Caroline Sharpe Pupil Concert - 2013

Oh my word. Where do I start this time? There's so much to talk about since my last post I couldn't possibly cover it all now. There's the LMVC trip to Merthyr Tydfil, which Ruth was hoping to cover for y'all, but 'life' threw the proverbial spanner in the works to scupper that idea. Then there was an LMVC concert that I couldn't actually make, so nothing to add on that one. But there was then a small matter of the Leicester Festival performances, a concert at Kegworth Methodist Church by Enchanted and Friends and latterly a return for the LMVC to the Christmas Tree Festival at All Saints Parish Church.

I will maybe do a retrospective blog shortly, catching up with all those, but for now I will concentrate purely on last night - the 2013 Caroline Sharpe Pupil Concert, because it deserves it. Maybe it was the circumstances; the deluge of crap dumped on Chateau Knightthorpe in recent months; Ruth's continuing battle against the debilitating effects of chronic fatigue; the abysmally timed and unwelcome arrival of cold/flu viruses striking Amy and I at just the wrong time. The odds were stacked against all of us getting through it, but as the saying goes, the show must go on and it damn well did.

This was to be my third such pupil concert. Regular readers will no doubt recall tales of my mental torture just getting up to sing Where e'er You Walk at all in 2011. Last year's rendition of Bring Him Home was pretty torturous too, but a vast improvement on the debut. Almost immediately after that performance Caroline said "next year, you are going to sing a 'proper' song, with 'proper' singing." The 'proper' song in question was soon earmarked as Schumann's Dichterleibe Opus 48: Ich Grolle Nicht. Now this is a song that would sound utterly pathetic if I persisted in singing, in Caroline's words 'like a girl'. Time then Al, to man up and let loose the beast!

Okay, Schumann it is then. We dipped into the song at intervals during the 12 months but it wasn't until fairly late that we decided definitely to go with it. The big problem was the penultimate line which includes a top 'A', which is pretty much the top of my range. I do believe I've hit a B flat in a lesson or two but they've been pretty ugly. With practice and I hasten to add a few verbal clips around the ear from Caroline, I was managing the 'A' but the voice tightened up and remained tight for the last line, leaving the end sounding like a strangled cat! 

Breathing my friends, that is so often the key in this singing lark. Take a huge great breath before the top A line and more importantly, straight after it to enable the voice to open up again for the last line. Easy? With that sorted out in my mind, confidence in the song soared sufficiently for me to actually approach the performance with yes, actual confidence. That was until Tuesday 19th when the cold virus tapped me on the shoulder and said 'GOTCHA'! Not now, please not now? Hey-ho, all I could do was to rest the vocal chords as much as possible and just cross my fingers. 

Rehearsal went very well, top 'A' was nailed, but I knew that my voice was delicate and had no idea what state it would be in come 9 pm. So, alas my contributions to the Caroline Sharpe Singers numbers (more on them later) were minimal, well non-existent in the case of Masquerade. Sorry folks, but needs must, and Caroline did agree that it was the best thing to do. So, the very last solo performer of the night was 'yours truly'. As Ruth pointed out afterwards, another personal landmark was achieved in that I actually spoke in front of lots of people, for the first time in decades. As I was singing a German song I had to briefly announce it and give a hint as to what it was about. Okay, it was indeed brief - very, but it was something at least.

There is something scary about getting up on a stage and singing at the best of times, but when you have no idea if your vocal chords are actually going to cooperate and produce any sort of acceptable noise at all, is scarier still. Thankfully, there was enough there to do a decent job. It started a bit tentatively but got better and hit the 'A' again with relative ease. Phew! Anna thought my 'angry' performance fitted in well with the unrequited love theme of the song. To be honest, the anger came from my frustration at the virus and a determination to overcome it. Other feedback suggests that for once I didn't look like a rabbit caught in the headlights. And Caroline was pleased that I sang like a man and said "more of that please".

So that's me, but this was a triumphant night for so many and also came with a bit of pain thrown in as well. As is usual for these pupil concerts it was a pretty big programme, kicking off with Be Our Guest, starring the male voice choir's Chairman, Chris Higgins and Vanessa as soloists. With the rest of Caroline Sharpe Singers assembled on stage, Chris delivered his spoken intro while strolling up the aisle, timing it perfectly to arrive onstage for the singing bit. Brilliant! The chaps in the choir are still struggling with this one, but it went fairly well and the audience clearly enjoyed it. 

Then it was the job of Katie Muller to start the solo spots with Home. Not easy being first on, but Katie sang beautifully! Then we had a section of  'songs from the shows' with a duet of I know Him So Well by Jean and Wendy. After a 'difficult' rehearsal, they got it together on the night. Lynn then superbly sang  Til There Was You,  overcoming a few nerves in the process and was followed by Gail Morgan who confidently sang I Could've Danced and despite her reservations got those high notes. That slot was wrapped up by Kate Foster with Wouldn't it be Lovely which was great. Well done girls!

Anna-Ruth and Caroline Jones came next, not a duet but singing two English songs. With maybe a hint of bias, Anna's was again I think the classiest performance of the night. Flawless, composed and delivered My Heart is Like a Singing Bird with a style most of us can only dream of. Awesome. Caz Jones sang the extraordinary piece The Enchantress by Hatton which demanding a great deal from Caz, also required an impressive performance by accompanist Chris Hill, who I think needed a lie-down afterwards!

Opera next and some fabulous performances from Honor, Liz, Olivia and Holly singing some, Mozart, Gluck, Mozart and Gounod respectively. Very impressive stuff from all these gals I thought, and felt a bit sorry for Jana who had to follow them. She was to sing a completely contrasting song by The Carpenters, On Top of the World. Then the first half was wrapped up by Enchanted and Chatanooga Choo Choo.

