‘CHIRRUP’
WINTER 2023
Welcome to our NEW THING for a NEW YEAR. We always have a shedload of questions about what goes on behind the scenes at the Harborough Singers, so we thought we’d treat you to a teeny peek behind the choir curtain. Oh and there’s a story about ferrets too..! We hope you enjoy.
By Gill Guest - January 2024
As I write, we’re still reeling after Christmas. I can’t tell you how special it was to process down the aisle at St. Dionysus and feel you all around and ABOVE us. Talk about a festive dose of the warm and fuzzies: a real tonic. Which we needed if I’m honest, because we were struggling a bit. You see, earlier that afternoon we’d practised that processing-in lark and discovered it was downright lethal. Walking while lugging half-a-ton of Christmas music, reading notes and words AND singing? Erm, not such a good idea − one of our sopranos, Hilary, clipped the conductor’s plinth with her foot as she passed. With her arms full of music, she had no means to save herself, and hurtled bodily towards the stone floor. For a split second it was as if time had stood still. All those nearest to her knew what was about to happen − but were powerless to prevent it. Hilary hit the floor face first, and hard. So hard. It was horrific. So horrific, in fact, that it wasn’t until much later – much, much, later − when she and her bruises and broken elbow were safely in hospital − that we saw the irony of our first choir accident taking place with two doctors from TV’s Holby City in attendance. Fortunately, Hilary didn’t have to depend on fictional consultants Sacha Levy and Jac Naylor (our Christmas celebrity guests Bob Barrett and Rosie Marcel) as we are lucky to have two actual, real, doctors in the choir, who sprang into action and ministered to the fallen.
The show must go on. If you were in the audience that night, I very much hope we managed to conceal our afternoon trauma from you and deliver a show that was every bit as good as it was supposed to be. We know, for sure, that one elderly lady from Great Easton absolutely loved the readings, the music and, especially, the readers − she was a HUGE Holby City fan. This was especially poignant since the concert turned out to be the last event she ever attended, and she died over the Christmas period. We are very grateful to her husband for letting us know how much she enjoyed her last outing. You wouldn’t believe what a privilege it is, to be able do something we love and at the same time bring joy to others.
Nick Hill - MBE
January brought us some joy of our own when the New Year’s Honours list included Nick Hill. The husband of choir alto Kate Hill, Nick is a long-time friend of the choir. He was given an MBE for his services to the Heritage sector. No choir member’s loft with suspected beams, crucks, king posts and cobwebs has ever been safe from his eager and informed inspection, and we send him our heartiest congratulations.
I expect you’re still wondering about those ferrets. I would be. I could blame Charlie, our musical maestro. But I fear ferrets are our fault and not Charlie’s. Poor bloke. He has such trouble trying to get us to understand what to do, and how to do it. What, I hear you ask, we don’t all have heads stuffed full of fancy Italian music terms he can use? Err, no. Most of us think ‘con spirito’ means ‘pass the gin’, ‘sforzando’ is a kind of pasta dish and ‘celere’ is, obviously, celery. Hence the ferrets. A shout of ‘stroke your ferret’ coming from the vague direction of the conductor (we are supposed to be watching him, but to be honest we’re not yet very good at that either) means come in very, very gently and smoothly. As if you were stroking a ferret. We may even be required to do the action of stroking a ferret too, because doing it with our bodies helps us to do it with our voices. We also have actions for ‘sparkle!’, ‘sing like there’s an imaginary pile of icing sugar on your head’ and ‘road traffic cone on your nose’. Yes, honestly. The funny thing is, it seems to be working. We’re singing better, and Charlie is pleased with our willingness to go along with him and try out new techniques and ideas (aka ‘do daft things’), whether they make any sense or not. He’s going to start teaching us more ‘advanced techniques relating to sound and performance’ and is well excited about it, though heaven knows what that means he’ll have us doing.
Whatever it is, we’ll be up for it. Personally, I hope he has some top tips for singing in Hungarian, as we’re off to Budapest in June and it would be very bad form for us to mangle their language. Before that though, we’ll be back at St. Di’s for our Spring Concert. I suspect the twin challenges of the Haydn Missa Brevis and Whitacre’s ‘Seal Lullaby’ programme are going to require A LOT of very expressive singing. A positive fesnyng of ferrets. Yes, that really is the collective noun for a group of ferrets. Old English, and isn’t it wonderful? I shall practise it immediately. I have a feeling I’m going to need it.
The Danube at Budapest. The Singers will be touring in Hungary in May 2024.