Went singing!

Posted on February 6, 2023February 7, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Australian, Choir, Chorus, Ghana, Illness, lungs, Music, Sea shanties, Singing, Songs, world music6 Comments

I went back to choir practice tonight after about six weeks off. My chest infection seems to have finally subsided and I’m just left with a tight feeling in my chest and my voice is a bit growly so I was coughing a bit after trying to sustain notes.

I did have fun, we sang some sea shanties, including Haul away Joe. A Ghanaian song, a song from Australia and one about a Low bridge on the Erie canal.

Sopranos, Altos, Tenors and Bass singers were all there and we harmonised really well together. I’m really sorry I missed the Christmas Carol pub crawl and the Wassail in January. I’m glad to be back!

Performance

Posted on January 30, 2023January 30, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Choir, Memories, Music, New Victoria Theatre, Performance, pretty little thing, Singing, TimeLeave a comment

The choir I was in performed in the play Beautiful Thing in 2018?. We all really enjoyed singing and basically backing the drama that we were immersed in. The story is about a young man and his growing relationship with his boyfriend. It is thoughtful, life affirming, and optimistic. We had to sing songs like Teen Spirit which was fun for a group of older performers. This came into my mind as I delivered my two paintings to the New Victoria Theatre this morning. There are probably thirty pieces of work on show from tonight.

Flaming torches

Posted on January 14, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Choir, Crowds, Dancing, Fairy lights, Fire, flaming torches, Music, Singing, Village hall, villagers, WassailLeave a comment

When I dropped my hubby off at Penkhull it was amazing to see three or four hundred people crowded on either side of the road getting ready to set off on the Wassail. There were people carrying lit flaming torches which Sent sparks up into the windy air. I let hubby out of the car next to the Domesday Morris dancers, they were dressed in their costumes with fairy lights wrapped around their hats. The sun was about to set and I wished I was going with them down the hill to the ancient apple tree to beat its boughs so that it will be fruitful in autumn. They would be walking around some of the boundaries of the village and stopping off to dance on the church green then calling in at the local pubs and the choir I am with would be singing Wassail songs outside them. Unfortunately I missed all of that. But I went home and had a rest instead.

Wheezing

Posted on December 20, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged annual, Choir, Christmas, Cold, Cough, Illness, Mystery singers, WheezingLeave a comment

🤧

I’m fed up. My chest is wheezing and if I go out in the cold it gets worse. Thankfully the weather warmed up a bit today, but my voice is croaky, like a box of frogs. It had dropped so low I even recorded it! I could have been a bass singer, even basso proffundo! Given that my range is generally an alto (contralto) it was quite disturbing to hear the noise I was making. I was due to go out on Monday afternoon to sing with the Mystery Singers at a local park (I’d already missed singing on Saturday) and again in the evening to go Carol Singing around our local pubs. It’s an annual thing that the Mystery singers do on the evening of the Monday before Christmas. Not for me this year. Apparently a few of the others have had the bug too. I’m really fed up.

Oh I do love singing

Posted on December 12, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Carols, Choir, Christmas carols, Clay Chorus, Fun, Music, Singing, the mystery singersLeave a comment

Christmas Carols tonight, a rehersal for a few little perforover the weekend and on Monday. We will be visiting the local hostelries to sample their brews and encouraging the regulars to join in with us! Part of the reportoir include :Gaudete, Jingle Bells, Good King Wenceslas, While Shepherds watched their flocks (Cranbrook version), which is to the tune of on Ilkley Moor Bah’tat. (I think there are videos on YouTube). Its a lovely way to celebrate the season. We usually sing as Clay Chorus but at this time of year we come together with other singers as the ‘Mystery Singers’.

Singing today

Posted on November 27, 2022November 27, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Car park, Choir, Christmas, foyer, Fun, Loud mouth women, Music, Singing, superstoreLeave a comment

Loud mouth women singing at a local supermarket today, we sang on the car park then inside the foyer of the store. After a long hiatus of performance it was great to be out singing with my friends again. Some of the ladies are a little camera shy so I have blurred their photos. We had a lovely time, and it was good to get applause and smiles from customers.

Felt OK

Posted on November 16, 2022November 16, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Choir, felt better, Friends, gratitude, Healing, Life, Music, OK, Sad, Singing, Time2 Comments

Last night I went out to choir practice for the first time in several weeks. I wrote this gratitude about it when I got home. When I got there I couldn’t help crying, but a friend came over and calmed me down. We are now the mystery singers for the Christmas season so we were singing songs like Gaudete and Sweet Chiming Bells. Finally we sang While Shepherds watched their flocks by night to the tune of on Ilkley Moor Bah’tat, (although the Carol song might have come first?). By the end of the night I felt OK. So I am very glad I went.

Keep calm

Posted on November 9, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Choir, Enjoyment, Fun, Group, Happy, Keep calm, Life, Loud mouth women, Music, Sing, SingingLeave a comment

Nine years ago we had a party at Loud Mouth Women singing group. I can’t remember exactly what it was for but this just came up on my Facebook page. I’m sure we will have sung many songs in different languages. It’s fun to sing, the group doesn’t need you to be able to read music. If you decide to join in we try and help people decide if they sing high, middle or low parts, but people can move around. You don’t have to perform, you can if you want to though, we have a few gigs a year. I didn’t go for a few weeks but I’m so glad to be back! If you have a local choir think of joining?

Singing!

Posted on November 8, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Choir, Christmas, Creativity, happiness, Learning, Loud mouth women, Memory, Music, Singing, song3 Comments

I went to sing with Loud Mouth Women tonight. It felt like I’d never been away. Numbers of attendees were down. I think a lot of people have got the cold that is going round. I’m glad I went. We are starting to learn Christmas songs that we will sing at a small performance in a few weeks. Old songs just come back into my head. You don’t know how they go, and then suddenly the music and words pop into your head! We sang a combination song of English, Hindi, French, Hebrew and Latin tonight! It was 2019 when I last sang it but I still sort of remember it. I was listening to a science programme on the radio on the way home and it said that people can still recall the languages they learnt at school even if decades have passed. It’s because those memories are in a stable area of the brain. It was on a show called All In The Mind on BBC radio 4. It might be on BBC Sounds.

Missing choir

Posted on September 26, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Choir, Choir practice, emotional, Life, Loss, Music, Reflection, Sadness, Sympathy4 Comments

I’m not going to choir practice yet. I just don’t feel up to it. Singing is such an emotional thing. I just know if I go I will want to cry. I can’t face that yet. When I go back I want to be calm and a lot less stressed. Everything is so painful in my mind and in my body. I maybe should not share these feelings, but sometimes it’s better to say something. I don’t have the energy to worry about anyone else at the moment, and that makes me feel guilty.

To anyone else going through loss, I’d like to send my deepest sympathies, I can’t feel the same way as they do, but I do care.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Choir