Chair: WT
Venue: Golden Lane
Time: 18.45 for 19.00 start
Attendees: JB, SC, RM, MX, MR, CS, LS, PS, WT, PV, RS, Felicia
Apologies: Victoria
Warm Up
Rob did his usual warm up and got all our cockles cosy.
Fum Fum Fum (warm up song)
Timing much improved on this one. There were some mutterings re the pronunciation of fum. It’s definitely “foom” and not “fumm”. Please everyone listen carefully to the robots for the timing of the final “fum fum fum” as we’re still not getting it right.
Heartbeat Rhythm
Not bad first outing for this one, with Marcus and Louli making valiant efforts on the simple body percussion.
I think we managed to work it out second time round, but in case of doubt, the song structure is bars 1-32 sung twice, before moving to bar 33. Bar 49 has the tricky entries so practise your notes for those. Watch Rob for the timing of the final hand claps.
Due to an inability to read my own schedule I inadvertently cut 10 mins off the rehearsal time for this one so the next Chair may want to compensate for that at the next outing. FWIW the extra time went to Uptown Funk, so not wasted.
Uptown Funk
First rendition pretty much a car crash, but second time round much improved.
Basses doh dohs seem to have an error in them so were wrong to start with but I got the impression the chaps had nailed it by the end.
Rob worked with us on the repeated da bah do bahs eg bar 12 where the timing is tricky and I think it was ok by the end. Watch Rob if uncertain. Ditto the hey hey hey in eg bar 44. Focus on practising these tricky bits for next time.
Two more points from Rob:
when we sing uptown funk – really make it staccato – he acted this out in a very macho way!
when Alto (Louli and Max) come in to sing ‘cos uptown funk can’t give it ya, cos up town funk can’t give it ya’ we go up in chromatically and need to give it volume, while all other parts stay on the same note and sing not too loud to drown Sop 2 out
From a personal point of view, bar 113-end is pretty much a mystery and needs further work. Note to self.
Felicia (surprise sop) loved this one!
Break
We celebrated Felipe’s venerable birthday with delicious cake and bubbles.
Bring Me Little Water Sylvy
Sang through. Fine.
Vox Vibe
First time with Juliana on Sop 1. Tricky fitting it together at first but we worked out the timings I think. Bars 28 to 37 need work on the timing. We had brief input from Rob which helped but needs more! Please all focus on that for next time.
We started this one early, so feel it’s progressing fine.
I Got Rhythm
I heard no bad reports.
Take Five
The piano really helps with the swing of this one although I think we were struggling with the triplets a bit.
It’s a warm up song only next week so work hard peeps!
AOB:
Narratives
Robin’s narratives got a positive reception and he’s been delegated to write two more. Resolved to have them scattered throughout the gig, with traditional intros elsewhere.
Gig Publicity
JB announced it’s time to start. Peter’s poster has been shared and got the thumbs up. Full steam ahead. Phil requested postcards.
Future audition procedures
Felicia was waiting outside to socialise with us, so parked this for now. Will raise again on 29 September, so Marcus Rowcliffe please add to the agenda for that week’s AOB.
Ongoing recruitment publicity / choir description
The group agreed Phil’s amendments to the choir description – ie Sunday all days and piano accompaniment. Go ahead given to keep up the work on recruitment.
Stand-in MD
WT suggested having a stand-in MD in case Rob is called away for an extended period due to his family commitments this autumn. Go-ahead given to explore this idea with Jamie Layfield who has stood in for Enda for Cricklesingers, this weekend. Robin requested Rob make piano recordings for those songs we’re practising while he’s away on 13 and 20 October. Rob agreed.
Felicia
Possible new soprano Felicia turned up (Phil met her last week) and was invited to join in, which she did. She seemed to enjoy it, and is keen to come back, although she’s away for the next two weeks (1) filming a music video in Liverpool and 2) at the Oktoberfest in Munich). Seems like a good bet. Fingers x she returns.