With phlegm accumulating at a worryingly rapid rate I avoided anything but water at the break and before I knew it CSS were back on stage for the Part 2 opener Masquerade complete with masks. This move necessitated removal of my glasses, which was no handicap, particularly as we were singing without copies and I wasn't going to sing it anyway! It went well though and I think the audience loved the masks!

Alice followed that with a nice piece called You Must Love Me and was followed by Folk songs from Jean and Amy. Poor Amy! Like me, she was feeling a bit rough and struggled in rehearsal, but on the night, despite her reservations was singing beautifully up until the point when the nausea that was lurking got the better of her. Exit Stage left was the best option and she took it. What a shame, but such are the hazards of live performance.

More English songs next - Wendy sang Gibbons' The Silver Swan followed by Liz and Vic dueting Sound the Trumpet. The later pair delivered with humour when things went a little awry, but no-one cared. More fab musical theatre followed from Jane, Katie Cooper and Vanessa, with some nerves conquered triumphantly! Some Les Mis followed from Harriet with Castle on a Cloud and Stars from the FIRST male soloist of the night, Paul Widdowson. I find it hard to believe that only two of Caroline's pupils are male!?! Or perhaps it's just that only two of them are prepared to try a solo? Whatever, Caz definitely needs some more male pupils and perhaps some guys in the LMVC could benefit from some Caroline's wisdom? Come on guys, you know you want to!

So to wrap up the evening's pupil performances was a section of German songs, reduced to just two after Rose had succumbed to the lurgy. Michelle and Ruth sang their Schumann duet Mailied. Now, I have obviously heard this countless times but this was far and away the best they have ever sung it. Well done ladies. Then, last but by no means least was li'l ol' me with Ich Grolle Nicht, leaving Enchanted accompanied by Chris Hill and his impressive organ  ;-) to draw the curtain on proceedings with the stunning Hallelujah.

What a fabulous night again. So many triumphs, so many demons overcome and another happy audience. Everyone without exception did amazingly well and that is thanks to one person in particular. I won't mention her name again as she will start to get big-headed. Many thanks anyway!

What will the next twelve months bring?

Cheers, Alyn.

March and September Gigs

Well another cracking night was had by all as the Loughborough Male Voice Choir performed for a good sized audience at St. Andrew's Church, Kegworth on Saturday night. But, before I give you all the run-down on that fine evening's entertainment, I'd better bring you up to date on the Caroline Sharpe Singers. I'll spare you the feeble excuses for the delay and just get on with it okay?

Yes indeed, after the triumphant Enchanted Tour of 2012 a return trip to the Norfolk/Cambridgeshire region was always a possibility and a date in March was secured by Caroline for Saturday 31st August. That's March the village as opposed to March the month. Ha-ha! This 'away' gig would naturally necessitate a coach trip and late return but hey, we were up for it! The concert would involve Caroline Sharpe Singers and Enchanted plus the music of a newly formed foursome called Cantabile Brass, comprising Paul, Nick, Emily and Jo.

Waiting for the coach...

So, despite the words of 'Masquerade' stubbornly refusing to adhere to my brain-cells (and I wasn't alone there!) we assembled at Trinity in good time to board the Ausden Clark coach. Now anyone who has watched the hysterically funny sitcom '2012' about the Olympic Games Deliverance Committee, may remember a fantastic episode where the committee were to take a bunch of foreign dignitaries to the Olympic Park, but never quite got there after a farcical coach trip around London. Well, our journey to March took on bizarre similarities to that trip. The route we took I am yet to fully fathom, but there was a point when I felt like shouting out to the driver "whatever you do, don't go through the Dartford Tunnel, cos that would be like, madness"!

But we got there. Eventually! I spotted a Fossil Shop as we drove through March, but was cruelly denied the opportunity to have a 'butchers'. No matter, singing was afoot, and a quick rehearsal, before a pre-gig bite to eat. Between us, the Kings and the Oldales, we had assembled a banquet fit for a multitude. I would estimate there was enough left over to fill twelve baskets at least!

Preparations for the concert were, how shall I put it, interesting? Such was the size of the audience, there was woefully inadequate seating left for us artists, so we had to hastily arrange a few rows of seats along the sides to accommodate us all. 

Caroline Sharpe Singers getting organised 

before the concert in March, Cambs.

On to the concert and it started well with I Will Sing with the Spirit followed by Locus Iste which itself did start well, but the 'dreaded note' got to the tenors again! 'Irreprehensibilisest' began with a quiet horrible clash. I was confident I was hitting the right note, so increased my volume and prayed. Thankfully the whole thing didn't fall apart and Locus rescued itself. Phew!

Enchanted were great yet again performing seven songs in the first half including Hallelujah and my personal fave, Fever. It was nice to see the 'college girls' back in the line-up too! In between the girls songs we were treated to three tunes from Cantabile Brass. The one musician that stood out for me was the Euphonium player. The quality of tone he produced from his instrument was truly breathtaking and I felt compelled to tell him so after the concert. In the second half they rounded off their set with an ambitious rendition of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, which they had only thrown together days before apparently! Well, it was brilliant guys!

