The seventh day of Christmas: Sincerely

This is one of my mum's very favourite songs, but few other people seem to know it. However, people I've introduced it to have invariably loved it - Rachel even got me to do an SATB a cappella version to be performed at her wedding!

The McGuire Sisters - Sincerely

Sincerely is from 1955, and was at number one for almost three months in the USA. It was only a minor hit in the UK. It's one of a large number of songs from those days which were originally written and recorded by black vocal groups (in this case The Moonglows) but covered almost immediately by white groups, who then went on to have far greater success with almost identical versions of the songs because there were so many places that wouldn't play music by black groups. Thank goodness things have changed since then. I felt a bit guilty when I found out about this part of the history of doo wop, because I'd never heard (or even heard of) the Moonglows version, and by the time I did hear it, I'd loved the McGuire Sisters version for too long for it to be superseded!

So what's so great about it? Mainly the luscious vocal harmonies. The parts are all really close together, and the fact that the tune is so low in the voice - and that's the TOP part - makes the harmony seem even more dense and wonderful. (The bottom part - which I sing - goes down to the E below middle C. I can usually get this no problem, but I have to plan set lists quite carefully when we're performing Sincerely, because I can't get the low notes if the previous song was at all high...)

There's also a proper big band AND some male backing vocalists accompanying them. The best bit of the backing is undoubtedly the trumpet flourishes (I can't think of a better way to describe them - but listen and you'll know which bit I mean!) but I do also love the bit when the men sing "ba ba ba ba ba ba"... Oh, and I nearly forgot the unsubtle key change! And it all ends on a major seventh chord... what more can you ask for?

The sixth day of Christmas: The king is half undressed

Here's another song which I've loved since I first heard it, but although it's all wonderful, there's one specific moment that gets into onto the Twelve Days of Christmas list.

Jellyfish - The King is Half Undressed

From a UK point of view, Jellyfish were a one-hit wonder, because although this song made the UK chart (just) in 1991, it was the only one of theirs that did. However, they did apparently have a bigger hit in the USA - Baby's Coming Back - but I've never heard their version of this, just the cover by the mighty McFly a couple of years ago.

However, The King is Half Undressed is a perfect pop song. (Its video even won awards.) I like the harmonies - not just your standard three or four chords, there are some really interesting ones. It even starts on a major seventh chord - not many songs do that! And there are some fabulous backing vocals - lots of psychedelic oohs and ahs, and a great "ba ba ba ba!" And there's a HARPSICHORD! (or at least something that's pretending to be a harpsichord...)

But my favourite bit is the lead into the last verse, which starts at about 2:55. The guitar does a thing that I think of as an "emphatic strum" - I can't describe it better than that without either using FAR more words or actually writing out the rhythm, but I love it when guitars do this. And it's extra emphatic this time. Why? Well, the guitar actually does this same emphatic strum right at the start of the song, but there the chord has the aforementioned added major seventh, plus it's only accompanied by the aforementioned harpsichord. For the recapitulation at 2:55, the chord is now straightforward major (no added seventh), and instead of harpsichord, the guitar is accompanied by bass and drums. All of these factors make the emphatic strum SO much more emphatic. But it gets even better, because the strum itself is only my second-favourite bit in this song. My favourite bit is the bit it leads into: a set of triplet crotchets (on an unexpected chord) that are so distinctive in my mind that when they appear in any other song I refer to them as "Jellyfish Triplets". (This really confuses people if I give them a copy of one of my guitar songsheets for any of these songs. Most often this has happened with She Loves You (I'll leave it to you to see if you can decide where in the song the Jellyfish Triplets appear....) but there are others! None as good as Jellyfish though...)

(P.S. She Loves You is far too well-known to make it onto this list, but I can't mention it without pointing out that the G6 chord that appears twice in the song (the very last chord, and the end of the intro) is one of the best chords EVER to sing in a small one-to-a-part group.)

The fifth day of Christmas: Tammy

Just to buck the trend a little, here's one that's not from 1978 and has no backing vocals!

Debbie Reynolds - Tammy

This got to number 2 in the UK charts in 1957, but was number 1 for several weeks in the USA. It's sung by Debbie Reynolds, who was always most notable to me as being the mother of Carrie Fisher, but she was also the girl in Singin' in the Rain and more recently she was Grace's mum in Will and Grace. The song itself originally appeared in the film Tammy and the Bachelor, which was not only the first in a series of Tammy films but also featured Leslie Nielsen as a non-comic leading man and Fay Wray as his nothing-to-do-with-King-Kong mother!

Apparently Debbie Reynolds' performance of this song in the film was Olivia Newton John's inspiration for Hopelessly Devoted to You in Grease, and you can certainly see some similarities. The song, as with so many of my favourites, is very simple, and one of my very favourite ones to sing (I even invented some cheesy backing vocals so we could do it with the band!) There's really nothing more to say - just listen and wallow in its wonderfulness. (It always makes old ladies cry when I sing it to them - I hope it's tears of joy they're crying!)

The fourth day of Christmas: Come back my love

This is a song that I know so well - and have performed so many times (and recorded!) - that I'm always quite surprised when I introduce someone to it and find that they've never heard of it before.

Darts - Come Back My Love

This got to number 2 in the UK charts in 1978 (are you noticing a pattern here?!) Darts had quite a few big hits that year (I also love Boy from New York City and It's Raining) but their career didn't last much longer than that. They had a big impact on me at the time, though - I'd always liked what I'd heard of doo-wop music, but didn't often get the chance to hear any (its heyday was before I was born - it was my mum that introduced me to it), until suddenly Darts were performing it on Top of the Pops!

Come Back My Love isn't a complicated song. The main chorus bit comes four times, with a middle 8 that comes twice, and an instrumental break, plus a proper intro and coda. But there is a great saxophone solo, and a great piano bit, and the backing vocals are possibly the most fun backing vocals to sing of any song EVER. They even actually include the words "doo wop"! Not to mention "doobidi" and "wah wah". (I'd show you the music, but it's so many years since I wrote it out that I only have a handwritten version... I must do it properly sometime though, because it looks much harder than it is, so it's hard to introduce a new singer to it!)

The third day of Christmas: Lilac Wine

This one was a UK chart hit - it got to number 16 in 1978 - but I've rarely heard it since, so there's a good chance you won't know it.

