

Anyway, I have written to Oliver Dowden requesting that the Dept of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) consider their strategy for the route out of lockdown for amateur community music-making, choirs in particular. Major revenue-earning venues are obviously important but I fear that people like us, as we know, community choirs and orchestras serve a very different function, and contribute enormously to the health and wellbeing of participants. As we cost the government nothing and have a low profile, we are likely to be considered last. Ironically, with careful planning and imagination I reckon we could start up ‘any time soon’, but that needs to be recognised and understood by the policy makers (Mm, perhaps Elgar could write an oratorio about that!).

My letter is posted separately and the links are worth reading. There are two articles from The Times and Guardian plus an interview with Oliver Dowden who claims to be passionate about the arts. I’m sure he is, but the proof will be in the pudding (hemiola) that we can share at our first gathering before Christmas!

And so to music....

In addition to Fascinating Aida, I have a varied and rather reflective selection this time. It is suggested that choirs are more prone to infection because they stand close together in confined spaces and expel a lot of air and moisture. This is true, but the causes are not completely clear and there is mixed evidence as to how far the air travels from singers’ mouths and how contagious this might be. Choirs are also close-knit communities who hug and touch each other quite a lot too, which is also a source of transmission. Research from Munich suggests that droplets travel about 0.5m and then fall to the ground, a retired dentist friend says: “The latest science suggests that it takes 17 minutes for the aerosol in a dental surgery to cease to be air-borne after vacating the room.”  When we eventually meet, face coverings might still be required and although this might be limiting, making music together is still possible as this choir from Poznan, Poland demonstrates beautifully. It’s called ‘Music in times of Plague’.

The Cummings clip was a satirical song about older people who have borne the worst of Covid19, whilst children seem to have suffered much less. I couldn’t resist sharing the result of a wonderful project from Birmingham Children’s Hospital where the chaplaincy worked with Ex-Cathedra’s Singing Medicine Team to form the first hospital-wide children and young people’s virtual patient choir. It’s called the Lifting Spirits Choir and does what it says on the tin.

https://slippedisc.com/2020/06/making-music-with-children-in-a-heartbreak-hospital/

Finally I share something in my ‘Music for meditation’ category, that is, pieces that allow your mind to simply drift and float..... It’s a song by the brilliant Michel Legrand sung by Trinity College Cambridge. I am so envious of everything about this recording – warm summer, singing in a circle, exquisite building, heart-melting music, talent, sublime solo singing, youth. Find a box of tissues and enjoy.

If this were a rehearsal we would now repair to the pub for some minor restoration. I have discovered a new beer from Brewdog – The Barnard Castle Eye Test. At 6% it’s a Hazy Durham IPA

Cheers. Look after yourselves and take care.

An encore:

Hello everyone.... Week nine and counting, although I’m not sure what or who we are counting on! I hope all is well with you and yours. I guess the slight loosening up of ‘lock down’ makes little difference for most of us unless you are a golfer, or play tennis (singles only of course). I have to admit that I’m liking the shopping arrangements at Sainsbury’s Banbury – after queuing (?20 mins) you seem to have the store to yourself – so quiet, and the only thing I have never managed to find is Vanilla Essence – that’s not bad is it?! Each day begins gloomily – reading the papers online – how depressing, must change that habit. The paucity of leaders is frightening. A lovely message: Hannah Cervenka (recent ex-Alto!) sends her greetings to all. She is very much enjoying the Radio 3 sing-along at 8.55 each day and is having timba drumming lessons online and joining in with her Samba group and their ‘pre-recorded groove’ Go Hannah!

WHO IS MORE IMPORTANT? I hope you and your families and loved ones haven’t been hit by changed financial circumstances – know any furloughed fellows? I guess we will all be affected somehow when the country’s bills have to be paid. Concerned about this, a dear friend of mine recently checked a government website to find out how exposed her job is due to Coronavirus. The website didn’t recognise what she put in and prompted her to ‘Please enter a valid job’. She’s an opera singer! Coincidentally she – for ‘tis Natalie – sang solo soprano for us in our May 2003 performance of the Rossini and sings in the English National Opera Chorus. Not being a key worker, she won’t get a clap every Thursday evening, but she might after performing Madam Butterfly at The Coliseum if she does her job properly. Who are the most valuable people in our society? Discuss!

STILL SINGING? Staying cheerful – it’s great to see the online singing things forging ahead, and there is so much good music to catch/keep up with. I hope the CNCS Messiah crew is still at it; performance time is not far away – exciting. I drop into The Sofa Singers online choir occasionally, and spotted that their next song is the Beatles’ Here comes the sun. Great choice, and I recall arranging that song for upper voices a few years ago, which has NEVER BEEN SUNG! So, I am amending it to include tenors & basses and we’ll sing it when together again. We’ve had great weather, and it’s summer, but in many respects these last two months have felt a bit like a “long cold lonely winter” and it would be lovely to see “the smiles returning to their (your!) faces”.