Other highlights were Enchanted's Chatanooga Choo Choo and the ol' fave, Oklahoma Medley which was the gals at their best. Then of course there was Masquerade. Strangely, the issue of singing without copies became pretty much academic as we didn't use copies for anything. And it showed in the performances. There's something a bit naff about standing in front of an audience with your folder of music I think. It would've been impossible to read any music anyway as the splendid Masquerade mask prevents spectacle wearing anyway. Despite a few rough edges, Masquerade went pretty well and the soloists did a great job just when they needed to. After a bit of a mess first time in rehearsal, they did great on the night. Special mention must be made of the staggering versatility of my wife Ruth. Standing in for the Alto Masquerade solo in the Sileby gig, this time she took the Soprano solo. Look out Jeff and Terry - you could be next.  Bravo all!

It seemed the audience really loved this concert, with the compere talking about wanting to make it an annual event. I have to say, there really is something special about singing in front of such an enthusiastic and receptive audience. Sometimes an audience can be a bit flat leaving you unsure as to whether they've enjoyed what they've heard. No such doubt with the March audience and it would be a pleasure to return.

The return coach trip was marginally less random than the outward trip and was highlighted by a music-less 'pass-the-parcel' game won by I know not who. There was also a rendition of an alternative Almost Like Being in Tune (love).

Well, I will leave you with that for now and return in a day or two with a round-up of the Male Voice Choir's concert at Kegworth.

Cheers for now,

Alyn

Time to catch up.

This working for a living really does have its drawbacks. Okay, it pays the bills (almost) but it does get in the way of the interesting stuff.

Like keeping this l'il ol' blog up to date. What have I been up to over the last month? Well another splendid Caroline Sharpe Singers concert for a start. Back on Saturday 6th July we presented a great concert at St Mary's Church, Sileby. The choir made its performing debut in Sileby to an embarrassingly tiny audience before Christmas 2011, so fingers were crossed that this time a larger proportion of the population of Sileby would turn up this time. No worries mate - we did indeed have a creditable audience. Sighs of relief!

The concert featured six songs by the choir plus twelve from the new look Enchanted. Additionally there were two sets from our special gust soloist for the evening, Alan Speight. While Alan was new to me he is actually very well known in these parts and has a wonderful baritone voice.

Highlights of the evening for me were definitely Alan Speight's solo spots, in particular his rendition of Linden Lea. Oh how that little song brought back memories for me! Alan's singing was quite beautiful and he is now another singer to add to my list of voices to aspire to. Great stuff and I think it won't be the last time that he is asked to be a guest of Caroline Sharpe Singers. It was funny to hear him say at the interval how he struggles to remember words these days. It gets worse with age apparently, so there's no hope for me then.

Enchanted were excellent again and appear to have suffered no ill-effects of the recent personnel changes. If anything, the sound is more balanced than previously or is that just the beneficial effects of my lovely new hearing aids? However, the biggest highlight, for all the wrong reasons was The Rose, sung heroically by the girls, but featuring a solo bit by Rose Lucas at the beginning and end. Heroically? Well yes, because of a certain embarrassing but unintentional blunder by the oblivious Chris Hill. You see, prior to The Rose, Alan Speight had completed his first set of songs. Chris had adjusted the key of his final piece on the piano from that of the music he had, to a key more suitable one for Alan. Obviously the piano would need to be re-set back to normal afterwards and it was. Well was supposed to have been...

Sadly I was sat behind the girls with the choir, so missed out on the look of sheer blind panic in the eyes of the girls, Livvy particularly, as they realised something was horribly wrong. The Rose commenced, way, WAY too low. To be frank, Bryn Terfel would've struggled to sing this low, but somehow the girls heroically gave a splendid if somewhat butch rendition of this lovely song. If you ever fancy joining the LMVC's baritone section Rose, you'd be very welcome. Ho-ho!

Chris Hill meanwhile blundered on regardless, blissfully unaware of any problem. Live music eh? Don't ya just love it?

The other highlight on the night was Masquerade from Phantom of the Opera. The sight of Jeff Buckley in his mask (see photos below) is something not to be missed. In truth this piece was far from perfect and moves are afoot to get us singing it without copies in future. Let's face it, everything is so much better without copies as the male voice choir has found lately.

We rounded off the evening with the dramatic I Believe which I thought was grrrr-eat! It needs to be the last piece, simply because it takes so much lung power to deliver that I'm good for absolutely nowt after it! A cracking night was had by all I think.

I will leave you with some superb photographs ruthlessly stolen from the Caroline Sharpe Singers Facebook page. Posted by Kate Pemberton, so presumably taken by her 'other half? Nice work mate!

Enjoy!

Will return soon with news of exciting developments for both the LMVC and CSS who both have up-coming 'away fixtures'. Exciting stuff!

Cheers for now, 

Alyn.

 Enchanted's Rose,Alice and Livvy 

 Caroline introduces The Caroline Sharpe Singers as only she can.

 The Caroline Sharpe Singers perform Masquerade.

More Caroline Sharpe Singers performing Masquerade. 

 A typical Caroline Sharpe Singers photo with Chris Higgins, Anna-Ruth and Livvy Thornber

the only ones looking at the musical director!

 The Caroline Sharpe Singers perform at St Mary's Church, Sileby.

 The Lone Ranger and Tonto?

No, it's Jeff Buckley and Terry Jones performing Masquerade.

Enchanted perform Fever.

L-R Holly,Alice, Kate, Amy, Caroline, Livvy, Rose and Anna-Ruth.

The Joy of Singing

If anyone needs to know why myself and others like me sing in a choir they needed only to be in the audience at the Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton last Saturday night.

The Loughborough Male Voice Choir performed with Enchanted at the same venue in January last year and jumped at the opportunity to return in 2013. This time, as well as the Caroline Sharpe led Enchanted, we would share the stage with the staff and pupils of Stanton Vale School.

