THE BLACK SOCKS WARM UP

Black socks, they never get dirty,
The longer you wear them the stronger they get.
Sometimes I felt I should launder them;
Something keeps telling me: don't wash them yet,
Not yet, not yet, not yet _.

This energetic round started us off on a chilly morning, warming the voices and the spirits. Careful attention to tuning the notes and managing the jumps in the melody paid off as we were soon singing it well. Next week will be the move into three (or four) parts.

Our current Burns song GREEN GROW THE RASHES O was next. We spent some time noting pronunciations and note lengths before launching into the song, the challenge of which, for a group, is to sing the tricky rhythms together and accurately; the words are so good that they sing themselves. The range of this song makes it difficult for a group of mixed voices, and here it is the bases who need to jump octaves to stay with the melody. But ever resourceful, they manage it and our tenor, struggling somewhat in the low notes of the verse, really shines in the chorus.

The scale in the accompaniment of THE FAIR LADY is now a dawdle for us but fitting it in between what comes before and after is still difficult. It's a real joy now to see the agility of everyone crossing the sticks for the notes of the scale and playing with obvious feeling for the pulse of the piece.

We ended the morning with FAREWEEL TAE TARWATHIE, always a favourite