What makes the puuuuurrrrfect rehearsal?

The Liberty Belles are my ladies choir of around 20 lovely singers, most of whom are also in my big community choir. We meet just once a month for a couple of hours and learn slightly trickier songs which we can really get our teeth into. We rehearse in Abi’s hair salon (loads of parking, fabulous acoustics and a really lovely atmosphere) and last Thursday was our first meet up since before Christmas.

So why was it so good!???

They are a truly lovely group. We invite people in now and then but largely its the same singers each 4 month block. We really pushed ourselves last week learning an arrangement by Abi Moore which combines ‘The Rose’ with ‘We Are Sailing’. It’s in three parts and despite always encouraging the ladies to move parts and sing something different, they usually stick to what they know! We really took our time over this one and I taught all of each part to everyone. The sound created in the first hour was absolutely lovely. This means we’re all really pleased with ourselves and ready to sing more!

We had a sing through of ‘Titanium’ which is great for energy then moved on to ‘How much will I love you’ the Ellie Goulding version. I really wanted to focus on the sound were were making as opposed to the harmonies – which are very, very few in this song. I have a tendency to over harmonise so deliberately kept this one really simple.

It was good. Really good. So let’s celebrate. We are going to perform it at the community choir tomorrow!

Recognising when things are great is essential to keeping the singers happy and feeling valued. Which they are, on both counts. Our rehearsals usually have much much laughter and a very relaxed atmosphere about them. We take time to have a proper break so we get chance to chat more. Many singers have been friends for a long time, some friendships are new but it really, really works as a group.

The absolute icing on the cake for me was this.

Tilly the cat sat on my knee for about an hour purring. She only moved once we sang ‘Titanium’ which was clearly a little too loud for her. It was truly, a puuuurrrfect rehearsal.