The Christmas season

                                                                            The Boss.

We have done a lot of singing this term, so much so that its impossible to select a highlight! This year's Messiah performances were great to be in, and several of us distributed flyers to the audience when they were leaving, and all of them were thrilled by the music, and some said it was the best Messiah they'd ever heard. Certainly, everyones spirits were high and it was clear to see they'd loved the evening. There was a woman in the front row of the audience who was totally mesmerized  by the whole thing, such a lovely thing to see. For me, I felt the narrative flow in a way I haven't when singing it in the past.

     Back to Black, after the Christmas Concert frovilities...

 Darren Jeffery, the Bass Soloist, who had traveled from Somerset to perform. He kindly posed for me when we shared the lift!

This was the last performance for John, who has been in the choir for 25 years. When he recieved his parting gift from Michael he simply said, 'I will miss you all.'

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Our third year of community Christmas concerts with Christopher Bell and the Ulster Orchestra.

                   (How do you know Christopher Bell is in town? Look at his amazing feet!)

This concert is an opportunity for us to sing more lighthearted music and have a bit of fun in the concert, and we are positively encouraged to go Fancy Dress..

The first half is Christmassy but relatively sedate..and the ladies are asked to wear coloured blouses in lieu of the usual black.

The first year - second half saw the Phil with a bit of additional sparkle and a few 'sexy santas'

The second year - second half saw some major effort, with pantomime dames, rows of elves, trees, inflatable snowman, puddings, presents, lots of 'sexy santas' and Elvis (elves welcome, said the instructions!). Oh, and a pantomime horse!!

(Tom, I think, who described himself as 'Rather Fetching') 

Year three - some members who had not sung in the Christmas concert before asked for tips on fancy dress. My best advice, "You cannot be overdressed. If you don't go OTT you will feel like the odd one out.."

                       

(no wires.. that halo is obviously real.)

Out came flashing lights, Statue of Liberty, snow queen, even more 'sexy santas' (a proven popular choice) Rudolph, angels and fairies. And the ladies dressed up too.

Ho ho Hosanna in excelsis..

(kindly written by Katherine Hanratty, as your blogger was unable to attend, ba humbug..)

keeping Fit.. (dancing Sopranos..)

                                           More photos from our Posh Do in May!

                                          Katherine and Tara, being  coat hooks (don't ask...)

                                                en route to Daft Eddies on a Bike Day Out..

Sampling the local fare - purely for research purposes.

                                     
And here's everyone getting ready for skinny dipping in Lough Neagh, brrrr, but sadly, I didn't get a shot... (too busy holding the towels and hot whiskey..)

Action Paparazzi...!!! Here's me, trying to work out how to turn the camera on. I know, dangerous to take pics while traveling at such high speeds (ahem).  By this stage I was so hungry the camera was looking tasty.. 

Didn't we have a lovely day, the day we went to...

Saturday was another Bike Day Out which is THE social highlight of the choir month - honest! There are generally a dozen or so of us, and three of us have bought bikes specially, having tried hiring once to see if we liked it, and wow! we couldn't believe that we'd forgotten what great fun it is just getting out on a bike!

The forecast for rain was completely wrong, we had wall-to-wall sunshine. This time we met in Bangor, some having arrived there by train (Mary had to sweet-talk a grumpy attedant at Carrick to let her cross the line so as not to miss her connection, and she made it to Central with 1 minute to skip across the platform onto our train), others driving to Newtownards or Helen's Bay and cycling in from there.  Alice was handicapped by two full panniers as she'd succumbed to the temptations of apples and potatoes from St George's Market.. The route followed the coast through Groomsport and then we criss-crossed through the lanes till eventually we reached Eden Pottery for lunch. However, it was a more circuitous route than it might have been and some of us were peckish by 12, I joined in by 12.30 thinking we MUST be nearly there, and by 1.10 the Maxol station Centra would have suited me rightly...! (Unfortunately, Alice was way ahead of us otherwise I might have got an apple!)

                                                           yummmmm yummm...

However, we kept going, and sure someone has to be last, and as Robin's wife Fiona said to me, she's always glad to see me on the bike day, then she knows she WON'T be last. (Huh!!!)  In my defence, my bike is the heaviest bike in the world, so I'm expecting Popeye-style thighs to match.

