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.
