Charlie
Where to start?
Firstly, I hope you are all well and keeping safe, not to mention keeping sane! It’s a real challenge trying to start something like this blog - you know the sort of things you want to include, maybe even some kind of loose running order...but how do you get into it all? Let me start off by talking about my hopes/ideas for how we as a choir, and we as a group of friends can make the best use of this space, at least in the short term whilst things are so uncertain in our day to day lives.
Get with the Programme
From my perspective, while we’re unable to rehearse there is a lovely opportunity to start off discussions on music and ‘bounce around’ ideas for future concert programmes. Tim has already mentioned the music committee who regularly pass on suggestions to me and I’m sure they would be delighted to hear ideas from all members of the choir. It would be great to come out of this period with a vibrant and rich programme of music for the next season, where everyone is excited to get back to singing together and putting the repertoire we’ve discussed into place. I’m hoping to use my space in these blogs to put out themes/ideas/pieces for concerts coming up, in the hope that you might want to engage with that, investigate those pieces which are unfamiliar, and then let me know if they spark off another idea of something you would love to sing, or have sung elsewhere and really enjoyed.
I won’t put my email address on here in case ‘mysterious computer robot things’ steal it and sell me off to some mysterious south American cartel (...that’s right, I’m a computing genius who totally understands the internet...!), but I think most of you have it, and if you don’t then contact Tim and he can put you in contact with me. One other thought on this, please don’t limit your musical sharing to the specific topics I write about - you might have spent your whole adult life dying to perform a lovely, if obscure cantata about farm machinery you once came across...now is the time to tell me about it!! I love discovering new music, and like to think that at least one quality I possess is the ability to realise and accept that in 32 years, I have not even scratched the surface when it comes to my own repertoire knowledge, so please share.
The “sheep” furtively looking for a walk
Make some Noise…
What about staying vocally engaged, and creating music whilst we’re all isolated? This is such a tricky one, not least because it relies entirely on your own motivation; if you’re anything like me, lock down currently entails the occasional day where I reply to all my emails, do lots of niggling house jobs, practise the piano, cook a lovely meal and plan the shopping for the next week, interspersed with many days where I count it as productive if I’ve managed to step away from Netflix for long enough to make a coffee and brush the dog (who, for lack of grooming, is increasingly resembling a sheep)! In these strange times I think it’s really important not to put pressure on people to be “normal” or to feel like they should be/have to be doing specific things. If you’re managing to learn a new language, whilst writing your novel and perfecting a particularly challenging yoga pose, then all power to you but I really don’t want any of us to feel like we should be doing our Harborough Singers ‘homework’ once a week, or anything of the sort at the moment.
There are various technical challenges, not to mention heavy hidden costs involved in producing one of the “stay at home choir” type videos and recordings. Whilst they can certainly be fun to do and take part in, I don’t think we benefit much as a group by trying to do our own - I will certainly throw up a few links in future blogs for things you might like to take part in though, in case you’re interested. Similarly, I’m not a singing teacher and so I would rather direct you to good online resources being produced by my colleagues and friends who are more qualified in that specific area, if anyone wants to have a go at working on their vocalise (and perhaps has a sound-proofed enough room to be able to do so unselfconsciously!). I do think there’s potential for some learning assistance when we get a bit nearer to our October concert, and will flesh that out in due course - some of this may then become the greater focus of this blog space when rehearsals restart.
Get Involved
As we go on, each of the committee are kindly taking a turn at being editor for this missive - I suspect they will all manage to be far more engaging with significantly fewer words than me! I know they would love to have contributions so that this space takes on a sort of newsletter feel, with choir members sharing short stories about themselves and/or the current state of affairs. I’d certainly look forward to reading a collecting of small articles from members of the choir each fortnight so do get in touch; Howard can direct you to the relevant editor each week. Please do look after yourselves and Cat and I send our love and best wishes to all of you and your families - I can’t wait to get back together with you all for some joyful singing, whenever that finally happens!
All Best, Charlie