Monday 16 December 2013

God rest ye, merry gentlemen...

Or is it God rest ye merry, gentlemen?

Either way, Christmas is upon us (just over a week!) and that means the Chorale is very busy.
I haven't been able to make many of the carol singing, but yesterday was one of my favourite events - carol singing in Haworth. The weather was with us, we've been both colder and wetter while trying to sing, and with three men in fine voice, we were sounding pretty good.

Fingers crossed the trend continues for the concert on Saturday. We'll be singing lots of Christmassy favourites - and some less well known ones - in St Paul's Church, Shipley at 7:30. Tickets available on the door if you fancy getting a Christmas glow.

Sunday 10 November 2013

we're Bach!

(and Handel, Purcell and Vivaldi)

Apologies for the long delay, real life has a knack of throwing distractions my way at the moment, but the Chorale have been back and practising for a few weeks.

We have a concert on Saturday at Bradford Cathedral featuring music from the St Mathew Passion, The Messiah and Acis and Galatea. It's an interesting collection of music, lots of which I had never heard before we started rehearsing but there are some pieces that classical music novices like me will recognise (the Hallelujah chorus and Vivaldi's Gloria in D).

There are tickets still available from members of the Chorale, through the website and you can also get them on the door.

See you there!



Thursday 13 June 2013

Man, I hope I get it...

Ok, so Tuesday night's rehearsal confirmed that Britten and I are never going to be great friends. Normally I can feel my way though any difficult bits that I'm not too sure of, but Britten is so challenging, that anticipating where the tune is going next is really difficult. When your sight reading skills are as limited as mine, it's a real challenge to get the right notes in the right order.

Having said that, some pieces of the Britten are sounding really lovely and the although it was hard work, the rehearsal really helped iron out some of the crinkly bits of the more difficult ones. Saturday's concert should be a good one so if you'd like to come along, tickets are available on the door at 7.30, Northcliffe Church, Shipley.

Wednesday 8 May 2013

Maybe this time...

I have a confession to make. I'm finding the Britten pieces for our next concert really quite hard.

All of the Britten pieces are pretty challenging, and bits of it sounds much nicer than others. Hymn to the Virgin is pretty, and I think it'll sound really effective in the concert. I'm struggling getting to grips with Rejoice in the Lamb. It's one of Britten's later pieces, and to me, sounds much more 'modern' than Hymn. Bits of it a quite pretty, and I'm reliably informed that the more you sing it, the more it grows on you, so fingers crossed.

Songs of the Fleet are more immediately catchy, though that's not to say there aren't any tricky bits, there's some really high notes in places!

Tickets for the concert have been released and are available from the website, by post, or from members of the chorale. It's on 15th June at Northcliffe Church, Shipley and tickets are £8 when bought in advance.

Friday 19 April 2013

Practise makes perfect....

The weekend rehearsals for the Verdi Requiem was a game of two halves. Friday night, due to the new venue and the difference in having an orchestra with us was a bit challenging, (from my point of view, mainly from having a kettle drum in my right ear) though improvement was made towards the end and we were sounding much less tentative. Saturday afternoon was much more impressive and we also got to hear our fabulous soloists for the first time.

Saturday night also went very well, the orchestra sounded amazing and there was some really wonderful musical moments. And if I say it myself, the choir didn't sound too shabby either. It was nice to hear the months of rehearsal come together so well. Our audience, although smaller than we would have liked, seemed to enjoy the concert very much if the applause was anything to go by.

It was business as usual on Tuesday with a first bash though some of the pieces for the June concert - a festival of Britten. I haven't come across much Britten yet, and its some of the most challenging music I've yet encountered with the Chorale. I'm having faith, it'll turn out alright in the end!

Thursday 11 April 2013

Tickets Please!

A quick reminder that tomorrow is the last day for Verdi tickets to be available at the advance price of £12. Any tickets bought on Saturday, at rehearsal or on the door, will be £14.

The first rehearsal of this week went really well, we have to concentrate on enunciating now to really make the words stand out. I think tomorrow night's rehearsal will be excellent, it's the first time we'll be running it with the orchestra and according to Paul, there's quite a lot of them, so it'll be an amazing sound. I'm just hoping it's not so loud you can't hear the choir!

Friday 5 April 2013

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky

So it was the coldest March on record! Thankfully Spring seems to be getting back on track and the snow seems to have pretty much melted.

Stainer's Crucifixion is probably going to be put on the back burner for a while now, as it seems a bit odd to be doing it at any other time of year. We are hoping that a couple of pieces will find their way into the Summer Concert, as it would be a shame not to perform any of it this year.

Verdi's Requiem is now frighteningly close, 3 more rehearsals, then its show time! To me at any rate, we're sounding quite good, and even though we've yet to run it all the way though (or even in the right order) this concert should be something special. We've got a rehearsal next Friday with the orchestra, which is very exciting. I'm fully expecting to lose my place because I'm too busy listening to the wonderful music.

Tickets are still available through the usual sources, and if in doubt, head to the website for details.




Two musical titles from the same piece, I'm getting lazy......

Sunday 24 March 2013

Blow blow thou winter wind...

Good grief! Where's all this snow come from?
Unfortunately, all this snow means that the Chorale's performance of Stainer's Crucifixion that was supposed to be taking place today at Bradford Cathedral has been cancelled. We are hoping to re-organise the date so stay tuned, and stay safe.

Wednesday 20 March 2013

The beat goes on....

Hello!

Very sorry about the general lack of updates. The chorale is still going strong, and rehearsals for Verdi's Requiem continue. To the point that I'm actually starting to enjoy listening to the overall sound we make, rather than just concentrating on my line of music (When there's 8 parts all singing at once, you really need to).

Tickets are available through the usual sources, and if you fancy hearing us in action, we're preforming Stainer's Crucifixion on Sunday at Bradford Cathedral at 5.30. It's free, and if it goes as well as last night's rehearsal, it'll be really good.