The programme for the concert entitled 'Sing Away the Winter Blues', looked to be packed with a varied mix of musical styles. Too packed as it turned out, but more about that later.

The drive over to Long Eaton was err, interesting? On arriving in Long Eaton, my i-phone satnav threw something of a 'wobbler' and directed us in completely the wrong direction. She gradually got herself together, albeit after having to stop twice at a level crossing. Maybe the humble road map would be a good idea?

On arrival at the theatre, Ruth, Anna-Ruth, Amy, Olivia Thornber and myself were met by a somewhat stressed Chris Higgins who had had a struggle or two getting the stage set-up organised. Anyway, Stanton Vale were up there rehearsing as we got in and at least we weren't subjected to the sub-zero temperatures of last year.

Again, attempts to organise a large bunch of men to get from two rows of seats backstage to two rows on stage bordered on the down-right comical. Mr Hill's instructions regarding standing up, turning, walking to our places, opening music folders and then the reverse was straight forward, but it all went 'out the window' come performance time!

Now this concert was to be my first on the front row of the choir. There are good and bad sides to this. The good is that you can hear your fellow second tenors behind you and get more help, providing John and Jim get it right of course! No worries there eh gents? The down side is that one can be seen by the audience more easily as can one's embarrassing habit of tapping one's foot in time to the music. However, up there on stage you can barely see the audience for the penetrating glare of the spot lights. Blimey, they were blinding me!

This time last year you may recall was the debut of the bow-tie, handkerchief and cummerbund combo. It seems after variable feedback, the cummerbunds have been confined to history, but the bow-tie and hanky would appear again in the second half, much to John Holt's delight I'm sure!

Sitting at the back of the stage I could see a pretty good audience assembled which was great and it was us blokes who started the programme with Stout Hearted Men. No George to compere this time as he was unwell, but in stood Gerry with a suitably witty 'performance'.

This turned out to  be a concert to warm the heart on a cold winter day with some great performances. Enchanted performed with the new 'core 6' for the first time and sounded beautifully well balanced. 

A great contrast to us and Enchanted were the Staff and pupils of Stanton Vale School. The sheer of joy of singing simply oozed out of all of them and their penultimate
 song Be Happy was magical and brought a tear to my eye. Sometimes we singers (especially me) get caught up in the stress of performing and of having to get it 'just right'. These kids showed that the simple joy of singing is all that really matters. They were wonderful and provided a lesson to us all I think.

What else? Well our Lyndon did his stuff with his usual panache and Dave Weston again accompanied him on guitar for one delightful piece which is a great contrast to his more serious operatic arias. Gerry and The Duke then did their stuff and the piece of political satire was just brilliant.

At half time it became apparent that the concert was likely to seriously over-run so we cut Let it Be Me from our second half set but managed a brief run thru as the audience began to re-take their seats. Enchanted also cut one of theirs and I think Lyndon too which was a shame for all really. Such was the quality and entertainment, time wasn't dragging and I for one hadn't noticed the time at all. Mind you, I didn't have a watch on!

As for highlights - for the male voice choir, personally it was Pleasant and Delightful. I had taken a piece of advice from Anna-Ruth regarding learning words. She suggested reading the words through and understand the story first, which enables you to better remember the words as well as sing them with meaning and expression. So I took a step back and read through this one and realised that I needed a slight pause between Nancy asking 'Saying may I go along with you'? and William's dismissive response 'Oh no my love, farewell'. The result in practice was a laugh from some in the audience which was what I as looking for. Result! Additionally I thought Gwahoddiad was absolutely superb. I think the traditional welsh male voice choir pieces are by far my favourites.

For Enchanted I thought The Rose sounded just beautiful and the overall sound of the girls seemed even better with the new line-up. Special mention must be made here of the stirling efforts of my wife Ruth for working through the pain barrier to organise the Enchanted girls. A dodgy left knee was to finally give up the ghost on Sunday morning requiring the emergency acquisition of a pair of crutches from a Facebook friend. Torn ligament it seems, requiring weeks of rest. Nasty!

I think it pointless to single out one highlight of Stanton Vale School Choir's performances as they were the highlight of the night. Just the look on the kids faces was priceless. Their rendition of Be Happy was something that will stay in the memory for many a year. Fantastic!

There now follows a relatively quiet period, concert-wise for the LMVC so this will enable us to get to grips with the revised core repertoire. Also, me and Terry Jones will have some time to get to grips with our new Caroline Sharpe Singers songs, Masquerade and Locus Iste, after a somewhat traumatic rehearsal last Saturday morning. 

And then, there's the small matter of a Grade 5 singing exam in March? No rest for the wicked!

Cheers for now,

Alyn.

And we're off!

Fear ye not, the title of this post is not a warning of impending horse puns following the Tesco burger outrage. No, I simply refer to the fact that 2013 is off and running, naay galloping towards our first singing engagement of the new year.

But whoa! What else has happened since Christmas? Well, changes are afoot with regard to Loughborough Male Voice Choir publicity. After about four years of producing the choir's website, Jeff Berrisford has asked me if I would like to take up the reins. He rather feels it needs a fresh pair of eyes and with a bit of web-design behind me during my days as a reflexologist I thought I would give it a go. But, handling that as well as publicity might prove too much. So into the saddle steps Ruth!

In truth, Ruth (struth?) has already written one or two concert reviews for the Echo when I  have been too busy, so it shouldn't prove too difficult a transition. Indeed websites and publicity do go hand-in-hand so the two of us working together should work quite well. I am now on a steep web-design learning curve but hope to have the new look LMVC website up in a few weeks in some shape or form.