                                             Mary and Nuala's high-protein energy-boosters...

You can never have too many hearts, or enough chickens. 

We had a lovely lunch, starting with pudding, obviously to get the blood-sugar back up, and I've requested that next time, we  take in a Spa, purely for my legs..

In this pic we were showing off our new flashing-lights, as its dark so early. Katherine won the prize for Most Flashy as she had an hidden-extra light in her helmet, oh yes, but I won the prize hands down for the Most Blinding Light!!

All in all, a wonderful day off, brilliant for our lungs. Next time, we're doing a Christmas Special, bringing a board game to make lunch even rowdier.. And we're hoping for lights which sing Jingle Bells, and maybe hi-Viz angel-wings would be nice?

So if you haven't been on a bike for years, now's the time. The pace is chat-speed, the only competition is for the biggest ice cream. And if you have a bike going rusty in the garage... Come and join in the fun.
Speak to John in the Tenors or Maureen in the Altos for details.

the Point is...

Well, two consecutive rehearsals for the Mozart Mass in C Minor has left me croaky, so like the rest of the choir, I shant speak all day tomorrow, as the concert is in the evening...
This concert is hot on the heels of Carmina Burana, and is a challenge to everyone. However, our Audience Of One was extremely appreciative of our efforts. I know the actual concert is sold out.

 It would be lovely if we could all take a turn to hear ourselves sing, for the expression on some of our conductors faces, when they like the sound we produce, is lovely to see. If only we could hear what they hear!

I took a few snaps while we were getting ready to rehearse, and was most surprised at the results. While being in the choir is a lovely, friendly experience (among other things), now I see the photos, we look like a very bossy lot indeed... There's definitely a Pointing Thing going on...

This (above) is my favourite, that's a very long Point, full of conviction...

I don't know WHAT Stephen must have done, but he's clearly not taking his telling off very seriously, for here is Hilary not only Pointing, but wagging her finger at him. tut tut! Either that or she's very helpfully giving him the beats in the bar...  

Honestly, it was THIS big...

Here's Stephen back stage, telling the tenors about The One That Got Away...!



Seriously though, its always good to have a last-minute warm up before going on stage, and I was full of admiration for the soprano soloist who sat quietly all evening, then produced the most amazing top D from a cold start.. The sopranos have a few high bars directly after hers, and at the final rehearsal, in her astonishment at the soloists brilliance, my soprano neighbour decided that perhaps she'd er..save her voice for the performance!! (which she did, and was wonderful of course)

All the hard work and extra rehearsals really paid off - the  Carmina Burana concert was the best one I have sung in during the short time I've been in the choir. The orchestra was amazing, Greg Beardsell conducted himself (and us) most enthusiastically and worked hard through the whole thing, and all voices were just brilliant, children and school choirs. But most admiration must go to The Men, who were outrageously impressive and it's a privilege to sit near them!

Mind you, while the men were going through their paces back stage, I could smell a strong chemincal pong..and looked around to see Someone applying the finishing touches to her outfit. I'm not saying who, though she sits at the piano every week at rehearsals...

I just hope the nails were dry before she began playing the Celesta...

Ethel ROCKS...

Tonight was the orchestra rehearsal for Carmina Burana, and it sounded (from where I stood anyway) truly marvelous. In fact, much better than the recording I have! Its fabulous to sing with the extra voices from the Phil Youth Choir and various school choirs too, and the orchestra is also... enormous. Including two pianos and a harmonium - will anyone HEAR the harmonium?? I think its also nice to have both Gail and Stephen performing in the orchestra.

And much as the Altos DO sound delicious, the men have been so impressive,  I think we can safely say the entire concert is relying on their performance alone...

It's so interesting hearing the different conductors approach to getting what they want from us, the various ways they explain the meaning of words or phrases that we need to convey. There is one particularly 'come-hither' phrase in the Alto line in Carmina, and when he came to rehearse with us last month, Nick tried to bring out the inner Goddess from the Altos by asking them to make him feel Cuddled. Then after a seconds of reflection he added, er, Cuddled, but not Voluptuously cuddled. Then he blushed! Greg Beardsell, however, hasn't blushed once, and is going for the full-on Voluptous. Which is obviously not a problem for the Altos. I won't mention his requests for the sopranos to flirt and mince. We'll see how it goes!

