The seasonal round, 'Birds Fly South' _four parts with bass ostinato, was a good start, going at a brisk pace and opening up the voices.
But following that burst of energy we could wait no longer to hear from our new member who'd brought along his concertina. To see such an instrument, far less hear it played these days is rare and we appreciated every note of the two tunes, sensitively played.
Lucky then that our next piece was The Connemara Lullaby, arranged by Orff and Keetman for flute and instrumental ensemble. We began by learning the distinctive melody, in Dorian mode, singing it many times until our concertina player declared "I can play this!" and went off to practise in the next room.
Meanwhile, we picked up the sticks to tackle the parts for the barred instruments.
Finally coming together for the whole piece, the Lullaby, played softly on this fine rosewood framed concertina, sounded beautiful accompanied by the xylophones, glocks and metallophone. Next week, we hope to hear it on flutes and tin whistle as well.
'Beautiful Africa' was a good sing to finish off our morning.
