Return to the podium

A major step forward. Newstead Abbey Singers concert at Trinity Methodist Church, Mansfield Woodhouse. I conducted the unaccompanied items, played the accompaniments, and - more significantly - compered.

One of the most difficult things with this choir is fitting it into the space. 16 singers, all with music stands and chairs, some of whom have mobility difficulties to be fitted into a small Methodist chapel with its central pulpit and raised dais. It requires creativity and patience! With everyone shoehorned into place and with the conductor stood in the first row of pews the concert went well. The choir sang a very varied programme with good attention to detail and style and little tuning problems. I appreciated the support of the whole choir - thank you.

My own singing is getting back to normal. I have now sung two services without the safety net of a deputy and have been quite pleased to have got through more or less satisfactorily.

Back into the fray

After a month enforced absence, due to a minor stroke, it was time to assess how my recovery is going. I reasoned that the best thing to do was to go and do the warm-up and one piece at Newstead Abbey Singers. They all know me very well and the assistant conductor is very good.

It all went very well. There was not much difficulty over the speech (the stroke has left me with aphasia) and the conducting has been unaffected. The only problem seemed to be a physical tiredness, due to the lateness in the day and the movement involved. So all I need to do is develop the stamina.

abcd Convention Day 3

Day 3 always begins with the A.G.M. Usual sort of thing. Slightly different for me as I stand down from the council. Moved between the sessions with camera. The most interesting was that given by Paul Mealor on composing for Royalty. Later sat through a very authoritative lecture by Paul Spicer. He focussed mainly on Elgar's oratorios that aren't Gerontius and finished with an extract of Dyson's "Quo vadis". There is a lot of good stuff in those early 20th century English works. They should be done more often. After lunch Paul took the remaining delegates through some extracts from his own Easter and Advent Oratorios.

The Convention ended with a cup of tea and an hour of clearing up. Very pleased and very tired.

abcd Convention Day 2

As "home chair" it was a day of flitting in and out of various sessions with my camera, top and tailing the opening session and other bits and bobs. The only session that I sat all through was the "Carols for Choirs 5" launch which I top and tailed and ended up playing for the last 15 minutes. There is a lot of good material in the new book and it will be interesting to see how it develops.
Attended a reception in the fabulous Council House given by the Deputy Mayor.
The Gala Concert was excellent. Ars Nova were technically superb in a programme of challenging music. Most notable was their "light and shade". Cantamus were their usual brilliant selves. Disciplined, mature and communicative. After the interval The National Youth Choir of Great Britain demonstrated incredible flexibility for such a large choir. Eric Whitacre made quite an impact with two of his pieces and "I was glad" was spectacular. Kerry Andrew's new piece was effective and approachable.

A long, convivial session in the Copthorne Bar concluded the day.

abcd Convention Day 1

Birmingham. Centre of the choral world. Opening singing session led by John Rutter including the second performance of "This is the day" written for the Royal Wedding. Got a mention in the Chair's reception. Fascinating final session with a mixture of singing and chat concluding with a 25th Anniversary cake-cutting by Brian Kay, John Rutter and Pam Cook. Food and bar service up to the mark. Midland Region working well.

Very Exciting Notes In Choral Expedition

Hearing the final chord of Cabaret ringing round the courtyard of the Doge's Palace and thinking "One of those notes is mine!" was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my fifty year choral career. Mike reporting the conversation that he had with a lady after our short, impromptu, sing in the cathedral on Murano and saying how moved she had been by our singing was, for me, the most significant moment of our five day visit to Venice. There were only five people in the church, we sang for only ten minutes but we had enhanced the life of one person - that is what it is all about. Gathered around Monteverdi's tomb and singing his Adoramus te while announcements blared out over the Frari sound system was another special moment. No body was listening but those notes resounded I know not where.

I don't know how common six cathedral lay clerks touring without the trebles or organist is,  but this was a fantastic week. The eight of us in the party (six singers plus two partners) all contributed in equal measure to the success of the tour. With no designated leader, musically or administratively, democracy ruled. With no imposed itinerary days flowed with a natural rhythm dictated by human need and local conditions. Interestingly, we all kept together all the time (apart from part of one day) because we wanted to.

