MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OUR READERS

The Fell's Robin

Merry Christmas to everyone at Enjoy Music --- Click Here to see your Christmas Card

ENJOY MUSIC AND CHRISTMAS LUNCH IS CANCELLED

Due to continued bad weather the final session of enjoy Music was cancelled. The Christmas lunch that was to be held at Douglas Park Golf Club was also cancelled.
However Gordon and Carol walked there and had some Christmas Cheer!
Here are some pictures to show you the scene.
Hopefully we will arrange something in the New Year.

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SNOW SNOW SNOW !!

"After I heard that a number of our members were snowed in, I walked down to the Community Centre to check the conditions there and found the car park still deep in hard packed snow. That's when I decided to call off our session this week and a lucky thing too since it snowed a lot later that day. We're all missing the music and are trying to come to terms with the surfeit of weather news. Here's a comment on that."

Weather Girl on TV
A poem by Lorn Macintyre

She's dressed for summer, not the big freeze,
moving like an automaton, as if a key's
in her derrière as she wheels to the map.
Dire warnings sound like a thunder-clap,
hands spinning as she reels in a tornado
from north north east of the Faroes.
Is she going to kick off her Jimmy Choos,
swing on an isobar across to Toulouse?
She clicks the button in her hand
and bad weather masses over Shetland.
'Six inches of driven snow for Grampian.'
Not one of them has a complexion
wrinkled by sun. Who wants a plain Jane
when we're being warned of a hurricane?
But I'd prefer a toothless old crone
to come hobbling on a stick, moan
that her lumbago presages a cold spell.
Her hands claw, as if climbing to Mid Yell.
Should I put on my thermal vest
now more snow's massing in the west?
Tonight the temperature will plunge,
she warns us, with a final lunge,
head-first into the Irish Sea,
pulls herself up off Kirkcudbright.
My deep depression is clearing.
Her daft antics really are endearing.

Looking forward to our music next week followed by the Christmas lunch. Keep cosy, Moira.

WE CAROL IN THE ADVENT

Our Warm up today is with this Pfeif Drauf music

It's good to uncover an old, neglected carol (since we finish for Christmas on 7th December, we have to start early) and we did this today with THE CAROL OF THE BAGPIPERS, from Italy. It has a strong, rhythmic undertow of six triplets in two beat measures, but it's remarkable how in spite of this, the quality of the music is quite different from the jig and it will be exciting to feel it as we become more familiar with the carol. The melody has a lovely flow but as in all groups of mixed voices, we took some time to agree (?) on the key which would suit everyone best. I'm not sure if we're there yet. Next week will be decision time.
It's always a joy to revisit the old carols and the French CAROL OF THE ADVENT, to the beautiful English text by Eleanor Farjeon, is a group favourite. It was a good sing.
Finally this morning the solid rhythm section and the confident glocks playing the tune made our JIG on the instruments a joy to play. We repeated it many times really settling in to feel of it.

THE PITCH BATTLE

A cold morning in a cool room with a draught coming under the door is not conducive to feeling comfortable and singing well and the particular outcome today was that pitch continually dropped downwards. However, high we started out we always ended singing in our boots. Even those with low voices noticed it and then it's really bad. Alison Burns commented during her day with us that the low ceiling was not helpful for keeping good pitch but of course it's also a 'mind over matter' thing. We addressed it by thinking 'up', lightening our voices and what made the most difference was becoming more familiar with the music so that we were less tense and heavy about it. Confronting the problem really paid off as the singing gradually improved until we did achieve that tingle moment in Pachelbel's Canon to 'Alleluyia' when the four parts blended well and we were actually listening to each other while singing.
The good sound continued in I'LL FLY AWAY which we are now able to sing confidently and you can just feel how much this song appeals to the group.

Before starting out on the JAMESTOWN JIG, we spent some time all together, practising the jig rhythm with its two-beat metres, the beats often sub-divided into triplets and getting the feel of playing these with two beaters. This is a learning process for the hands and the brain, which can take some time until it becomes automatic. Young drummers in pipe bands take years so we shouldn't be surprised if it feels awkward in the short time we spend on it.
In the end, the jig played on all the instruments, underpinned by the rhythm section of three, really had my feet tapping!

HARMONY IN SONG AND A JIG WITH RHYTHM.

