I think we've done the whole of The Apostles now, although I don't remember much of it because it's so long! But I'm pleased to report that I do actually like the end bit. There are some really lovely chords. Also, Rachel pointed out that one of the recurring Alleluia phrases is a bit like the "Optimistic Voices" chorus from The Wizard of Oz, which is a nice thought! No more Elgar for the next month, though, because the Holst concert is in a couple of weeks' time. I'm so looking forward to that.
Most of my singing lately has been with my school choir (who are almost ready for their two festival performances in March) and my band (who had great fun at the Valentine's Day gig, and got paid as well!) But I've spent most of this weekend arranging songs for a group of us to sing at Amy's wedding. This is at Manchester Town Hall in April, and it's going to be lovely. She's chosen some really interesting songs, and I can't wait to see what people think of them!
From the Telegraph: news that there are now lots of Military Wives' Choirs! And, also from the Telegraph, the story about how an opera singer had to drop out, and they found a replacement who could sing it but not act it, so the director did the acting...
Stephen Hough writes about whether or not it's necessary for singers to believe the words they're singing; he also has another practice tip, this time about not always sitting in the centre of the piano stool. (Which reminds me: I watched a TV programme earlier today, in which a woman sat down at a piano and began to play some Mozart; then she switched to some boogie woogie stuff and (while still playing) invited another character to join her so they could play a duet. She then moved to the left of the stool to make room for him, while still playing the high-pitched boogie woogie stuff, yet her body was oddly uncontorted. ARGH. Is it so hard to get these details correct?!?)
Via A Cappella News, a great article about whistling. (This article caused me a great deal of distraction, because after reading it I couldn't rest until I'd created an iTunes playlist of whistling songs...) Also, I learned a new term: puccalo! Isn't that a great word?
EDIT: I should have included my list, shouldn't I? Here it is:
WHISTLING SONG LIST
Always Look On the Bright Side of Life - from Monty Python's Life of Brian
Centerfold - J Geils Band
Daydream - The Lovin' Spoonful
Don't worry, be happy - Bobby McFerrin
Dream a Little Dream of Me - Mama Cass
A Fistful Of Dollars - Ennio Morricone
Games Without Frontiers - Peter Gabriel
Give A Little Whistle - from Pinocchio
Golden Years - David Bowie
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly - Ennio Morricone
Goodbye Stranger - Supertramp
Hocus Pocus - Focus
I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman - Whistling Jack Smith
Jealous Guy - John Lennon/Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music
The Lazy Song - Bruno Mars
Magic Moments - Perry Como
Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard - Paul Simon
Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5 ft. Christina Aguilera
River Kwai March & Colonel Bogey March - from Bridge on the River Kwai
Singing The Blues - Guy Mitchell
(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding
A Spoonful of Sugar - from Mary Poppins
The Stranger - Billy Joel
Sweet Georgia Brown - Brother Bones
Walk Like An Egyptian - Puppini Sisters
Whistle For The Choir - The Fratellis
Whistle While You Work - from Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs
White Christmas - Bing Crosby
Wind Of Change - Scorpions
Via BoingBoing, an interview with Alan Parsons, who has some interesting views about audiophiles and their priorities.
You'll be well aware that Whitney Houston died a couple of weeks ago. BBC News had an interesting article about the way she sang - I was quite amused, when I first read it, at the thought that they were suggesting that she was the first singer to perform a melisma, but when I read it again I realised they didn't quite say that! I do tend to read too fast :-) Also, via A Cappella News, a Discovery Channel article that discusses the natural lifespan of a singer's voice.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Monday, February 06, 2012
And what's wrong with that? I'd like to know!
I am very much looking forward to this week's choir rehearsal, because there is NO ELGAR scheduled \o/ Please don't think that I don't like any of it, though - there was a bar a couple of weeks ago that I thought was lovely, and then another one last week. I was just hoping for more than two good bars in a piece that's over two hours long!
I've been very busy with my school choir lately. We have two competitions coming up in March. I'm not a fan of music competitions, but since the powers that be expect us to enter, I'm keen for us to do as well as possible. The kids are great, but the problem is that they're all the sort of kids who do everything, plus they all keep getting ill lately, so we rarely have much more than 50% of the choir in any given rehearsal, and this makes it hard to learn the parts. But I think we'll be ready in time. Their strength is that they are all very musical, so they can sing in 4-part a cappella and still be in tune at the end. I'm hoping this will impress the judges! (I strongly suspect that the other school choirs in the competition will not attempt a cappella, and will not split into more than two parts.)