The singing was immensely satisfying. Sadly one of our number had to withdraw at the last minute for personal reasons. His replacement, a young man of just seventeen years, fitted in seamlessly both musically and socially. Everything we sang was well together musically and had the appropriate sense of style from the intense beauty of the Mass music to the outright fun of secular. We sang to small, appreciative audiences. The priest at the Frari demanded an encore after Mass, the congregation in St. Marks applauded, the American tourists stood and raised the roof of the hotel breakfast room with "whoopin' and hollerin'", a Dutchman came to Venice for the architecture and the culture but our singing was his "most beautiful moments of three days", a small boy danced in the corner of the courtyard of the Doge's Palace and a lady on Murano . . . . . .

Tour photos

A journey of discovery

Sharing a concert with another choir and letting the other conductor conduct provides a great opportunity to discover things about your own choir. Choral Society are sharing Brahms Requiem with Bingham Choral Society and Neville Ward is conducting. He came along to take this week's rehearsal. What do you do while some-one else takes your rehearsal? Most immediately I listened to Neville and made notes about things like tempi, pronounciation, articulation and breathing to inform the rest of my preparation for the upcoming performance.

It also afforded me the opportunity to wander about amongst my own singers and listen from a different perspective. Standing apart it made me realise how good the alto section is - it was the most reliable and least criticised of the evening. I noticed that the soprano sound is disunited because the strong voices stand out like islands in a sea of gentler voices. I made notes of some adjustment to seating positions that needs to be made - similarly in the tenor and bass sections. A few of the strong tenors weren't there but it also a good section. I discovered a few basses that are stronger than I thought. Moving around the room also highlighted the difficulty some singers have in hearing the accompaniment and other singers, but doesn't throw up any ready solutions. If the piano wasn't tied to the wall by an electric cable it would be possible to put it in the middle. Maybe moving the strong singers at the edge of the choir into the middle might produce a stronger core.

Watching someone else take a rehearsal also makes you re-examine some of your own methods. I am looking forward to listening to the recordings that I took as well.

An interesting evening.

Voice matches set your choir alight

There have been a few changes of personnel in The Newstead Abbey Singers recently, which has prompted me to rethink the seating positions of the choir. I discovered some years ago that this choir sounds best when the voice parts are mixed up and operated to a system that meant that everyone had someone from a different part next to them. The sopranos and altos stand on the front row in pairs as a rule and the men alternate tenor and bass on the back. I stuck to that for quite a while but as new people have come in the sound has become messy.

It is remarkable how the sound changes by moving just one person. Last week I changed the alto pairs and began the rehearsal with all the sopranos together. Later I moved one of the alto pairs to split the sopranos which instantly blended the two lines. I also swapped two of the basses and that also improved the bass sound. We rehearse in different venues from week to week. The available space dictates how we form up so it will give me a chance to try out something else this week.

The meaning of (choral) life

How do we prioritise our choral singing? What comes first? What is most important? Is anything more, or less important than anything else? When singing, or conducting a piece of choral music what do we have to consider? There are the notes; there is the text; there is the articulation and the expression and probably other things as well. Can we give them all equal weight or do we consider some more important than the others?

At the moment I am preparing quite a bit of Romantic music, especially German Romantic music and specifically Brahms and Bruckner. The texts are either German or Latin. Do I give those texts as much importance as I would English ones? Does it matter if the audience isn't going to understand anyway? The pitch and duration of the notes are quite difficult but meaningless if you ignore the expression and the articulation.

So, lots of questions. Are there any answers? When I stand in front of a choir I have to have the answers. I have only one answer. What comes first? The text and the meaning of the text (Whatever the language). The composer's notes are an interpretation of the text and singers have to interpret the interpretation. the text dictates the expression, the articulation and the mood of the notes. The pitch and duration are merely the vehicles for that communication.If, as singers, we don't make the text clear we do the composer and the audience a disservice. As I am finding with the Brahms Requiem concentrate on the expression and the notes are a lot easier.

Flurry of activity

A busy few days. On Thursday  I experienced Young Voices at Sheffield Arena. A number of firsts - the first time that I have been to the arena, the first time that I have been to Young Voices and the first time that I have heard All Angels. Young Voices is amazing. 4000+ children singing in a huge venue with live band and supporting acts. A very good selection of music requiring a variety of styles and techniques, all lead skillfully by David Lawrence. The children really enjoy the whole thing.A long, tiring day but fun.

Friday - Newstead Abbey Singers. A good session despite a few being absent through illness and family commitments. i evening, especially from the ladies. Some good singing thsGot well stuck in to a couple of Bruckner motets. they suit the current make up of the choir well. Also had a read at a couple if new ones from Madrigals and part songs and finished with an old favourite bit of Haydn. The programme is beginning to take shape - romantic sacred music in one half and a secular second half on the theme of Life.