My expectations were high this morning, for achieving a good sound in Alleluyia to Pachelbel's Canon and I wasn't disappointed. Being familiar now with the harmonic progressions meant that we picked up the four parts almost effortlessly, bringing them together, singing and listening to each other, to make a wonderfully full harmony. That's the kind of enjoyment that cheers a cold winter's morning!

After several weeks of playing bits of the JACOBSTOWE JIG we returned to it today and spent some time on the percussion parts. The quick beats of the jig proved quite a challenge for the hands on the bongos but the decision to use sticks instead was a good one and after some minutes the rhythm was flowing and the bongos together with the skulls proved a fine 'driver' for the energetic jig, which sounded good in the four parts on the barred instruments.
This will be a good addition to our instrumental repertoire.

ENJOY MUSIC WITHOUT MOIRA

Led by Diana --- today's session opened with "CROSS CRAWL" exercises to warm us up followed by some beautiful slow movements to " I AM BODY PRAYER" sung by Aled Jones to PIE  JESU

Isla then had all the group engaging in diaphragmatic breathing and  vowel exercises.
Sue followed on with 3 poems, FRIENDSHIP by Elizabeth Jennings, followed on by "A LARK" and "THE SMALL GIANT" by Kenneth C Stevens.
Joan was next and she beautifully played THE SHEPHERD'S SONG by Mendelssohn on her flute and this was followed on by us all singing GREEN GROW THE RASHES O.
After coffee Jim got out his Penny Whistle and played 3 Scottish Tunes --- MY BOY TAMMIE, LEA RIG AND THE YELLOW HAIR'D LADDIE.

Irene was next and had us all singing 3 parts to Jean Redpath's BOTTLES OF POP / FISH AND CHIPS AND VINEGAR / DONT CHUCK YOUR MUCK IN OUR BACKYARD !!
Diana then read out 2 of her own beautiful  poems that she had written --- BUTTERFLIES and PRESENCES
Don't have the words to put on the web --- but thought you might all like this --

A new song was then introduced by Isla called the "SHOEMAKER'S SERENADE" which we all agreed was "Tickity Boo" !
Sheila finished with another poem - 'SONG OF THE MOUNTAIN ASH FAIRY'

The morning session was then rounded off  with a couple of our old favourites JULIAN OF NORWICH  and BEAUTIFUL AFRICA

An enjoyable morning was had by all and thanks to Isla for being the leader today-- However, we look forward to next weeks session on Moira's return from Copenhagan

WE REVISIT LAST WEEK'S SONGS

Fire Drill Practice ! - (click to enlarge)

We opened today with music from a Gaelic singer new to me at least, GRIOGAIR LAWRIE. I played the track ORAN DO'N MHORAIRNE which has a lovely lilting rhythm, just right for our warming up movements. Unfortunately our two Gaelic speakers were not with us (probably on one of their frequent trips to Skye) but I look forward to hearing their translation of the text when they get back.

 Of course we had to try to follow up on last week's session with Alison Burns and we started with her arrangement of PACHELBEL'S CANON sung to 'ALLELUIA" which was just getting going when the fire alarm rang with the result that we had a five minute sing in the open air, on the steps beside the pond. In spite of the morning chill, it felt good and I did hear the comment, "We should do this more often".

Coming in from the cold, we sang the lively EARLY IN THE MORNING, which had a warming effect, after which we listened to the CD track of Fly, Fly, Fly, joining in the chorus which we'd learned last week. Good to sing to the wonderful banjo accompaniment and this is one we'll work on in future.




We are gradually building up our skills on the instruments and all I'll add is that I feel sure we're on the verge of a breakthrough with the JAMESTOWN JIG. (!!!!!!!!)

I'll be away next week and will be back on 2nd November but I know the group will as ever, rise to the occasion next Tuesday, creativity to the fore, and arrange an enjoyable musical morning together.

A WONDERFUL DAY

Alison Burns (Front Row RHS) with the Enjoy Music Group - Click to enlarge

It was a treat for me today to take a back seat and hand over to ALISON BURNS, song maker, music educator, community choir and workshop leader. Our whole group benefited hugely from this exciting day.
With her gentle encouraging manner and deep knowledge of her material, she had us in the first half hour singing in four part harmony, a lovely arrangement of PACHELBEL'S CANON and since we only had to think about one word of text, ALLELUIA, we could enjoy the full impact of the harmonies as the four parts intermingled.