ARE WE AS GOOD AS WE THINK WE ARE? Despite being a popular song with some groovy syncopated rhythms, Here comes the sun is not difficult to sing and won’t take anyone out of their comfort zone, I promise. There is a delicate balance between challenging and stretching a choir to reach beyond their current abilities, and presenting them with the impossible. It’s a calculation that every Person At The Front (or committee, depending on who selects repertoire!) has to make, constantly. Last year was ambitious for CNCS but thoroughly assessed for all risks – manageability, achievement potential, impact on voices and self-esteem in the unlikely event of failure! Know your singers and the commitment they bring to their work has to be a conductor’s mantra. To illustrate this, and provide very brief amusement, I have posted a clip. Labelled ‘The worst choir ever? it’s soon obvious that their Man At The Front is in denial, surely? What’s so sad and makes my blood boil is that nearly 13 million people have viewed this and probably found it hilarious – that’s so unfair. Appropriate repertoire for these singers? I don’t think so, unless anyone wants to suggest they are just under rehearsed, it does happen! I trust that if CNCS ever displayed anything like this, you would ask for my resignation, as I hope they did their Man At The Front, pronto. Credit where it’s due though, some of the basses are trying really hard and I recognise these facial features when I’m casting around on a Wednesday! I bet this ‘worst choir’ sings a moderately challenging church anthem on Sunday with confidence – well done them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItMJtA8vfpw

AM I BEING TOO NICE? Talking of basses (like the segue?!), I am enjoying the thoughtful and frank contributions aired in Members’ News from some Boys In The Back Row, particularly the attempt to connect with other voice sections. Any contributions are welcome – length and subject matter immaterial – it’s just good to stay in touch. As the basses seem a hardy lot, I feel emboldened to share this clip I came across when looking for examples of classic singers. It is the great conductor Toscanini (died 1957), who according to Wikipedia (forgive me) was renowned for his intensity and perfectionism. Here he is laying into the orchestra’s double bass players who are not watching, or following his instructions. I’m sure you can appreciate the irrestibility of including this, and reflect on how fortunate you are...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-1KtSOwLXE

WHAT SHALL WE SING AND WHEN SHALL WE SING IT? Whilst undertaking enough DIY in the last 2 months to qualify as an interior decorator, I have been mulling and musing atop the ladder about our concert programmes. Past glories and treasured moments have kept my thoughts occupied and tempted me to revisit the repertoire list we assembled after the ‘post-it note’ exercise in 2018. New members may not know that every few years we ask everyone to suggest choral pieces the choir could tackle and would like to see in future programmes. Some nominate pieces they have done before, some flag up their favourites or things we’ve never performed. A music committee then selects a programme for each year balancing size of work, ambition, challenge, style/period and cost. The current programme runs until 2023, which is suddenly not that far away! This current season has been somewhat ambushed and as soon as we have a clear idea of when we can safely return, the immediate programme will be reviewed depending on timescale. The Rossini WILL happen sometime! Whilst daydreaming with a paintbrush I fantasised about two works that are always going to be impossible but have been listed in the past. A Mass of Life by Delius (1905) requires 3 each of flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons, SIX trumpets, 4 horns 3 trombones + tuba, 2 harps and lots of strings, four soloists and double chorus. That’s a huge orchestra (forget using St Mary’s Banbury!) and the cost prohibitive. Sadly, even if our wonderful committee proposed a plan involving cakes sales, sponsored sing-ins, walking up Everest in the back garden and a ceilidh, this MatF would never do it. There is very little music I claim not to like, but sadly Delius wrote most of it. Another fantasy was Mahler’s Eighth Symphony – nicknamed The symphony of a thousand. Why won’t this be possible? Um..it requires huge numbers – you do the maths. This comprises 4 each of the woodwind instruments, 8 trumpets, 8 horns, 7 trombones, 2 harps, piano, celeste, harmonium (Anne Page playing of course), organ, lots of strings and A MANDOLIN!! Not forgetting singers – 8 soloists, 2 choirs, a children’s choir and probably a partridge in a pear tree ‘Nuff said.

