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Dear all

We covered a lot of ground in tonight’s rehearsal – well done to all present, you sang a lot of notes today!

We first looked at Battle of Jericho, specifically at the last 2 pages. These are short, but technically very challenging – syncopate3d rhythms and lots of awkward intervals. If you do any work on music this week, make it checking your notes on this last page, especially the 2nd sopranos – that minor 9th from the C to Db at the end is very hard to pitch!

We next spent some time on Linden Lea, which we’;be not looked at for a couple of rehearsals, but was generally well remembered. This is one piece we need to start bringing to life a little more – the notes are there, but it needs a bit more energy and commitment to make it a piece people would stop and listen to. It’s partly familiarity with the notes, but also about being brave and not being scared of getting something wrong!

Next we looked at Danny Boy, paying particular attention to the section at the start of page 5 where the key changes. This was sounding very good by the end, well done! We then spent more time on the first verse, which has very difficult corners, especially for the tenors. Again, familiarity with the notes will help make this an exciting piece to listen to.

Finally, we looked again at the first verse of Ellen Vannin, which was not as well remembered as I had hoped. We managed to get a very enjoyable performance out of this by the end of the rehearsal – that’s the point I’d like to start at next time please!!

Many thanks again to all whom came, it was very enjoyable to conduct you this evening. Please remember that we do have a rehearsal next week, but not on the 19th as that will be our half term.

Thanks again,

Dave

Dear All

Thank you for all your responses about this term’s concert. They were unanimous and enthusiastic! We have picked a concert date that we hope will work for most people: Tuesday 14^th December, evening (start time to be confirmed) at Christchurch. The aim will be for an informal and celebratory performance and as such we will ask guests for donations rather than charge a set fee for tickets.  

As we will not have an afternoon rehearsal beforehand, we will aim to go through the programme logistics the week before so it would be helpful if you note the 7^th December rehearsal as an important one to attend if you can.

See you tomorrow!

Dear all

Firstly, fantastic singing in tonight’s rehearsal! We’re singing some difficult music in places and managing remarkably well considering this was only the third rehearsal this year.

We spent most of tonight’s rehearsal on ‘The Lover’s Ghost’ by Vaughan Williams, which is made harder by the key, which is not the happy major keys we expect (technically it’s mostly in the Dorian mode, if you’re interested). THe nots themselves are not that difficult, but because it slow and in an unusual key, keeping in tune is going to be the hardest thing about this piece. We need lots of energy and support, especially when singing quietly – it’s hard work!

We next looked at Battle of Jericho which, as I said last week, we really need to perform off-book to do it justice. Today, we focused on just the first section, including singing it from memory, which went well enough (for a first try!) We all need to know the notes on this piece as soon as we can, so we can work on the performance, which is the main point of music like this! If you get time to look at music this week, try and get these notes in your heads.

We next looked at Ellen Vannin, the rather pretty Manx folk song. Basses need to make sure their jumpy line is as smooth as possible, and tenors watch out for the entry on ‘My own…’, which is earlier than you think!

Finally, we sang through the first verse of Danny Boy a few times, again with a focus on getting familiar with the notes so we can perform the music effectively. If you get a chance this week, have a look at the King’s Singers’ performance of this arrangement at a concert in Cadogan Hall about 15 years ago – (this link might work https://youtu.be/SfGTq71VXfo) – and listen to how much they pull the tempo around, especially in the first verse. This is what this arrangement calls for. The bass 2 in this recording is an acquaintance of mine and he told me once they never perform a piece until it has been rehearsed for a minimum of 50 hours!

That’s all for this week, I hope you all got home safely, despite the rain

Dave

Dear all

Huge thanks to all who came tonight – it’s great that we can all meet and rehearse again!

For those who don;t know (or don’t remember) I will try and send a roundup after each rehearsal, so that a) those who couldn’t make it know what we covered, b) I can give you things to look at during the week (if you can), and c) there is a written record of the things I’ve asked you to mark in your scores!!

Today, we looked at the middle section of Swansea Town, which is much easier than it looks with theirs and basses in octave on their chromatic figure, and altos just moving up and down an octave every now and then! Make sure you mark in breaths every 2 bars (where the phrase phrase marks stop and start again) and we will keep practising this with the dynamics – growing and fading like waves (under the verse about the storm – see what he did there?)

