HEARTY WARM UP ON A COLD MORNING

The Icelandic ' South River Band' gave us our warm up music this morning -- A Dram Before Breakfast, which inspired energetic arm stretches and feisty foot stamping -- Click on the "Play" Button above to hear this great tune --- give it time to load
Working on the voices, we moved on to singing 'Kumula Vista' in hocket, each person following the previous with a short phrase and this is beginning to show up some fine, if under confident, singers.
Concentrated practice on Old Angus followed, with xylophone & glock players learning their parts separately while the others, supported by Kate and Moira on the bass, put together the song and other percussion parts. Playing, singing and listening so that all the parts keep in time together is quite a skill and week by week we are improving at it, mainly by getting the 'feel' of the music.
We ended the morning with the beautiful harmonies of 'Banua". Three part close harmony was complemented by Mairi and Isla's 4th part soaring above the melody. This was repeated many times, as we settled into hearing our own sound - a lovely, warm feeling.

INVISIBLE VISITORS.

"A Dram Before Breakfast" by the Icelandic group South River Band was the warm up music for our group of 18 today and after opening up the vocal chords and mobilising the facial muscles, we learned a new song "Love Somebody, Yes I Do!" a folk song of Scandinavian origins and well suited to call and response treatment.
Getting on to the instruments, we revisited White Swans, singing and playing it in 4-part round, which went remarkably well considering that several people were learning it on the hoof.
After coffee we made a start on learning to play the tune "Love Somebody" - a good training for the musical ear.
Finally we spent some time on Angus, singing the verses and fitting in the side drum, timpani, bells and bass xylophone. This is coming along nicely and believe me, one day soon, will all fit beautifully together.
As we ended the session, there was a 'happening'! The fire doors suddenly flew open letting in brilliant rays of sunshine - the 'six golden angels' had come to join us!

RETURNING TO OLD ANGUS

We started the session with music by the Klezmatics, a New York group who play Klezma music based on the melodies and style of the Ashkenazy jews of central Europe.
The track we focused on was their version of the Woody Guthrie song I'm Gonna Clean up this World which seemed singularly appropriate in view of recent events on the financial scene and following on from Diana's circle dance of last week, we moved in a circle to the steady beat.
Introducing the song to new members, we then revisited THE WATERWHEEL, eventually singing in three parts and making a good, round sound with our voices.
OLD ANGUS MCTAVISH then got a lot of attention, first to learn the words, and then practise the alto part.
Five xylophone players then moved next door while the rest of us worked on the rhythms of the drums and bells.
This Orff arrangement takes a some concentrated practice but little by little we'll get there.
Many thanks to Rosemary for coordinating and recording last week's session while I was in Iceland. Sounds like it was a lot of fun. We really are a talented group in so many ways and now I'm looking forward to my chance to see a re-run.

HAVE A GO AND HAVE A FUN DAY AT ENJOY MUSIC

In the absence of our esteemed leader (hope she had a good holiday) we had a DIY session, in the spirit of "Have a go and have fun!"
Diana started us off with warm-up exercises and put us in good voice for two of our songs, including harmonies. Joan then introduced us to a lovely and poignant flute piece from Georgia, which she played beautifully,accompanied by Rosemary on keyboard, then led us nearer home to sing "Westering Home". The variety continued with a circle dance from Diana, with moves that were simple but most enjoyable. To finish the first half on a 'high' note, Jim, dressed for the part, took us "Down Below" with a very funny song about sewers.

He turned (with relief) to his whistle after the break and gave us a lively beat for clapping exercises. These descended into much hilarity, until Irene and Moira emerged as expert beat-keepers! We were then treated to two of the fine voices in the group, Irene teaching us a lovely song about a river, and Mairi finishing on a humorous note in "a Wee Hoose". There was just time for Rosemary to take us off to Africa for a Lion Hunt-scary stuff, a far and frivolous step from our start in Russia.

We truly 'had a go' and enjoyed it thoroughly. Thanks to all who led and followed!.

Many thanks to Rosemary Booth for this weeks report