We moved on to a different style of singing in I'LL FLY AWAY, one of the songs from the film O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU? and again we were able, in a call and response way, to bring four parts together, at the same time trying to sing in that rhythmical style of the American spiritual.
Our lunch in the Centre cafe was a good social occasion for our group as we enjoyed the food, fresh and appetising, laid on by Anne Hunter and her staff. We always appreciate being able to take our morning coffee there but that's such a short time and it felt good to have more time to talk.
The afternoon session began by exploring the DRONE, which exists in much traditional music around the world and how it feels to hold a drone as well as sing over it. We then experimented with harmony, singing different intervals together to feel the quality of the various groupings of notes. After this, we could savour fully the harmonies and dissonances of the African song we learned, with its slow, reverential first part followed by a joyful chorus.

To finish off the session we sang ALWAYS THE SINGING - Click on the link

Everyone agreed that Alison's day was a great success and there was an immediate call to have her do a return visit. To read more about Alison click here to go to her Website

WE MAKE A FULL SOUND

To get a better quality of video after pressing the play button then click on the number 240 and change to 480

This was a day of people returning from late holidays, hospital treatment and family commitments and what a difference the larger numbers made to our sound! The three parts of GAUDEAMUS HODIE blended well and the whole sound had a new richness and confidence.

Think about next week's visit by Alison Burns who will lead a Singing Day, we picked THE WIND BLOWS HIGH from her collection 'Ten Thousand Pearls', learning the second part and the tune. Of course these songs take a lot of bedding in and although today we just made a start, I think it's one we'll enjoy a lot, the better we get to know it.

Some members who had taken a glock and a xylophone home to practise surged ahead today when we moved on to the instruments and yes, we did learn and play all four parts of JAMESTOWN JIG, two sections in ABA form.
It may be halting and a little bit awkward for some yet but we are getting there!

REMINDER:

Next week, 12th October will be a music workshop day led by singer and music educator, Alison Burns. Members pay the normal fee and the day is open to friends and visitors for a charge of £5.

Programme: 10:00 coffee and introductions in the Community Centre cafe
10:30 _ 12:00 first session.
12:00 _ 1:00 lunch. Soup and sandwiches will be available to buy in the cafe, or bring your own.
1:00 _ 2:30 second session.

We're looking forward to a great day!

OUR BASS SHOWS HIS METTLE

Autumn holidays, health appointments, unmissable golf ties and a multitude of other reasons mean that there is always some variation in the attendance from week to week and today there was one, lone bass voice. This can be a stress for that individual, or it can be a chance to shine and the latter was the case on Tuesday when we sang GAUDEAMUS HODIE. Our bass held his part beautifully, even enjoying it while the others modified their sound accordingly to create a fine blend. Good to hear this sensitivity developing in our singing.

The smaller number today meant that everyone had a good practice on the instruments and as a result we mastered the whole of JAMESTOWN JIG, everyone playing the melody which, with its triplet rhythms is a great exercise in playing with the two hands alternately.

After that, learning the simpler accompanying parts will be a dawdle!

A GOOD CHANCE TO RECAP

Several members returned today after a long summer holiday and this was a good opportunity to recap on the new music we've learned in the past two weeks. It'l always a good feeling to revisit the familiar and enjoy settling in to a piece.
EARLY IN THE MORNING is sounding good and in GAUDEAMUS HODIE great to hear the basses enjoying their line while the three parts come together well.
Coming to our instrumental piece JAMESTOWN JIG we gave some thought to the importance of keys. Because of our mixed group, mostly singing in unison, many of our songs are in key C where the range of the melody is comfortable for most of our voices. This Jig is written in D major, a key with a bright quality and a refreshing change. The F sharps were duly put in place and we proceeded to play. Playing the triplets with alternate hands takes some getting used to, but week by week we'll get there!

WE JIG THE RHYTHMS.

Coming back to our warm up song EARLY IN THE MORNING today, it was obvious that the singing going home in the cars had paid off and the song had become embedded in the intervening time since last week. Those who were hearing it for the first time were completely swept along by the others, very quickly singing with confidence and enthusiasm. Strange how some songs simply facilitate our voices and in this one I could hear good high notes from some unlikely quarters!

Next we returned to GAUDEAMUS HODIE, revising the tune and the bass part, before adding the third, high voice which, sung softly and with clarity, completed the harmony in a beautifully balanced way. We did make a good sound.

