So where did summer go?

Humble apologies to all for the quite shocking lack of blog posts this summer. It really wasn't supposed to work out like that and given the fact that I remain 'between jobs' one might have expected a bit more time on my hands to do stuff like blogging?

Not a chance. Indeed, I now wonder how on earth I ever managed to do a full time job! It's a bit like building a motorway - no matter how many lanes you build they automatically fill up with traffic. Similarly, all my spare time has been filled up with all sorts of stuff, but happily it has been infinitely more enjoyable than 'permits to dig' on the A46.

I am happy to announce that I am about to embark on a life of self employment. Rather than sit around waiting for another suitable CAD job to materialise (it could be a long, long wait) I have taken courses in tiling and plastering to supplement my existing decorating abilities and intend to create my own job in Home and Garden Maintenance! My chums at the Jobcentre seem willing to throw a bit of cash my way via the 'Enterprise Alllowance' so with a bit of luck and good planning, 'Knightthorpe Home and Garden' will be launched very soon. So, for all your home and garden maintenance needs you know where to come! ;-)

So after that quite shameless bit of self promotion for which I have no intention of apologising, what of singing I hear you ask. Well, in truth I have been shamefully neglectful of my vocal cords. Caroline Sharpe Singers took a rather shorter summer break than the male voice choir and there have been a wedding or two at  Prestwold and Wymeswold to drag me out of my lethargy.

And there has been a singing lesson or two with the maestro from Barrow. Any thoughts of resting on my laurels were quickly dispelled with the suggestion that I should enter the Leicester Festival in November. This annual event has been suffering with a lack of entrants in recent years apparently so hell, why not? I can't remember the precise categories I've entered, but I will be singing 'The Lord is My Shepherd' which all fans of the Vicar of Dibley will know, and 'Linden Lea' which I really like. Peter Bateman is also entering and if we end up competing against each other it could be a right laugh!

Last Thursday evening, the Loughborough Male Voice Choir returned for our first rehearsal of the new season and welcomed two new members! I would like to claim the credit for this triumph of recruitment as that very day the 'Echo' printed my poetically compiled plea for new singing blood. However, one of the newbies is Jeff Buckley who I know from Caroline Sharpe Singers and had been threatening to join for a while. The other, Owen I think his name is, happens to be a relative of Ray, our treasurer and is returning to the choir after four years away at University. Anyway, welcome guys and I hope you have a fun time!

Alarmingly there is just a few short weeks before our first gig of the autumn, at our 'home' at Trinity. This will see the Merthyr tydfil Ladies Choir join us for what should be a cracking concert and more on that next time.

Cheers for now,

Alyn.

Songs for Summer - in Woodhouse and Whissendine

Apologies to Neal Chantrill for the longer than expected wait for this post, but it has been another crazy few weeks at Chateau Knightthorpe. I won't bore you with the details, suffice to say it involves the complete incompetance of the banking sector. A good 'sing-song comes as a blessed relief!

Thank the Lord for another Caroline Sharpe Singers/Enchanted concert, this time at Woodhouse Baptist Church on Friday 29th June. This promised to be something of a challenge in view of the severe lack of Jeff Buckley. Jeff is a very accomplished singer and a steadying influence on us men in the choir. With just me, relative newbie Paul, and complete newbie Terry, it promised to be a tricky one. Paul's presence was in some doubt following a flood at his home, but make it he did in heroic fashion. That said, us men were boosted in the shape of my wife Ruth and Caz-2, a.k.a. Caroline Jones, who were going to sing the 'men's parts' for a few of the songs. Thankfully Ruth left the tweed jacket, false moustache and pipe at home this time!?!

We all assembled in good time and I sensed a general excitement among us all. I had had a rather quiet day, retreating into my now usual pre-concert ritual of trying to chill a bit for the majority of the day. With Brindisi included in the night's programme, whichb included a solo verse for me, I felt nervous but not unbearably so. After struggling with a particular high-ish note in rehearsals, Caroline offered me the 'get-out clause' of singing a lower note in its place. This was grabbed by me eagerly and probably helped me to sleep the night before!

So we proceeded with a short warm up. and a quick run through a few, including good ol' Brindisi, the 'Drinking Song' from La Traviata. After singing a bit of it Caroline quickly stopped me to point out my extremely tense posture. That's putting it politely. I was as rigid as a wooden plank and holding my music folder clamped to my waist. Honestly, aren't nerves weird things? And embarrassing? I then made a concerted effort to relax a bit. For some reason, I seem to be most nervous for pre-concert warm ups, which I suppose is good as it gets it out of the way early?

Anyway, a modest but reasonable audience assembled by 7 o'clock including a young girl called Katie and her dad who I know from Loughborough Quaker Meeting and who is coincidentally having singing lessons with Caroline! Also in the audience was none other than Chris Higgins, Chairman of the Loughborough Male Voice Choir. Obviously at a loose end with his wife away for the weekend playing golf, he decided to check out CSS and perhaps a fellow choir member who was going to sing a solo bit? Nice to see you there Chris!

