Well Ladies and Gentlemen, what a good evening rehearsal that was.  Firstly we were honoured by a rare visit from our hard working Chairman who was found at a loose end  and in England so came to rehearsal to sing with us, for those who don’t know John is currently working away from home in Ireland so getting to rehearsals is difficult.
 
AmyBeth spent the first half of the rehearsal looking in depth at The Fields of Athernry, taking us through it page by page working on delivery and dynamics, making the music and words speak to the listener, and hard work it was, sometimes frustrating when the expression wasn’t as we collectively wanted, but rewarding in the end. 
 
After a break we worked on the Alleluia by Mozart, again taking time to take the piece apart and learning each line part by part and building the piece up to a great rendition at the end where the voices blended and sang out confidently, cheekily I tried all parts for this and did struggle a bit on a top f-sharp in the sop line but hopefully sang it quiet enough so AmyBeth didn’t hear.
 
Next Tuesday is the last rehearsal before our summer break and I would encourage all of us to attend if at all possible to get one last sing together prior to the next rehearsal on;
 
Tues 4 Sep 1745 for 1800-2000 10th floor, 55 Broadway
Tues 11 Sep 1745 for 1800-2000 Conference Room 1, Ground floor, Palestra, Southwark
Sat 15 Sep 1445 for 1500-1700 Conference Room 1, Ground floor, Palestra, Southwark
Tues 18 Sep 1745 for 1800-2000 10th floor, 55 Broadway
Tues 25 Sep 1745 for 1800-2000 District Meeting Room, 727, 7th Floor, 55 Broadway
Sat 29 Sep 1445 for 1500-1700 10th floor, 55 Broadway
Tues 2 Oct 1745 for 1800-2000 10th floor, 55 Broadway
Concert 6 Oct time to be finalised, St Paul’s Church, Rossmore Road, Marylebone*. 
 
Please do put these dates in your diary and encourage as many of your friends to come to the concert as possible.
 
Please do continue to check the web site regularly as this is where information re the concert and other interesting items will be posted.
 
*AmyBeth has said that for now the music we will be concentrating on for the concert will be as follows
 
Introit, Sanctus and Libera Me from the Fauré, although can I suggest you listen to the MP3 files for the other sections as we may need to join in if required to help and assist our European colleagues.
 
Pastime with good company, AmyBeth wants this done from memory please, so do get learning the words.

Fields of Athernry

If ye Love me  - Tallis

Alleluia – Mozart.

Bob

On Saturday we had 3 altos, 2 tenors and 5 sopranos! We went through the Introit and Sanctus all the way through! We worked on our dynamics and how to hit the high notes properly! We then recapped the Fields of Athenry which sounded beautiful! Really nice blend of voices!!!

Next rehearsal is on Tuesday 17 July at 55 Broadway 17:45 for 18:00 - tenth floor (note change fm original list). We'll be working on the Fauré- Libera Me; The Fields of Athenry; and Mozart's Allelujah from Exsultate Jubilate. 
​

On Tuesday we warmed up with Pastimes, excelled at If ye Love me, and worked on La mer. We decided that the three part version of Charles Trenet's ever popular French sea song could do with a better ending, so thinking caps are on! At the end of a really positive rehearsal we performed If ye love me in the stairwell at 55 Broadway with its excellent acoustics. Picture by Adrian posted below.

Our next rehearsal will be on Saturday 14 July at 1445 for 1500-1700 Conference Room 1, Ground floor, Palestra, Southwark. Do come and do enjoy yourselves - much better than watching Belgium and England try not to be fourth ...

​Michael

On Tuesday we met to start rehearsing the music for 6 October, a concert we are holding hopefully with our French and Belgian colleagues.  AmyBeth led us through Le Mer, If ye love me and the first movement of Fauré's Requiem in D minor Opus 48.

There were 7 altos, 7 Sops, 4/5 tenors and 2/3 basses and  I must say we did sound good, once the initial note bashing was out of the way. The choir sounded balanced and in time which is great.   I have to admit that I left after the first half to go and watch the England Game so I can’t really comment on the second half of the rehearsal however if it was a good as the first then it was ace. 
 
A note of warning so please do take heed!  AmyBeth, our esteemed Musical Director, has stated that she will be asking the choir to perform Pastime with Good Company for the concert on 6 October, so what, I hear you cry, well AmyBeth has decreed this is to be done without music copies.  I know this is the first time we’ve been asked to do this but we are good enough to pull this off and so please can you all learn your words and part over the next few weeks.  I am sure this won’t be the last time and maybe there will be others for the 6th as well,  who knows.   
 
Next week we are meeting at the usual time on the 10th Floor 55 Broadway.  Please let your work colleagues know and encourage those who want to, to come along .