Elkie Brooks - Lilac Wine

I didn't actually realise until I looked it up just now, but this version isn't the original - it's actually a really old song. Elkie Brooks was very popular where I grew up, because I grew up in Salford and she's FROM Salford. I suspect she wasn't as well-known elsewhere, but I could be wrong! Anyway, I know quite a lot of people who regard Jeff Buckley's "Grace" as the greatest album of all time, and he covered Lilac Wine on there, but I find his version disappointing compared to this one. (I think that's why, although I find Jeff Buckley's album pleasant enough, I've never been fanatical about it, even though I'm considered ignorant by some for having this opinion.)

I just love the orchestration on Elkie's version. It starts with a bare fifth, and you think there are only a few instruments backing her, but then more join in, until you realise there's a full orchestra there. There are timp rolls and everything! And I love the harmony too. It starts in A minor, but the chorus is in A major - at least until it surprises you by following a D major chord with a very unexpected F major. It gets back to A major in the end - and it's a proper ending. None of this fadeout rubbish! They don't make them like this any more :-)

The second day of Christmas: Ruby Red Dress

Here's another one that wasn't a hit in the UK - in fact, it was never even RELEASED in the UK for some reason, although it got to no. 1 in the USA.

Helen Reddy - Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)

I've always thought of this song as "Ruby Red Dress" and was quite surprised to discover, when I went in search of it, that that isn't actually the title. It was around in 1973, when I was very young, and I remember hearing it a lot on the radio. (Must ask my mum which radio station we used to listen to in those days, because they were clearly ahead of their time by playing songs that were never to be released!)

Again, it's a very simple song, but it's a great one to sing, and the tune won't leave your head any time soon. It starts off more or less in D major, although the fact that every chord is a D7 chord (and there are lots of C7 chords) makes the key slightly awkward to pin down. In fact, you could almost think of the whole verse as a dominant pedal, because at the chorus it finally resolves to G major.

My favourite things about the song, though, are the backing vocals and the brass parts. Both of these only join in at verse 2, and again they're very simple but effective. This is not quite my favourite Helen Reddy song - that would be Angie Baby - but Angie Baby was a big hit in the UK so it's more likely you've heard that one. If you find yourself still singing "leave me alone, won't you leave me alone" this time next week, I apologise!

The first day of Christmas: Say it ain't so, Joe

I thought I'd use this Christmas period to introduce you to a few songs that you might not know. Not classical - I doubt there are any classical songs that I know that are unfamiliar to all of you - but my first love, which is pop!

Murray Head - Say it ain't so, Joe

Some of the songs I plan to write about are songs that did well in the charts but are never heard these days. This one, though, was never in the charts - which amazes me, because I remember it getting lots of radio play at one point. This is the original version, sung by the guy who actually wrote it, Murray Head (best known for One Night in Bangkok). It came out in 1975, but a few years later there were a couple of cover versions - from Roger Daltrey in 1977 and Gary Brooker in 1979. I think it was the Gary Brooker one that I heard first, but I must have heard all three on the radio, because it was many years later that I acquired CDs of them (there were no CDs in 1979!)

The title of the song is a well-known quotation (although, as with so many well-known quotations, there is some doubt over whether or not its origin is an urban legend). It's from the Black Sox Scandal of 1919 - a dark time in the history of baseball - and the Joe in question is Shoeless Joe Jackson. The story was told by the film Eight Men Out, and is also a big part of Field of Dreams. Short version of the story: in 1919, most of the players of the Chicago White Sox baseball team (one of the most successful teams at the time, and still a major team now) accepted bribes to intentionally lose several games, including that year's World Series. They were found out, and all banned from professional baseball for life. Shoeless Joe Jackson was the fans' favourite, and it was never proved conclusively that he was involved in throwing games, but he was banned with the rest anyway. He was the David Beckham of his day, so this was a big deal... and as he emerged from the trial in which he was found guilty and banned, allegedly a little boy said to him "Say it ain't so, Joe!" (In Field of Dreams, the reason Kevin Costner built a baseball field in the middle of his cornfield was because he believed the voice in his head was Shoeless Joe asking him to do this, and as a result the ghosts of Shoeless Joe and the other players did turn up to play there...)

The song itself is very simple, starting in D major with fairly straightforward chord progressions. The thing I love most about it, though, is the section starting at about 1:45. It starts in B minor and goes through a series of fairly obvious chords, but none so obvious that you're ever sure exactly which of them is going to appear next. The progression ends with A minor, and with this we realise that the progression has been leading us through a really long modulation from D major to E major. The song from here to the end remains in E major, but the moment when the first E major chord of the whole song appears - at 2:44 - is one of the most joyous moments in any song. It never fails to cause my face to break into a huge grin. Magical.

On the last day before Christmas, my true love sent to me: four inflatable Santas, three sets of tuned sleighbells, two great Sleigh Rides and a robot

I got a text last night from Dr Liz asking how the concert went, and my answer was that it was too good to do it justice in a text so I'd have to ring her! But she was about to go to sleep, so I said I'd blog about it ASAP.

(I'm currently temping at a company in Salford Quays. I'm covering reception, but the phone didn't ring at all today - very peaceful!)

All of this year's carol concerts have been good, but last night's was far and away the best. So I was delighted that that's the one my mum came to. She says that there were people next to her who'd come up from Devon specially - they didn't have relatives or friends performing, they just came because they knew it would be good! What excellent taste. And Bruce was there too - not seen him for ages!

Anyway, there were many things that happened at last night's concert that didn't happen at any of the others, and since I don't have currently anything to refer to, I might forget some of them. But I know you're all dying to hear what they did for "12 Drummers Drumming", so let's start there!

Our first clue was that there was an unexpected drum on the stage - I think it's called a conga drum but I could be wrong. Definitely Latin American, anyway. This drum hadn't appeared in any of the other carol concerts, and as far as we were aware there were no items on the programme with Latin American percussion involved - exciting! Anyway, it lay dormant until The Twelve Days of Christmas, and then, on the twelfth day of Christmas, we had a whole Latin American percussion break - all the section played, there were shakers and everything - and then Jim the clarinettist stood up and played Tico Tico. Fabulous!

