Christmas rehearsal news and other matters

Well, my dear fellow singers, I don’t want to worry any of you but we have only a few weeks left now before our showcase at St Martin-in-the Fields, and this means we have a limited number of rehearsal slots left, with our next one being on 19 November.  To aid our practice time at home our MP3 wizard has been busy weaving his magic and has produced loads of  MP3s for you to download and sing along to - and more are in preparation. 

On the subject of rehearsals we have a limited number left to perfect our sound and diction so please can I ask that we all make the best possible use of the rehearsal time, can I please put in one plea and ask you -  when the MD is practising with another part or is playing through the piece please can we not talk whilst this is happening as it distracts those whose line it is being played/ rehearsed. Instead please can we just follow our own parts and see where we fit in with the others. 

I know that a lot of us know the music, especially the congregational carols, however, there are members of the choir who don’t, so we need to help by letting them learn them.  That said choir practices should be fun and hard work and I’m not saying there shouldn’t be questions, discussion and a bit of humour etc and I know that quite often we are discussing our part and where we maybe not getting it quite right but we need to let Merel and AmyBeth do their job and get us to be the brilliant choir we are. 

One last thing, I know that we can't always get to rehearsals on time owing to work, train services, caring duties or for a myriad of other reasons, but please do come along and when you arrive if we are singing please just wait till the choir stops and then pop into your place; this helps to minimise disruption. Also if you know you're going to miss a rehearsal please can you get a colleague to work with you and advise you of any instructions that our MDs have given and mark your music accordingly.  Speaking of music, please please do remember to bring your music with you as spares aren’t always available.
 
As Michael signs off his emails  'We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams' - that’s us, looking forward to our next rehearsal on Tuesday 19 November at 17:45 for 18:00  at out Stratford home.