.....AND SO TO MUSIC I have selected a few more music extracts for pleasure rather than illustrative purposes this time. The first is The Phoenix Choir from Vancouver, with a spoof on Billy Joel’s For the longest time which works quite well. They must have had some fun putting this together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpAKcQufacc

Samuel Barber wrote his Adagio for Strings in 1936, adapting the second movement of a string quartet. In 1967 he turned it into a choral piece, setting the Latin text Agnus dei. Set aside 7’36” minutes and turn up the volume – the piece is one long crescendo and packs a punch at the climax, around 5 mins in. I have a set of copies if anyone is interested in performing it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRL447oDId4

Continuing the contemplative and tranquil theme, John Tavener’s Hymn to the Mother of God was composed in 1985 in memory of his mother. Performed here by Tenebrae, probably the best chamber choir on the planet right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E_rKYkjSC4

And for something completely different – Walking back to happiness sung by Helen Shapiro in 1961. I am hoping that this is how we will all feel just before our next rehearsal!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWWDyCkpsiw

BIRD NEWS There is a blackbird nesting nearby whose song is the first eight notes of Cliff Richard’s ‘Living Doll’ (Got myself a walkin’ talkin’....).

Love and best wishes, take care and stay safe.

Hello there! How are you? I hope everyone is still keeping well, with spirits as high as possible given the circumstances. Are you singing at all? Obviously we don’t know when we can get together again, but we will grab every opportunity so to do, even if social distancing is still required. How’s about singing in a field through megaphones?! Traffic cones work well too. There’s always a way!

Following the last blog’s consideration of martial metaphors employed to address this pandemic, it was timely of the Prime Minister on returning to work, to nuance this approach by describing coronavirus as a ‘physical assailant’ and ‘an unexpected and invisible mugger’.  His advice that we ‘wrestle (coronavirus) to the floor’ is helpful, but worrying given that many of our front line workers have to attempt this unarmed. Please clap loudly on Thursday at 8.00 to show your appreciation for what they have to do. And let’s also give a thought to anyone we know suffering from Covid19 or families/friends who might have lost loved ones.

This morning I was alerted to the news that in Germany, bans on religious gatherings have now extended TO SINGING!! Here is an extract from The Guardian online 30.04.20:

......Communal singing has reportedly proved to be a particular sticking point in the discussions, despite repeated warnings by leading epidemiologists that singing is as dangerous as coughing for spreading the virus.

Reports around the globe including in Los Angeles, where three-quarters of the members of one choir fell ill and two died, and in Berlin, where 59 out of 78 singers from the choir of Berlin’s Protestant cathedral went down with the virus – have offered plenty of anecdotal evidence that singing in choirs has contributed to the spread of coronavirus in some communities.

Lothar Wieler, the head of the German government’s disease control agency, the Robert Koch Institute, specifically warned on Tuesday that singing was ill-advised. “Evidence shows that during singing, the virus drops appear to fly particularly far,” he said.

Virologists also believe singers could absorb many more particles as they tend to breathe deeper into their diaphragms than they would during normal breathing.

A draft bans both communal singing and wind instruments from services over the “amplified precipitation of potentially infectious drops” and while it has been backed in principle by Protestant leaders, who nevertheless wish to draw a distinction between roomy cathedrals and small village churches, Catholic heads are opposed.

“If the distance rules are abided by, there is no reason why singing should be refrained from altogether,” the German Bishops Conference has said in its own position paper. A spokesman added: “We believe quiet singing and praying should be possible.......”

When we reconvene then I will be recommending shallow breathing, humming and very quiet singing – mezzo piano at most!

Now for something to amuse and entertain you. I thought you might like some poems for a change and a selection of youtube clips taking a quirky look at music. First, I ran a day’s workshop for a mixed adult choir in Royston, Cambridgeshire, for a friend in 2016. With us for the day was a poet in residence who reflected some of the day’s work in verse. As part of the warm up and ice-breaker I took singers through the usual vocal and physical stuff including My bonny lies over the ocean...oh bring back my bonny to me, which requires actions throughout and a lot of concentration! You may recall that you have to stand up/sit down alternately on each word beginning with letter ‘B’. Very easy to get confused and always ends in chaos, with much laughter. This is the result of Jude’s experience in verse:

Bring back my body to me

My body’s gone AWOL, I can’t quite tell why.

I brought it this morning, all buttoned up, shy

And cautious, expecting to stay nicely hid,

But Peter said “wiggle” and (goodness me!) wiggle it did!!

I brought it this morning, all buttoned up, shy

And cautious, expecting to stay nicely hid,

But Peter said “wiggle” and (goodness me!) wiggle it did!!

We started constricted, cold and uptight

But the warm-up was ruthless, arms stretched and eyes bright,

Well I got so relaxed; I just let it go,

Now my body’s gone somewhere that I don’t know.

Bring back, bring back, oh bring back my body to me… to me…

Bring back, bring back, oh bring back my body to me!

