"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