We then spent some time on Danny Boy. This was actually sung extremely well considering how little time we have spent on it, and we even managed to do it a capella! The key to this piece is know your parts inside out – it’s not an easy one to read each time, so it’s all about note bashing until you can’t do it wrong. The general pause after the word ‘hushed’ (page 4) will be a proper break, so make sure it’s marked in your score.

We then tackled Battle of Jericho. The nots are much easier than they look and don;t take long to pick up, so this piece is all about the performance. Ideally this will need to be from memory in the concert, because the effect will be lost if we all have our heads in scores! I’m saying this now – the concert is about 3 months away so there’s plenty of time! We will work on this regularly.

Finally, we sang through Shenandoah. We spent most time working with the sopranos and altos on the 4th verse (page 5), with the sop 1, sop 2 and alto singing the tune in stretto – this is most difficult for second sopranos, trying to fit in between the other two! It worked really well in today’s rehearsal, but it’s a section that needs concentration!

That was all for this week. Please continue to bring all the music shared so far to each rehearsal from now on. We may add more depending on prioress and timing for the concert, but we have plenty to fill our time for the moment!

Dave

Dear All 

The website is now up and running again – huge thanks to David Corless for finding the time to sort it out.

If anyone continues to have any problems please email me on jonezfamily658@virginmedia.com

For tomorrow’s rehearsal please bring all the pieces we have been looking at over the last year (listed below).

Danny Boy

Linden Lea

Ellan Vanin

The Lover’s Ghost & Turtle Dove

I love my love & Swansea Town

Shenandoah

The little light of mine

Battle of Jericho

Look forward to seeing you tomorrow

Dear All 

I have been gently reminded (thank you Chris!) that we usually gather for a little social session before the first rehearsal of term begins and we definitely want to do that this year. 

So please bring a bottle of whatever you fancy to the church and some spare plastic cups if you have them and we’ll have a little catch up to start with.

Dear All 

We hope you are all feeling refreshed after the summer and are looking forward to rehearsals starting again tomorrow (Tuesday 14^th September): 19:45- 21:30 at Christchurch.

As mentioned before we will be picking up where we left off with regards to music and Dave has asked that you bring the following pieces to rehearsal:

Shenandoah

Swansea Town

Linden Lea

Danny Boy

I hope everyone has been able to access the music on the choir website. Please email me if you have any problems doing so – jonezfamily658@virginmedia.com.

Subs for the term are £70 to be paid by bank transfer to the Sheen Gate Choir account as before.

Looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible tomorrow!

You will likely need to log in again, and any old bookmarks may not work and need to be updated.

Hi all, some of you may have encountered a strange message about a security certificate when you have tried to log on to read the wonderful news about singing again. First, there is nothing to worry about. It was a purely technical issue, and there is no security breach. Second, even if there was, we do not have anything to steal apart from email addresses. We don’t have any other personal details on file. And third, it should now be sorted, but you will likely need to log in from fresh, and your old bookmarks may not work and need to be updated. Eagle-eyed choristers may notice that the address has changed from http://sheengate…. to https://sheengate….

Sorry for the inconvenience, any ongoing tech problems let Siobhan, Lesley or me know, and see you all soon.

Dear All

I’m delighted to say Christchurch are happy for us to resume rehearsals this term. 

Rehearsals will be on Tuesdays from 7:45 – 9:30 as before and term dates will be from 14^th September – 14^thDecember with a one-week half term on 12^th October. Happily, subs will remain the same this term (£70).

We plan to continue with the repertoire we were working through before. The music, or details of where you can buy scores, is on the website.

In the meantime, you may be interested to know Christchurch are now routinely offering a Choral Evensong service at 5pm Sundays. All welcome.

We hope you have all had a lovely summer and are raring to go singing again. See you in September!

Dear All 

I am very sorry to inform those who do not already know that Tricia O’Neill’s husband has sadly passed away. I’m sure I speak for us all when I say our thoughts and prayers are with Tricia and her family.

For those who would like to pay their respects Tricia has kindly let me share the funeral arrangements.

The funeral service will be held on Thursday 2^nd September 11am at St Mary Magdalen’s Catholic Church, North Worple Way, SW14 8PR and 12:40pm at Mortlake Crematorium. Refreshments will be at the Pig and Whistle from 1:30pm, 86 Sheen Lane SW14 8LP.