The JAMESTOWN JIG, by Paul Wilson, Community Musician and workshop leader in Devon, has triplet rhythms which struck me as fitting perfectly with the names in our group and so that's how we learned first the rhythms and then the tune:

Gordon, Carol, Malcolm,
Moira, Sheila, Irene,
Gordon, Carol, Malcolm,
Isla, Kate and Ruth.

Middle section:
Joan Gemmel and Sue Ramage and
Joan Gemmel and Lyn,
Joan Gemmel and Don and
Valerie and Jim.

We then transferred our 'song', first section, onto the tuned instruments and added temple blocks, bongo and tambourine making a good ensemble sound. Next week we'll add the middle section.
After that considerable achievement we ended our morning session, leaving with a jig in our step.

GOOD TO BE BACK

After our three month recess, it was good to meet up again. We were all conscious of feeling the voices a bit rusty but it's wonderful how the group feeling takes over and the energy builds.
Our springboard for loosening up the limbs, the back, the head, in fact the whole body, with easy movements while concentrating on deep breathing, was a vocal piece by Grassroots from Zimbabwe, singing in typical warm, rhythmic, repetitive and mesmeric style.
We continued after that with some rhythmic clapping, making a variety of vocal sounds in the gaps between claps. This loosened up the face muscles and we began to use our voices with some abandon.
Scales then focused us on the quality of our own voices, concentrating on accurate pitch and good sound.

EARLY IN THE MORNING is our new vocal warm up song.
The words made us laugh and we felt like moving to its funky rhythm.

Early in the morning
When I wake up
Early in the morning
When I wake up
I brush my teeth,
I eat my bread,
I drink my coffee and go back to bed,
Early in the morning
Early in the morning.

Building on the good sounds of the warm up, we then learned a short song which has 3 parts in harmony, GAUDEAMUS HODIE.
Our 2 bass singers readily picked up their part and we sang well together, leaving the third part to be added next week.
Due to a problem with keys, our instruments remained locked up today, so after a chatty coffee break, we finished the morning with ALWAYS THE SINGING and BRAND NEW DAY.

ENJOY MUSIC BEGINS NEXT MONTH

The ENJOY MUSIC sessions begin in three weeks time on Tuesday 7th September. I'm looking forward to getting the music started again and hearing all your news from the summer.
Cheers Moira

GLENBOIG GATHERING

Our last meeting of '2009 - '2010, at the invitation of our member who lives near Fintry and what an inspiration it proved to be! The beautiful sunny morning among the hills, the warm welcome, the high ceilinged room where we sang all contributed to the energy of our voices as we sang together songs we'd learned throughout the year.
We started off with the call and response, WHAT'LL I DO WITH THE BABY? and followed on with Paul Wilson's fine song with a driving five beat metre, BRAND NEW DAY, which we sang many times allowing it to develop a momentum of its own. Returning to ALWAYS THE SINGING, we can now put some conviction into this, enjoying its rolling three beat swing as well as the good words.
This lovely May morning was the perfect time to revive our Icelandic song NÚ ER VETUR UR BÆ

NÚ ER VETUR ÚR BÆ Icelandic folk song

Nú er vetur úr bæ ---- Now winter has left the farm
rann í sefgrænan sæ ---- Has run into the reed green sea
og þar sefur í djúpinu væra ---- And is sleeping there in the calm deep,
en sumarið blítt, ---- But (the) kindly summer
kemur fagurt og frítt ---- Comes, beautiful and mild
meður fjörgjafar ljósinu skæra. ---- Bestowing (the) energising bright light.

Jónas Hallgrímsson

which I can say we sang with good Icelandic accents as well as inspired musicality as we looked out over the Fintry hills.

Instrumental pieces as well as songs from individual members made this an altogether thoroughly enjoyable morning, after which we were well ready to do justice to the spread laid on by our hostess and spend some time in good company.

A good ending to a good year. I wish everyone a happy and restful simmer and look forward to meeting up again on Tuesday 7th September to make more wonderful music




Finally some photographs from the days events -- Click on the small thumbnailand then on slideshow to see larger pictures

Enjoy Music - Fintry

DRUMMING LESSON FROM SIGNY JAKOBSDOTTIR

Moira our Enjoy Music Group leader was not with us today and her daughter Signy Jakobsdottir gave the group an excellent introduction into "Drumming"
Signy who was born in Iceland is now based in Glasgow where she works with extensively with Scottish Ballet. With roots in Gamelan, African and Indian drumming she brings a global approach to her performances. Her unique sound palette has led to sessions with amongst others Fred Frith, Trilok Gurtu, James Grant, Capercaillie, Gamalan Pacifica, Joko Susilo, and Zeitgeist Percussion Ensemble.