Bring back my body before it’s too late –

It’s leaning when I’m meaning it to sit straight,

Flailing and failing, detached from my brain.

I send it a message, the message comes back again,

Saying that body’s no longer there –

I tell it to freeze and it jumps in the air.

It’s twisting and listing.  What’s it doing now?

Is it bowling a ball or unfolding a cloud?

When I try to stretch it, it bends like a B,

Is it over the ocean, or under the middle C?

Sitting down when I tell it to stand

And when we started gesturing… well, it got right out of hand

Now it waves, sways, refuses to cower –

From chair bound to air bound in less than an hour…

Bring back my body, I’m asking you please

Bring back my body; I’m down on my knees…

when I thought I was sitting up, straight-backed and British.

How could this body so quickly get skittish?

Maybe it’s gone out to look for the loos.

Maybe it’s gone to get its blue shoes … glued.

I blame it on Peter – I met him and soon,

My body connected with notes, tones and tune,

The pitch got me twitching, the phrases, the flows,

And all of a sudden my body was touching its toes…with its elbows!

No! Don’t bring back my body.  Let it go free –

It’s nobody’s fault, it’s the music you see,

The legs that loosen, the arms that start swinging,

I don’t blame it on Peter.  I blame it on singing...

Jude Simpson October 2016

The power of singing eh?!

This next poem just makes me smile, and amidst the savagery of coronavirus, it’s lovely to refer to ‘infection’ in a positive way. This would be a pandemic without a cure and from which no protection is required. Happily no scientists would get funding for vaccine research.

Smiling Is Infectious
by Jez Alborough (often att. to Spike Milligan)

Smiling is infectious,
you catch it like the flu,
When someone smiled at me today,
I started smiling too.

I passed around the corner
and someone saw my grin.
When he smiled I realized
I’d passed it on to him.

I thought about that smile,
then I realized its worth.
A single smile, just like mine
could travel round the earth.

So, if you feel a smile begin,
don’t leave it undetected.
Let’s start an epidemic quick,
and get the world infected!

And so to some music.....

Let’s start by considering THE VOICE, but not singing as we know it (Jim). Using sounds and effects only, Beardyman – whose background is Beatboxing – demonstrates creating an aural cake!

Ever wondered if a whole choir could do the same thing, creating a soundscape vocally? Yes they can, and in May 2006 Honda launched their latest Civic model with a TV advert.

Recently there have been many online ‘quarantine’ or ‘isolation’ singing opportunities available and technology has been put to good use, as many of you are experiencing. The first ‘massed online choir’ to hit the scene was in 2010 when American composer Eric Whitacre (a bit of a Stateside Bob Chilcott!!) put together a performance of his piece Lux Arumque by collecting recordings from 185 singers and mixing them together. A brilliant first appearance, which not only created awe and wonder in the singing world, but was excellent promotion and publicity for Mr EW himself!! And why not? This was followed by Sleep which brought together over 2000 singers. There is now a lot of similar stuff on youtube and ere long, the technology will exist to be able to assemble this stuff in real time, I’m sure.

A very talented and musical young man, Jacob Collier, has been wowing the music world with his incredibly complex arrangements in which he sings and plays virtually every part! He recently had a Prom concert to himself. The techniques are similar to the Whitacre, layering up many different parts/voices and Collier uses much more advanced technology too. This is one of his simpler efforts, released last year, and I love its youthful enthusiasm and sheer fun – musical ‘messing about’ with friends in the garden. It is Here comes the sun by the Beatles, chosen because at the end of the tunnel we are in at the moment, the sun is shining....

Whatever is happening to us, we can to a certain degree, choose to be happy – or at least try and find what makes us so. I was drawn to this cover of Happy by Pharrell Williams’ (2013) – how to be musically inventive in a small space. Note that this features a kazoo!

And finally, bang up to date and using the techniques now familiar to us all as a result of lock down, I am proud to share a version of With a little help from my friends assembled by The Quarantine Collective – all performers and groups from the Banbury area. The first singer, with the surgical mask is Richard who has decorated the outside of our house!

The message of this song – We all need someone to love, and we get by with help from our friends. You might feel inspired to make a donation to The Horton Hospital.

Happy listening and take care. More musical gems to follow in the next blog.

14 April 2020

Hello everyone! I hope all is well with you and yours as we enter week four of ‘lock down’.  I have been struck by how much this epidemic is being referred to in military terms, with no opposing troops or territory to be recaptured in sight, and slightly confused battle plans. We are ‘waging war’ on this ‘enemy’ and are definitely going to ‘defeat it’ – just a pity our troops are so poorly equipped with no prospect of ammunition arriving any time soon. The best support we can give to our ‘Poor Bloody Infantry’ is to stay at home and clap hard every Thursday at 8.00. I find hitting a small saucepan with a wooden spoon very effective – try it!