(There was also a new turkey hat for our conductor in The Twelve Days of Christmas - one of several that were produced during the concert. Sadly Petroc never got one for himself, but he was excellent apart from that!)

Mozart's Sleigh Ride was as wonderful as ever as far as the sleighbells were concerned. Ric wore his antlers again, and they fell down again. Our conductor made us giggle again with his dreamy look while conducting the audience. But the new addition was that John the timp player did an impression of a robot in the bars when he wasn't playing. Not everyone could see this, but it was very amusing to those of us who could! It's hard to describe what he actually did - probably the easiest way is to say: you know when someone does a mime of being a robot? That's what he did!

Then, at the start of the second half, the horn section had us all crying with laughter. I remember a few years ago when one of them brought the house down by wearing an inflatable Santa suit - well, this year ALL FOUR OF THEM wore inflatable Santa suits, and they could hardly walk, so they had to help each other get onstage. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much! And of course the audience probably thought this had happened every night, but it hadn't, and we had no warning so we were as surprised as they were. I'm really cross I didn't have a camera with me though. If anyone magically managed to get any photos of the horns in costume, please send me one! I'll be forever grateful!

There were no other extreme costumes in the orchestra, although there was a lot more tinsel - and more Santa hats and antlers etc. - than on previous nights. However, the trumpets and trombones made up for their sartorial restraint by being very wonderful indeed in the Sleigh Ride encore. They stood up for the jazzy bit again, but this time they didn't play just the printed notes - they really jazzed it all up. And the percussion section joined in the fun by making the most of the fact that they had Latin American instruments available! And the horns, not to be upstaged, stood up in their Santa suits to play their traditional Rudolph excerpt. I'm sure Leroy Anderson would have loved it all!

What else? Ooh, I nearly forgot Santa. Not the inflatable horn Santas but the other one. When Petroc was introducing something or other, Santa came onstage - carrying not a sack, but a violin - and interrupted him . He (Santa) was unimpressed at the way he'd been portrayed and wanted to correct this. He also wanted to audition for the orchestra! He got out his violin to show what he could do, but quickly found that his beard got in the way when he played it the usual way - so he held it in front of him and played it like a cello. He gave us a quick burst of Hava Nagila, but although I thought this was very impressive, it didn't impress the leader of the orchestra enough for her to invite him to join the violin section. She decided he'd be OK with the violas (!)... but there were no empty seats. In fact, it turned out that there was only one empty seat in the whole orchestra - the timp chair. So Santa was sent over to sit behind the timps, and it was only then that I realised that Santa was in fact John the timp player (who'd been a robot earlier). A versatile guy!

Anyway, a great time was had by all (although I do rather wish the coughers had stayed at home - they got louder each day!) I need to sleep now. However, I do have a vague plan of doing a 12 Days of Christmas feature here, starting tomorrow - I haven't entirely decided what form it will take, but do watch this space!

P.S. I've just realised I've ended every paragraph with an exclamation mark. Sorry. But it was just an exclamation-mark-type concerts :-)

P.P.S. Almost forgot - the annual American military's Santa-tracking site is now live - do have a look if you've never seen it - plus, if you're losing track of the date, my favourite website will help....

O hush the noise, ye men of strife, and hear the angels sing

This is my favourite line in any carol, so I'm always slightly disappointed when the verse is split and only the men get to sing that bit. But I realised today that it's actually probably better this way, because I never used to be able to sing it without a lump in my throat anyway! (In one of today's concerts we were asked to vote for whether the ladies or gentlemen of the audience sang this verse better. I would have voted for the men anyway because of them singing my favourite line, but they (helped, of course, by the men from the choir) did sound rather splendid when they sang it!)

I have loads of things to say about today, but I must start with the Vendee Globe because I didn't quite get to it before. (Sorry if you're sick of me going on about it!) If you've forgotten what I'm talking about, see towards the end of this post for a brief description which includes my reasons for cheering on two competitors in particular, and then updates in just about every post since then. Well, this week the race finally made it (briefly) onto the front page of the BBC News website - but not for the reason I'd expected! One of the competitors broke his leg - a big deal when you're alone on a boat EIGHT HUNDRED MILES from land - and what finally made the BBC take notice of the race was not actually this fact, but the fact that one of the British racers was asked to go and help him.

But even then, all the reports are misleading - Sam Davies didn't rescue Yann Elies, and it was never likely that she would. There was another competitor who was far nearer than her, and he was the one who threw supplies to the injured man and kept him company until the Australian Navy got there. Sam was only asked to head that way for moral support until the Navy arrived, but they got there faster than expected and she never actually got anywhere near the injured man. She and the other competitor who helped out have not even been disadvantaged in the race - they are to receive a time credit.

I'm telling you all this because I'm annoyed that THIS was the story that made it onto the front page, when what they SHOULD have been telling everyone is WHAT HAPPENED TO MIKE GOLDING. You may recall that Mike Golding and Alex Thomson were the two competitors I was rooting for, because of all the bad luck they've had in the past. You may also recall that Alex Thomson's curse struck again and he had to retire from the race a few days after the start. And if you've REALLY been paying attention, you'll know that last time I updated you, Mike Golding was in second place. Well... early last week he finally took the lead for the first time... and only THREE HOURS LATER, his boat was dismasted! I'm distraught - but I doubt I'm as distraught as he is. Another FOUR YEARS before he can try again! And I bet he's even angrier when he finds that the media were more interested in reporting that another competitor set off to provide moral support to a friend! (Well, he seems like a level-headed guy, so he'll probably take it in his stride. But I'm furious on his behalf!)

Anyway, there are several British sailors still in the race, of whom the aforementioned Samantha Davies is currently doing best, in 8th place at the time of writing. I'll keep you updated from time to time, but both my favourites are now out. Maybe next time I won't announce I'm supporting them, I'm good at cursing people by doing that!

So, to change the subject... carol concerts! Three down, one to go (of the main choir ones, I mean) and they've been great fun so far. The silly hats are getting sillier and more numerous, and the number of fairy lights being worn by choir members is increasing. And our conductor did indeed get a selection of hats to wear today. The experience of being conducted by a man in a turkey hat is one that will stay with me for a while! (Talking of head gear, I did manage to go onstage for the first half this afternoon with a pencil in my hair, and I didn't notice until just before the interval!)

