Tuesday 27 April 2010

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.

Tuesday 20 April 2010

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