Katy has “had a week” and we were a little bit late starting tonight. Sometimes life gets in the way for us all and we have to take a deep breath and go again. It gives people a chance to catch up with other members, so we don’t mind at all. It was lovely to see a new lady this evening, it doesn’t matter when in the cycle you join in, eventually you find your space and your group. Also great to see a returner to the choir. Sometimes work commitments or family demands mean we have to step aside for a while, but Katy makes sure the door is always open if you are in a position to return.
We began with Leona Lewis “One more sleep“. I missed last week, due to illness so I was playing catchup throughout this song. Good job that Katy is so patient when we need to revise something again and again: I don’t think it was just me! It is a lovely song and was soon becoming more familiar.
“Somewhere in my memory“ from Home Alone was our next endeavour. This was new to us last year and was suggested to Katy by one of the choir members and we all soon fell in love with it. It is very sentimental and it touches us, both words and music. Katy was very complimentary about the Alto sound tonight- and we positively grew in our seats and there were smiles all round. We all feel we are fortunate to belong to such a blend of voices and it gives us a real buzz to be reminded of our efforts.
Rudolph: this is in three parts and we are all finding that you can soon find yourself getting lost if you don’t concentrate, both on your part and on what the other parts are singing. Sure this is one of those stretchers that come together suddenly and we realise all the effort has been worth it. We thought we were getting some idea of control, until Katy told us that she was playing especially slow so that we could keep up with her. Oh well, back to the drawing board. It will definitely be one of the songs we work on at home, thanks to the technology of the Youtube sessions that are there for us at any time, day or night.
“Up on the housetop“, Gene Autry, a traditional piece. This has very old fashioned wording and Katy thinks that it will suit us and our sound. It is quite repetitive in places: hopefully it won’t be too difficult to learn once we know the tune. Always nice to be presented with new material and it keeps us on our toes.
“White Christmas“ is of course a song we all know well, at least the chorus! When Katy began with the verse most of us realised that it was a complete surprise, just shows that songs are not quite as simple as they first appear. Alto’s were reminded that we don’t have the tune, quite difficult to come to terms with that when it is such a well loved song. The blend does sound lovely together, sure this will be worth the effort. Our audiences like to be able to join in at this time of year, so they will always cover any slight differences in notes.
Finished tonight with “Most wonderful time of the year“. This is one we have looked at before, so it was possible to have our musical memory jogged. It also helps that for some of the song we are all together- this always gives you more confidence to sing out in unison.
Another great evening, surrounded by friends. Sometimes it is a real effort for some to come out, but we all return home feeling lifted by the experience, and long may this continue.
Written by Maria Baxter