All this war talk reminds me of the congratulatory letter I wrote to members of the choir in June 2004 after our stunning performance of Michael Tippett’s oratorio A Child of our Time in St. Mary’s Church Banbury. Naturally, and more appropriately, it invoked many a military metaphor (but little alliteration!).  I would like to share it with you; a dip into history will make an interesting read and will stir some fine memories for those who took part in the concert. It’s a bit of a laugh, but at heart it is praising a stunning performance of what was in 2004 our toughest challenge. Thanking everyone for having the courage to tackle this music and working hard with such enthusiasm is an oft-repeated mantra these days – a credit to our ambitiousness and the joy we seek in singing. How little has changed!

Some context before you read: A Child of our Time is a couple of rungs below Belshazzar’s Feast on the ladder of choral challenges. Very dramatic and closer to home than the story of Biblical Belshazzar, it was inspired by the horror of Kristallnacht, which Tippett portrayed as the experience of all oppressed people, and first performed in 1944 as a pacifist message. Like BF it is a beautiful beast – hard to rehearse, rhythmically difficult and tonally unsettling  – doesn’t stay in any key for very long! Unlike BF it has moments of musical respite from the drama in the settings of some of the most well-known Spirituals. These are harmonically much more stable, expressive and very moving in the context of the whole, equal to the Chorales in Bach’s Passions – familiar music which everyone knows. We were accompanied by the Cheltenham Chamber Orchestra on this occasion too.

You need to know that ‘Lieutenant Toby’ refers to Toby Blundell who was our Nick/Julie/Brian/Keith person at the time and also that we rehearsed in the church on the Friday night before the concert, and we were anxious about it! Happy reading.....

“Now you can all relax…..”

(Stand at ease)

The summer moves on, and we are all relatively relaxed, convalescing well, as the Tippett trauma becomes a distant memory, but I can still recall what a triumphant occasion June 4th really was. Like a war veteran, I hazily recall our comradeship and tenacity in the face of a stern enemy, our resourcefulness when required to do so much, with so little, and our stoicism in predicting victory when defeat seemed guaranteed. As D-Day approached, the only certainty was that Lieutenant Toby would have prepared the trenches, called in extra

stretcher-bearers, and despatched route maps to the reinforcements of the Cheltenham Regiment, who were not only heavily armed when they arrived, but gave unstinting and valiant support in a common endeavour. A minor skirmish in our new barracks on the Friday night, and the anxiety that perhaps the battle plan had not been rehearsed tightly enough, demoralised the troops a little, but this was nerves prior to the big push, and only served to strengthen everyone’s resolve to meet the foe head on when battle finally commenced. The intense training paid off; well-drilled tactics enabled most of us to stay together and fight as a unit. We ended the assault having captured an astounding amount of territory, raising the flag of victory with pride, and giving thanks that there were so few casualties.

  Telegrams from the War Office trumpeted such phrases as “Certainly members of the audience I knew thought it was quite a moving experience”; “Well done everyone!”; “I admitted to being sceptical at the start…but now I really understand why you said everyone should sing it once”. A retired RAF pilot was impressed with our risk-taking and team effort that resulted in “…..getting us all to fly together – marvellous!”. The battle strategy was admired from as far away as Hook Norton, prompting the observation “A total master stroke to have copies down for the spirituals. Such direct and passionate communication as a result.” Ammunition might have been useful though. Finally, a retired General with a passion for giving the enemy a good pasting, and no stranger to choral conflict, was ecstatic: “It must have been years since I heard a live performance of that piece, and I don’t remember enjoying it half as much as the one last night.”

I’m sure we did our little bit for world peace, if only in our hearts, and as Commanding Officer I certainly rate this achievement amongst our finest. I heard many people say ‘I don’t normally like Tippett, but that was fantastic’. To me that’s progress, and is evidence if any were needed, that it’s so important to keep one’s mind open. I would like to thank everyone for their faith in the project, and for working so hard; it was truly an unforgettable experience.

PH 21 July 2005

Love and best wishes from The Man At The Front (how appropriate).

I will be sharing a couple of poems next time. Take care and stay well.

How is everyone doing ‘out there’? I hope you’re keeping body and soul together and adjusting to the change of pace and (lack of) activities demanded of us at this awful time. I’m keeping busy, but it would be SO nice to leave the house and do something in addition to shopping, walking the dog and exercising! I have been cycling, and the kayak is out of storage ready to launch on the canal – I can’t really complain. I would look for teddy bears but there are none to be found in Cropredy, unlike Ascott and Stourton! To help Brian’s list of titles with ‘bear’ puns, I googled ‘best songs with bear in the title’. Out of 67, the most worthy was the recitative from the Messiah: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son” Really?! Still, a tenuous link for those of you learning Messiah for May, eh?

