Julie
“What day of the week is this?” - the £64,000 question from the quiz show “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? “ The contestant stops…..deep in thought……a puzzled expression slowly creeps over the previously quietly confident face. His answer delivered quite sincerely “I really don’t know”.
C’est la vie – right now in this crazy, surreal world that we find ourselves living in, I’m sure we can all empathise. I spend my days, quite happily, usually with a smile on my face, knitting [currently making Xmas gifts – never been so organised], gardening, [my garden – never one able to face close scrutiny, now looking as manicured as I’ve ever seen it], walking, [one of my favourite pastimes – it gives me time to think], my daily Pilates routine, [getting to be quite a contortionist].
Two additional activities come close to eclipsing the above in the enjoyment level; the first is jigsaws. I had one in my cupboard that I’d been saving for a rainy day and that day came last Tuesday. It is a 1000 piece picture of London Bridge with the claim The Smallest Jigsaw EVER – a claim that is substantiated by the fact that 1000 pieces fit into the 42 x 29 cm rectangle. The pieces are tiny – magnifying glasses are essential! I’ll send you a picture when/if I complete it! - here it is in its current state - a long way to go.
The second activity is a Sudoku. I absolutely love them – the harder the better, and I will not give up until I complete them. So here’s a musical one for us all – a different look but the concept is the same. Tried and tested, It’s called…
All Things Dynamics
Here are the nine elements for you to ‘place’ in the grid below:
< = crescendo = getting louder
mp
sf
p
ff
mp
f
dim
mf
You know them all..?
This is all very well, but let's not forget that what gels us all together is our love of singing together in a choral group. Whereas that is clearly an impossible wish in the current climate, we can still listen and appreciate and even familiarise ourselves with music we currently have. I'm offering two of my favourites at the moment - two arrangements of the same folk song, 'I Love My Love', both available on You Tube. The links are below, the first from The Kings' Singers, and then ‘our’ version from The Cambridge Singers. Happy listening!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wugt9rwwtHM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLTqb-fMHIA
Finally to finish, what's good for Liverpool in ‘You'll Never walk Alone’ and the England Rugby Squad in ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot’ is good for The Harborough Singers in one of our current repertoire, Irish Blessing by one of my favourite choral composers, Bob Chilcott. Go on, have a listen. So I’m going to sign off with these words:
May the road rise to meet you, May the wind be ever 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 ever in the palm of His hand.
Keep well, stay safe, keep smiling. Julie
Thank you to Jane for a cerebral tenor classic. Beautifully done…! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL52AuF4QzY
And here’s some Christmas Chilcott from me. Eight parts? Us? And? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWEmJgLyl4A
Maestro’s Musings
Charlie’s Fortnightly Spotlight
Reflecting forward?
Thanks so much to those who have been in touch with ideas of repertoire for the next concert - please do keep them coming. There have been some lovely suggestions which are pushing me towards a programme of two halves, where the first half reflects in some way on the lockdown and strangeness of this experience, and the second half looks forward to the future as we/society/the world opens back up and tries to come to terms with it. Any and all suggestions still very much welcome - in the comments here on this page would be great as we can get more of a discussion going than lots of individual emails to me (although those are also fab and gratefully received)
A word from our sponsors...
Not really... although I’m sure Tim would be delighted with any offers of choir sponsorship! But I did come across this earlier in the week - a valid thought and nice bit of advice from an excellent vocal coach and singer I’ve worked with before. Deborah Miles-Johnson has created a series of recordings with Choraline, which you may like to look at (at £9.99 I might suggest that singers of your ability and experience can manage without, as none of it will be wildly different to the sorts of things we do in rehearsals!). The following was in the press release about it, and I thought I’d include it as it serves a nice reminder of even very simple things we can be doing at the moment:
"Singing is good for you: it releases endorphins which help to quell anxiety, ease pain and stabilise the immune system – all rather important at the moment. If you are missing singing with your choir you can keep the voice in trim with a little singing a few times a week. You don't want your voice to seize up. Your voice is like the rest of your body and needs exercise. So in the same way as you go out for regular walks, you need to use your voice often to keep it limber.”
Breathing is the Key
Standing up, roll your shoulders and shake your arms. Release any tension in the back of the neck.
Stand tall and breathe into the lower part of your lungs. Exhale strongly and immediately breathe in again, feeling the ribs expand and your abdomen muscles tense slightly.
Breathe in and hum up and down, now make swooping noises (like a siren) to a rounded vowel, e.g. aw.
Make sure you're standing and breathing properly; don't go higher than is comfortable and don't do it for too long.
Enjoy it! You'll feel so much better and in good vocal health when we start up again.