Category: Choir Updates

Sorry for the short notice – but Quiz Night is back, by popular demand, and with a new, better quizmaster! Yes, it will be the fiendishly musical Robert ‘Haunted’ Bridge who will be in the chair on this coming Tuesday June 16th at 7pm. As usual, we will be in teams and after a bit of chit chat to say hello, questions begin at 7.15. You will be finished an hour later.

WE WOULD LOVE SOME FRESH FACES!

The quizzes are all about fun and staying connected, not about musical knowledge. Previous rounds have included a GBBO connections question, one about the Magic Roundabout and the most frequent musical contributor is Eminem. Whoever she is.

Anyway, please join us! It will be at least September before we can sing together as one, it appears, so let’s make sure we stay connected.

Sign up by emailing Robert, who will determine the appropriate teams – robertdbridge@yahoo.co.uk

And on Tuesday the link will be:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89579874524

Hope to see you then

Chris

Dear Sheen Gate Choir

I am very sad to have to pass on the news that Jerry Wright died at the weekend. As many of you know, he was diagnosed with cancer last year, but, in keeping with his way of life, he still kept coming to rehearsals. At least until lockdown put paid to that. 

Jerry was one of the original members of the choir, back when it was the choir for parents of boys at Tower House School. His powerful, resonant bass was a feature of the choir for all of our ten years. 

His wife, Clare, is an alto in the choir, and she has asked that I pass the sad news on to you all. At some point, we will for sure be looking to sing something in Jerry’s honour and memory. Until then, please cherish the many happy memories of time with Jerry that make so many of us smile. 

Chris Hawkins

For my farewell quiz on Tuesday June 2nd at 7pm, we have a new format: It’s A Knockout. Yes, complete with Stuart Hall, Genaro, Jokers and the Marathon round. But we only have 5 players so far. Any more for any more? New players especially welcomed. You should allow 90 minutes as this time we are actually going to score properly and add up the totals in a spreadsheet!

And for my talk on Temperament, on Tuesday June 9th, I have re-titled the evening: Temperament: Music, Mathematics and Bloodshed to try to spice it up a bit.

For either, please email me at the usual address, chris.hawkins2015@yahoo.com.

Enjoy the sunshine!

Chris

Hello all, hope you are still hanging in there as we start to emerge from our bunkers.

After Robert’s wonderful concert and a couple of chaotic quizzes, we have a couple more events to keep us entertained and connected.

Next Tuesday, June 2nd, SGC Quiz Night returns despite popular demand. Forced out of retirement by a total lack of willing replacements, I will be scraping the bottom of the question barrel to come up with another ridiculous pile of vaguely musical nonsense. Hopefully this time I will remember to connect the sound so contestants can hear the questions… And applications are open for the vacant post of quizmaster – please confirm your interest to me (Chris.hawkins2015@yahoo.com) so I can pass on the baton. Also please confirm your interest in the quizz to me – please give it a whirl if you haven’t before, you will be in a team with others and that of itself is jolly enough. We have now proved this works best on a video WhatsApp call with your team.

Then the following week, Tuesday, June 9th, you are cordially invited to listen to a TedTalk on the subject of Temperament – Where Maths meets Music. If you ever wondered why some notes sound good together and others don’t, or why it is really hard to pitch a major third, or why music from the Eastern hemisphere sounds rather different to that from the Western – there are answers to all of these questions, and there is a spreadsheet for that. Please confirm interest to Chris H as above.

We can’t sing together yet, and are assuming that will remain the case at least until September, so we are thinking that we could informally start some singing/note bashing of our parts on Tuesday evenings over summer on Zoom, getting ourselves familiar with the work for the Autumn. More on this to follow from the repertoire group in due course but we thought you might like something like this to look forward to.

Chris H/Lesley

Hi all

Two quick reminders for upcoming events:

First, this evening at 6pm, Robert will be taking his Knitting Concert series online. If you would like to join, email him at robertdbridge@yahoo.co.uk and he will send you the Zoom link.

Second, on Tuesday at 7pm is our second SGC Quiz Night. More socialisation and giggles than ABRSM-approved learning, don’t worry if you don’t know your Andante from your recapitulation, there are questions for everyone. We will be in teams as last time. Family members welcome! Email me, chris.hawkins2015@yahoo.com and I will circulate the Zoom link on Tuesday.

Chris

Please use this email – robertdbridge@yahoo.co.uk. The one in my previous post will likely go to someone else.

Lesley

Knitting goes virtual. If you would like to listen, please send Robert an email: robertbridge@yahoo.co.uk and he will send you the instructions.

