"Their Russian's wonderful! What's all the fuss about?"

So, piano rehearsal for both Shostakovich symphonies tonight. I am so totally exhausted as a result of that (not helped by trauma at work, associated lack of sleep, and singing very loudly in a different rehearsal a couple of hours previously) that I wanted to sleep as soon as I got home, but annoyingly I still have lots of stuff whirling round in my head and can't sleep, so I thought I'd write this to offload at least a few thoughts (kind of like an online Pensieve...)

Mark (Elder) seemed impressed with the Russian (the title is a quote from him). He was less impressed at the singing behind the beat, but I was expecting that. Maybe one day everyone will watch all the time, but we're sadly not at that stage yet. Annoyingly, we're also not at the stage where everyone can be professional in rehearsals - I found it particularly difficult to concentrate tonight, as there was a LOT of chatter. Jamie pointed out at one stage: "If you don't talk, your voices will recover sooner..." which is of course true, but unfortunately some people were just determined to be rude. And it was infuriating when a few people started to mutter about the break being later than promised, seemingly oblivious to the fact that if they hadn't talked nonstop throughout the first half of the rehearsal, we would have got through everything on time! Oh well.

We also got our new folders and sashes tonight (the sashes are what's being referred to in the wind socks sign above....) As a public service, here is a photo of a sash pinned correctly:



There was a bit of alarm at the idea that we need to sew stuff before Thursday's concert despite having no time in which to do it, but when I went to investigate, I was told that it's not a problem, they can easily be pinned on, and Pat will bring pins on Thursday for this very purpose. Just as well, because I don't even have any pins, so I was planning to fix mine on with gaffer tape!

Mark was on good form tonight. He told us to watch the violinists' faces when they play the fast, high pizzicato stuff in the triple fugue of the 2nd symphony. (Apparently the violinists at the first performance said this was impossible to play, and begged the 21-year-old Shostakovich to change it to arco!) Mark was also quite taken with the English translation of a couple of lines: "Terrible was the name of our snares" and "Freedom out of oil-covered hands". But the highpoint was his story about having to go and present himself at the American Embassy in order to get permission to work there (apparently everyone has to do that now, and if we ever went on tour there with the choir and orchestra, every member of the choir and orchestra would have to visit the American Embassy first!) I can't tell the story as well as he did, so I will just summarise it as a memento for the people who heard it. 7.25 a.m., freezing cold, 2 other musicians in the queue (who recognised Mark), Mark eventually being interviewed by a 24-and-a half-year-old preppy type guy who found Shostakovich problematic and dissonant and preferred chamber music - Boccherini and Locatelli. "Geminiani's good," said Mark. "You're free to go now," was the response.

Trust me, it was a lot funnier when Mark told it :-)

Anyway, I'm going to try to sleep again now, but I must finish with the night's only significant Jamieism - he got very excited when lots of people sang a G instead of an F on the penultimate page of the 2nd symphony. "Brilliant! Wrong and committed! Thank you!"

Happy birthday Mozart :-)

But first some news that has no connection with Mozart. Barbara points out this Guardian article. For those who aren't registered and can't be bothered, an excerpt:

The BBC plans to mark the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ this Easter with an hour-long live procession through the streets of Manchester featuring pop stars from The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays and featuring songs by The Smiths and New Order. In the programme, called Manchester Passion, a character representing Jesus will sing the legendary Joy Division anthem Love Will Tear Us Apart before dueting his arch-betrayer Judas on the New Order hit Blue Monday, according to senior church sources involved in the production.

Mary Magdelene, the penitent whore of the New Testament, is also getting in on the act: she is being lined up to sing the Buzzcocks hit Ever Fallen in Love (with Someone You Shouldn't have) accompanied by a string band. Former Happy Monday and Celebrity Big Brother winner Bez will play a disciple. The climax of the event sees Jesus sing the Smiths classic song Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now as he is being flayed by Roman soldiers. He will then come face-to-face with his Roman prosecutor Pontius Pilate with the two of them singing a duet of the Oasis hit Wonderwall.