I am thinking of you all, particularly when Wednesday evenings hove into view and especially this week as it was to be our concert on Saturday 😔. I wonder how the Rossini would have gone? Brilliantly of course! We would have loved the quirkiness of the harmonium and marvelled at Anne Pages amazing playing. We would have given Stewart Taylor (piano) a hero’s welcome as he was The Man in the Front until 1997 and probably noticed, as he feared, that his DJ is now a bit on the tight side. We’d have been overwhelmed by the brilliant soloists – so good and so young! You would all have been wowed by your success and just how confident you felt compared with Belshazzar’ Feast, and definitely hungry for more. My prognostications lead me to suspect that post concert, apart from ‘congratulations’, I would be saying: The Kyrie opening really set the standard, with amazing dynamics, the cum sancto was great but not as taut as in the music festival and the Et vitam on page 150 just ripped along with a crazy ‘Amens’ at the end. The Agnus dei was to die for, so expressive, and pages 209/10 were definitely the gratification so long deferred from the beginning, well done.
Let’s keep this script for October, or whenever the concert happens. It will feel all the more exciting as our lives will have seemed so impoverished, and occupying a beautiful church with hundreds other people, some closer than 2m (keep selling those tix eh?!) will feel surreal.

I am delighted to hear that quite a few members are participating in some of the online singing opportunities, that’s great. I know a few are involved in The Messiah. Although it must feel odd to be singing on your own and not to hear the rest of the choir (some might think this a good thing!), it can be quite moving to know that you are connecting in a shared endeavour with others and part of something bigger. Keeping that spirit alive is so important; good luck to everyone involved. I have been dipping into Gareth Malone’s sessions – interesting. They may not challenge you in ways you are used to but The Quarantine Choir and the Sofa Singers might. One significant advantage of this online collective singing of course is that you develop a very different relationship with the The Man in the Front. Someone pointed out that they find one of the new conductors to be wonderful because “he never tells us off for not looking....and he never tells the basses off for getting behind” . Touché – let’s call that 15 all!

I’d like to leave you with this delightful Irish Blessing:

May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand.

Greetings from The Man At The Front

Hello everyone. I’m delighted to do my first blog post on the new CNCS website and I hope many will follow in the months ahead. What strange times we are in. I miss you all and feel empty without our Wednesday work outs. I can’t believe we have only missed two rehearsals since our ‘lock down’, but it is comforting to know that the rehearsal on March 11 was one of the most productive and energetic for a long time, so a fond memory to comfort us through the grizzly times until we meet again. There will be more and there WILL be a performance of the Rossini, whenever it comes.

At our last rehearsal we were buoyed by the ‘distinction’ awarded at the Music Festival on the previous Saturday – bravissimo! A great performance and everyone who sang it should be proud of a fine achievement – thank you. Phrases such as ‘a good blend’, ‘such relaxed enthusiasm matched with precision’, ‘rhythmically alert’ and ‘generous warm-hearted singing’ peppered the adjudicator’s comments.

Particularly noteworthy was ‘You do watch’. I found this a pleasant surprise as it’s not something with which I am familiar. But it’s true, apparently, officially documented by an adjudicator. I accept that I am wrong to berate you for failing to look at me sufficiently in rehearsals and occasionally in concert and I’m truly sorry. I now doubt myself. Perhaps it’s just coincidence every Wednesday that we simply miss each other – you watch when I’m looking at my score, or maybe I blink and miss it? Anyway, no matter, you do watch and that’s official. Well done. Thank you.

Thinking ahead, to the good times when we are reunited, I wonder if we could come to an arrangement, and do it again? Maybe we could put in place a phased programme, starting with a reunion to relive past glory, on March 7^th 2021 – ‘a Watch day’ perhaps? Once we are familiar with the process and our neck muscles are fully active, the training could increase so we achieve this once a month, preferably on a Wednesday evening, although I wouldn’t be that prescriptive. Ambitious though it sounds, the next stage would then be a weekly watch. If successful, and sufficiently coordinated with the rehearsal, we could somehow synchronise the watching quite frequently with some instruction from The Man At The Front  – loud bellowing perhaps? I’m aware of the limitations this will have in concert. Whatever the journey, I am supremely confident that with dedication over time we can make this work, resulting in fine performances.