Caroline Sharpe Singers at Woodhouse Baptist Church 29th June 2012.

Caroline Sharpe Singers started proceedings with Rutter's I Will Sing With the Spirit which was pretty good, followed by Pachelbel's Canon in D which also went well. Then came the first problematic number, Panis Angelicus. Not that it is particularly difficult, but somehow I seemed to struggle to hit the right notes in certain places. Hey ho, my blunders weren't too noticeable to the audience apparently so what the heck.

Enchanted then followed with five cracking songs including the (err, how shall  put it) variable (?) Soldier, Soldier. When this piece goes wrong, it goes wrong big time! However, this time the girls performed it better than they have for a while!

The next selection were songs from operas, including Barcarolle, Habanera and then a quite magnificent solo performance of Summertime by Holly Coutts. Quite breathtaking I thought. The unfortunate thing is that it was then the job of me and Anna to finish off part one with duet of Brindisi ably assisted by the rest of the singers. While I was rigid with nerves earlier, I had now been taken over by that steely determination to get the job done. Oddly, I messed up early by making a complete 'pigs-ear' of  the word 'fuggevol'. Not once, in all the time I was learning the song did I ever mess that word up, but chose my first performance of it to do just that. Sigh! Never mind, the good news is that rather than stop and say 'oh pooh' or something similar, I actually blurted out something vaguely Italian sounding and kept going! So that's progress I guess? There were a couple of other minor goofs but all in all a creditable attempt I think. Anna's second verse also contained some Italian-ish gibberish so I was not alone. 

Following the well earned half time brew and biccies it was Enchanted again with some songs from West Side Story, including Olivia singing Somewhere, which was really beautiful and possibly the best I've ever heard her sing!

Next up it was us singers again with Windmills of your Mind and Almost Like Being in Love. The former was great, while the latter was, from my position, a disaster! I confess I lost it in calamitous fashion on at least three occasions and struggled throughout! Let's move on.....

Enchanted then restored order and got the audience singing along to the Beatles All you Need is Love and the Oklahoma Medley. That just left all of us to return to the stage for the now epic finale of I Believe. And EPIC it was, again. I loved it!

Initial feedback suggests the concert was enjoyed by all particularly the gentleman who introduced us and gave his closing speech of thanks. Rumour has it that we've been invited back at Christmas, so that's great!

The following night, i.e. Saturday 30th June, it was my turn to observe, or rather be cameraman to  film Enchanted in concert with the Belvoir Wassailers in Whissendine Village Hall. This gig turned out to be another fun night with some joint numbers with both the Wassailers and Enchanted. Robert John Edwards conducted an ambitious joint rendition of the Oklahoma Medley, which had all the audience clapping. Fantastic stuff. I just love Rob's energetic conducting style and think Caroline should try similar? Okay, maybe not.

The real tear jerker of the night of course was duet of Over the Rainbow by Caroline and a little girl called Amy. This girl's family had been through a traumatic experience earlier on, but she was determined to sing it. With Caroline's guiding hand she did it and had half the audience in tears. Well done Amy!

Rather than go through the whole programme, I will direct you to Youtube, where the best bits from this concert featuring Enchanted and Caroline will appear shortly on the Channel 'Enchantize'. Take a look soon - give me  acouple of days okay? The link on the right hand side of this blog should get you there.

I think we now have a gap of a week or two before the next commitment! Pass the corkscrew?

Cheers for now!

Alyn.

Here we go a-wassailing!

Hey, I think I must be getting somewhere at last. Having looked in on several of Anna-Ruth's singing lessons with Caroline over the last year or so it has surprised me how many times she gets a bit of a 'tongue-lashing' from the Caz-meister. In my lessons I've only ever had smiles and words of encouragement when I've screwed up. Until now that is! I'm proud to announce that last week Caroline actually raised her voice when I came in too early. "Instead of singing, why don't you TRY BREATHING", she bellowed. I burst into tears and fled out of the room distraught.

Well, not really. It was a bit of a surprise though, but I guess it means the 'honeymoon' is over and there's no longer room for silly mistakes. Time to get your act together Al, concentrate and sing properly you fool! Singing 'properly', i.e. opening up, seems to happen sporadically for me which is frustrating. When I singa-longa-Pavarotti in the car I can do it, but when confronted by an audience of even one, I tighten up and it all sounds a bit feeble. Brindisi particularly requires 'proper' singing, but it is coming gradually. As the italian slowly sinks in to the point where I know the words with confidence, I hope the voice will respond accordingly in order to do Luciano proud come the gig, LATER THIS MONTH!?!

On Saturday 9th June I had the pleasure of being in the audience of a male voice choir concert for a change. Not the Loughborough Male Voice Choir you understand, but The Belvoir Wassaillers who were presenting a concert from All Saint's Church, Knipton in the Vale of Belvoir. Led by their musical director Robert John Edwards, here were a bunch of guys that clearly love their singing and have a lot of fun doing it and that really came over in the way they performed on the night. They presented a very different repertoire from that of the LMVC - rather more jazzy and less 'traditional' male voice choir stuff. It was very entertaining, particularly the folk songs at the start and the Beatles medley which included some very accomplished solos from several members of the choir. Equally entertaining were solo spots from mezzo-sopramo Elaine Bishop, bass Dominic Piri (of the Wassailers) and a certain soprano called Caroline Sharpe. Dominic was particularly impressive given that he's just completing his 'A' levels this year. If the lad can sing this well at such a young age goodness knows how good he can become. Remember the name everyone!

