(no subject)
I was so much better at posting when I "had" to post a poem every day- perhaps I ought to try some other challenges. I've always felt the camera on my phone wasn't really good enough for a photo every day but it isn't AWFUL. Or... I don't know. What else could I challenge myself to do?
I mean I could just challenge myself to POST every day but I fear I'd just fail at that *g*
Anyway this weekend was kind of amazing. Or at least Sunday was completely amazing.
I signed up to take part in the London Community Gospel Choir's 30 Choir Festival in Southbank Centre and it was a very long day but so much fun.
There was a warm up first thing and then Gospel workshops- though workshops so big we took up most of the Queen Elizabeth Hall which isn't exactly small!). In the workshops we learned some music and got a few tips about how to stand and how to use dynamics etc. mostly we just sang together really and a few people got chances to do solos.
There were also performances happening all the time- just short bits of busking really but from lots of different choirs. I crashed the Revelation Rock-Gospel Choir one because a) I used to be a member 10 years ago and 2) my sister was conducting one of the pieces. It turned out I only really knew 2 of the songs well but I'd heard most of the rest and Gospel is generally pretty easy to pick up (for me anyway) so we rehearsed that for half an hour and then headed out onto Queens Walk (which it turns out is the the name of the section of the South Bank in front of the Royal Festival Hall) to sing.
We sang He Is Worthy and Freedom and Bring Me Little Water Sylvie and Oh Lovely Day and people seemed to really enjoy it- mostly we sang entirely acapella too which is what Rev does best.
The other BIG thing for the day was the Guinness World Record attempt- largest Gospel choir in a concert. We had a rehearsal in the afternoon which was 2 hours long and mostly consisted of getting everyone in the right seats- they had to be in the right places for the count. As an individual (rather than someone who'd come with a choir) I was sitting in a box with three other ladies and we were watching the chaos in the stalls below when suddenly they announced that all of us in the boxes would actually be singing ON STAGE WITH LCGC
*cue minor freak out*
So that was nice. We had to walk down from the boxes together and onto the stage and sort of arrange ourselves around the choir and the 5 conductors *G*
In the evening we had to be seated an hour before the concert started- to check we were all there I guess. So we were all sitting, in various choir t-shirts and robes and 30 Choir Festival t-shirts for us individuals and suddenly one of the choirs broke into song and for the next half an hour we just had this impromptu gospel singalong <3 some songs I knew, some I didn't, an Italian choir sang Volare and we all ended up with One Love. It was SO joyful. I miss Gospel singing so much.
The concert itself was amazing- it's been far too long since I heard LCGC sing and they really are incredible. They had some other guest choirs singing too all of whom sounded amazing- especially the Gospel rendition of a piece called He's Alive which used the opening from Beethoven's 5th Symphony. Slightly annoyingly we missed the last song as we had to move down from our boxes (Jahméne Douglas was guesting for the last two songs and two of the girls sitting next to me had a complete meltdown when he came on stage and they were MOST unimpressed we had to move but then they realised they'd end up on stage with him and all was well again *g*
We all traipsed out onto the stage as they were handing out souvenirs to the choir leaders and then it was time for the loudest version of Oh Happy Day I have ever taken part in <3 There were people in Guinness World Record blazers everywhere checking we were all actually singing and making sure the song lasted five minutes but by 30 seconds in I'd mostly forgotten that because I was standing and... yeah.
After that we had a sort of pause, with some bits of Revd Basil Meade leading us in song and then his grandkids came out with a birthday cake for him (his birthday had been on Saturday) and we all sang Happy Birthday and then they announced the results- 37 people got DQ'd because they weren't singing, mostly idiots who were taking pictures instead (we'd been warned several times!) but we still did it!
So that's my second World Record of the year \o/
We finished up with Keep Movin' which is an LCGC classic and I was on SUCH a high that despite having been up for around 19 hours at that point I sort of wanted to do it all over again but it was home time.
Here's a video of Oh Happy Day and the announcement- I can see myself in it quite a few times but I doubt anyone else will be able to spot me- my forehead becomes very noticeable round about the 8'20 mark *g*
I really REALLY need to find somewhere I can sing with a gospel choir again though, there's nothing quite like it.