I would normally be leaving home for a rehearsal about now – sad to be staying in and a strange feeling not to have any clue as to when we will next sing together. I’ve just spent 30 minutes watching Gareth Malone lead his third Great British Home Chorus session on youtube. Nick forwarded the link www.greatbritishhomechorus.com. It’s fun and GM does quite a good job. You might like to try something completely different and challenging which will keep you singing and give your body/brain a work out, look at www.nycos.co.uk/daily-activities. The material comes from a book called Singing games and rhymes for ages 9 to 99. I challenge you to get one of the songs and actions completely perfect!!

Technology is marvellous and it’s brilliant that we can all stay connected in some way and I hope you are finding satisfying connections, whether musical or not. There is nothing to beat being together in the same room, sharing a song and synchronising our hearts – technology will never replace that.

Sorry to over-work the ‘watching’ gag by the way, but as it is our watchword of the day I will end by saying watch out for each other and stay well.

Best wishes from The Man At The Front 

What we will do on 04.03.20

Apologies for delay in this posting.

Important notices:

*** Rehearsal on THURSDAY MARCH 26 7.30 in the Town Hall instead of Wednesday 25th

*** Music Festival choral class on Saturday March 7 at 1.45

Wednesday’s rehearsal will look like this:

Ben Nicholls will introduce us to the new website! Before the break we will rehearse pages 143-149 and the sanctus (p180)

After the break the MUSIC FESTIVAL SINGERS will sort out performing positions then sing through the Holly and Ivy and Cum sancto

What we will do on 11.03.20

Et resurrexit pages 150-173 and Agnus dei (page 196)

Great rehearsal again everyone – thank you. We looked at the Credo, Agnus dei and sang through the Cum sancto after working on pages 90-93.

What we will do on 12.02.20

We will begin the rehearsal by revising The Holly and the Ivy for the music festival. No music required, words will be provided.

Gloria (p19); Et resurrexit pages 150-173 and sing through the Cum sancto

GENERAL NOTICES: There is NO rehearsal on the 19th (half term).

The Music festival class is on Saturday 7 March in the afternoon – details to follow.

The FRIENDS’ASSOCIATION is holding an informal afternoon on Sunday 29 March at which Peter and fellow conductor Roger Pinsent will do a live ‘chat’ about the conductor’s ‘art’ and how to shepherd 90 singers through choral masterpieces. This will be interactive, great fun and will introduce the audience to the Rossini in preparation for the concert on April 4.

There will be a dress rehearsal in Deddington on Friday April 3 

 What we will do on26.02.20 

Kyrie, Et resurrexit (pages 129-149) and Cum sancto

Great rehearsal, thanks everyone. We covered the work listed for last week. There is a very good choral sound developing with matching vowel sounds. The warm ups are helping to create this, so use them when practising (if you can remember them!).

We briefly discussed the importance of pencil use and shared different ways people notate reminders to themselves. It’s essential that requests from the conductor (such as breath marks) are noted, but don’t overdo them and keep the marks light (2B is ideal) as it makes erasing before returning the scores a lot easier!

What we will do on 05.02.20

Cum sancto – starting with pages 90-93 then the whole movement.

Credo p106 (recap)

Agnus dei p196 (NEW)

Kyrie focusing on the Christe (p9/10)

Great rehearsal everyone, thank you. We covered Cume Sancto pages 94-105. BASSES please shorten the ‘-men’ in bars 2 & 4 on page 103 (to match bar 6). SOPRANOS be careful bottom page 94 – you sing below the altos! We also pretty much learnt the Sanctus (p 180) – a lovely rich melody, bringing to mind a romantic Gondolier! 

The Nail Parlour was opened to explore Time Signatures and introduced the American system for naming note lengths – very sensibly Whole (Semibreve), Half (Minim), Quarter (Crotchet), Eighth (Quaver) and Sixteenth (Semiquaver). 

Next week’s Parlour session: Pencils – What’s the point? – considering effective ways of marking your scores. Um….please bring one!

What we will do on 29.01.20

Kyrie; Credo (p106); Sanctus recap (p180)

Cum sancto pages 94-105

Sanctus pages 180-184 (What does ‘tutti’ mean?)

Possible recap of Kyrie and opening of Cum sancto

Re: Peter’s ‘nail’ parlour – There is a small correction to make from last week about ‘-issimo’. Well done if you spotted my mistake!

This week: A brief History of Time (signatures)

Welcome back and thank you all for a splendid Christmas concert, crowning a very ambitious and exciting year for the choir.

A warm welcome to new members who joined this week, I hope you enjoy singing with us. Please talk to me if you have any challenges or concerns, we’d like to you to be happy and confident!

