Singing time

Posted on June 20, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged A capella, Life, Middlewich, Music, Performance, practice session, Singing, song2 Comments

Tonight’s rehearsal was fun. We discussed our performance on Sunday at Middlewich and agreed we had done well to cope with the Loud music from across the road at a local restaurant. Our choir leader was pleased with us and told us people had come up and shook her hand!

It was also good to perform alongside her and her friend Esther from the Boat Band. When you normally sing a capella and without microphones it’s difficult to tell how things are sounding, but we didn’t cause any whistles or squeaks or feedback….

So tonight we were planning which songs to sing in a mediaeval event in July, we started singing a French song and a few other old favourites. It’s surprising how things come back to you even if you haven’t sung them for years…. We were sounding quite good by the end of the practice session.

Music festival

Posted on May 28, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Audlem music festival, Choir, identity, Loud mouth women, Music, Performance, Singing2 Comments

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!

Preparing

Posted on May 17, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Audlem, Choir, Festival, Loud mouth women, Mental health, Music, Performance, Singing2 Comments

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!

I was in it!

Posted on May 10, 2023May 10, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Choir, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1932, Life, Music, Performance, Singing, Spode, the factory floor, Theatre, Time2 Comments

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!

Panto tonight! ❤️

Posted on February 23, 2023February 23, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, audience, Fun, Painting on board, Pantomime, Penkhull panto, Performance, Silly, StageLeave a comment

The Penkhull panto was on tonight (and Friday and Saturday) and I really enjoyed it. It was strange being in the audience, but I got a chance to see the whole thing. It was written by the director who is also one of the cast. Jennifer Whittaker-Vyse.

They didn’t use my Scottish panel in the travelling scene (where Robin heads to Scotland to rescue Maid Marian, when she had been sent there by the evil Sheriff). But they did use the ones I painted a few years ago, including the houses of Parliament, the London Eye, the Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids, Sidney Opera House, and The Statue of Liberty. So basically the cast pretend to walk as the boards are carried being them. I think it didn’t quite fit the theme? Oh well. I got a thank you in the programme.

Overall it was a good show, silly and fun, with modern and ancient action. The pixies seemed to be rapping? As in all productions there were a few tiny fluffed lines that turned out to be hilarious! The lock Ness monster showed up too and people enjoyed singing along with the songs.

The best thing is there is no sponsor, so no advertisements shoe-horned into the production. There were cheers of ‘it’s behind you’ and ‘oh yes it is, oh no its not!’. If you don’t know pantomime check it out on Google or Wikipedia. Loved it!

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.

A Christmas Carol

Posted on December 9, 2022December 9, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged A Christmas Carol, Acting, Alistair Simm, Christmas, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Performance, StoryLeave a comment

This poster of our performance of a Christmas Carol has just been released. The painting was done by the organiser Glenn James. He’s a very talented artist and performer. If you happen to be around Newcastle under Lyme on these dates you might like to come and see us. The figure on the poster is a portrait of the actor Alistair Simm. He appeared in a film version of the story a long time ago (1950’s or 60’s), it was such a brilliant adaptation. I really love watching it.

Bethesda Chapel performance

Posted on July 3, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Albion Street, animal apocalypse, Bethesda Methodist Chapel, cornet player, Hanley, organ music, Performance, Singing, Stoke-on trent, words and musicLeave a comment

I stole this photo from a friend because I forgot to take my phone with me to the performance of Animal Apocalypse at Bethesda Chapel this afternoon.

Imagine the stalls in the bottom of the photo full of between forty or fifty people plus ten or twenty more in the sides of the Chapel. There were twenty or more people in the choir, plus the narrator, our choir leaders, a cornet player and the organist and a person carrying signs to indicate what animals we were singing about in the performance.

We were ably supported by the friends of Bethesda Chapel who are volunteers who are helping to maintain it through its renovation.

We sang various songs about animals and whales and birds and listened to information about extinction and what we can do as ordinary people to try and prevent it, even if it’s just growing a patch of nettles for butterflies. Somewhere we must make a stand to save things. I think it was appreciated by the audience.

Virtual panto link!

Posted on February 21, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acting, Fun, funny jokes, Panto, Pantomime, Penkhull, Performance, Stoke-on trent, Village hallLeave a comment

IT IS FINALLY HERE THE MOMENT YOU HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! OUR VIRTUAL PANTO EXTRAVAGANZA.
We hope you enjoy the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utoP21vuFro
We are proud to be supporting YoungMinds. We are asking, if you are able, for donations of this performance to support their mission. Follow the link below: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/penkhullplayers
PLEASE SHARE A SMILE WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY

Every year since 2009 our little village of Penkhull in the City of Stoke-on-Trent has held a pantomime in the village hall. This year we couldn’t do it, but we’ve tried to keep the fun going by taking part in an online version….. See what you think!

Don’t press, it won’t play!

Posted on January 31, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Comedy, Fun, Group, Humour, Laughter, Life, Panto, Performance, screenshot, Singing4 Comments

It’s a screenshot! I have recorded a couple of songs for a virtual pantomime. It’s a group of us singing the beginning and end songs for the performance. I hope it goes together OK. We will then be given small scenes to speak our lines… I’m not sure how it’s going to work, people a lot cleverer than me will sort it out!

Fingers crossed we get some sort of funny performance result. X

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Performance