As for actual singing, we are rapidly approaching our first concert of the year with a return visit to the Duchess Theatre in Long Eaton, where Enchanted will again be our guests with the addition of the Stanton Vale School Choir. It should be great providing the somewhat iffy weather relents a bit, allowing Joe Public to tear himself away from Dancing on Ice! 

We chaps are making a slow transition to a different repertoire for 2012-13 which will bring a few songs from the back catalogue back to the fore. For example a song called Swansea Town was apparently sung by the choir quite a few years ago and has been reintroduced for the next season or two. Be warned though - if you are apt to suffer from sea-sickness, you may be well advised to leave the hall for this one ;-) You will know what I mean when you hear it.

Meanwhile, the choir continues to enjoy an extraordinary surge in membership with Derrick, Peter, Jeff, Barry, Dai and Tim all hopping aboard the good ship LMVC. I'm not entirely sure why it is happening but long may it continue. Peter's addition has been particularly welcome as it must have slashed the choir's average age by about 20 years! Hopefully it will encourage other younger guys to come along and have a go too.

And so to the Caroline Sharpe Singers. This eclectic mix of souls goes from strength to strength and following the triumph of the Woodhouse Eaves concert, the Caz-meister has lined up some exciting new stuff for us such as the wonderful Masquerade from Phantom of the Opera. In the stage show it requires a big choir to give it plenty of 'welly' (technical singing term), but given our magnificent rendition of I Believe, I think we will be fabulous. And masks are a must I think!

Saturdays first rehearsal of 2013 also saw us have a crack at a piece called Locus Iste by Anton Bruckner. This couldn't be more different from Masquerade that's for sure so I'm looking forward to seeing how this one develops over the next few weeks.

But what plans for Al the soloist I hear you cry? Well, in March I have ABRSM Grade 5 to 'look forward to'. At least I now know what to expect after last year. Fingers crossed I don't get Mr Grumpy this time. I'm fortunate in that in two of the categories I am able to sing songs that I've covered before: Where e're You Walk and On the Street Where You Live. This takes away some of the donkey work out of learning words. I could also try Pleasant and Delightful for the unaccompanied folk song, but the jury is still out on that one. The one song that is completely new to me is Like to a Linden Tree Am I by Dvorak, which is a lovely little song. So I have about eight weeks to perfect that little lot, plus the dreaded aural questions. Eeeeeck!?!

So it's busy, busy, busy at Chateau Knightthorpe right now. See y'all in Long Eaton next Saturday? Miss it if you dare!

Cheers for now,

Alyn.

'Music for Spring' - Damn those nerves!

While watching Britain's Got Talent' on Saturday night, I could only empathise with those artistes who were featured in the piece about nerves. It seems everyone suffers from them to a degree, some successfully conquer them while others crumble and give in to them and run off stage in tears.  I felt for every one of them and knew exactly what they were going through. The subject of nerves was to figure quite strongly over the coming week.

I had an excellent run through of my programmed solo, On the Street Where You Live after Thursday's male voice choir rehearsal under the critical gaze of voice coach, Lyndon Gardner. No pressure? I think the second run through was the best I'd ever sung it so left for home, confident that I would be fine 'on the night'. However, much of Friday was spent trying to keep the nerves under control. There's a pattern emerging now where 'concert day' is spent in a state of gradually increasing anxiety. Nothing horrendous like that first solo night last November, but uncomfortable nonetheless. I dearly wish I could be calm and relaxed to help me enjoy the whole experience more and I can only hope that that will come in time. Caroline has said on occasions that it doesn't really get any better, but one becomes more able to work with it.

The concert at the Methodist Church in Kegworth, entitled 'Music for Spring' was the second concert for the Caroline Sharpe Singers with a selection of songs from Enchanted and solos from Holly Coutts, Anna-Ruth Gray and myself. Now, maybe being asked to do  a solo alongside that illustrious company added to the nerves just a touch. I don't yet feel I'm anywhere near to the class of those two in singing ability. Will I be the one duff performer of the evening? Such were my pre-gig nerves, I completely forgot to take my camcorder and tripod to the venue which I'm now really annoyed about. Oh well, never mind. As Jeff said, my finest hour is yet to come so it doesn't matter! Regretfully, with me withdrawing into myself pre-concert, poor Ruth was left to the organising of Enchanted's jackets and all manner of concert stuff. No wonder the poor lass is shattered! 

What was going to make this concert extra special was the fact that my mum and dad, Moyra and Joe, would be in the audience to see and hear me sing for the first time. I went up to Bolton on Thursday afternoon to bring them down for the weekend and their first taste of Al the tenor in a concert. When we assembled at the church we had no idea what sort of audience there would be. A mere handful were seated during our warm up, but we were delighted to find a full house by 7  o'clock. Excellent!

With Ruth situated reassuringly at my side we started with the now traditional opener I will Sing With the Spirit which is a great piece to start with I think. This was followed by three Enchanted numbers plus a solo of A Green Cornfield by Holly Coutts. Enchanted were as polished and professional as ever. Beautiful stuff and Holly's solo was truly stunning. Her voice just gets better and better I think. Enchanted followed with a few more songs including Soldier, Soldier which never ceases to amaze me. Brilliant!

Then it was the turn of CSS to return from their seats scattered randomly around the church to the stage for a song which is not the favourite of my mum, Amazing Grace. However, I was confident that she couldn't fail to enjoy our rendition with its marvellous tenor part. Ahem! We followed that with Pachelbel's Canon in D which seemed to go pretty well. This was then followed by Anna-Ruth singing Mozart's Laudate Dominum. Another stunning solo this, just to heap a bit more pressure on me. Gulp!

