Come and Sing
Once per year, the City of Bristol choir organise a Come and Sing, where singers from all over Bristol come and learn some choir music slightly off the beaten track in one day, giving a concert 5 hours after they began. This year they had 250, which somehow managed to fit in. In part a fund raiser, it also advertised and builds the reputation of the choir. Which is actually not the aim of this post. The last couple of times I've been we have had a mix of African music and Gershwin, as well as anything else David Ogden (the conductor and slavemaster) gets hold of. This time it was pure Duke Ellington, from his Freedom file.
So two hours in, we have had about 2 hours rehearsal and we vaguely know what we are doing. I was somewhat sluggish, being somewhat short of sleep recently, and was even worse after lunch since the catnap (well cat-doze) I took, while relaxing, served to turn my brain to mush. Then the band came in. Slightly bigger than usual, they were a blues/jazz band, very good, very funky and really got the choir of old and young fogies moving. And afterwards we found out they had done a song (and album) called Live Life Then Give Life, which may seem familiar to any of you aware of the Organ Donor charity, Live Life Then Give Life, set up by two Cystic Fibrosis superstars.
Now, I admit that it is a bit corny, although the album is a lot better than the live version they ran through quickly after the rehearsal. However, the album (which I am listening to now) -is- funky and all proceeds go to a very important charity. There is also link on the site so you can listen to it wherever you are. I think this YouTube clip also uses it, although I don't have sound on my computer so I can't confirm.
As for the concert, the final performance was stunning (I would be surprised if any of the audience could hear anything afterwards). I even woke up before the final rehearsal and concert so I got virtually all of it correct. I have no doubt that singing is very good for me, both uplifting and lung-clearing!
P.S. We also did well in the raffle. I got the whole of Wagner's Ring Cycle (on CD, in German, an unwanted Christmas present for someone who probably already has a copy or two), and my father who was also there got a bottle of Bell's Whisky. It seems all the early winners took the cheap wine...
So two hours in, we have had about 2 hours rehearsal and we vaguely know what we are doing. I was somewhat sluggish, being somewhat short of sleep recently, and was even worse after lunch since the catnap (well cat-doze) I took, while relaxing, served to turn my brain to mush. Then the band came in. Slightly bigger than usual, they were a blues/jazz band, very good, very funky and really got the choir of old and young fogies moving. And afterwards we found out they had done a song (and album) called Live Life Then Give Life, which may seem familiar to any of you aware of the Organ Donor charity, Live Life Then Give Life, set up by two Cystic Fibrosis superstars.
Now, I admit that it is a bit corny, although the album is a lot better than the live version they ran through quickly after the rehearsal. However, the album (which I am listening to now) -is- funky and all proceeds go to a very important charity. There is also link on the site so you can listen to it wherever you are. I think this YouTube clip also uses it, although I don't have sound on my computer so I can't confirm.
As for the concert, the final performance was stunning (I would be surprised if any of the audience could hear anything afterwards). I even woke up before the final rehearsal and concert so I got virtually all of it correct. I have no doubt that singing is very good for me, both uplifting and lung-clearing!
P.S. We also did well in the raffle. I got the whole of Wagner's Ring Cycle (on CD, in German, an unwanted Christmas present for someone who probably already has a copy or two), and my father who was also there got a bottle of Bell's Whisky. It seems all the early winners took the cheap wine...