We all had a great morning beating away on the Drums --- Thanks Signy

Click on the small thumbnail to see some more photos and then click on slideshow to see larger pictures.

Enjoy Music -- Drums

WE BALANCE OUR HARMONIES.

In making the open vowel sounds of Russian words we have to produce a good, round sound using our facial apparatus as well as the vocal chords and we spent some time this morning doing this, taking turns to come up with words and sing them to a melodic phrase which everyone copied, _ interesting words, Karamazov, Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, vodka, improvised short musical phrases and some fun.

After these long, heavy sounds, we got the energy going with Senjua. The three parts were well remembered but the balance was all wrong. Good how, after some people switched parts, the sound of the song came into balance, blending into a full, close harmony, African style.

We then returned to ALWAYS THE SINGING which we had started last week but which was new to several members and looking now at the words, we sang through the three verses.

DECORATING THE THIRD was our piece on the instruments and building on last weeks session, we were now beginning to feel comfortable with the musical patterns, enjoying the repetition and the variations played by the glocks. As we ended the morning I realised this is our last session on the bar instruments before the summer break. Here's hoping we can remember all this good practice in three months time!

Next week, 4th May: Signy will lead the group in a session on the drums and other percussion.
Tuesday 11th May: Our last meeting and we're invited to Fintry for music and lunch. Meet at the community Centre car park at 10:00 a.m.

A NEW SONG AND A HARMONIC PATTERN.

We opened this morning to the whistling, tuba, horns and synthesiser of the German group Haindling. Whistling is a morning kind of sound and it worked well to help us concentrate on posture and breathing before singing some scales to warm up the voices.
Siyahamba always has an energising effect and although we missed the alto part, we drove it along with some rhythm on the small drums.

Following that, we returned to JULIAN OF NORWICH which is a great sing, allowing us first to listen carefully to our own voices and next time through, to be careful to hear the voices around us, and concentrate on the blend.
Next we began ALWAYS THE SINGING, a new song for our group, words and music by Alison Burns, songmaker, music educator, community choir director and workshop leader.

First verse and chorus:

There are twists and turns in every life in the wide roads that lead you from here
But the threads that bind the journey together
Are the songs that weave through the years.

And it’s always the singing and it’s always the song.
In the whole wide world it’s where I belong.
From my heart to my soul, from my feet to my tongue,
It’s always the singing,
It’s always the song.

Moving on to the instruments, we then learned a piece called DECORATION OF THE THIRD -long, slow notes on the glocks accompanied by a moving pattern on the other instruments. As always, this took a while to embed itself but I know that next week we'll be wondering why it seemed so tricky and enjoying hearing the two parts together.

SOME FANTASTIC PHOTOS FROM ICELAND

Here are some fantastic PHOTOS FROM ICELAND

OUR FOURTH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING.

Coming into our fifth year, it's a good time to reflect on how far we've come from when we started _ a group of music enthusiasts, eager to sing, explore instrumental playing and find a way of making music together.

In the course of our meeting we did just that, remembering how hard we found it to hold a part in a round and keep in time with each other when playing an instrumental piece. We still have difficulties of course, but my goodness how we've improved and remarkable now how we approach a new piece with a much more confident attitude. Singing alone was also a complete 'no-no' but remarkable how the good atmosphere within our group has encouraged all of us to have a go.

Hockets, each individual singing a word or phrase of a song in turn round the circle, are now OK and a good way of raising the level of alertness in everyone.

For me, it's been so good to work with people who are prepared to go out of their 'comfort zone' musically and try a new skill, such as playing the xylophones, drumming, improvising vocally and on an instrument. Also, it generates a lot of fun as we don't take ourselves too seriously. 
So musically we're on a good track and we decided to enhance our progress by using what money we can afford to bring in occasional visiting tutors, such as drumming and voice tutors.

We're back on 20th April for our summer session which runs till 18th May.

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL.