The only obvious flaw with the concerts that still needs to be rectified is that Petroc Trelawny didn't have a silly hat to wear! I'm sure someone will find a solution to this problem :-) I've been quite impressed with him so far, actually. He sounds (unsurprisingly) as if he actually knows what he's talking about, and more importantly he hasn't just made exactly the same introductions, read from a card, like some presenters do - it sounds much more natural. I must admit I'd expected him to be possibly a bit boring, but he's not!

I'm thrilled that the march from The Nutcracker is on the programme, but it occurred to me that it's the only time I've been disappointed that the orchestra is arranged in their customary formation with all the violins at the front (1sts on the conductor's left, 2nds on his right) and the violas and cellos in the middle. The Nutcracker march has a rising scale that moves all the way through the strings, and with an orchestra that's arranged in the traditional way (cellos on the conductor's right, etc.) it produces a great visual effect, with all the bows moving a bit like a Mexican wave! This visual effect is lost with the cellos in the middle. Still sounds great though!

I just tried - and failed - to find something on YouTube to show you what I mean. But I did find a copy of the full orchestral score, and it seems that the strings don't actually do quite what I thought they did! The bit I'm talking about appears for the first time on page 12 - letter F - and it ALMOST does what I thought it did, but the 1st violins have a rogue phrase that breaks the visual pattern! I must have been so entranced last time I actually saw an orchestra play this that I didn't notice...

Talking of visual patterns... Last week I sang in a carol service, helping out a friend's choir. I hadn't been to a rehearsal for it, but most of the stuff was very familiar, and the stuff that wasn't was easy enough to sight-read. However, there was one carol that I'd never heard of before, by a composer I'd never heard of before. I've already forgotten both the title and the composer's name (although the title might have started with "Sleep"...) but it was one of those carols in which there are quite a few verses, and all the lyrics after verse 1 are printed at the bottom of the page, miles from the music. Not too much of a problem for those singing the tune, but I was amused, at the time, at the thought of anyone filming the faces of altos singing a piece like this... very good for the eye muscles, though, moving up and down the page so much! I was reminded of this by As With Gladness Men Of Old, which is on the programme for our current concerts. The alto part consists of repeated Ds for 90% of the time, but I don't know the song well enough to remember when it's not D, so the rapid eye movement sets in!

You know how last night I was trying to decide on my favourite moments of the current carol concerts? Well, there are two more contenders that I can't believe I forgot. One is the tuned sleighbells in Mozart's Sleigh Ride. Anyone who knows me well knows that sleighbells are absolutely my favourite thing about Christmas (I spent quite a while searching for a good picture of some sleighbells to put on my home-made Christmas cards, and I generally carry sleighbells in my pocket for at least a month or so before Christmas, merely because it amuses me so much!), so having TWO Sleigh Rides in the same concert, PLUS Jingle, Bells is fabulous. I'd always found Mozart's version quite tame compared to Leroy Anderson's - and it is, really - but this year I've realised how much I like it. Partly this is due to the trumpet part (very simple, yet very difficult due to its height, and played absolutely perfectly, as usual, by Gareth), but mainly it's the tuned sleighbells. For once I'm sitting in a seat from which I can see all the percussion players, and I love watching them play this in particular (there are three sleighbell players, with five sets of bells between them). (Very blurred photo of the sleighbell tray below - the large brown thing in the middle of all the sleighbells is a set of antlers...)



Tonight was even better. First of all, this was the moment when our conductor was persuaded to conduct wearing a turkey on his head. This was hilarious - I could go into more detail but you probably had to be there! Then, Ric (one of the percussionists) put the antlers on, and they kept falling down his face. This made us giggle rather more than it probably should have. But the funniest part - which is still making me giggle now, thinking about it - was when the audience were jingling their keys etc. to help out with the sleighbells part. The dreamy look on our conductor's face while he conducted them - well, I don't know why it was so funny, it just was!

Leroy Anderson's Sleigh RIde was of course the first encore as it always is (there was an outcry the year they didn't play it!) and it was as wonderful as ever. The concert, years ago, when Dave the Whip Guy (aka Principal Percussionist) tricked some of the choir into clapping by pretending to crack the whip in the wrong place - well, that's still my funniest memory EVER, which is unlikely to be repeated because these days everyone claps all the way through. (It was the look in his face that amused me the most!) But the Sleigh Ride encore is still the highlight of my Christmas every year. Tonight's version was the best of the three so far, because the brass stood up in the jazzy bit, which we'd been hoping they would :-)

But I must mention the drum solos. In The Twelve Days of Christmas, our conductor had the idea that in the last verse, just after the words "on the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me", there should be a drum solo before the words "twelve drummers drumming". The instruction - to Dave the Whip Guy - was something like "play a bit of a cadenza, something different every night, and end with a roll". Well, Dave the Whip Guy needed no further encouragement! At the first concert, he was quite restrained - he played a fairly standard marching-band-type drum solo, although it was possibly longer than the conductor had envisioned, because he brought us in while it was still going on...

This afternoon, at the twelfth day of Christmas, Dave started to play the side drum part from Bolero. This was funny in itself, but it was even funnier when the flute player joined in with the tune. Again, the conductor thought he'd better call a halt to this and finish the carol (I have no doubt that the orchestra would have played all 15 minutes of Bolero if no-one stopped them!) but by that point we'd all forgotten what key we were in. I now know (because I just looked it up) that Bolero is in C major, but at the time I was too fascinated by what was going on to think about my next note, so by the time I had to sing it, it was too late! Oh well - we recovered within a bar or two....

Tonight, it was even better. Dave had enlisted the rest of the percussion section AND the brass, and at the twelfth day of Christmas they played the 20th Century Fox fanfare! Sadly the conductor continued the carol before we got the chance to find out whether or not the violins would have played their bit, but it was still fabulous. And this time we managed to come in on the right note afterwards!

I am DYING to find out what they've planned for Tuesday night....

Other stuff: Our lovely Dr Liz finally had a good day, after some unpleasant ones she's had lately. She received a surprise proposal, which she has accepted!



