New paintings and regular art updates.
Something in my brain ‘dings’
I remember how the song ‘sings’
Music has a way of sticking
Notes together, metronome ticking.
Sound comes back as mouth opens
Words come out, with the vocals
Songs from months or years ago
We remember how they go!
From some dark corner of my mind..
My vocal chords my brain reminds
The timing, tempo, notes and all..
Into a pattern they all fall
My joy as memory keeps going
And music, memories it keeps sowing…
Singing at Audlem Music Festival today with Loud Mouth Women choir.
I have filtered it through Photodirector to make the participants blurred out. We enjoy singing, but not everyone wants to be identified across the whole world. Data should be protected if that’s what people want.
We sang about 15 songs including: Cockles and Mussels, Da do Ron Ron, Melizway, Summer is icumen in, Song of the Sea and a lot more. Some of them were in different languages, like Maori and Zulu. We learn by repetition and don’t use sheet music.
Everyone seemed to enjoy it and they even joined in some of the songs that our choir mistress helped teach them. It went so well that we have been invited back to do a concert!
It was a lovely day out, my only qualm was that I haven’t driven very far in two years and I think I was holding up the traffic as I gingerly negotiated lots of narrow bends, when we got to the village itself there is a warning system to let you know if there is anything coming the other way. I was very alarmed when a massive tanker truck was round the corner! We squeezed through, thankful I had been driving slowly!
Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was tired. Well that’s exactly how I feel, busy weekend. An art group day yesterday and put up an exhibition with them, then today a drive out to Audlem to sing with our choir, then back to help take the exhibition down. Hubby says I look miserable not tired!
We are singing at Audlem music festival in a few weeks. Loud Mouth Women are learning some new songs, and last night we were a bit short on numbers. In one particular song I was the only person to sing one of the parts! I was a bit nervous and forgot the tune on at least one of the lines. When you sing in a choir you try and tune in with other singers. So much depends on memory, pitching the right notes, getting the beat right and knowing if you have to do a movement or a clap…. In some of our songs that are international we do a Maori wiri-wiri. Next week is the last rehearsal and then we have an hour long performance. Wish us luck!
What was the last live performance you saw?
Our choir members sang at a celebration for the completion of a project a few weeks ago. We were involved with a performance at The Potbank hotel at Spoke in Stoke on Trent, which also included the Boat Band (above). Our choir leaders are members of the band. We sang sea shanties and some interesting pieces, like the Eerie Canal and A Wonderful World which Louis Armstrong sang.
Being part of a choir is something I would recommend for helping your mental health. I only sing a couple of times a week and wish I could do more. Singing takes you out of yourself. Singing at a performance boosts your confidence. I’ve sung many times over the years and I don’t get overwhelmed with nerves anymore. OK it’s usually only to a few people, but if I’m giving pleasure to other people then that’s good.
As to an actual performance that I saw, but was not involved in? That goes back a few years I think. We went to the theatre and saw a play about suffragettes. It was interesting, it brought out a lot of the issues women were affected by in those days. I wish I could remember what it was called? It’s so long ago that I’ve forgotten! I don’t know if it was during or before the pandemic? Life can be hard to remember!
An ancient song…
Summer is icumen in
Lhud-e sing cuckoo
Groweth seed and bloweth mead
And springs the wood-e noo
Sing cuckoo
Ew-e bleateth after lamb
Low th after calv-e coo
Bullock starteth
Buck-e parteth
Merry sing cuckoo
Cuckoo cuckoo
Well sing-est thou
Cuckoo, nay stop thou never noo
(Foot/Burden)
Sing cu-ckoo noo sing cuckoo
This is an ancient summer song from England. It’s rustic words are a real tongue twister to sing. Our choir tackle it at this time of year. I tend to sing the burden because it’s a simple repeating line. You need good breathing though because it runs along below the main song and usually starts before and ends after the rest of the choir. We sing the music as a round, normally four groups for the tune singing summer is icumen in.. Summer is icumen in.. One group after the other. The foot/Burden group is usually split into two groups of two and start Sing Cu-ckoo… Sing Cu-ckoo…. Over and over.
As a side note, the first time I saw the song was in the film ‘the Green Man’ with Edward Woodward. The villagers sing this after he is captured as a sacrifice. I always get a little chill down my spine when we sing it! You can probably find it on YouTube…..
Two of my favourite pastimes,
First chair yoga. I can’t get down (or up) off the floor, but I’m trying to do the yoga positions as well as I can to improve my mobility. I can’t lift both my arms above my head, and I do go very wobbly if I try to do a balance, but I do my best. Yoga gradually helps you stretch and move and I hope will build my core strength. I would never do ‘hot’ yoga, I’m trying to find a bit of enlightenment not strong exercise.
After a break I joined in singing with Loud Mouth Women choir. We are learning music from the 1950’s, a sea shanty, a Samoan call and response and a new song for the coronation, so it was very varied. Good also to see three new choir members, I hope they enjoyed it. We may be doing a gig soon, watch this space. X
I started out today at the Factory Floor at Spode singing with our choir and another choir. We were with the Boat Band who played cajun music first. Two of the band are our choir leaders. We sang before lunch was served and then again afterwards. It was great fun.
Then I went home for a rest, but I decided I felt well enough to go to yoga class. I haven’t Bern for a couple of weeks. I do chair yoga because I can’t get down on the floor and I can’t do inverted postures. My blood pressure is too high for that. Even so I felt tired afterwards, but it made me realise I have got over the cough and chest infection I’ve had for a few weeks.
Straight after yoga I sang with the other choir I am in. Each song was fun. I felt my voice getting clearer and I was able to hold notes I hadn’t been able to last week. We are learning some new songs and I was pleased that I could hear the tunes and pick them up. I had a really good day. I hope it carries on like this. X
🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶
After a couple of weeks off I went back to choir practice tonight. I still have a tickly cough and every time I tried to sing with any volume it set it off. It’s annoying because it’s hard to harmonise with a growly voice! It was throwing it down with rain, but there was a good attendance there. The first thing that happened though was I shook my hands because they were wet from the rain running down them from my coat, and the three rings on my right little finger shot off my hand and into a dark corner. I wouldn’t have realised that it had happened but they twinkled as they fell. Luckily the choir leader had a torch so I found them with a couple of other choir members help. I’ve lost weight and my fingers have got a bit thinner. Anyway, despite the problem with losing my rings, and the croaky voice, I’m glad I went out. It’s such a nice atmosphere there.
I went to another choir practice last night and we sang some old songs from our repetoir including ‘La Para Deiu’ (I think that’s how it’s spelt). We haven’t sung it for at least five or six years, and if you had asked me what the tune was I would not have been able to sing it. But as we started to sing it flooded back. Soon we were singing in three part harmony and I was getting goosebumps down my spine. We sounded very good, better than we used to I think, and this was with new choir members joining in. I can’t explain how it lifted my mood. People were grinning and laughing. We sang a couple of other older songs, one we hadn’t done for maybe twelve or more years, from when we moved from our old venue. I hope the choir keeps going, it truly is good for mental health, raising our spirits and exercising our memories.
Mallaband-Brown