Rehearsals for making the music happen and preparing a performance. The more everyone can do independently to learn their notes the better, so please do what you can. The following are helpful:

* Listen to a recording and follow with your score. This will help the ‘bigger picture’ when you rehearse.

Choraline is the clearest – each voice is represented by a different instrument and the rehearsal figures and entries are indicated by voice:

https://www.choraline.com/store/choraline-rehearsal-cds-and-mp3-files/rossini-petite-messe-solennelle#.XhhvaUf7Tcshttps://www.choraline.com/store/choraline-rehearsal-cds-and-mp3-files/rossini-petite-messe-solennelle#.XhhvaUf7Tcs

Cyberbass is also good, with the advantage of being able to alter the speed of the music – handy for the fast movements! It is also FREE. However, the sound is all electronic and the individual parts are not quite so clear – your call!

http://www.cyberbass.com/Major_Works/Rossini_G/rossini_petite_messe_solennelle.htm

*** If you are able to play or sing your own part – do it, lots!

 Kyrie and Christe pages 2 – 18

Good practice and self help: Bring a pencil to rehearsals – we will examine signs/symbols that are useful for reminding you about musical expectations as you are singing – many are not ever printed in the score. We will also cover some basic music theory on our travels…..

Kyrie pages 2-18

Cum sancto pages 77-90

Cum sancto pages 77-90

Congratulations everyone for a brilliant performance of Belshazzar’s Feast in Cheltenham last Sunday and thank you ALL for believing in this project and working SO hard to make it happen. You can be very proud of this achievement – one of the toughest pieces in the choral repertoire, rarely attempted by amateur community choirs. You have my full admiration.

We can now relax a little as we prepare for the Christmas programme on December 21st. Thank you Chris for taking this week’s rehearsal and on your debut as accompanist and assistant conductor! Welcome aboard, now with your own cabin,

WHAT WE WILL DO ON 13.11.19

From the booklet: Ring the bells, Holly and the Ivy (folk version), Bleak midwinter & Joy to the world

On Christmas Night – Chilcott score – various movements

It’s September already and we resume our hard work on Belshazzar’s Feast next Wednesday 4th. A warm welcome back to everyone and anyone joining us new this term. We have NINE rehearsals before the concert in November plus the exciting Singing Workshop with Robert Dean on October 5.

Each week we will tackle a new section, consolidate recent work, and as time allows, sing through something from last term to stir the memory!

Score page numbers – Please remember that we are using two OUP editions – the new edition (2007) is the larger of the two. All PAGE REFERENCES are indicated with the large score nos first, with the small score numbers in brackets.

HERE ARE THE SECTIONS REHEARSED THOROUGHLY IN MAY & JUNE:  Pages 11-18 (12-19), Pages 19-31 (20-31), Pages 42-55 (40-53), Pages 76-83 (70-79), Pages 103-107 (98-102)  48 pages (out of a total 121!!)

WHAT WE WILL DO ON 04.09.19

Recap In Babylon Pages 25-31 (small score pages 26-31), then look at Babylon city Pages 58-65 (small score pages 55-61). Note that the music is almost exactly the same, differing only towards the end.

Sing aloud, starting page 76 (small score page 70) and focusing on new material from page 79 (74) to page 83 (79). Finally, the short section pages 87/88 (83/85). We will attempt to join all of this up, including the 2-choir section pages 83 to 86 (79-82)!

WHAT WE WILL DO ON 11.09.19

By the waters of Babylon Pages 3 to 6 (both scores) then pages 7 to 10 (6-11).

Sing aloud Pages 120 to end (111 to end)

Recap Daughters of Babylon Pages 19-24 (20-25)

WHAT WE WILL DO ON 18.09.19

We will start with SECTIONALS: Tenors & Basses will tackle the opening Pages 1/2 which, although short, must be very dramatic! In the concert these pages must be sung from memory please, which will add to the drama and impact. Sopranos & Altos will look at While the kings Pages 89 to 97 (85-92)

Together we will then look at a 2-choir section on pages 32 to 38 (31-38)

Summer term rehearsals [Belshazzar’s Feast]                                         Wednesdays 1, 8, 15, 22 May                                                                                   (No reh on May 29)                                                                                                      5, 12, 19, 26 June

Autumn term [Belshazzar’s Feast & Christmas programme]                      Start: Wednesday 4 September                                                                  Saturday 5 October – Belshazzar Day Workshop – Robert Dean                                  (YES reh on Oct 30 – half term)                                                                    Belshazzar concert Sunday November 3 – Cheltenham Town Hall (Transport arrs to be advised)                                                                 Wednesday 6 November – Rehearsals continue [Christmas programme] Christmas concert Saturday 21 December – St Mary’s Church

Work your way through this short video to develop your technique and sound....