THERE’S NOTHING LIKE MUSIC TO RELIEVE THE SOUL AND UPLIFT IT (Mickey Hart – American musician)
Last week’s headlines have been full of so much anger, hate, unease… I don’t know about you, but I was feeling very low and unsettled. I love my work, but sometimes, when your own mind is struggling to come to terms with what’s going on around you, it can be hard to find the inspiration and drive to plan and lead choir sessions. So in all honesty I did arrive on Monday evening, the coldest one this year and discovering that sadly the heating had not been put on, with a bit of a heavy heart, I wasn’t quite sure how tonight would be.
It was because of this that I chose to begin the session with us singing the beautiful Ukrainian lullaby, Oi Khodyt Son. We accompanied it with tone chimes. I love using these beautiful instruments when my heart is hurting. How did you find it? Would you like to sing it again, let me know.
There are many beautiful versions of this and the link to the arrangement we sang is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDs9FuW8gs4
You can also hear two other lovely versions here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGQDZcQLfvw &
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWmKGrEdWGI
With spirits lifted, we went on to sing Ezatale, which is sounding just fab! I love the funky rhythm changes and long drawn out notes in the third phrase. Let’s sing it one more time next week! This definitely energized us all to then really get our teeth into UP ON THE ROOF. We finished it guys!!!! Ok, so there are quite a few sections in the middle that need some more work, and we definitely need to work on the quality of the notes, but we have finished the song. Next week we will consolidate all that we did tonight, perhaps sing along to the full arrangement, to build confidence. This is a happy song, that needs to bounce and flow, once you are feeling more solid with your harmonies this will improve, and we’re nearly there. Hard work pays off, and tonight you really did put in the hard work, so well done ☺
After a break we reconvened to attempt singing JOLENE with no words! Terrifying I know, but always worth it. We did it twice. There was a bit of a sense of relief when you got to the end, so let’s be sure to really tune and blend that final chord, it’s important.
I need you to believe me that this sort of singing exercise is well worth the stress in the end, as it really consolidates all that you have learnt and firmly fixes the song into your brains. I know from experience how daunting it is, like walking blindfolded, but it does heighten your senses, especially hearing the other sounds around the room, so stick with me – please?.... Second time was a big improvement, please have a listen, a big round of applause to the REDS who were giving their all tonight, and also to Gel, our wonderful accompanist who somehow keeps up with my mad ways of choir leading.
We then quickly learnt the melody to our lovely new song, ONE VOICE, I will teach two harmonies to this next week. Here’s the link to the Wailin’ Jenny’s singing Ruth Moody’s gorgeous song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-24qGCvo7A
We finished the evening singing the first part to FOREVER COUNTRY on loop, I promise you GREENS and PURPLES that Whitney will be let out of the cupboard next week and we will move on to the next section. One more week before a two week break. It looks like we have enough people to then run three more sessions before Easter, from 31st March. I just need to confirm the hall space and will then be ready to collect subs next week.
Thank you so much everyone for bringing so much energy and joy to the room on such a cold night. B ☺ xxx