End of Term party

Every year Thame Choral has three terms. The first two involve preparing for a concert in St Mary's but the third is all about having fun.
We usually prepare some short pieces many with much humour to sing largely to friends and family in the garden of one of the members of the choir. This year the weather and our hosts were kind and it was a fantastic way to spend a couple of hours. We start again in September!

On being glad.

One of the great untold truths about singing in an amateur choir is that one often has to concentrate so hard on one's own line that it becomes imposible to enjoy the sound that the whole choir is making. This is not only a shame for the individual but also means that the choir does not sing as a united body.
We are singing the glorious I Was Glad by Parry and if ever there was a piece where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts this is it. The tenor feels way too high and not really part of anything. It is  only when it joins with the other parts that the whole comes together into something quite stunning.
We always break our rehersals with a cup of tea and a raffle and I had volunteered to make tea this week. This meant that I headed of to the kitchen a couple of minutes before the break. From the kitchen I was able to hear the whole chior and what a great sound they made. Now, it would be tempting to suggest that the apparent improvement was caused by my leaving to make beverages but the truth is that listening to the whole chior always sounds better than your own little part.
I enjoy the few minutes I have in the kitchen once in a while it is the choral equilient of smelling the roses!

The best of intentions.

Tomorrow we have rehearsal number four! Time passes really quickly and one often wonders where the week has gone. Driving home from choir on a Wednesday night I often find myself planning to spend a couple of hours looking over the pieces we are singing... at some time over the weekend, perhaps... or maybe a hour during one of those dark winter nights when there is nothing of value on the telly...
As I'm sure you've guessed these good intentions rarely get beyond the journey home. Indeed, this week my music hasn't even made it through the front door. It has remained on the back seat of the car waiting for Wednesday.
I suspect there is a "life truth" in this, and that is that successful people make time to do all the things they must, then all the things they should, then all the things they would like to do. I think I probably need to be a little more strict with myself when it comes to doing my homework.

Quiz night!

Finance is always a problem for any small amateur choir and a great deal of effort is put into ensuring we have enough money to pay the fabulous professionals that work with us both in terms of our preparation and when it comes to performances where we regularly have high quality singers and musicians as soloists.
All sorts of ways and means of making money are used throughout the year: plant sales, cake sales, raffles and so on.
Last night, however, was the Thame Choral Society Quiz Night. Four years ago, in a meeting somebody mentioned the idea of a quiz night as a way of raising money for the choir. One of the committee then looked at me and said "You could do that couldn't you?" Before I had taken breath or even thought I found myself saying "yes" and so a little tradition began.
It appears that we have made a solid sum of money and I also (rather surprisingly) had some voice left this morning. I hope all who were there had a good time and that my questions weren't too taxing! With 12 teams and only 14 marks separating the top and bottom teams it was a true competition!
The hall we used was full to bursting so if you want to participate next year, you'd better hit the books soon, the Strollers have set the bar quite high!
A huge "Thank You" is due to all those who showed up on a filthy night and, of course, to all those who sorted out the administration and enabled me just to ask questions!  

So last night was the second night of rehearsals for Thame Choral Society's May concert. Our Christmas concert was a huge success and the whole choir is looking to build on this. Helen, our musical director has devised an English program to mark the 1914 / 2014 anniversary.
Starting on new pieces is always the really hard bit of singing in this type of choir. You look at the "dots and lines" and wonder if you will ever make sense of them and, if you do make sense of them, will it be the same sense that the rest of the choir is making? That is, of course, the reason you do it. We all sing for the joy of singing but we all like to feel the buzz of overcoming a barrier too; its good to be challenged.
For the last two rehearsals we have been attacking (is that the right word?) John Rutter's Gloria. I personally find Rutter quite hard to sing, but there is the challenge again.
The "note bashing" of the first few weeks always, always pays off as the choir approaches the concert but we must not leave it so late to shine with this one!
Anyway I'm off to write some more questions for our January 25 Quiz night at The Haddenham Youth Centre.
www.thamechoralsociety.co.uk