Message from Robert:

We live in unusual times. The immediate dazzling shock and disbelief of lockdown has gradually subsided into dazed bewilderment and dismay about an uncertain future landscape. So many questions; few if any clear answers. This will obviously affect each of us in different ways – socially, financially and also in many simple and unseen ways, impinging on the things we take for granted and which enrich our lives.
For musicians, as for all performing artists, this has obviously been catastrophic, signalling an abrupt end to music-making of any sort – not just the more prestigious public performances but smaller-scale events, amateur groups and even informal private rehearsals. And of course the Knitting Concerts are not immune – although I would like to think that a few determined tricoteurs could put any virus through its paces.
So, how to proceed. Well the prompt for this was that I had announced a putative date at the beginning of March for a mouth-watering concert this May when a clutch of very gifted cellists headed up by Leo Melvin would be working their way through Bach’s Viola da Gamba sonatas. As the date has neared I’ve wondered what we could do. Clearly a live concert in front of a live audience was not on the cards. But then even a live video event was problematic with no imminent likelihood of getting access to All Saints to stream the concert from and more pressingly just too many logistical difficulties facing the musicians who needed to get together to rehearse. For all the wonderful technological aids available, and which many of us are learning about with indecent haste, there is still no clear platform for musicians to rehearse together online without laughable and unworkable time lags. So, regrettably, it seems sensible to put that particular programme on hold, hopefully for not too long, either until it is comfortable for them to get together and give a virtual performance or even invite a live audience.
And so I could, at this point, simply announce that the Knitting Concerts had gone into furlough. But the history of these concerts has always been wedded to the notion of accessibility and so if you can’t come to the music, I felt the music should come to you. So I am proposing to livestream a piano recital on Sunday May 17th at 6pm. This is an audacious gamble. I have yet to master the technology, find a decent microphone, persuade my piano tuner through my doors and figure out how to keep the dog quiet, let alone the rest of the family. And my hair is a mess. It is quite possible that my playing will sound even more garbled and incoherent than it does at the best of the times. But I think it’s worth a go. [I think all these things are sorted now other than the hair and possibly the dog -Ed]
I’d like to play you some Beethoven (the Andante Favori), some Ravel (his Jeux D’Eau) and quite a bit of Schumann (the whole of Carnaval), probably about 45 minutes of music plus a bit of customary chat and banter. You will get no cups of tea. It will be difficult to replicate the buttock-numbing effect of the All Saints’ pews. But if you really enjoy the music you will have the chance to donate a few pennies to one of the UK organisations that support the food banks that have become an ever more pressing need in this new world of ours.

Huge thanks to Chris Hawkins for establishing our first quiz last week. Very innovative and fun questions and pretty lighthearted so please don’t feel shy about quiz number 2 which we are offering you next Tuesday 19th starting at 7pm. If you would like to participate, please email Chris.hawkins2015@yahoo.com. Read below what technology you will need to take part. Please also note that your email address will be shared with your team for the purposes of you exchanging phone numbers to confer during the quiz.

You will need to have the Zoom video calling app on your laptop/iPad/whatever. It is best not to be using a phone as it will be difficult to see the written questions. If you don’t have Zoom already, you can download for free by searching for “Zoom” on your internet browser or in your App Store. Just follow the instructions and you will end up with an icon on your device. If you sign up for the quiz, Chris will send you an email link nearer the time. You will also ideally have WhatsApp for messaging/speaking with your team. When your team is allocated you will be put in touch with them by email to set up your WhatsApp group, so please note your email will be shared with this small group solely for that purpose. If you find the idea of this technology too much hassle but would like to participate, please contact me or Chris in advance of 19th and we can walk you through it.

Hoping everyone is in good spirits! Lesley lesley.morley1@gmail.com

Lovely to see lots of friendly faces at the Inaugural Sheen Gate Choir Quiz Night last night. Congratulations to the Wrights, winning team thanks to an outstanding effort on the silly pictures round. For those who could not join, here is that set of questions for a giggle. Enjoy!

Hope we will be back and singing again soon.

Chris

Hi, we have just a handful of signer uppers so far for Wednesday night. Roll up, roll up! It’s about getting together, not worrying about whether you know the difference between Andante and Adagio.

One point – I had said 8pm to be in line with choir practice. But 7pm seems to work better for a few people, so we will be convening at 7 with eyes down around 7.15. You’ll be done and free to go on to your next virtual cocktail party by 8.15.

Please join us so we can see as many friendly faces as possible!

Chris

chris.hawkins2015@yahoo.com