Thank you for a good session last week. We meet again on Friday, 11th December when we shall look at Sussex Carol and Make we joy now in this fest as well as more from the Carol Books.
For those of you singing at Newstead Abbey on Saturday afternoon the arrangements are as follows:
Arrive ready to sing at 2 pm, tell the person on the gate that you are in the choir.Assemble round the back by the door. There is a one way system in the house and that is the exit, there will be room for us there.Dress warm and “seasonal” (the weather forecast isn’t bad) and bring your stand (it will aid social distancing).We will judge whether we sing one “substantial” set or two short ones as we go, finishing before 3.
Here are some resources for all of you. Firstly, a video of last Friday’s rehearsal for you to sing along with. We recorded In the bleak midwinter and The Coventry Carol for you to add your voices to. There is a visual and audio only version of each.
In the bleak midwinter video audio
A reminder of how to record:
Listen to the recording through headphones (on high volume); record yourself singing on a computer, tablet or phone and send the recording to me (audio or video but the final version will be audio). I suggest that you don’t listen to the recording before sending.
Here is an extract from a lovely email from Joanne Semple, our Christmas flautist, that I received this week: Hi Nick, as Christmas approaches in this strangest of years I just wanted to say I hope this Advent finds you and the family all well. Christmas will not be the same this year for so many reasons, not least the loss of the NAS Christmas Concert. It has been the start of Christmas for me since I was 12, and a landmark in the O’Brien’s calendar, and having turned 50 this year, who’d have thought we’d have been stopped like this. I do hope the singers are well. Would you please pass on my love and best wishes, and let them know I’ll miss joining you this year. Let’s hope we’ll all be back next year.
John Draper has sent this: Just a few of NAS members may recall that we sang Chichester Psalms under Charles at Radcliffe-on-Trent – it seems a long while ago. This lecture, which I came across, is quite interesting – it covers the background to the Psalms and how they came to be composed. I can only think of John H and Jane P who may have been involved when we performed it – possibly Ellie, Renwick and/or Rhoda also? Our NIck did the boy solo (we had a cut down arrangement for small choir and minimalist accompaniment0.The lecture is on You Tube on the RSCM channel – an intro is via the link below (or just go straight to You Tube and search for RSCM. Free Weekly Lectures – ‘A Touch of West Side Story’?: Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms | RSCM
Vicky and I attended that performance to audition the choir before applying for the conductor post; I remember that I enjoyed the concert and a convivial hour with Charles in the pub across the road afterwards (Vicky had to drive home!)
See most of you on Friday.
Newstead Abbey Singers 