Enchanted wrapped up the first half with a rousing rendition of Hallelujah, which the audience really seemed to enjoy and then it was time for that well earned half time brew. The chaps in the choir compared notes re. nerves with our 'newbie' Paul feeling particularly nervous with this being his first ever concert. I know how you felt mate.  Been there! I was now at the stage where I just wanted to get on with it - the solo I mean and with it being in the second half, the 'agony' was prolonged a bit, but after three more 'Enchanted' songs I was on. Well, I gave a nod to Chris and we were off. I know I sang the right words, I think it was all in tune, but felt conscious of my clenched hands initially so tried to relax them. In a desperate bid not to look like a rabbit caught in the headlights I tried to appear relaxed and less rigid. Anna told me later that I was swaying about a bit, but I reckon that was preferable to my previous rigid statue appearance of previous performances.

On the Street Where You Live was over in a flash and I felt okay about it, but only okay. Caroline responded with the comment to the audience "Alfie Boe, eat your heart out". While Alfie won't be quaking in his boots just yet, it was alright, I think. There were 'whoops' apenty again, from the ever supportive Sis-in-law Julia and warm applause from the audience. Julia had earlier taken me to task about my previous blog as I had made no mention of her vociferous whooping during the male voice choir concert last week. Shame on me! Ta Ju, your support and encouragement and that of eveyone else who comes along is much appreciated. I know if I don't get a whoop from Julia, it will be time to pack it all in!

After all that I then had to re-focus on two more CSS songs Windmills of your Mind and Almost Like Being in Love, but managed it just about. That just left Enchanted to do 5 more from their sublime repertiore including the hilarious Physician. I reckon the girls would benefit from a degree in Human Biology for this one! Oh, and I mustn't forget the Oklahoma Medley which was as brilliant as ever and went down a treat with the audience.

On a personal level I felt a bit frustrated immediately after the concert that the dreaded nerves had spoiled my enjoyment of it a bit, but on reflection, my solo was so much better than that first effort back in November. So it is progress and as I improve I hope I will be less worried about being inferior to the other soloists too. I still find it difficult to accept praise - at least two people said how much they enjoyed my solo and that it was their favourite song. My pathetic reply was to ask whether it was STILL their favourite song! Honestly.

So there you have it. Another great concert, another solo and another landmark in my singing. I have to recognise that it's another huge achievement just getting up there and doing it at all. I've now got about seven months to get a certain song perfected for the November concert. Mind you, I daresay Caroline will have some other surprises up her sleeve for me before then!

I really can't finish without thanking a few people again:-

• Caroline for her expert teaching and putting together such a brilliant concert.
• Chris Hill for his sublime tinkling of the ivories.
• Julia Willis for her enthusiastic 'whooping'.
• everyone who came round to our place for the post-gig soiree and made it such a great night.
• and last but by no means least, to Ruth for putting up with my concert day 'mood routine' and supporting me while getting prescious little in return on the day. If ever a woman desreves to put her fet up for a bit it is her!

Better go, I've got a LMVC profile to finish off for John Culpin who has been very patiently waiting!

Cheers for now,
Alyn.

Loughborough Male Voice Choir and Enchanted in Long Eaton

There is something great about getting up on the day of a concert. No real nerves these days, just a wonderful excitement. Prior to previous concerts I've felt somewhat under prepared, but for this one I felt pretty confident, provided my post cold voice would hold out.

The night would see the debut of the new bow-ties and cummerbunds. Some within the choir have been reluctant to embrace the idea of a change from the traditional blazer and tie, while others are keen to add a little variety to our attire. Well, this evening we would find out what the audience thinks.

Get there 'ready to sing at 6.15pm' was the order and I managed it - just. On arrival, it was like stepping into Ice Station Zebra! T'was rather parky as we say up north. The prospect of singing the second half in shirts and bow ties without jackets seemed optimistic in the extreme, but with over an hour to 'kick-off' it would warm up, wouldn't it?

Prior to our 'warm up' (vocally that is), the logistics of getting on and off stage were worked out. Apart from a touch of vertigo standing at the back, things were fine. That left about forty minutes to kill. Much of this time was spent frantically searching for Derek's orange carrier bag which contained his bow-tie and cummerbund, and these were eventually located in his coat pocket. I could laugh, but I've done the same kind of thing myself, so many times!

After our warm-up it was Enchanted's turn, led as usual by Caroline Sharpe. One initially feared for the girls as their attire was definitely not suited to the sub-zero temperatures of the theatre. Actually, all the girls looked stunning. I did tell Anna-Ruth to cover herself up in disapproving step-father type fashion, but I WAS JOKING okay?

Before I knew it, the theatre had warmed up remarkably and it was time to start.  And we did have an audience - not huge but respectable. We started in traditional blazer and ties and sang four pieces without copies. Chris Hill often jokes about the lack of eye contct with us as we all too often remain focussed on the music rather than on him. Well for these four we had no excuse and it felt so much better and I'm sure looks so much better to the watching audience. After With a Voice Of Singing and Stout Hearted Men, George did his usual compere stuff including the mobile phone warning. As I stood on stage, to my horror, I realised I had forgotten to switch mine off and it was in my jacket pocket! So I had to cross my fingers and hope that no-one would phone or text me while I sang Old Time Religion and When the Saints. How embarrassing would that have been?

This was followed by Lyndon Gardner's first set of solo numbers. I'll have to check what these were and add the details later, but the man sounded in fine voice.  Us chaps were then back on stage for the two welsh songs, Myfanwy and Llanfair, which seemed great to me. Real 'Male Voice Choir' songs these and I really like them.