And that's not the end of the current singing. My band is providing the entertainment at a Valentine's Day event at the Summit Inn near Littleborough (on Todmorden Road), so we had a rehearsal for that on Thursday. Such fun! It's always difficult when you're rehearsing for a gig that involves two 40-minute sets, when you only have one possible rehearsal and it's two hours long! We had 32 songs on the agenda (lots of our songs are from the 50s/60s and are very short!) and 29 of them made it onto the final set list... and we did sing almost all of them last Thursday (some of them twice!) There were a few that we all agreed we know so well that we didn't need to rehearse them. It was a very satisfying evening, though - lots of our songs are a cappella, and time and time again I played the chord on the piano after we'd got to the end of the song, and found that we were perfectly in tune every time \o/
Paul Mealor (the guy who wrote Wherever You Are for the Military Wives) has written a new piece which includes a bass note that is believed to have never been sung before. It's certainly got him some publicity, but I'm a bit baffled about why he'd write something that will probably never be performed again! It's not even as if they've got a bass in mind that they know can sing it - they're searching for one (details on the BBC Music Magazine article if you think you can sing that low!)
I hadn't actually realised that Philip Glass had written nine symphonies - I was only aware of one! - but he has, it seems, and the Guardian has an article about the curse of the ninth symphony.
Stephen Hough likes to break the rules: here he wonders why the standard concert formula of overture/concerto/interval/symphony is so invariable.
The BBC has announced the finalists of this year's Young Musician competition. No oboes! Also no violas, no double basses and no euphoniums. But I'm intrigued by the fact that - unless it's a huge coincidence - there appear to be two brothers competing against each other in the percussion section!
This seems amazing to me, but apparently audiences for 'weird modern stuff' are increasing.
In a similar vein, an OAE player writes about the recent gigs they've been doing in pubs.
Some Manchester news: a bizarre decision by the city council to close one end of Deansgate to traffic. I think there'll be chaos!
I like this idea, though: in Bristol, they've launched their own currency.
You couldn't make it up: here is a list of wartime golf rules.
And, for those who have had a stressful day and want to blow things up: this website gives you the chance. (It's not the same explosion every time - keep pressing the button!)
I've been very busy with my school choir lately. We have two competitions coming up in March. I'm not a fan of music competitions, but since the powers that be expect us to enter, I'm keen for us to do as well as possible. The kids are great, but the problem is that they're all the sort of kids who do everything, plus they all keep getting ill lately, so we rarely have much more than 50% of the choir in any given rehearsal, and this makes it hard to learn the parts. But I think we'll be ready in time. Their strength is that they are all very musical, so they can sing in 4-part a cappella and still be in tune at the end. I'm hoping this will impress the judges! (I strongly suspect that the other school choirs in the competition will not attempt a cappella, and will not split into more than two parts.)
And that's not the end of the current singing. My band is providing the entertainment at a Valentine's Day event at the Summit Inn near Littleborough (on Todmorden Road), so we had a rehearsal for that on Thursday. Such fun! It's always difficult when you're rehearsing for a gig that involves two 40-minute sets, when you only have one possible rehearsal and it's two hours long! We had 32 songs on the agenda (lots of our songs are from the 50s/60s and are very short!) and 29 of them made it onto the final set list... and we did sing almost all of them last Thursday (some of them twice!) There were a few that we all agreed we know so well that we didn't need to rehearse them. It was a very satisfying evening, though - lots of our songs are a cappella, and time and time again I played the chord on the piano after we'd got to the end of the song, and found that we were perfectly in tune every time \o/
Paul Mealor (the guy who wrote Wherever You Are for the Military Wives) has written a new piece which includes a bass note that is believed to have never been sung before. It's certainly got him some publicity, but I'm a bit baffled about why he'd write something that will probably never be performed again! It's not even as if they've got a bass in mind that they know can sing it - they're searching for one (details on the BBC Music Magazine article if you think you can sing that low!)
I hadn't actually realised that Philip Glass had written nine symphonies - I was only aware of one! - but he has, it seems, and the Guardian has an article about the curse of the ninth symphony.
Stephen Hough likes to break the rules: here he wonders why the standard concert formula of overture/concerto/interval/symphony is so invariable.
The BBC has announced the finalists of this year's Young Musician competition. No oboes! Also no violas, no double basses and no euphoniums. But I'm intrigued by the fact that - unless it's a huge coincidence - there appear to be two brothers competing against each other in the percussion section!
This seems amazing to me, but apparently audiences for 'weird modern stuff' are increasing.
In a similar vein, an OAE player writes about the recent gigs they've been doing in pubs.
Some Manchester news: a bizarre decision by the city council to close one end of Deansgate to traffic. I think there'll be chaos!
I like this idea, though: in Bristol, they've launched their own currency.
You couldn't make it up: here is a list of wartime golf rules.
And, for those who have had a stressful day and want to blow things up: this website gives you the chance. (It's not the same explosion every time - keep pressing the button!)
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