The BBC, which plans to show the event live on BBC3 on Good Friday, insisted the event was inspired by "the way Bach and other composers fused music and the Passion story". The "contemporary retelling" of Jesus' last hours will begin with the messiah - who is yet to be cast - singing the Robbie Williams hit Angels, which will mark his procession into Jerusalem. In this case, Jerusalem will be represented by Manchester's gay and red light area near Canal Street and the Passion scene will pass via Chinatown and St Peter's Square to culminate in Albert Square. The march will be followed by members of the public who will be encouraged to join in the singing of relevant anthems, which include the M People hit Search for a Hero Inside Yourself. ... The event will end with the resurrected Jesus singing an as yet undisclosed song from the top of Manchester's town hall.

Sounds like fun, doesn't it? As Barbara says, "they might even want a world class choir to take part".... EDIT: The BBC dispute some of the details, and I suppose they ought to know...

Anyway, in honour of Mozart's 250th birthday, a couple of mp3s for you: Ronda Alla Turca and the first movement of Symphony no. 25 (aka the Amadeus theme). Not the only Mozart there is, of course, but you've all probably got it all on CD anyway - I've just put these up in case there's someone who has no Mozart CDs and wants to celebrate the anniversary :-)

Sorry for the delay in posting, anyway. I did mean to post last night but Blogger was down. Not a huge amount to say about the rehearsal though. We sang every note of both symphonies, and did a bit on the Russian. I don't think Natalia was too impressed (particularly by the dirty E vowel, which made her sigh and shake her head rather a lot) but unfortunately there wasn't time to do any more work on the linguistic side of the project. Jamie, as usual when time is against us and things aren't going too well, kept amazingly calm and patient. I think everything will be much better with the orchestra, anyway - the trainee accompanists are probably great pianists, but they're nowhere near as good as David at following the beat, with the result that they were frequently several beats behind Jamie. This really didn't help!

I don't seem to have written down many Jamieisms. There was:

"Let those 4 bars be an oasis of vocal good health."

"You're like a mighty beast. Be the beast more often!"

... and that was it! Lots of opportunities for more next week though.

Oh, and Pat showed us the new ladies' sashes, which may even be ready for the first Shostakovich gig. Very exciting - we got the current ones in 1996! There was some concern that they look orange rather than red, but I trust that was just due to the lights. (And to those people who are assuming they're red "to fit in with the Youth Choir", which several people said last night - that's not true. The colour is to fit in with the Hallé brand colours (black, grey, white, red - remember?) and that's why the Youth Choir red was chosen. The Hallé has wanted to replace the turquoise sashes ever since the new branding came in. The colour was a no-brainer - I believe the delay is due to them being unable to agree on the fabric...) Also some concern that it sounds as if we have to sew them ourselves, but maybe Pat saw the looks of horror on the faces of large numbers of the altos (and, I assume, the sopranos too) because she finished her speech with the promise that she would try to make as many as possible herself. She's a star :-)

Oh, and finally - a mystery solved! Remember when I wrote about the last carol concert, I said there was an artist sitting in the side circle and I wondered who it was? I now know the answer! Martin Yule, one of our 1st tenors (and someone who I knew very well by sight but never knew his name until tonight) came over to tell me that it was his son who was the artist, and the painting (I think he said painting, although it might be drawing) is in their living room and he will try to bring it to show us next week! It wasn't a commission or anything, he just loves to draw :-)

Welcome, Honda ad seekers :-)

EDIT (30-04-06): The video files are now back online at a different location. Please let me know if the links don't work; I think I've amended them correctly but it's entirely possible I've made a mistake!

I know I go on a lot (probably too much, but it fascinates me) about searches that have led people here. But the recent mentions of the Honda choir ad have doubled the number of visitors! (Note to self: stop whingeing, or they'll all go away again.)

We're still getting loads of people who've found us by searching for "Hogwarts March for brass band" (and there are now 2 brass bands who have started to rehearse my arrangement, although I haven't heard either of them - both conductors have promised to let me know when they perform it though). Other searches from the past couple of days: "amusing quotes about tenors and basses", and, slightly more oddly, "tenors sounding like sopranos"... But in the past week we've had, in addition to dozens looking for "honda choir advert",

• honda choir rehearsal
• honda noisy choir advert
• honda advert choir
• honda orchestra advert civic (a confused person there, I think!)
• honda advert beatbox
• honda ad singing choir
• civic choir
• civic choir advert
• honda civic choir tv ad download
and last but not least
• toyota advert 60 voice choir (I approve wholeheartly of someone who knows how many are in the choir but not what they're advertising!)