WE DANCE FOR JULIAN

Fats Waller's 'Numb Fumblin' was our opening music today _ the slow stride piano a perfect pace for our focus on posture, warming up movements and breathing awareness.
The voice warm up was next and and after that we were ready to give a full sound in SENJUA, in three parts.


PEACE, SALAAM, SHALOM, handed to me by a member who had carefully written down the music after hearing it sung en masse at a peace demonstration, is a beautiful round with a gently flowing 6/8 pulse which we picked up very quickly and enjoyed singing, hearing the sound of the whole group. We'll get the full effect next week when we'll do it as a round.


Moving on to concentrate on our individual voices, we sat down to sing LOVE IS COME AGAIN, a French hymn for Easter arranged by Martin Shaw. Its steady unhurried notes and open vowels give the opportunity to think about the sound we make with our own voices and to be conscious of that open throat and relaxed jaw, as well, of course, as enjoying the text and the melody.


On the instruments we returned to 'Carillon' in Carl Orff's arrangement, making a lovely sound with the four parts and those with good memories singing along.
Finally, directed by Diana, we achieved that unity of music and movement, joining in a circle dance while singing JULIAN OF NORWICH _ a good ending to our session on a fine spring morning.

HARMONIES AND CHIMES

A good warm up of breathing exercises and scales prepared us for the long sweeping phrases of AND THE NIGHT SHALL BE FILLED WITH MUSIC which is now beginning to sound more fluid and delicate as we gain confidence. We sang it today as a two part round but the full effect of the harmonies will come when we sing in three parts.

BEAUTIFUL AFRICA is a great sing but really needs the alto harmony in the chorus. We did learn this some time ago and returned to it this morning, spending some time consolidating what some remembered from the past and giving new members a chance to learn it. We'll return to it next week.

The Sydney Carter song JULIAN OF NORWICH has a chiming accompaniment on glockenspiels which Rosemary and Carol learned quickly while we sang through the verses for the benefit of those who missed it last week. It sounded good but could take another two instruments which we'll add next week.

Remarking on how with all the coughing and tiredness at this time of year, we all really need a week in Majorca, the morning's music certainly helped by getting our energy flowing and we ended, as last week, with SPRING, SPRING, SPRING!

WE DO SPRING

It was so good to be back, and many thanks to all for keeping things going in such an inspired way while I was in quarantine.

Our warm up this morning was a revival of the Zulu song of welcome, SENJUA and I was glad to hear that many people remembered the three part harmony, even from quite some time ago, making the full sound that is so attractive in African songs.

Then taking our cue from the brilliantly sunny morning, we learned the Sydney Carters hymn to spring from 1981 JULIAN OF NORWICH, the theme of which is 'All shall be well'. With its references to bells, this song will be effective with accompaniment from our glockenspiels.
As I explained this morning, in our group we enjoy songs that are musically interesting without being too 'wordy' but at this time of year there's one song that's just irresistible because of its playful text, full of joyful rhymes _ from the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers -- SPRING, SPRING, SPRING. We took some time to read through the three verses before we sang it and I'll be surprised if there are not a few sore jaws tomorrow!

After the break we had a good practice on the instruments, two new members catching on surprisingly well and getting the idea of using both hands to play up and down the scales. We will keep this up and be well prepared when we next start a new Orff piece.

A MIXED MORNING OF MUSIC, SONGS AND POETRY

Mairi and Isla (Click to enlarge)

With our leader of the group, Moira, being unwell this week, Isla White took over the proceedings and did exceedingly well on the piano to keep us all in tune!

We started the morning's session by singing 'Love somebody, yes I do' and 'I shall sing, sing my song' - A few of us will be singing these 2 songs at the Hospice next week

Joan played a very interesting piece on her flute called Pastorale by Germaine Tailleferre followed by 3 Scottish tunes: All for Marie's Wedding, Westering Home and Over the Sea to Skye where we all joined in with hearty voices.

Carol had a go at playing Air Fa La La Lo on her harmonica and everyone sang 2 verses of the song.

Mairi then sang when she borrowed Sheila's scarf -- 'This is no' my plaid' and then we all joined her in her own composition --- the "Croft Song" (Sung to the Road to the Isles)

Chorus
Electricity and Gas we want and water from the mains,
Easy access to the nearest motorway
With connection to the telephone and the sewage drains
And a gaelic name that's not to hard to say

Ruth then read out a very amusing poem called Hamish Hedgehog by John Dennyson from the Scottish Poet Corner of well known newspaper.