On the right is Adrian, who can't make the performance as he has his paintings in an Art Exhibition at The Culloden Hotel. Hope its a sell-out. 

And a soprano told me tonight about a conversation she had recently with her son, who is in the Phil Youth choir. 

He said - "Mum, where's Ethel, I MISS Ethel, has she left?"... "No, she's singing in the Phil but has changed her duties, and Tom is now Chair"... "oh", he said "it's just that Ethel ROCKS" !!! 

There's something very special about people who bring that out of a child. 

Phil bike group, after (purely medicinal) cake.. This was our first day out, in April, and it really set the standard. Maureen and John have not only taken us on the most lovely (flat) routes, (well, except for a couple of times when ONE person in particular had to get off and push...) but they have introduced us to lots of delightful eateries and have our culinary interests at heart. Its a gourmet tour. 

 Another bike day out, the usual decision making torture - which ice cream (also medicinal) flavour??

(the answer - if you get a bug tub, they can cram in three flavours - sop, tenor and bass!) (the Altos? Well, they're the sauce, obviously!) 

and in our spare time...

This week its been All Go for the choir cyclists. We got the train to Portadown on Saturday morning, and cycled to Oxford Island for lunch. I have to stress that the pace is...chat-speed, and the craic is mighty. We'd just sat down to eat when the heaven's opened, which forced us to have pudding. After which, Robin had a good rummage in his bag and produced a bottle of Champagne, as it was his birthday! We sang a beautiful, full harmony rendition of Happy Birthday and the waitress was so impressed, she asked Are ye's a choir coz that was CLASS, so we sang it again!

After we'd sobered up we set off in the drizzle, and meandered our way through the lanes, Robin and Fiona veering off to gather sloes (obviously, for the sloe gin for our next trip..) and thanks again to all who didn't complain at my snails pace, apart from one of the basses, who just couldn't BELIEVE I was so slow...  I rather suspect that Robin is getting a bit competitive, because he's fitted a huge horn on his bike - and said it was to compete with my bell. Hmm. My bell is a big bass bell. Possibly to make up for the fact I'm so slow..

                                                      Robin's horn (clearly, cheating)

                       and the Big Bass Bell. I think he borrowed that horn off his new car...!

A reminder that its time to get your Christmas Spirit into gear... Here's Santa Soprano with a couple of helpers from last year..

                                                       The long and the short of it....
is that we need a few more volunteers on Tuesday afternoons, to help with the Phil Kids. As you can see, we come in all shapes and sizes, and the more the merrier. If you're available, do come along, its great to see the kids progressing, and their enthusiasm is a joy. Not to mention, the enthusiasm of the volunteers too!

to-Do lists.

Auditions are now complete and its good to welcome some new faces to the choir. With our first concert only a couple of weeks away, we all have our (home-)work cut out for us. My tip for the newcomers is, bring two pencils every week, and your Thinking Cap - this is the worlds fastest choir..! (It's like a work-out, for the brain..) DO be early, DO listen carefully, DO keep your copy high in the air when singing, DO watch the chorus master at all times, DO smile to keep the cheeks up, DO practice at home, DO join the cycle group and DO come along to the Wellington Park for half an hour after rehearsals to meet your fellow singers. And, oh yes - DO enjoy yourself. 

Stephen Doughty, Chorus Master, with Gail Evans, our new accompanist, at the Wellington Park. 

some more Posh Pics... (click to enlarge)

Pics from the weekend rehearsal, choir 1. 

Nick looking a little...startled? 

Hmmmmm..... 

Those who attended Christopher's leaving do in May will remember the poems written and recited by Denis Carson. Denis has very kindly forwarded the poems to me in case anyone would like copies. This is what he says:  In case anyone might be intrigued, the Sestina is a format that should be read as a continuous narrative, but is set out in the form of six stanzas of six lines each and built around six key words which occur in every stanza.  Then all six key words reappear as the backbone of a concluding three line coda.


Try as I might, I cannot attach the poems to the blog. If you would like a copy, please email me 
julie@juliedouglas.co.uk
and I will pass them on - there are 3 poems in all.  I know some people have tried to comment on the blog but have had difficulty. If you would like to make a comment, please send it to me and I'll put it on for you, thanks.