Anyway, if you've seen the ad but not the three "making of" videos, I've put them online too. Well worth a watch. And it struck me that probably most people seeing them would be surprised at what singers can do with their voices. I suspect the composer witnessed one of our warmups and stole all the ideas from there!

Anyway. Download:

Honda choir ad: QuickTime .mov (9.4 MB) or Windows Media video (8.9 MB)

Making of, 1: QuickTime .mov (19.1 MB) or Windows Media video (8.2 MB)

Making of, 2: QuickTime .mov (16.0 MB) or Windows Media video (7.9 MB)

Making of, 3: QuickTime .mov (27.7 MB) or Windows Media video (12.6 MB)

"We can't do the exercise where you bounce on your balls."

... said Maggie, with regret, followed by remorse when she realised what she'd said :p (Balls OF OUR FEET, in case you were wondering. And we couldn't do it because we were at the BBC, on the tiered seating of Studio 7, and bouncing tends to make it seem as if it might collapse.) (The tiered seating, not the BBC....)

More Russian tonight, surprise surprise. Much repetition of the "dirty e vowel", which needless to say I still can't do. (Apparently you have to have the back of your tongue low in the mouth. I think I have an abnormal tongue, because I can't seem to manouevre the back of it at all! Can anyone else?) We did the whole of the 2nd symphony, with the new vocal scores. I was kind of surprised that people were handing in their old scores as they picked up the new ones. I kept mine - I'll hand it in next week - because I had markings in the old score, and I wanted to transfer them. I can only assume that either most other people didn't write anything down last week (or last night), or that they don't mind making the same mistakes twice. (Good grief, I'm insufferably condescending, aren't I? Sorry about that.)

Jamieisms: "Sopranos, can you look gormless for a minute? Some of you look like you're trying to grow beards."

"There is NO y. But Jamie, there's a Y! I know there's a Y...."

And then it was the EGM. And, thank goodness, the subs motion was passed. But I spent the second half of the rehearsal wondering why on earth I bother being on the committee. I tried to answer some questions from some of the altos during the break, but I was totally unsuccessful at this, as whatever I said just seemed to get them even more angry. Afterwards, I was pretty upset, and while mulling over my incompetence I kept thinking back to last Tuesday night, when there was yet another long committee meeting, to discuss the subs proposal (yet again). Yet again I waited right till the end in order to raise a non-subs-related issue that members of the alto section had begged me to raise on their behalf. Yet again this caused me to arrive at the station just after my train left, with the next one an hour later. (We meet once a month as a committee, and I can't remember the last time I didn't just miss the train.) On this occasion I was less than a minute late, and I saw my train's lights in the distance as it sped away. And the next train had an engine failure and was half an hour late. So I spent an hour and a half on Victoria station on one of the coldest nights of the year, and (unsurprisingly) caught a cold which is only just receding. I had to get up an hour early the next morning in order to do my lesson preparations that I'd been too tired to do the night before. And the benefits of me doing all this? Somehow I can't see that there are any.

Anyway, to finish on a more positive note: a couple of people have told me they've had trouble viewing the Honda choir ad on the Honda website, so you can download it here (QuickTime file, 9.4 MB) or here (Windows Media Player file, 8.9 MB but lower quality - try only if the QuickTime file won't play). (I told Jamie about the ad yesterday, by the way - he hadn't seen it, or heard about it. His response, when I described it to him: "I can't believe they didn't ask me to get involved!")

"In the past, we've called this the Dirty E Vowel."

The Dirty E vowel will come to haunt us all over the next few weeks, I fear. It's that "y with an umlaut" Russian vowel that so many of us can't say (well, I can't, at least). We've had loads of Russian coaching over the past few years, but none of it seems to have explained clearly enough (IMHO) exactly how to do this vowel. Oh well. Maybe there'll be an epiphany at some point soon :-)

On my way out in a minute, but was so tired when I got home last night that I thought I'd better post last night's thoughts before I go to tonight's rehearsal - less to do tonight, when I'll be tireder! (Yes, I know that's not actually a word...)