Next up were Enchanted and their first set comprising We'll Gather Lilacs; Soldier, Soldier; The Physician and Fever. Soldier, Soldier is incredibly intricate and complex and I marvel  at how they manage to sing it so well and The Physician is just hillarious! Back stage I couldn't hear as well as I would have liked, but it all sounded fabulous to me.

To round off the first half we then did the gorgeous Let it Be Me (one of my personal faves) and the now legendary Is This the Way to Amarillo. This last piece was a vast improvement on its first airing but, for me, we simply have to sing this without copies in future! As I have said before, this is a great opportunity to let our hair down and get the audience singing and clapping with us. If we have our hands free we can clap along and really get the audience into it! It's gotta happen!

The interval required a costume change on the part of the choir. Off with the jackets and ties and on with the bow-tie and cummerbund! Despite the protestations of one or two, it was done and we walked back onstage to wolf-whistles, most notably from my wife Ruth, but she was not alone! I will address the subject of attire later but, suffice to say, it was met with universal approval. We continued with Danny Boy and Eriskay Love Lilt which was followed by the Quartet's (for 8?) rendition of Always Look on the Bright Side, which seemed to go well. After that came a new piece, a Chris Hill arrangement of That's what Friends are For. This starred Chris Higgins as soloist and Mike Godwin on Harmonica. This piece was only introduced by Chris Hill quite recently, but the two guys rose to the occasion superbly. "Hasn't Chris Higgins got a lovely voice", to quote Ruth! Mike too, gave his best harmonica solo yet. He had been struggling a bit in rehearsals, but came good on the night. Well done guys!

I then made a bit of a mess of Viva l'amour, mainly because I was trying to look more at our conductor throughout this concert rather than our copies  and thought I knew this one well enough. Sadly I forgot a bit and then couldn't find my place and got flustered a bit and 'goldfished' for a line or two!

Lyndon then did his second slot which concluded with a bit of a sing-a-long. I only vaguely knew the piece but almost everybody else backstage was singing along.  The choir followed it with two modernish pieces  Thankyou for the Music and Chanson d'amour, with the latter 'sexy and breathy' like never before and the former only slightly affected by another attack of the second tenor doo-doos! Messed them up in the first verse but got it about right in the second. Sigh!

That left Enchanted to do their final set which incuded Some Enchanted Evening and the Oklahoma Medley  which was utterly brilliant and had half the MVC singing along backstage, again. To wrap up this excellent concert the MVC sang Everytime We Say Goodbye and You'll Never Walk Alone. And that was that. Without doubt the best male voice choir concert that I have been involved in so far.

Why was it so good? I'm finding it difficult to define really. It just felt 'right'. I think the variety of  traditional, modern and the humourous was spot on and expertly put together by Mr Hill. One big hit on the night was the new attire. Despite the scepticism of some, it was certainly a big hit with the audience. I have heard no negative comments other than it might look better with black trousers rather than grey. The change in clothing complimented the difference in the material that we presented in each half. One comment made the point that we immediately looked 'so much less like a bunch of old men'.

Secondly, I think the more singing we do without copies the better. I tried to minimise the time I spent looking down and I realised how much more following of Chris we all need to do. An obvious point I suppose, but it makes a huge difference and it looks better to the audience too I think. One day, a whole concert without copies, perhaps a la Fron? It's gotta come!

A negative comment albeit minor - I found the venue a little 'dead' acoustically to sing in. Sis-in-law Julia said she didn't get the usual 'hair on the back of the neck' thing after the big crescendos. That small point aside, it was a great night and well done to all.

Finally, please feel free to post any comments you'd like to make about the gig below as it would be nice to receive some feedback, particularly about the new 'gear'. Just click on where it says 'x' comments below and let me know what you thought, good or bad. That goes for anything I post on here too.

Cheers for now,

Alyn

Enchanted's best concert yet!

On Saturday 3rd December at St. Andrew's Church, Prestwold, Enchanted gave arguably their best concert yet to a large appreciative audience. I've watched this group of girls slowly blossom over the last couple of years into a polished, professional singing group and I have wondered just how good it is possible for them to get. In a way it is quite sad to think that this group of talented girls may well soon drift apart as university calls and pulls them in different directions. So I guess we all need to enjoy them while they are still here.

Last night's concert was simply STUNNING. Right from Caroline's opening reading from Isiah ix (did I detect a touch of Diane Sharpe influenced elocution there?) through to the final Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, the standard of singing and reading was quite exceptional. I could enthuse about all of last night's pieces, but I'll concentrate of just a few bits.

Firstly, when I heard that the  girls were to try a selection of pieces from Handel's Messiah, I thought it was perhaps a bit over ambitious. As a child, my father insisted on taking us to see a performance of the Messiah somewhere just about every year. So I've seen and heard quite a lot - some good, some bad and some it has to be said, downright ugly! I can honestly say that my dad would have definitely approved of Enchanted's efforts last night. Each piece was done brilliantly, but deserving of special praise is Holly's rendition  of Rejoice. I've heard quite a few singers attempt Rejoice and to be frank, make a complete 'pigs ear' of it! The potential for disaster is huge with this one and I've seen a few finish rather red faced with embarrassment. But Holly put in a stunning performance I thought. How one gets to grips with all those 'twiddly bits' as I would call them, goodness knows, but I guess that Caroline person has a lot to do with it.

Following Holly were Anna-Ruth and Olivia with He Shall Feed His Flock.  This emphasised, if such a thing were needed, just how much the two have come on over the last year. It was good to hear Anna say afterwards that she thought she had sung well, as she is often way too critical of herself. I thought it was the best I'd heard both of them ever sing. And no Anna, that doesn't mean that you were rubbish previously!

