HOW TIME FLIES…
After a long four-month break while I sorted out my shoulder,

Open Door Choir finally reunited in mid-April — and what a busy five weeks it’s been! Even with a Bank Holiday thrown into the mix we’ve nearly finished learning two brand new songs to add to our wonderful chocolate box of repertoire. Just imagine what we’ll achieve over the next eight weeks after this next Bank Holiday!
After our warm-ups this week, we spent lots of time tackling the tricky rhythms and notes that come after the second verse of

YOU ARE THE REASON. It’s definitely a section that will take patience and a few more rehearsals, but we’ll get there. I was really pleased with what we achieved in just one session, so don’t worry if you still feel a little “lost at sea” with it — it will click into place. This is already shaping up to be such a beautiful song for us to sing.
Revisiting The Chain after such a long break was… interesting! But listening back, I could hear that although each section struggled a little with finding starting notes and timings, you still had a strong sense of what you should be singing — we’d simply lost the key and flow in places. I’m really looking forward to refreshing this one and getting it back on the starting grid (see what I did there?..... F1 reference)  
After the break, and a little sunny singalong, we worked on our Stausure competition song WHERE THE SUN DON’T SHINE, tightening up some of the trickier moments. Listening back to our second run-through, I honestly think that with just one more rehearsal we’d have absolutely nailed it! But what we recorded last week truly captured what community choir is all about — the energy, enthusiasm, smiles, laughter, concentration and teamwork. Those are the building blocks that help us grow stronger and stronger… while hopefully having a lot of fun along the way ☺
We finished the session with a first look at the simple harmonies for The Beatles’ ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE. There are no learning tracks for this one, so we’ll learn it together “in-house”. And of course, we ended with a bit of fun singing a short four-part arrangement of LET THE SUN SHINE IN — fingers crossed this and the other sunny themed songs bring us plenty of blue skies and sunshine over the Bank Holiday! The harmonies for this were a little tricky, especially for the altos as it was a bit high for them, so I might twiddle with it, and we can have another go next time.
We’re now off for a one-week break before returning to the hall for a full eight-week block leading us up to the summer holidays.
For anyone who didn’t pay for the full term (£65), remaining subs of £40 are now due. Payment can be made by BACS (details are on the website), or by cash/card at rehearsal on 1st June. Any questions, just drop me a private message.
ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE!