Singing Course 2004
To view a video of the final
performance, click here ->
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A record of our Singing Course September/October 2004. |
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Preparation
The original website advert is HERE and the printed flyer is HERE. We placed an advert in the local free newspaper, the News Shopper, and that is HERE. We produced a poster for libraries etc. and that is HERE. The welcome pack includes a name badge, sheet music for Try A Little Tenderness, a CD that has all the part-predominant tracks and a full mix as well, course notes which you find HERE and the chorus publicity flyer which you can find HERE. To avoid any misconceptions, we have also put together an information leaflet for course attendees who show an interest in joining the club. It describes the club and what membership entails including potential cost, audition procedures, time committment etc. We feel that we'd like people to know what they are getting into. You can get a copy of that HERE.
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We received 77 enquiries about the course of which 64 registered. On the night, 61 of those attended and 8 more people just showed up on spec. So, we had 69 attendees on the course and 22 chorus members. Altogether a chorus of 91! The course got started at about 7:50 and finished at about 9:05. We managed to squeeze in a welcome from the Chair, a physical warm-up, a vocal warm-up, a voice range test en-masse to split everyone into sections, a craft session on posture and breathing, section rehearsals on the song and riser time. We managed to sing through the first two lines of the song 4 or 5 times until it was really sounding quite good. I'm still not quite sure how 91 people managed to squeeze onto our risers but they managed it somehow!  Click on the thumbnail to visit the gallery for more pictures. |
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Attendance was down this week with 52 attendees. It's possible that a few crept by without signing in but it means we had about 75 - 80 on the risers. It's actually quite difficult to tell the difference between 91 (last week's figure) and 75. It's still a humungously large chorus! We knew that some people were going to absent anyway and will, hopefully, return next week. The big thrill is that some people thought that last week was so good that they brought new people along this week. We had five new attendees. We have already started getting enquiries about joining the club and our handout is swinging into action. Our craft session this week was on the vocal mechanism; a brief anatomical description with the aid of a meat baster! The importance of keeping everything in line, silent breathing, the inner smile, singing on the breath and other stuff. After a 20 minute section rehearsal, we were back on the risers. All sections had managed to get to the end of the song so we just went straight in and did it. You should have seen the faces at the end. That expression of "Oh my goodness, I can't believe we just did that!". Priceless. It was, I have to say, pretty damn good. I explained to them that we had chosen one song that wouldn't be too difficult to learn so that we could get it off the page and start thinking about putting some of the craft into practice. (They have come on the course to learn how to sing, not to learn songs.) To that end, I asked them that next week should be the last week we allow music on the risers which will give us three weeks to really start making music. There were no gasps of horror and an awful lot of agreement so I think that went down ok. We just tidied up some breathing issues, identified some timing problems and sang it through again a couple of times before quitting for coffee. Altogether, a very positive experience.  Click on the thumbnail to visit the gallery for more pictures. |
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This week, apart from the chorus members, 43 course attendees signed in so, again, the numbers were down. No matter, it meant we still had a chorus of 67 or so on the risers; a very satisfying size to deal with. Also, most of the missing people had taken pains to notify us and to assure us that they would be back. The evening followed the same pattern as last week with a physical warm-up, a vocal warm-up, a craft session, section rehearsals and, then, back on the risers for the last 10 minutes. The craft session took a little longer this week, revising the work we've already done and then moving on to deal with resonance. I really love the look on people's faces when they finally get it. The riser session was shorter but we managed to sing the song through once before addressing some issues about singing at the top and bottom ends of the vocal range. As a final blast, we sang it through WITHOUT THE MUSIC and, by George, I think they've got it! These ladies are really accomplishing something here. Next week - no music on the risers. Seager took a couple of minutes to address the group about chorus membership. We weren't going to bring this subject up at all but enough people have asked and some people have shown some confusion so we thought we'd bite the bullet. She just made it clear that there are vacancies in the chorus for anyone who wants to join and that we have a handout that explains the audition procedure, costs, time committment and other stuff so that they know what they are getting into. During coffee, something like 15 people asked for the handout! Heard from one of the course attendees during the coffee break: "I've learned more in an hour tonight that I have in 15 years with the ....... Chorale." How satisfying is that? We have two girls, living two doors apart from each other, who each enrolled on the course without knowing about the other. Imagine their surprise when they met at the rehearsal. They now travel together and there are a few other instances of people forming groups and coming together. It's amazing that, in three weeks, this group of people are beginning to bond into a chorus.  Click on the thumbnail to visit the gallery for more pictures. |
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Over half way through the course now. Our sign in process indicates that we had 41 guests this evening but the concensus is that a few people skipped the register. We also had two completely new people come so we probably had the same as last week or maybe a few more. Some people returned after missing last week and some people were missing due to other committments. Course attendance seems to be a bit like a normal chorus evening - it's never quite the same people on the risers! Anyway, we had a total of something like 65 on the risers. We learned the 'Where is love' tag during the warm up session so that we could then use it in the craft session. It's neat because it involves unison but also has a good range where the singer can think about doing the right things on both high and low notes. The craft this week addressed vowel sounds, a subject I don't usually spend a lot of time on - fix the Holy Grail of well supported, freely produced, resonant sound and you fix 99% of all known germs including vowel sounds. Nevertheless, there are some sounds that need a little thought and diphthongs need to be explained. The 'awe' sound is one of my hot buttons and sounds like 'beat', 'bit', 'bait' and 'bat' shouldn't involve pulling back the cheek muscles. Anyway, I ended up spending more time than I probably should have done. We had 5 minute section rehearsals, the last ones because there won't be any next week or on the final evening. We had ten minutes back on the risers with the dots and the difference was very noticeable. We had some light and shade and much better precision - I guess they were all watching me! One piece of highly excellent news. We have one young lady who was so struck on the very first night of the course that she expressed her desire to join the chorus immediately. She has a wonderful deep voice; has had trouble fitting in with more conventional choirs and she'd finally found a place to fit. The bass section has been enhanced by her presence. We gave her a voice test last week and she passed her audition last night with flying colours. So we now have a new bass - Natalia. What's more, she wants to come to Convention and sing and I have every confidence that she will easily learn the songs in time. She even used her mobile phone to book a seat on the train to Harrogate last night. Keen or what? Two more weeks to go. In one way, I am really looking forward to the final evening because it will be a fun evening and will give everybody a chance to shine in front of an audience. On the other hand, I have really enjoyed working with a chorus of 60+ and, in three weeks, we will be back to reality. It will be a bigger chorus but I don't think it will be 60. Neil  Click on the thumbnail to visit the gallery for more pictures. |
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Only one more week to go and this week we had 40 sign in. So, we've had 40 or so now for three weeks and they can be regarded as the 'regulars'. It's been a little dissappointing to have lost so many of the first-nighters but, as far as our 40 are concerned, we are doing things right. Without exception, all the people I've spoken to, and I'm trying to speak to everbody, have enjoyed the course, have learned something useful, are looking forward to the show next week and either want to join or wish they had the time to join! We have actually had quite a few 'singers' on the course; several people who sing in other choral groups and a number of younger people who want to pursue solo singing and have come along to see what they can learn. It's cheaper than professional singing lessons! It's nice to hear that they all think it's been both useful and enjoyable. Our warm up tonight included some bubbling and blubbing and other 'esoteric' techniques including a lot of unscheduled laughter. We also learned a six-part round, Jubilate Deo, which is a good exercise, as well as being fun, because it has quite a wide range. Our craft tonight was the tricky subject of consonants. I think barbershoppers in general take a rather simplistic approach to this, tending to forget that consonants are fundamental to understanding and, what's more, they convey the real meaning, the emotion behind the words as well as the words themselves. We tried to sing a phrase of our song without any consonants at all. We pretty much failed because everyone found it so hilarious. We skipped section rehearsal tonight; they know the song now. The craft