Alison and I walked round the city centre for a while after last night's concert (there was an hour before our train) admiring pretty reflections in puddles and windows. We both took loads of photos but mine are all too blurry to be any good - she was using a proper camera, so hers should be better. I'll put some up here when I can get copies from her. But next time it's been raining, if you're anywhere near the Wheel at night, have a look around you - there are some amazing reflections in all the surrounding glass and puddles.

We also heard a really good busker on Deansgate (outside Kendals). It was a sax player - this used to be rare, but saxophonist buskers are all over the place these days. But not only was this one really good, he played tunes I was surprised to hear from a busker. It was Darth Vader's theme from The Empire Strikes Back that first caught my attention, but then he followed it up with the much lesser-known Princess Leia's theme, and then the theme from Back to the Future! I was very impressed - if I'd had any money, I would have given him all of it!

Today, between the two concerts, I spent a while wandering all over the city centre trying to find anywhere that sells second class stamps (turns out you can only buy them from a post office these days - and yes, I did go to Spring Gardens, but the stamp machine was out of order), and when I was in St Ann's Square I caught the very end of a performance by the Pantonic All-Stars Steel Orchestra. They sounded rather good, and I was disappointed not to have heard more of them. (I've only ever played in a steel band once, a VERY long time ago, and it was great fun - I'd love to do that again sometime!)

Someone asked me the other day what one of the words in Hymn to the Virgin meant, and I couldn't remember, but I think I claimed that lots of the words are flower-related. Now I've looked it up, this turns out to have been a bit of an exaggeration! I'm too out of practice with Latin to translate it confidently myself, but a bit of googling produced this translation, which mentions flowers far less than I thought :-)

While we're doing text files, I found my Christmas lyrics quiz that I created a few years ago. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you might have seen this before, but if you haven't and you fancy a bit of distraction, here are the questions and here are the answers.

And, in case anyone wanted it, here's the text of A Visit from St. Nicholas. I've been meaning for ages to learn the names of all Santa's reindeer, for quiz purposes - now I have no excuse!

Finally, a couple more random links! Germaine Greer has a lot to say about didgeridoos (all of it interesting). And, via From the Front of the Choir, a Guardian article about vocal harmony.

And, last but not least, Manchester will have official fireworks for the first time in nine years!

Jingle, bells

I always forget, until I come to sing it, that the title of Jingle Bells actually has a comma in it. (Or, for that matter, that Hark the Herald Angels Sing has both an exclamation mark and a hyphen...) The very informative Wikipedia entry about the song doesn't mention the comma - I must edit it sometime!

I'm very tired. Last night was my seventh concert this month (if you count the one on 29th November as "this month", and it certainly FELT like December that day!) - although I'm sure others have had more - and there are still three to go before Christmas, two of which are today. Normally I'd only just be getting up (yes, I know it's gone noon, but my sleeping patterns are a little unusual) but I got up early to watch Man Utd in the Club World Cup Final (it's in Japan, that's why it's in the morning). Five minutes to go and we're winning thanks to Rooney, although Vidic got sent off (somewhat harshly I thought) for elbowing someone in the face (he definitely did it, but I don't think he did it intentionally).

I got a new temp assignment this week, for an organisation whose office is within the University of Manchester. They're closed for the next two weeks, though, so I have a different assignment then. And I had to turn down an extra one for this weekend due to the choir gigs - they wanted me to be an ELF! I would have loved that!

My interview was finally in yesterday's Guardian - so much for them telling me it'd be in, the first I knew was when I got to yesterday's rehearsal and Barbara handed me a copy! As usual there are bits that make me cringe because I would never have actually said them, but other than that most of it is accurate. (Just to reiterate, because I always worry that people will think me very arrogant to keep putting this story forward: I didn't write this article, and I didn't see it until it was printed. It was written by a Guardian writer who interviewed me. And he contacted me, as a result of other times I've been in the media with this story - none of which were instigated by me.)

Anyway, back to music: Last night's concert was good, but unsurprisingly the carol concerts always get better with each repetition. So far the orchestra have been quite restrained in their choice of costumes and silly hats - hopefully that will change! Last night there wasn't even a hat for the conductor - a shocking omission that will no doubt be rectified today. And I'm more hopeful than ever that one day we might get all the alto notes right in A Merry Christmas and It Came Upon The Midnight Clear, because the single note in each song that's always been wrong... well, it's still wrong in both cases, but the encouraging sign is that I can now, after all these years, finally hear quite a few people singing the correct version! The recordings I've heard of both these carols feature the same two wrong notes, though, so it's obviously a perennial problem :-)

I've been trying to decide which is my favourite bit of the concert. I think it's probably the trumpets in Magnificat, but a close second would be the bit in In Dulci Jubilo when the men take us into D minor. (You know the bit I mean!)

So, I seem to have acquired a load of links - let me share them:

Daniel Barenboim writes about international relations within his orchestra.

Apparently last Sunday was the International Day of Choral Singing - was anyone aware of this? I wasn't!

Imogen Cooper writes about Alfred Brendel, and Alan Rusbridger reports from his final concert.

Some of the Doctor Who writers list their favourite Christmas songs.

Apparently baby birds practise songs while they sleep.

Slightly depressing article about music in advertising.

Classical music education from the Muppets.

Interview with one of the King's Singers who's about to leave them.

From the BBC Scottish SO blog, some reflections on snobbery in classical music.

It seems likely that Hallelujah will be the Christmas number one - but whose version? We'll know by the end of today. I know which I'd prefer...

A performance of Messiah was cancelled for health and safety reasons. I feel very bad for the musicians who'd presumably spent ages rehearsing it. Hope they found somewhere else to perform it.

Scientists apparently plan to test whether sharks enjoy listening to Christmas songs.

On an Overgrown Path reports that not everyone likes Gilbert Kaplan's Mahler 2 performances.

Norman Lebrecht wonders why Mendelssohn is often forgotten.

Tom Service writes about classical crossover.

Eric Whitacre has some advice for beginning composers.

Alfred Hickling tells us about the Fragmented Orchestra. It's not what you might think!

Richard Coles (who used to be in the Communards and is now a curate) has a thought-provoking faith perspective on carol concerts.

And there is a girl band causing a stir in Pakistan.

Non-musical stuff: a sad report about words which have been left out of a dictionary.

