So 'Second Tenor' it is then?

Armed with the newly acquired knowledge that I may after all be up to the task of singing in a choir, I approached the next rehearsal of the Loughborough Male Voice Choir with added enthusiasm. A pre-rehearsal text from Caroline saying "Remember - 2nd Tenor tonight" gave me enough of a nudge to 'go for it' and see what happens. Right from the first week I got the impression that the choir was crying out for a few more tenors, so if I'm up to the job, why not?

The drawback of course was that I now need to learn the second tenor parts to 'Thankyou for the Music', Chanson D'Amour' and 'Try to Remember', having only just got to grips with the bass parts. Anyway, I thought it unlikely that I would be anywhere close to being ready to perform in the concert with the Stevenage Ladies Choir on April 9th, so no need to worry.

My first impressions of the second tenor parts are that they do get to do a bit more of the melody. That said, 'Thankyou for the Music' does start with a lot of 'doo's', which are proving a bit tricky to follow! Switching from bass to second tenor also meant moving from the front row back to the third row, which could be no bad thing when it comes to my debut performance and might give me the opportunity to hide behind someone tall, thus avoiding the critical gaze of my wife and family!

My attempts to learn the second tenor parts have been scuppered somewhat by my household computers inability to load the newly revamped choir website and thus the mp3 files I need to help me learn the parts. Neither the family PC nor any of our laptops will load it for some unknown reason. Jeff, the LMVC web site boffin has been looking into it and as yet we are no nearer to getting the site to load. There seems to be an issue with my 'browser' being unable to cope with 'in-line frames' or summat. I wouldn't know what one of those was if you hit me over the head with one to be perfectly honest, so I am at a loss really.

Anyway, to the rescue came one Chris Higgins! This knight in shining armour offered to download the required files onto my mp3 player for me. What a guy! This feat was duly accomplished and ready for me to pick up on Sunday morning, so I can now have a stab at the whole programme for the April 9th 'gig' at Trinity Methodist Church. Whether I can master the whole lot by that date is highly questionable, but nothing ventured, nothing gained! Chris clearly thought it not beyond me as he had me trying on a spare choir blazer for size. Sadly my diminutive frame was somewhat swamped by said garment. Never mind, I'll have to have a look around for a suitable navy blazer, grey trousers and black socks when the time comes. The black socks are particularly important apparently as it was pointed out in the recent past that a wide variety of sock colours does not look good from the audience's viewpoint! You see, it's the little details . . .

Right, better crack on and try to learn loads of second tenor parts at breakneck speed. Not a minute to lose - eleven days and counting!?!

Until next time,

Alyn.