I mean I could just challenge myself to POST every day but I fear I'd just fail at that *g*
Anyway this weekend was kind of amazing. Or at least Sunday was completely amazing.
I signed up to take part in the London Community Gospel Choir's 30 Choir Festival in Southbank Centre and it was a very long day but so much fun.
There was a warm up first thing and then Gospel workshops- though workshops so big we took up most of the Queen Elizabeth Hall which isn't exactly small!). In the workshops we learned some music and got a few tips about how to stand and how to use dynamics etc. mostly we just sang together really and a few people got chances to do solos.
There were also performances happening all the time- just short bits of busking really but from lots of different choirs. I crashed the Revelation Rock-Gospel Choir one because a) I used to be a member 10 years ago and 2) my sister was conducting one of the pieces. It turned out I only really knew 2 of the songs well but I'd heard most of the rest and Gospel is generally pretty easy to pick up (for me anyway) so we rehearsed that for half an hour and then headed out onto Queens Walk (which it turns out is the the name of the section of the South Bank in front of the Royal Festival Hall) to sing.
We sang He Is Worthy and Freedom and Bring Me Little Water Sylvie and Oh Lovely Day and people seemed to really enjoy it- mostly we sang entirely acapella too which is what Rev does best.
The other BIG thing for the day was the Guinness World Record attempt- largest Gospel choir in a concert. We had a rehearsal in the afternoon which was 2 hours long and mostly consisted of getting everyone in the right seats- they had to be in the right places for the count. As an individual (rather than someone who'd come with a choir) I was sitting in a box with three other ladies and we were watching the chaos in the stalls below when suddenly they announced that all of us in the boxes would actually be singing ON STAGE WITH LCGC
*cue minor freak out*
So that was nice. We had to walk down from the boxes together and onto the stage and sort of arrange ourselves around the choir and the 5 conductors *G*
In the evening we had to be seated an hour before the concert started- to check we were all there I guess. So we were all sitting, in various choir t-shirts and robes and 30 Choir Festival t-shirts for us individuals and suddenly one of the choirs broke into song and for the next half an hour we just had this impromptu gospel singalong <3 some songs I knew, some I didn't, an Italian choir sang Volare and we all ended up with One Love. It was SO joyful. I miss Gospel singing so much.
The concert itself was amazing- it's been far too long since I heard LCGC sing and they really are incredible. They had some other guest choirs singing too all of whom sounded amazing- especially the Gospel rendition of a piece called He's Alive which used the opening from Beethoven's 5th Symphony. Slightly annoyingly we missed the last song as we had to move down from our boxes (Jahméne Douglas was guesting for the last two songs and two of the girls sitting next to me had a complete meltdown when he came on stage and they were MOST unimpressed we had to move but then they realised they'd end up on stage with him and all was well again *g*
We all traipsed out onto the stage as they were handing out souvenirs to the choir leaders and then it was time for the loudest version of Oh Happy Day I have ever taken part in <3 There were people in Guinness World Record blazers everywhere checking we were all actually singing and making sure the song lasted five minutes but by 30 seconds in I'd mostly forgotten that because I was standing and... yeah.
After that we had a sort of pause, with some bits of Revd Basil Meade leading us in song and then his grandkids came out with a birthday cake for him (his birthday had been on Saturday) and we all sang Happy Birthday and then they announced the results- 37 people got DQ'd because they weren't singing, mostly idiots who were taking pictures instead (we'd been warned several times!) but we still did it!
So that's my second World Record of the year \o/
We finished up with Keep Movin' which is an LCGC classic and I was on SUCH a high that despite having been up for around 19 hours at that point I sort of wanted to do it all over again but it was home time.
Here's a video of Oh Happy Day and the announcement- I can see myself in it quite a few times but I doubt anyone else will be able to spot me- my forehead becomes very noticeable round about the 8'20 mark *g*
Click to viewI really REALLY need to find somewhere I can sing with a gospel choir again though, there's nothing quite like it.