Where to see the stars from the UK - although I'd disagree with some of these. (In particular, anywhere near London is NOT a good place to see the stars from!) Many years ago, the Salford Astronomical Society wanted to choose the darkest place in England for an astronomical camping trip. They did this by looking at a photo of the UK from space at night - and the darkest spot then was a place called Fleet Moss, a few miles south of Hawes in North Yorkshire. Also, I have a friend who's an internationally-respected amateur astronomer, and he moved to a remote part of Shropshire several years ago because of the relatively dark skies there.

I wanted to write about the Vendee Globe but I have to be out of the house in five minutes, so it will have to wait till tonight!

Let all the world in every corner sing

No time to write anything tonight - maybe tomorrow - but I just wanted to put some more mp3s up. (Don't say I never do anything for you!)

Vaughan Williams Antiphon
Holst Psalm 148
Mathias - A Babe is Born

(See post below for Bach...)

Alison lost her coconuts!

But don't worry, she's just found them. Several days of panic over! (We need them for Sleigh Ride tomorrow at the library... it would feel really weird to do it with no coconuts.) (Even weirder to do it without sleighbells, but mine are in my bag ready!)

I'm currently watching the Choir of the Year final on BBC4, and getting angry at the usual TV technique of spending half the broadcast time talking to people backstage and at home, rather than showing them performing. This annoys me SO MUCH that I now find I have to mute the sound until the non-performance segment is over. Argh. At least the performances are all pretty good, although since I already know the result I'm watching with that in mind, and I can't say I agree with it! I'll wait till the end before deciding who I *think* should have won, but the choir that *did* win has been on already, and I don't think they were the best (although they were very good).

Two choir rehearsals this week, because there is much Christmas stuff to learn. We're doing a bit of Bach's Magnificat among the carols, and I was quite surprised to find how many people had never done it before. So, for those people:

Magnificat, 1st movement
Gloria Patri

(I do hope we do the whole of the Magnificat at some point - it's many years since I sang it, and it's so very wonderful.)

Normally I'd do my musical links before my non-musical ones, but I must tell you that at the time of writing, Mike Golding is currently in 2nd place in the Vendee Globe, and only 49 miles behind the leader! Still a long way to go, but let's hope nothing goes wrong for him this time.

Norman Lebrecht talks about Gilbert Kaplan's Mahler 2 obsession. Mr Kaplan conducted us in this work a few years ago, and he gave every member of the choir a presentation copy of the choir entry page from the autograph score. I'm sure I'm not the only one who was absolutely thrilled with this gesture and still has it on their wall.

There is a year-long festival next year at Kings Place (the new venue in London) called Beethoven Unwrapped.

The busy Tom Service talks to Steven Isserlis, who I think must have missed out a few years because he's claiming to be 50! I thought he was much younger than that!

Tom Service also has a birthday tribute to Messiaen.

Peter Phillips talks about a cappella singing in Russia.

And, from A Cappella News, we hear of the Tremble Clefs, a choir for those living with Parkinson's Disease.

There are several musicians who are protesting - quite rightly - about the fact that their music has been used as a torture device.

And finally, if you followed my advice and bookmarked The Big Picture, you'll already know about this, but if not, their Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar may make you rethink!

Does your granny always tell you that the old songs are the best?

I found myself writing out a proper (i.e. computerised) version of Merry Xmas Everybody yesterday. I have a handwritten version that I did about twenty years ago, and because it's adequate for showing the harmonies and everyone knows the tune, I've never got round to rewriting it. However, because one of my band's gigs next week will now include a singer who's never sung with us before, and we won't have a chance to rehearse with her, I thought I'd better make the music as clear as possible, and that was the most illegible one! (Singing one to a part is great until someone has an emergency that means they can't be there - normally I'd just amend the set list to include songs with fewer harmony parts, but on this occasion we already had two singers who could never make it. so we were already doing only songs with the minimum parts... hence the need for a stand-in.)

(It seems that a London hotel has banned this song because it's "too irritating". It's not Christmas without it!)

(You may be interested to know, if you didn't already, that my spelling of the song title is correct and that of the Telegraph is incorrect. (Because I'm very sad, I am always amused over Christmas to see how many times this song is given an incorrect title!) Slade used unconventional spellings in lots of their song titles - e.g. Coz I Luv You, Mama Weer All Crazee Now, Gudbuy T'Jane, Cum On Feel The Noize. The use of the Xmas spelling is hardly weird at all in comparison!)

Anyway, if you would like to hear us perform this song live, come to the Henry Watson Music Library on Saturday between 1.30 and 2pm. Yes, I get to shout in a library again! (This isn't the gig with the three missing singers - that's a few days later.) There are other groups performing too, but I don't know what time they are - it's an all-day event including stories, crafts, mince pies and a treasure hunt. Should be fun!

(Oh, and for those who ask me where we got the name of the band from, here's a picture of the original Pleiades.)

I always feel as if the musical Christmas season doesn't really start properly until Messiah is out of the way, and now it is. It was on Sunday and it went very well, although it was a REALLY long day! I heard quite a few choir members saying it was their best Messiah ever. It wasn't my favourite one - that accolade goes to the 2004 version, conducted by our own choral director. Although I invariably enjoy the performance, 2004 was the only year I found it EXCITING. But this year was pleasant enough, and as usual Hallelujah really got to me and I couldn't sing the first minute of it due to the lump in my throat!

Tonight we'll be starting on this year's batch of carols - I always love the first carol rehearsal, because it involves lots of lovely sight reading - but in the meantime, here are a few links.

Man killed for hogging karaoke microphone. Seems perfectly reasonable to me. (Which reminds me - I had a go at the vocals on Guitar Hero World Tour a few weeks ago. Very amusing - I must write about it sometime.)

Earplugs to the rescue of music course.

Rows ruin La Scala's big night.

Can you smell classical music?

Folk music trains from Piccadilly.

Tom Service explains why Schubert was a genius.

Yet more nice memories of Richard Hickox.

A report on the Choir of the Year final (it's on BBC4 on Friday night, so if you don't want to know who won, don't read this!)

No reviews of Messiah (there never are for some reason), but there was a fabulous review of the orchestra's concert the previous night.

Fascinating article from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra blog - they don't write often, but when they do it's always a good read. This one's about the music of Stravinsky.

There was some controversy over a film being disqualified from being considered for an Oscar for best original soundtrack because it had "too many composers", but now they've changed their mind.