Last night was the first ladies' sectional of the year, when we also met both the RNCM singers (who are augmentintg the choir for this project) and Natalia, the Russian coach. We got a lot done, mainly on the 3rd symphony (which we almost reached the end of) because the 2nd symphony is in the process of having a new score produced, which we will get tonight, and the transliteration is different. I got told off by some of the other 2nd altos for singing all the high notes (including the optional ones)... I don't like singing high, and it's not pleasant for anyone nearby, but if I've got to sing some really high notes, I find it much easier to do so if I stay up there rather than swooping around all over the place. That's my excuse, at least!

Not many Jamieisms. There was something in the warmup about creating mini-pizzas the size of dolls' houses, and keeping them all spinning at different points in mid-air, but I wasn't able to write this down at the time (as I was busy creating said mini-pizzas!) so I don't recall the exact words! There was also "your strength is THERE" (i.e. around your waist) "and you just drop it all"... but that was a bit more visual :p

Actually I think the exchange that amused me most was this one:

JAMIE: We'll go from figure 9.
CHOIR: You mean 99.
JAMIE: What did I say?
CHOIR: 9.
JAMIE: Brilliant.

Not sure why that amused me so - you had to be there!

Anyway. Must leave the house in 4 minutes' time. EGM tonight - I'm hoping the subs thing will be passed without too much fuss, because you really wouldn't believe how much time we've spent working on this, and I honestly believe it's the only way forward. Most of the comments I've had from people have been favourable, but I did just get an email from someone who is very definitely NOT in favour. But then she only found out about it today. I'm not at all sure that it was made clear to people that the EGM was tonight, which concerns me, but maybe it was and I was daydreaming. Anyway, we'll see.

Oh, finally: couple of recent searches I like. Apparently this blog is now 2nd in the worldwide Google rankings if you search for "bottom of shoe images", and (somewhat more surprisingly) "skinny dipping nova scotia"! Google them yourself to see why :p

Text of article about choir ad (from Monday's Guardian)

Singing the praises of the new Honda
What on earth to do next? First Honda UK garnered worldwide acclaim three years ago with Cog, the TV ad in which car parts formed a complex time-and-motion machine. Last year, it followed up with a psychedelic animated diesel engine, Grrr, which landed the car company and its advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy London the industry's highest honour, the film grand prix at the Cannes International Advertising Festival.

On Friday Honda will unveil its follow-up: Choir, the advert launching the new Honda Civic. And if it receives the reaction the company predicts, the race for 2006's most creative advert for will be over before it has begun.

Genuinely different, Choir features a massed group of 60 vocalists "singing" the sounds of a Honda Civic journeying through city streets and the wide open road. The singers thump their chests as wheels bounce over cobbles. Basses growl the deeper rumble of the engine while sopranos sing out its higher whine. At one point a pleasant-looking middle-aged woman opens her mouth to emit the soft squeal of a tyre turning sharply in a concrete car park.

"The hardest sound problem was nothing to do with the Honda," says Steve Sidwell, the composer and arranger who turned the mechanical and electronic cadences of the Civic into a written score. "A pen rolls across the dashboard at one point. That was hard. One of the singers managed to tap the underside of his teeth with his fingers and change the shape of his mouth."

The choir was filmed performing the score in a London car park in late November, after production company Partisan had lovingly shot the car.

"We just have to be a bit different," says Matthew Coombe, Honda UK marketing and communications manager. Honda competes with its rivals Volkswagen and Toyota with about one third of their marketing budgets. It will spend £3.2m on screening Choir and £250,000 on print advertising. The Honda website will be crucial, as many car buyers now browse the internet before they set foot in a showroom.

But then why the heavy investment in a two-minute TV ad? Jonathan Campbell, group account director at Wieden + Kennedy London, says the advert is so long because Honda seeks high-impact and high-involvement advertising and TV is the most efficient way to change people's brand perceptions. But the advert will not be shown that often.

"We do try to do things differently, rather than carpet bombing people with our brand," he says. "We want people talking about our work."
Stephen Brook

EDIT: If you haven't seen the ad yet, you can see it on the Honda website.

“But why Manchester?” asked a predictable London voice.

“But why Manchester?” asked a predictable London voice. Because Manchester got its act together and drew on its resources: two symphony orchestras, a conservatoire, a music school for brilliant kids. That’s why Manchester.

My favourite quote from this Guardian article which I just saw, reporting on the start of the Shostakovich festival. EDIT: Just found another Guardian article published today, this one by Gerard McBurney.

