It’s been slightly odd this year as the children finished school and I still had 3 gigs and a rehearsal to go! We gigged with two of my smaller ensembles (The Magnificent 7 and the Liberty Chorus) on the hottest day of the year with just ourselves and a fan – but were brilliant non the less.
It was really truly lovely to have the support of some of our friends from the big choir (a few who are joining and/or returning to us in September) and we really felt that our singing went down well. It’s slightly scary to go from singing in the safety of a massive group such as the West Bridgford Liberty Singers, down to such a small number and yet we managed it. The sense of team work in these two groups has been brilliant and there’s always still very much a sense of ‘we are in it together’. Our song choices are quite different in the groups and because we work so closely, we have been able to work in more detail on harmonies (for example, Together Again by Janet Jackson came in 5 parts for the Liberty Chorus).
Our last rehearsal of term for the West Bridgford Liberty Singer was on Monday 29th – with a small Pimms and lemonade to celebrate. It was a jolly rehearsal with lots of chatting and singing. I’m always keen to find out what people think about rehearsals and often ask opinion on our Facebook group and so, on Tuesday, I asked people for 3 words to sum up the term.
Now, bear in mind, I really pushed my luck this term. I gave the singers four songs (plus the choral version of Creep) which were largely unknown and fairly complicated in structure. I spent a long time in the studio with Rich preparing the parts so that I could teach them thoroughly and well. I also spent a long time on live videos tutoring how these parts went between rehearsals. We worked on a four part version of the Cure’s ‘Just Like Heaven’, Chicago’s ‘If you leave me now’, a six part version of The Temper Trap’s ‘Sweet Disposition’ and we made a stab at Doves ‘Pounding’. We struggled. We persevered. We got it wrong, then got it right. We carried on and worked hard and most of all…. we did it.
So when the comments came in through facebook, I was quite surprised to see how few of them related to singing! I will share with you some of the words used by singers to describe this term…
Fun, fabulous, best time ever, challenging but rewarding, connecting, creative, funky, fulfilling, best one yet, friendship, formative, Prom, Creep, Amazeballs, laughter, progress, perseverance, unity, uplifting, Fandabydozy, relaxation, determination, cake, community.
This is what we have created together. These feelings, they are real and I’m proud every day of what we achieve. We have wings. Bring on September xxx
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