Thursday 18 December 2008

Tuesday 9 December 2008

A CAROLLING MORNING

The Enjoy Music Group--Click to enlarge
Somehow these icy days made me think of the Russian winter, reminding me of the lovely sound of the balalaika orchestra and this morning we warmed up to the music of Russian folk dance.

We were a big group today, with only two members absent so that standing close together and becoming aware of the blend of the voices we made a good sound, opening on THE CAROL OF THE ADVENT.

DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR? gives the opportunity for single voices to sing in 'call and response' style. Mairi, Jim, Isla and John each took a verse and backed by Irene on the drum, this song sounded effective.

We sang through THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS and repeated it, groups of 1, 2, or 3 singing each verse.

Rounding up after coffee took some doing as the talk was going strong but when we finally settled down we gave good energy to 'It Came Upon the Midnight Clear", a thoughtful carol and antidote to the pre-Christmas, buying babble.
Thinking back to THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS we decided the text was somewhat out of date and gave it our new 2008 RECESSION VERSION, to much hilarity.
Our Christmas lunch, organised by Carol and Gordon at the Douglas Park Golf Club, was a real joy - good food, wine and company. And of course we raised the rafters with our songs. Mairi, after some persuasion and reluctantly after eating so well, delighted us all with some 'joining in' songs.

My thanks to all for making this such a successful and happy session. ------------------

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!
Looking forward to seeing everyone back on 13th January.
With every good wish, Moira.

Click on the picture below to see the days events. Unfortunately you need about 15 minutes to watch it. There are a few videos in the presentation and depending on your broadband connection these take a bit of time to load. There are 34 slides to see and if you get a black screen when a video is loading just give it time and you will then see and hear us singing . Please make sure your sound it turned up. To see an alternative presentation for the photos only click on the small Christmas tree at the bottom of this post -- Cheers and Merry Christmas from Carol your webmaster

Click to play Enjoy Music - Xmas
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Enjoy Music_ Christmas 2008

Tuesday 2 December 2008

ADVENT CAROL FOR THE CAFE STAFF.

We opened today with harp music by Alison Kinnaird _ Balfour Village and Shapinsay Polka, using its 8 beat phrases to pace our breathing and develop breath control.
Not quite hyperventilated, but certainly buoyed up on this intake of air, we then managed a good full sound in the 3 part harmonies of SENJUA.
SIYAHAMBA also needs good secure harmony and to this end we spent some time working on the second part, sung by the lower voices. Next week should see a big improvement on this.
Moving on to the instruments, we then built up the four ostinatos, underpinned by Carol on the drum with Moira Perritt making a magnificent effort on the bass xylophone, for I SHALL SING, before starting the song. Keeping all this together is demanding of everyone but well worth striving for as it's hugely satisfying to achieve that feeling of ensemble, plus - it's a good song.
THE CAROL OF THE ADVENT was our seasonal piece today and what a pleasure that is to sing!
Having been told by the cafe staff that they'd been listening to it from the balcony above us, we decided to wish them a good Christmas break by giving them a performance in the cafe at the end of the morning: a small, but appreciative audience.
Click on the picture below to see more -- Please allow time to load

Click to play Carol of the Advent
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