And just as I fired up Blogger to tell you about it, the Honda Civic "Choir" advert (as mentioned by Sheena) appeared on TV! Great fun. (It was on Sky Sports 1 just after United lost to City, but I was cheered up slightly by the ad...)

"But I'm loving it! It's SO WRONG!"

Hellooooo! Sorry to be absent for so long - over Christmas there was nothing urgent to say, and this week has been a bit traumatic. Thanks to the people who emailed to ask if everything was OK when I didn't blog after Wednesday's rehearsal :-)

Anyway, we're back! \o/ And it's Shostakovich all the way. The Shostakovich festival has already started, and our first bit is in less than 3 weeks' time. I was delighted that the first rehearsal was a sitting-next-to-a-different-part one - I love those! Partly because it does seem to reduce the talking, since it splits up the altos (although there was a row of 4 of them that I assume couldn't bear to be parted from each other, since they ignored the instruction to sit separately). But mainly because it's such a good way to make people sight read. And it did work, for the most part, although there were of course a few people who were heard to mutter that they'd never be able to learn the music quickly enough with no-one to follow... THAT'S EXACTLY WHY YOU FIND IT HARD TO LEARN, PEOPLE! I do dream of the day when everyone in the choir will just go for "loud and wrong" and sing on the beat. Maybe it will happen in my lifetime :p

Anyway, there were a few great Jamieisms on Wednesday. (I actually dithered for far longer than I care to admit, before deciding which one should be the title!) Some others:

"I want your musical dirty linen to be displayed in public. NOW."

"If there were Smarties, Meg would get them." (I'd also noticed the mistake Meg pointed out. But since she and Tom have just got engaged, I am more than happy for her to get all the virtual Smarties!)

"Commit to the music. Make it matter. Pretend the lights of someone on the other side of the world are going to go out if you don't sing, or something."

"No-one died in Kent!" (This was after he asked that the stakes be raised from the 'lights out' thing, and then the whole choir managed to count a couple of bars correctly... )

"When you go for the top note, I want you to drop your knees and be at one with the earth."

Oh, and I forgot to say - there is no piano accompaniment for either Shostakovich 2 or 3, so David set some of his accompaniment students (from the RNCM) the task of creating one from the full score, and they did it as a piano duet so as not to have to miss any notes out. Don't think we've ever been accompanied by a piano duet before!

Talking of talented young people (good grief, I feel so old...) I talked to Sam and Andrew (two of the basses who are members of both the HC and the HYC) and Alison tells me that Sam really impressed her with his sight reading. (She wasn't near Andrew, but I'm sure he was just as good.) And there was a new soprano sitting right behind me - I didn't catch her name, but she was doing amazingly well. I was most impressed.

And finally, a few links I've been meaning to post. Firstly, here's a recording of Shostakovich 2 (21.9 MB) that Barbara gave me a while ago. It's a live recording by the BBCSO & C, conducted by Mark Elder. It's only 19 minutes long, and the first choral entry (after the siren!) is at 12 minutes something. If you want just the choral bit at the end, here it is (7.8 MB). (I'll post the 3rd symphony when I get a recording of it.) EDIT: Here's the 3rd symphony (4.0 MB), helpfully supplied by Graham E (thanks, Graham). It's just the choir bit, and starts exactly where our music does.

This (4.0 MB) may interest you if you like the Kaiser Chiefs. If you don't know who the Kaiser Chiefs are, it's quite likely you won't be interested in the recording :p

Here's an interesting thing about hand signs used in jazz. And a Guardian feature which includes bits by both Mark Elder and Ed Gardner. And a weird singing thing that Barbara discovered (you type in some words and it sings them to you!) And a thing that claims it can tell what song you're playing if you just tap out the rhythm on your space bar (it didn't guess the one I tried, so I lost patience, but you may have more luck). Oh, and best of all - an article discovered by Sheena that tells us about an extremely interesting-sounding advert!

Oh, and I've updated the online choir schedule. (Those who don't know the address, please leave a comment or email me.) In particular, anyone who wasn't aware that there are football matches on ALL THREE OF THE NEXT THREE WEDNESDAYS may like to make a mental note...

And, finally finally, I know you've been wondering about my favourite recent searches-that-led-people-here. Well, "Hogwarts March for Brass Band" is still a very popular one (which has resulted in me sending my arrangement to a couple of people, even), but my favourites are "becoming russian" and "orcish translator" :p