work really showed up because we'd lost all the clipped 't's and extended 's's and it was beginning to sound 'joined up' and gorgeous. We split the course attendees into two to make two mini-choruses (actually each one was over 40 strong!). One half sang while the other listened and then we swapped and did it again. It was an opportunity for them to hear what it sounds (and looks) like from the audience perspective. We did ask that people who are considering joining the chorus make themselves known tonight. We are concerned that we plan the next few weeks properly bearing in mind that we will have a bunch of new people to manage at the same time as we are polishing our convention package. We just wanted an idea of the scale of our opportunity (Whoops: I nearly said problem!). Thirteen put their names down which will make Velvet Harmony 40 strong if they all pass the voice test and audition. One lady asked me where could she go now for more singing tuition without spending a lot of money. She doesn't feel she's good enough for the chorus yet but wants to get better. Her comment was that she is not up to the same standard as the chorus. And, here is a problem. Velvet Harmony is not an A level chorus, in fact we are fighting to become a consistently B level chorus. But, to people like those on our course, we are absolutely wonderful. This can create the "I couldn't possibly do that" response when in fact, they probably could. How many people are put off having a go because they think it's too difficult or they're not good enough? Neil  Click on the thumbnail to visit the gallery for more pictures. |
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Well, that's it! I can't believe it's all over. The evening that seemed so far away back in July, when we started planning, has been and gone and will now be slotted into the memory album of a lot of people. To all of us at Velvet Harmony, it almost doesn't matter what the end result will be. Recruiting new members seems to us to be relatively unimportant compared with the experience of the last six weeks. We've met a lot of new people; many of them have had a musical experience that they couldn't have got anywhere else; we feel that we've made many new friends and the effect on the chorus has been startling. "If things don't change, you just get more of the same" has been our little mantra and they couldn't have changed more dramatically than they have in the last month or so. We started the evening without benefit of physical warm-up (Diane was stuck on a train somewhere) so we assembled on the risers to warm up and revise the course work. We actually didn't get much revision done because we were having too much fun singing through the tags we'd learned, the Jubilate round and we even learned a new tag, Midnight Rose. At 8:30, we broke for 5 minutes to greet our guests and to give me a chance to put on some glad rags and then it was Show Time. The show opened with Mosaic singing "Fit As A Fiddle" and "Ain't Misbehavin" . The baritone, Margaret, only got back from a four week holiday in South Africa that very morning but managed to stay awake long enough to make it seem like she'd never been away. Velvet Harmony Normal Size took the second spot with five songs: "Get Happy", "Nevertheless", "Rhythm Of The Rain", "Mr Wonderful" and "There, I've Said It Again". Our newest member, Natalia, joined us for the last two. And then, it was time for the Big Event, the Grand Finale, the Tour de Force, La Piece de Resistance as Velvet Harmony Go Large took the stage to present to the world our rendition of "Try A Little Tenderness". The audience were so moved that they shouted and screamed for more (without any prompting!) so, of course, we had to do it again. The show was followed by a few thank yous, a little presentation to our supporters for their help with the nitty gritty such as teas and coffee, an invitation to come back anytime (like next week) and a very moving little speech from one of the course attendees who took it on herself to speak for everyone when she thanked the chorus and told us a little bit of what she had got out of it. We are now busy planning the next few weeks when, in addition to preparing for Convention, we have something like 15 new members to get on board and up to speed. No rest for the wicked! Jean Garelick, the lady who handled all the initial enquiries, answered phone calls, sent out letters, answered questions and kept the register up to date every week (and probably did a lot of other stuff I don't know about) is so worn out by the experience that she has taken herself off to Australia for two months holiday. All right for some innit! Things have changed around here and they won't ever be the same again. Neil  Click on the thumbnail to visit the gallery for more pictures. |
The
course is based around a one and a quarter hour program each week
for six weeks. 15 minutes of physical and vocal warm-up, 20 minutes
of craft (a different aspect each week), 20 minutes of section reahearsals
on the song we are learning (a simplified Watkins arrangement of
Try A Little Tenderness) and 20 minutes of riser time putting the
craft into practice on the song. At the end, we have scheduled 15
minutes for coffee and chat before the chorus proceeds with a 'normal'
rehearsal. Guests are welcome to stay and watch.