Caroline and Elaine did a superb rendition of Rossini's 'Cat Duet' with lots of hissing and a 'yellow card' from Rob half way through. Great stuff! The Wassailers rounded off the evening with their rendition of the Oklahoma Medley, which was very familiar to all us 'Enchanted' fans and Caroline and Elaine contributed the Kansas City and I Can't Say No solos. I must say I was disappointed at the lack of 'clip-clop' noises during The Surrey with the Fringe on Top, but never mind.

So another cracking concert with much dosh raised towards the repair of the venue's roof. Bravo! And if you are now gutted that you missed out, you will be able to catch The Belvoir Wassailers and Enchanted TOGETHER in a concert in Wissendine on 30th June. Both of them in one gig has got to be way too good to miss, hasn't it? For ticket info email belvoir.wassailers@gmail.com. Miss this one at your peril!

Cheers for now,

Alyn.

Sorelle Di Canto & Singing in the Park

As I mentioned last time, the diary is rather choca with family singing engagements right now and there's another two to tell you about now.

Last Saturday we had a concert at Saint Mary's Church, Sileby by Sorelle Di Canto. Comprising the stunning voices of Caroline Sharpe, Anna-Ruth Gray and Olivia Thornber, this trio were to present a quite brilliant concert. In fact it was still being talked about days later. It was really classy stuff that wouldn't have been out of place in a top city concert hall.

The first half was made up of sacred songs, opera arias and duets - slightly 'heavier going' as one member of the audience put it. I did sense that there was genuine surprise at the quality of the singing - it really was outstanding stuff.

Three sacred songs started the concert followed by four songs from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro preceded by Caroline's witty synopsis. Then Caroline sang two Puccini arias including my personal favourite, 'O mio Babino Caro'. To round off the first half were two duets - 'Barcarolle' and the 'Flower Duet' from Delibe's Lakme.

That first half wasn't without incident with the girls being tormented by a rather persistent fly buzzing around their faces. At one point Olivia swats the fly away in a very controlled manner while in mid song. Classy!

Interval meant time for a tart. A fruity tart no less. There's a pretty obvious and tasteless joke to be made here which I will stay well clear of - for now. Part two was rather more laid back and humorous. Four love songs preceded Chris Hill entertaining with a bit of Duke Ellington. Nice one Mr Hill! Then we had two hilarious G & S songs hilariously choreographed by Ruth, 'Three Little Maids' and 'Poor Wandering One'. Brilliant!

That was followed by a touch of Stars in Your Eyes as 'tonight Matthew', Caroline was going to be Michael Ball by singing two songs usually only sung by men - 'Music of the Night' and 'The Impossible Dream'. And it worked really well.

The last programmed song was 'A Word on my Ear', which required Caroline to sing horribly out of tune - something that's probably not as easy as it might seem. And finally the obligatory encore of 'Time to Say Goodbye'.

All in all a quite exceptional concert that raised quite a lot for the church funds. The only downside was that my winning raffle run came to an end after four successive wins. Hey-ho!

Then on the Sunday afternoon it was the turn of the Loughborough Male Voice Choir, presenting a selection of songs at the Queen's Park Bandstand in Loughborough. And for a change we had warm sunny weather. Hoorah! Sadly it was only a modest turn out of 13 choir members present, but the half choir made a good account of themselves I think. The good thing about the warm sunny weather is that a good audience is pretty much guaranteed and a good number came to watch and listen.

We sang our usual mix of old and new and it all went well until Mr Hill decided to throw in the folk song 'Pleasant and Delightful'. Now this was not included in any programme that I had seen so I was totally unprepared for my solo verse. In fact I didn't realise that was what we were to be singing until Chris Higgins started it off. I hurriedly tried to run thru my words in my head as I sang the chorus but couldn't for the life of me remember the all important last line. Oh well, hopefully it will come to me when it needs to, I thought. Well, it didn't. Sigh!

The result is there for friends on Facebook to see as Ruth was doing the page turning for Sue and was ideally situated to capture it all on film in all it's misery. On reflection, it wasn't half as bad as it seemed at the time and as Caroline says, it happens to everyone at some time. So I'll put it down to experience. That said, a quick note to Mr Hill - all I ask, the next time you fancy a bit of spontaneity, is for just 30 seconds for me to run through my lines in my head before we start? Ta very much!

So other than that little embarrassment it was another enjoyable concert in the park. Same time same place next year? I very much hope so!

One final thing before I go. A big WELCOME BACK to Peter Bateman who has been missed from the choir for a good few months after surgery to rebuild his knees. Well it was great to have you back on Thursday mate. We second tenors particularly have missed you!

Cheers for mow,
Alyn.