The Spectator reviews a couple of operas in such glowing terms that I wish I could see them.

If you're in Manchester this weekend, you can put a giant version of your handprint on the side of the City Tower.

Also, Ben Ainslie will be in Manchester on Saturday, but annoyingly it's just when I'll be singing at the library so I'll miss him! (I'm hoping he wins the BBC Sports Personality award, but I suspect it will go to Rebecca Adlington.)

Talking of sailors, Mike Golding is (at the time of writing) 5th in the Vendee Globe, only 50 miles behind the leader. You can see a map showing where they're all up to at the official site (wait a few seconds for it to load the boat positions). You'll see that most of them are now in the middle of the Southern Ocean.

And finally, if you're wondering what happened to my Guardian article, it got delayed due to a rewrite, but I'm told it's still likely to be printed before Christmas - I'll let you know. (It will be in the Experience section - I always assumed that the articles there were actually written by the subjects, but that's not the case with mine (I don't know whether or not it is with the others). If I understand it correctly, the finished article will consist entirely of things I said to the author, but it won't be me that chooses what to include!)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Much to my surprise, there's a second review of Monday's concert - this one from Alfred Hickling in the Guardian - and he seemed to like it, so much so that it's not at all clear from what he writes why he's only given us three stars! Also, he viewed some of it rather differently than most of us probably did - I'm not sure I would have described any of it as "swinging"...

We had the piano rehearsal for Messiah on Wednesday, and it was good fun. In the past I've often been bored rehearsing this work (although I usually enjoy the actual performance) but I amused myself on Wednesday by seeing how much of it I could do from memory. Answer: most of it, but some bits were a lot more secure than others! I'm fine from Hallelujah to the end, because that's the section we've actually performed from memory in the past, so I've never looked at the score since in that bit... but earlier movements had quite a few errors. In general I know all the phrases, but not exactly when they start. Also, I kept forgetting we were doing trills :p

Anyway, Laurence Cummings seemed to like us, and he was VERY energetic! Should be a fun gig on Sunday. We did start the rehearsal rather late, and there were still lots of people missing - as I predicted a week or two ago, the two football matches meant there was traffic chaos (and when I told you about the football I didn't know there'd be snow AND a crash that closed the M62 as well!) Apparently the Paris St Germain team were stuck in it as well, and only got to Eastlands less than an hour before kickoff.

(I should warn you that there's a match at Old Trafford next Wednesday (10th) as well - yet ANOTHER one I can't go to. I wouldn't mind so much if there was any chance of selling my seat, but there usually isn't. Oh well.)

A few links:

A bit more about the icicle orchestra.

Another nice post about memories of Richard Hickox.

An interesting-sounding new book - have any of you read it?

David Griggs-Janower considers the question of why choirs are so much busier in December.

The Spectator looks back at Maestro.

Apparently in London tonight the lions in Trafalgar Square will be talking!

And finally, there are some strange people who try to play Quidditch in real life.

Viola glory

Well, the gig last night went very well indeed, I thought. Not a huge audience, but enough people that it felt worth doing (I think there were SLIGHTLY more in the audience than on the platform, but it was a close thing!) Five of the seven composers were present, plus Jackie Kay, and they all seemed very pleased.




(Much hilarity was caused by the possibility of Gill's Botswana solo going to her head, as you'll see above - but don't worry, she's a 2nd alto!)

The violas were more prominent than I think I've ever seen them. I do remember we once did a concert where the violas were at the front on one side at the expense of the 2nd violins, who were relegated to the middle, but last night the violas were split into two sections and had BOTH front sides of the stage. The cellos were in the middle, and there was only one violin, and she was hidden next to the woodwind! Of course, there's not a lot for the violins to do in the Fauré anyway, but the version last night (I don't know if it's a standard arrangement or one that was done specially for last night) had a solo violin doing some bits of the usual violin part, and the rest given to the violas. There were also no flutes or clarinets - they only play in the Pie Jesu anyway, but I think Jonathan played their bits on the organ.

The soloists (Rebecca Bottone and Roderick Williams) were both great. They did a better job of the very difficult new stuff than I imagine most people might have, and they sounded lovely in the Fauré. And actually the same goes for the choir and orchestra, in my opinion! Pity there seem to be no reviews, unless anyone's found one I've missed?

EDIT: Thanks to Martin for finding the well-hidden MEN/City Life one!

(Two good summaries of the current AIDS situation, by the way, at CNN and the BBC.)

Also, a few more links I've found since yesterday...

A lovely addition to the Richard Hickox obituaries, this one from the ever-excellent Tom Service. Tom also discusses the use of the Queen of the Night aria to advertise Durex....

Some great things being done at the RNCM to help kids with Asperger's Syndrome.

YouTube is starting an orchestra! Details on how to join are here.

I've just watched a thing on BBC4 about Vivaldi's Women. Apparently it's been shown several times before but I must have not noticed. It's on again at 1.45am this Thursday morning (Wednesday night) or you can watch it on iPlayer. Very interesting, and includes lots of singing. I was particularly intrigued by the discussion of whether or not Vivaldi's bass parts would have been sung by women. Short answer: almost certainly yes, and they found a lady who was able to demonstrate.

The BBC tells us that apparently mothers don't sing traditional lullabies any more. I can understand some of the songs on the list being used, but not all! Sweet Child of Mine is NOT soothing (although it's a great song) and I Kissed a Girl seems an even more bizarre choice. But what do I know?!

Talking of bizarre news, apparently all the acorns in America have vanished...

This T-shirt may amuse some of you. (If you don't understand it, you probably wouldn't find it funny if you did, so don't worry!)

And finally, Amy was asking me about the Chili Con Carne song last night. Does anyone have a copy of the sheet music? We'd love to see it, if so!

I'm from Chile!

Very busy since I last wrote - the start of the musical Christmas madness coincided with a new temp assignment, so sleep and free time went out of the window for a while. But the temp thing finished on Friday, so today I'm back at home catching up with stuff. I must admit I'm very relieved not to have had to work today, because the weekend was EXHAUSTING - lack of income is the downside as usual, but I will worry about that tomorrow.