Fantastic stuff, as were the mince pies and mulled wine. Jake and I were offered 'seconds' of the mince pies and felt obligated to help finish them off. Yum!  The second half was equally as good as the first with some varied pieces such as O Holy Night, Mid-winter and White Christmas. The concert ended with Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas played by Chris in Dean Freidman Lucky Stars keyboard stylee! Nice one Chris!

So there you have it. A concert to stay in the memory at least until their next, probably even better concert at Barrow Methodist Church on Saturday 10th December. Frankly you'd be a fool to miss it! Get there at 7.15pm for pre-concert mince pies!!

Don't you just lurve Christmas?

Cheers,

Alyn.

Reach for the stars

I very often find myself completely in awe of genuine talent. Not that there was much of it on show on 'Britain's Got Talent' last Saturday night. With the possible exception perhaps of a truly gifted pianist/composer, and a young boy already unfairly tagged with the unfortunate label 'the new Justin Bieber'. The winner of the competition was okay, but nothing special, I thought.

However, Knightthorpe Methodist Church, at roughly the same time as the aforementioned telly programme, was positively overflowing with talent! Those that managed to drag themselves away from the scintillating spectacle of a singing dog (gawd 'elp us!), were treated to a quite superb evenings entertainment provided by Enchanted and Loughborough Male Voice Choir's very own Chris Hill, to mark the Churches Flower Festival.

Listening to the girl's varied programme of folk songs, operatic and musical theatre numbers, one couldn't help but wonder what 'The Hoff', Michael MacIntyre, Amanda Holden and a certain Mr Cowell would've made of them and Chris Hill's Beatles medley too! Armed with just a list of Beatles song titles, Chris seems to simply make it up as he goes along, seamlessly blending together about ten of the band's all time classics. Astonishing stuff!

The last Loughborough Male Voice Choir rehearsal turned out to be a bit of a confidence boost as we went through the vocal minefield that is Amarillo. When Chris said "second tenors please" for once, I just 'went for it'. All us second tenors have struggled with this piece, as has the whole choir really, but it's coming - slowly. I got through the relevant section completely and to me at least, it sounded in tune and reasonably okay. Mind you, a little later on I got a little over-confident, went for it again but started about an octave too high! Whoops! Thankfully, I didn't allow that little embarrassment to crush my fragile confidence and I soon got back on track.

Chris has just sent through the draft programme for the LOROS Concert in October and it looks like a whole heap of new parts for me to learn. Of the thirteen pieces, 8 are from the choirs existing library but there's only one I've touched on so far - and its my favourite (?), When the Saints. Nice! Add to this five new pieces and it looks like a busy summer for yours truly.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to master Giordani's Caro Mio Ben in order to stun and amaze Caroline at my next lesson! A few evenings ago I found that our loo has strangely good acousticsI It's the one place in the house where I can hear my own singing voice nice and clearly, so this could become my regular practice venue. Mind you, that might prove a touch 'inconvenient' for the rest of the family!!! Ho-ho!

Until next time.
Cheers,
Alyn.

One More Step. . .

How does one follow a debut gig with the Loughborough Male Voice Choir and Stevenage Ladies Choir? Well, how about singing at a Wedding with The Caroline Sharpe Singers? A few weeks ago Caroline asked whether I would I like to sing at a wedding on Friday 29th April. The date seemed to ring a few bells for some reason.

'Enchanted' have been booked for a few weddings lately and I know their reputation for excellence is spreading fast, but surely not as far as Buckingham Palace? Actually, the wedding concerned was at Prestwold, not Westminster Abbey but no less prestigious in my mind. This time Caroline required a larger choir with some extra ladies and a few male voices to add that extra bit of class. Only joking ladies! The new ladies included Ruth, Michelle, Dorothy, Shirley and Diane. The male recruits, all four of us, comprised myself, Anna's boyfriend Jake, Caroline's husband Charlie and  Jeff Buckley. While the latter sounded like he'd sung quite a bit before, the same could not be said about the other three. Charlie and Jake certainly had to endure significant arm twisting before agreeing to attend.  I recall at the LMVC Kegworth concert earlier in the year, when I was gently persuaded to pop along to a rehearsal, Charlie was less enthusiastic, saying that there was a reason why he was a drummer! I on the other hand was rather more willing to try my hand at wedding singing but had my doubts about singing hymns. And wearing a pink tie. You see, I just don't do pink. Not ever!

We arrived in good time for a run through the four hymns - an odd selection I thought, but who am I to judge? They were: All Things Bright and Beautiful; One More Step Along the World and Give me Joy in my Heart with the addition of We Pledge to One Another which we sang during the signing of the register. For some reason, I found it strangely difficult to hear my own voice and perhaps it had something to do with the church's accoustics. Caroline was standing directly in front of me so I'm sure she will let me know just how well I sang at tomorrow's lesson. I could hear myself much better during We Pledge to One Another and as a choir we seemed to be pretty darned good, even if I say so myself.

And then, like my LMVC debut, it was all over way too quickly. Off we all went, cruelly having to pass by four Prestwod Hall staff holding trays of champagne for the wedding guests. Then it was back home to reflect on a job well done I think. It was certainly another good bit of performing experience for me.

Next up is another lesson with Caroline tomorrow morning at 10 am. Have I remembered ANYTHING that she told me last time? Time will tell and I will let you know how it goes!

Until next time,

Alyn

P.S. I will post some photos of today's events later, when available.