Bethesda Chapel performance

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.

Out all day

Long day, a walk, a yoga class, singing. I feel exhausted. The walk was just round Westport Lake on a windy day. There were more geese than I’d seen for a long time. Mostly Canada Geese. But we are not allowed to feed them, because of bird flu. The Westport Lake Tearoom does not sell bird food anymore to try and restrict the spread of the disease. We just walked past the birds and felt sorry for them. Clearly they are used to being fed so they congregate together, so the disease can spread.

Later I went to yoga class, I’m limited in what I can do, so I try and do the movements sitting on a chair. I modify the positions to fit in as well as I can with the rest of the group.

Then later we practiced songs at choir. Some of them are joining the performance at Bethesda Chapel in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent on Sunday. The show is called Animal Apocalypse. It is about the extinction and loss of animals in the world. It was quite a good practice. All in all a very busy day!

A long day…

Gardening, Yoga, Choir practice

All in one day!

Poppies to pot

Marigolds and lobelia

Plants bought needed tending.

Then oh!

Blissful Yoga

But with stretches

The Cobra and Sphinx

That have made my legs ache.

Finally, singing

Bunting still hanging

Samoan and Maori

English, fragrent and flowery.

So much in a few hours.

A good rest?

That will be best

X

Been out singing!

The two choirs I’m in were both out for performances today. First Loud Mouth Women (seen here in a sketch from 2019), and then Clay Chorus, a mixed choir for Soprano, Tenor, Alto and Bass.

Louds sang by the Guildhall in Newcastle under Lyme. We were outside singing at the artesan market.. We sang a mixture of languages to represent the Commonwealth. These included Maori and English. Including Wahine MA and Frejaro Ma Revee.

From Newcastle I went to Penkhull. We were due to sing outside the village church but it was too wet so we sang inside the village hall. Clay chorus sang six songs spanning the reign of Queen Elizabeth the Second. The room was packed with people holding an indoor picnic. We sang and other groups entertained with Rap music and dancing and drama. I’m thoroughly tired out now!

Portraits

Sketch of the choir I’m in from 2019, when we could meet up in person and sing. We have got back together after a period of trying to learn songs over Zoom. Not easy, you can only copy the choir leader, not sing together. If you try everything is out of sequence. Now we are back together and learning choral pieces. Proper three and four part harmonies. We even have new members joining us. Just have to remember to do a lateral flow test before we meet.

Eurovision is on!

Eurovision is on tonight. A four or five hour song contest with European and a few non European countries challenging for the win. There are forty countries that compete in semifinals then twenty five in the final. Half the votes in the final come from the voting panels of each country and the rest come from a phone vote open to the public. The results take almost longer than the singing part. The singers can get up to twelve points from each judging panel and voters, so the total can rise well over a hundred or more. I’d like the UK to win but we got NO points last year. As we can’t vote for our own country I will be voting for Ukraine. They have a very good song called ‘Stephania’ I think, by the Kalush Orchestra.

Choir time

Go out and sing!

Join together in harmony

Open your mouth and heart.

Let your feelings out!

Sing songs of fun and glory,

Music to enhance your mood

Tunes that fold your memory in them

Like nectar, it is a wonderful food

It holds the world together

Plays through mind and soul

So sing of love and life and feelings

My choir makes me feel whole!

Join a choir?

We sing all sorts of music in the choirs I am in. We learn by repetition rather than using sheet music. We’ve been learning Bulgarian songs, and ones by Robert Burns recently. Also sea shanties. There is one choir called Clay Chorus that  has men and women singing in it and Loud Mouth Women which is a women only choir. Both are usually unaccompanied (a capella), although sometimes we have a guitar or ukulele to help with the tune. There are no auditions, people just come along and try. Many stay with the choirs for years. It was such a shame when we couldn’t meet because od Covid. Now all of us are vaccinated, we wear masks when we move around. The windows are open and we keep the room well ventilated. We do lateral flow tests to be safe. It’s fun to sing again.

Mystery singing

Singing in a bandstand is good because the roof helps the acoustics. Our group, called the Mystery Singers were out in the cold fog singing carols mainly to the empty park, although we did have a small audience. One group that totally ignored us was the local anti-vax group (or maybe the bah-humbug group). Very strange. They didn’t look happy.

At one stage the sun did come out and the temperature rose a few degrees but after a couple of songs the fog rolled back in again. I think people enjoyed our singing, we got some nice comments and applause. Now I’m warming up, it was freezing out there !