Before Coffee we finished off with MANDELA DANCED IN THE SQUARE and SIYAHAMBA

Refreshed after the break Mairi then sang a beautiful song, Vienna, City of my Dreams, and this was followed by Jim who played Macrosty Park on his penny whistle and Sue who read a very moving Ken Stevens poem "The Long Silence"
We then all sang the 1960's song by the Seekers --- A World of Our Own, followed by the Burns song -- Coming through the Rye

Isla then sang a beautiful Irish song called "The Isle of Innisfree" and we all joined in.
(PLAY THE VIDEO BELOW TO HEAR THE LOVELY WORDS)

To finish off the morning we all sang one of our favourites "LAZY" -- Click on picture above to see enlargement of some of the group in full voice

WE ALL WISH MOIRA AND FAMILY A SPEEDY RECOVERY

WE DO BURNS AND KINDNESS

Our first song this morning was SIYAHAMBA, and after our altos learned the harmony part we gathered our forces and sang it giving it our best 'Desmond Tutu full African sound'.
Thinking, on the 25th, about Burns songs and after listening to AULD LANG SYNE, it struck me that kindness is a quality Burns mentions frequently in writing about people and I reflected on the fact that relationships can be based on many different qualities but kindness is an essential component in the mix.

We'll tak a cup o kindness yet,
O this is no my ain lassie, fair tho the lassie be,
O this is no my ain lassie, kind love is in her e'e.
I'll meet thee on the lea rig, my ain kind dearie O.

This thought spurred me on to take two of these songs this morning, AULD LANG SYNE, to the older tune, and THE LEA RIG, both of which we enjoyed singing.
Later we learned the AULD LANG SYNE tune, the first part only, on the instruments but enough to hear that it will be effective played this way. Good to take a fresh approach to the lovely old tunes.

CLICK, STAMP, SLAP, CLAP.

FIRST YOU MAKE YOUR FINGERS CLICK
THEN YOU STAMP YOUR FEET
BOTH HANDS SLAP YOUR KNEES
AND CLAP ON THE BEAT.

This quickened the reactions this morning, the four part round bringing in a succession of body percussion sounds and all that clapping and stamping was just the thing for a cold morning.

We returned to THE NIGHT SHALL BE FILLED, and are now getting the hang of it, the jumps in the melody and the lovely caressing semitones giving the feel of Arab music.
THE WATER IS WIDE, a call and response song, was another challenge to the listening as well as the breath control, with its long notes which create the harmony.

Improvising on the instruments is flowing much better now as our technique is improving and today we did the rounds with six or seven people taking the plunge, improvising a section.

We're working on the Orff piece:

EVENING RED AND MORNING GREY
HELP THE TRAVELLER ON HIS WAY
EVENING GREY AND MORNING RED
BRING DOWN RAIN UPON HIS HEAD.

This involves flutes, solo and together, and solo singer then chorus with xylos, bells and timpani. Should be fun when we get it up to speed.

WE BID FOR THE BLEND

We started this morning by doing some loosening up movements to music from Shaun Davey's piece THE BRENDAN VOYAGE. The track, Water Under the Keel, begins with a melody on the Uilleann pipes and grows to include the full orchestra, giving a wonderful opening up feeling which is exactly what we need to prepare for a good sing.
After some voice warming exercises we then applied ourselves to the Carl Orff piece, Evening Red and Morning Grey.
The four lines of this rhyme are set to a very simple tune which moves stepwise within a small range of notes, allowing us to listen carefully to each other trying for a good blend of the voices. This is a piece to be worked on over a period, involving as it does flutes, xylophones, timpani and sleigh bells as well as the voices.

We then turned to a more challenging sing, a beautiful setting of the last stanza from Longfellow's poem, The Day is Done,

And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares, that infest the day,
Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs,
And as silently steal away.

The jumps in this melody need careful concentration but express beautifully the sense of the words making it a real pleasure to sing, especially individually, in our quieter moments.

Getting out the instruments after our coffee, we played about with rhythms on the small percussion before lunging into a piece involving improvisation from several members _ an interesting and lively sound as well as good fun.

Finally we gave full voice, again listening as we sang, for a good blend, to GREEN GROW THE RASHES O! (almost, but not quite, from memory).

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