Saturday - abcd Regional Meeting. Four of us sat round a table in The Voicebox, Derby finalising arrangements for our up and coming events. A fair bit of business done in a convivial day. As usual it has generated a few tasks for me, as chair, to complete.

You are the best singer in the world!

I received two unsolicited compliments today. Walking through the corridors of High Oakham School after waving the choir off to Young Voices a small child stood in front of me and said "You are the best singer in the world". Later, when walking home after Evensong in a grump because of yet another out of routine service, a lady stopped me and said "I was showing a friend round the Minster the other day during Evensong. Your voice is beautiful". I pursued the conversation further to make sure that she hadn't confused me with someone else, that she wasn't deaf and didn't want me to contribute to some obscure charity. It's a long time since someone has genuinely commented positively about my singing, so why two on the same day?

At last night's Choral Society I wondered as I listened to a tenor section singing really well and several sopranos not quite getting up to some, not unreasonably, high notes how do we decide which part to sing, and do we ever question it? The throw away line that triggered it was "Altos are sopranos that can read music". I was put onto the alto line at school, and because I could do it quite well stayed there. Male altos are a bit of a novelty and I suppose that I quite liked that idea too. If I wasn't an alto what would I have become? There is quite a wide range of notes that all men can sing so how do some become tenors and some basses? Similarly with women. If anyone is reading this I would be interested to know how you became the singer that you are.

Molehills and Matins

The world seems to be coming back to life. I noticed lots of fresh molehills on the golf course yesterday and in fields that I walked by this morning. All the bulbs are beginning to poke through the ground and it is generally much lighter.
That feeling of well-being was helped by a service of Matins. Matins is such a joyful and hopeful service. It is the only service that we sing that is looking forward. The canticles are full of praise and joy, the collects are positive and it is always done in daylight. We even got an excellent sermon on Christian Unity and three rollicking hymns. The only blemish was the completely foul noise that was used for the playover to the last hymn.

Happy Mondays

Mondays are fun. Reconvened the Junior Choral this evening. Twenty or so lively, excited children. A bit of a handful at times but very rewarding. A few silly warm-ups, an African song, a fairground song and some modern stuff. Began a bit of a Michael Jackson project. Junior Choral has been going since 2005, one of the original members is now doing her DofE community service with us.
The adults worked very hard on the second movement of Brahms Requiem. It is a long and demanding movement and we didn't take the break until 8.45. Worth it though. Let's hope that they remember it all for next time! Made some suggestions that perhaps they should look at the music between rehearsals - lots of nodding heads, but I suspect that there will be blowing of dust off the copies again next week.

HAPPY NEWstead Abbey Singers YEAR

First rehearsal of 2011 on Friday night. Good balanced turn out including a new soprano. Everyone seemed to be in good voice. Tried out some Bruckner, a folk song and a madrigal.
The Buckner went very well and will make the repertoire. The folk song is an arrangement by Graham Pratt of the Sheffield Folk Chorale who we performed with last summer. It also went very well. Also read through Gibbons What is our life. A bit more of a challenge, as much for the text as the music.

766 reasons to take the study of Music seriously

Alistair Cook, England's Ashes hero, puts his success down to his musical childhood. In a Profile in last Sunday's Times we learn that he was a St. Paul's Cathedral Chorister and that his scholarship to Bedford School was in music. What a great gift to those of us struggling to convince school management, parents, reluctant pupils and the government of the value of music. The demanding regime and habits of a choristership and the patience, determination and concentration required to perform music to a high standard help to explain Cook's ability to bat for hours.

This is a tangible, relevant and real reason to learn music and shows that it is not just for the otherworldly, pretentious geeks who are often the public face of serious music.

First Choral Society of the new term

A great turn out as we start to work on the wonderful Brahms German Requiem. Had to squash into the reserve rehearsal room as the school hall was full of exam desks. Didn't get too hot as it usually does. Good start on the fourth movement. It is only six years since we have done the work so many have remembered it. Concentrated on trying to get the text somewhere near, although can't get too carried away as I'm not conducting the performance. A good sound though and a positive ethos.

Had a less thorough go at the second movement.

The first week-end 2011

Evensong Saturday was pretty ordinary with the first two of six renderings of "How brightly shines the morning star". Sunday completed the set and included a rousing Vierne Mass. Voice a bit rusty but will get sorted out once I start work tomorrow.

Planning for tomorrow's lessons completed.
Got to sort out a rehearsal schedule for Brahms Requiem for tomorrow evening - in German.