"Altos, I hate you!"

Needless to say this wasn't US... it was the Youth Choir altos that Jamie hated! They were having trouble singing G, C, D, G instead of G, B, C, G, in the "Glory to thee" bit of the Rachmaninov thingy they're doing (Hymn to the Cherubim). I know what the notes were because they got the same thing wrong - and consequently rehearsed it several times - in Wednesday's rehearsal... The good news is that they got it right in the concert tonight! In fact the Youth Choir sounded about a hundred times better in the concert than they did in either of the rehearsals. Their unaccompanied bits were all perfectly in tune, and they sounded great. Still a few bits where hardly any of them were watching - so frustrating to glance across and see all their heads down, when I know how fantastic they sound when they DO look up!

(BTW, can someone please explain to me why it is that, when I've just sung lots of lovely tunes in a concert, the thing I've had on the brain for the last 4 hours has been those very 4 bars... of the alto part of a piece I'm not even singing in?!? I hate my mind!)

The "adult choir" altos were of course just about perfect in every way :p Jamie did use the phrase "We have a winner!" about us TWICE... this referred to the fact that we were the only section who watched him in A Spotless Rose. It's difficult being the best all the time, but we cope somehow :p

Oh, also in A Spotless Rose during the rehearsal, we got Jamie's impression of an X Factor contestant, which... well, it's hard to describe. But it was very amusing! (It came about, since you ask, because the Youth Choir boys were trying to put in a "cheesy rit" at the end of their solo, and he accused them of wanting to sing it like an X Factor contestant...)

I took a few photos tonight. Most are not great, because I only had my phone camera and it has no flash, but I've put them online anyway. I do like the second one of the front of the Bridgewater Hall though. Have they had the lights in the shape of a Christmas tree before and I've just not noticed? I only noticed it this time when we did Messiah a couple of weeks ago - and even then, I don't think I would've noticed if I hadn't approached from Starbucks (it doesn't look as tree-like unless you approach at that angle).

Oh, and talking of lights, have you seen the lights projected onto the ground (and the Pebble) outside the hall? Very pretty! Have they had those before?

I suppose I should probably mention the concert :-) It went very well. Surprisingly short, too, which isn't at all a bad thing! Sleigh Ride was as great as ever (although not many people got the 5th and 6th claps!), and there was a great orchestral arrangement of Jingle Bells that I don't think we've heard before. It featured a lot of slapstick (the instrument, not the comedy), and the slapstick solo in turn featured some amusing shouting from other members of the orchestra! The Youth Choir, as previously mentioned, were great, and I think the highlight of our bit was probably Stille Nacht, which was very lovely indeed. All the audience participation bits went according to plan without anyone forgetting which verse they were in or singing wrong notes (yes, even White Christmas, which we hadn't rehearsed at all until today!), and the Bach bits were spiced up by Gareth's fabulous trumpeting. Oh, and several of the sopranos had flashing fairy lights on their folders, which looked rather good!

A couple of non-concert-related things: firstly, Graham E points out that the Telegraph have reviewed our Music Makers CD, and they seem to like it. And secondly, I know I keep going on about searches that lead people here, but they amuse me so! A recent one was for "tasto solo", which made me feel kind of useful, especially as I think my explanation was much clearer than any of the others that Google throws up! But the most recent one of all was the one that amused me most - it seems that this blog is the number one Google result for "frustrated second altos" :-) But we won't be frustrated tomorrow night, because we are ALLOWED TO SING THE DESCANT! (Did I mention that....?)