Saturday was probably the coldest day of the year so far, so it was probably not the best day on which to spend an hour carol singing in the open air. However, it was great fun and went very well indeed! This was at Gigg Lane before an FC United match. Our arrangement of "The Twelve Days of Cantona" was particularly popular, although sadly Claire couldn't do her spectacular descant in verse 12 because the crowd had joined in by then, and they decided that the last verse should be FASTER than the others, as opposed to starting quite slowly as we'd planned, so there was no way Claire could have done semiquavers. Oh well!

We stayed to watch the game, which FC won 3-0 despite the opponents being top of the league - but it was midnight before I could feel my feet again! I had lots of layers on elsewhere but my feet were the weak link. Still, at least that was the only outdoor gig this Christmas.

Then yesterday was a LOOOOOONG rehearsal for tonight's concert. This turned out somewhat differently to what was planned. For a start, our usual choral director is on leave, so we were warmed up by the new youth choir director, who I thought I'd encountered before but it turns out I was getting him muddled with someone else. He's just as good as the one I was thinking of, though! Then, it was due to be 1 till 6 with a 75 minute break in the middle, when Alison and I had planned to go and get food. When we arrived we were told of a new plan, which involved having a much shorter break but finishing much earlier. This was fine with everyone - we always like finishing early! But as it turned out, even though the break was now only 15 minutes, we didn't finish much earlier than scheduled - 5.40 instead of 6. I suspect most people weren't TOO displeased, because it was obvious that the time was needed - but those of us who hadn't brought food were STARVING by the end!

It was a fun rehearsal though. Interesting to hear the new stuff with orchestra. All the composers were there, which was slightly offputting, but since we weren't introduced to them we didn't know who'd written what. This did make for an interesting game when we tried to guess! Lindsay was convinced that one of them wrote a particular movement, based on his reaction to it - he was visibly moved - but it turned out to have been written by someone else, and the guy we were looking at just really liked it! To be fair, it WAS the most tuneful one :-)

Also, the movement with the Soprano Line of Madness (tm), which has loads of solo bits in the choir parts which we'd assumed we were all doing together (because that's how we'd rehearsed it)... well, now lots of us are doing solos! Very exciting. Although, annoyingly, the bit I've had on the brain since is the aforementioned Soprano Line of Madness. Why?!?

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the concert tonight - hope there's a decent-sized audience. Judy has certainly done her bit to help - she has THIRTY-ONE people coming! As usual, all the people *I've* told have said "that sounds good!" but none have so far actually bought a ticket.

Finally, I have about a million links to share, so let's get started.

You'll all no doubt be aware by now of the sad news that Richard Hickox died last Sunday. Great obituary at Overgrown Path, and another at The Guardian. Also, can anyone remind me what it was I've sung with him? I'm thinking it might be Child of our Time, but I could have imagined that...

The Telegraph writes about a night at the opera with Sting and Elvis (Costello).

David Griggs-Janower writes about preparing Christmas music.

There's a thought-provoking video at Advent Conspiracy.

Police in Massachussetts found a piano in the woods.

Boris Johnson has some thoughts on London's new culture strategy.

Kent Nagano talks at length about Messiaen - fascinating interview.

Very atmospheric video about musical instruments made from ice.

A new way of experiencing Bach is coming to Manchester next year.

Fascinating Spectator article about Elliott Carter's 100th birthday.

By chance, two articles in two days about Britten's War Requiem - one from the Spectator and one at Overgrown Path (which tells us that the DVD is about to be re-released).

You'll have seen the news that In the Bleak Midwinter has been voted the favourite carol of chorus masters - but am I the ONLY one who prefers Holst's version to Darke's? The Darke version was lovely when I first heard it, but it's been done so much since that I'm a bit sick of it - whereas I've always loved the simplicity of the Holst version.

In a similar vein, here are Podium Speak's favourite Advent hymns. (My favourite is definitely the obvious one: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, or if you prefer the Latin version Veni Emmanuel.)

Another interesting Spectator article about R3's Composer of the Week.

A Guardian article about applauding at the wrong time at classical concerts. (The comments are as interesting as the article itself.)

A report on the recent controversy caused by the Boston Symphony Orchestra upsetting Gennady Rozhdestvensky.

And, there's a new list of the best orchestras in the world - but I think there's at least one orchestra that the people who compiled the list must have not heard! Plainly they should have asked Tom Service. He seems to know what he's talking about!

Now, non-musical stuff! If you're wondering what's happening in the Vendee Globe (as usual it's being ignored by most of the media), at 4pm today Mike Golding was in 8th place of the 25 boats left in the race, 95 miles behind the leader. They've been going 22 days and are all in the Atlantic. The leaders are more or less midway between South America and Africa (they go that far west because of winds and currents) and a bit further south than the Cape of Good Hope. They're all starting to head east now - the hardest bit of the race (the Southern Ocean) is coming up. (Also, Alex Thomson tells us his thoughts on having to retire from the race again.)

I'm annoyed I didn't do a post last week, because I've had the story about the man who tried to pay a bill with a drawing of a spider for a while, and if I'd posted it BEFORE it was featured on "Have I Got News For You", you would all have been more impressed! But it's still worth reading the whole story.

More spider-related news: NASA lost a spider on the Space Station, although they claimed "it's not lost, we just don't know where it is". Riiiiiiiiiight....

An interesting article about the use of technology in general, and how it changes people.

This is curiously fascinating - you can text 118.com and ask them ANYTHING, and they have a live feed of all the incoming questions and the answers they give.

Charlie Brooker writes about exhaustion and incompetence. I'm slightly alarmed to find how much of this I identify with!

Manchester Confidential has a feature on the Briton's Protection.

Bolton Council are giving out bubble-blowers to prevent trouble!

The Royal Society of Chemistry is running a competition to solve the (literal) cliffhanger at the end of The Italian Job. My favourite rule: "The judges will not accept any solutions that involve the employment of a helicopter."

And finally finally, I recommend you all to bookmark Boston.com's The Big Picture. It's only updated once every few days, but the pictures are amazing, and tend to be ones that you don't see anywhere else. Most recently, I have been impressed with their photos of Sichuan, 6 months after the earthquake and even more so by the ones of Mumbai under attack. (Some very grisly ones in that last batch, but they do warn you, so that you have to deliberately click on the more disturbing images if you want to see them after reading the description.)

Off to sing now!