A.G.M. PLUS SONGS PLUS LUNCH

Anticipation of a good sing, together with careful preparation by our secretary and treasurer ensured that the business was dealt with in the minimum of time and after a cup of coffee and a good chat, we got down to the music.

The four part harmony of ASALAAM is holding up well, even improving, and after a number of weeks getting familiar with the words of BEAUTIFUL AFRICA we are now beginning to sing them with some expression and think about improving our tone.

We lunched in style, in bright spring sunshine, at the Douglas Park Golf Club, - fine view, good food and plenty of talk; a grand finale to our winter term -- click on the photo above to see us all at lunch


HAPPY EASTER TO ALL.

WE REVISIT 'THE FAIR LADY', WITH THE BEATERS.

Having warmed up our voices, the four part harmony of Asalaam (Arabic for 'peace be with you') had a full, rich sound and although we're not yet fully confident in the parts, we're beginning to understand that lovely feeling that comes from close harmony singing.

Our main focus this morning was the Orff-Keetman arrangement of the old Scots song about the ghost of Mary Queen of Scots, 'The Fair Lady'.
We learned the song some time ago and this was a help when working on the tricky ostinato of the accompaniment on the xylophones.
There was some discussion among our amateur psychologists, about whether the hand movements for the instruments are learned by the brain or the muscles, but in any case, the home task this week is to do a 'David Beckham', (he visualises his kicks for the penalties, found to be every bit as effective as working in the football pitch) and practise, miming or visualising, the hand movements.
Interesting to see if the patterns come more easily next week.

NEXT WEEK TUES 31ST MARCH is our AGM which will be followed by our usual, if shorter, session and HOLIDAY LUNCH, informal bar food in the Douglas Park Club House straight after the music finishes.

MOVING ON IN HARMONY

We began with warm up movements to the Allegro from Bach's Concerto for Oboe d'amore in A major, _ wonderful music for a fresh, sunny morning.
This seemed to encourage good, deep breathing as the long phrases of ONE BY ONE EVERYONE COMES TO REMEMBER sounded controlled and almost effortless, giving the song a lovely lilt as we continued on to sing it as a 4 part round.
ASALAAM, by Nickomo Clarke.
This new song, short, only four phrases, two words, has melody lines for four voices.
The words, 'Aleykum asalaam' in Arabic mean 'Peace be unto you.'
Starting with the basses, we learned one voice at a time until we were able to blend all four melodies in harmony,_ a first for this group and what a good sound it was. Spontaneous applause broke out!!!! That was a good point to stop for the coffee and chat.
A good practice on the instruments followed as we moved on to some different patterns preparing for a new Orff piece next week.

We ended our session this morning with the five verses of BEAUTIFUL AFRICA.

Happy St Patrick's Day to all our readers

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WE CONSOLIDATE OUR HARMONIES.

Working on BEAUTIFUL AFRICA today, we abandoned the usual circle formation in an effort to strengthen our part singing. We closed up into groups enabling much keener listening and this paid off as 'solid' was the word for the alto part after several runs through. This leaves us with something of a 'balance' problem but we can sort that.

After three verses of BEAUTIFUL AFRICA we went on to the two verses of PEOPLE OF AFRICA, the beautiful words of which are always a trial for my composure,_ and looking round it was clear I wasn't the only one to find this a very moving text.

Harmonies came freely again in LOVE SOMEBODY YES I DO; we are getting the hang of this 'on the hoof', or 'pick your part' harmonising.

Carl Orff's CARILLON went well today with Joan and Diana both on flutes blending well together and everybody playing and singing confidently and also bringing the piece to a crisp ending.



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IN HARMONY WITH AFRICA.

We were in good voice today, beginning with DAY BY DAY EVERYONE COMES TO REMEMBER and moving on to a spirited singing of LOVE SOMEBODY YES I DO, which inspired us to work out harmonies for the final bar of the song. This made and impressive and even heart warming ending.
Encouraged by this success, and after singing once through BEAUTIFUL AFRICA, we spent some time learning the alto part for the chorus, which seemed to come fairly easily; I do think we're gaining confidence in part singing and what a satisfaction it gives, to hear these harmonies warm up our sound!
With everyone now playing and using the beaters with confidence, we focused today on the dynamic possibilities of these barred instruments, from ppp to fff and amazed ourselves at the range of possibilities.
Following that we picked up our SPRING SONG from last week, this time inserting improvisations, each in turn on the bass xylophone, _ exciting to hear all the variations while Mhairi kept the rhythmic support going on the metallophone.
Finally coming to CARILLON, we decided it's time to hear a recording of this, so that's the plan for nest week.