Di ..... di ..... di ..... di

Yesterday's rehearsal was rather bereft of tenors. With only six of us (less than half the quota) it was a poor showing. But of course, what we lacked in numbers we made up for in gusto. The "movements" rehearsal found us washing each other's hair as we sang and 'danced' to "I'm gonna wash that man...."
We also sang Karl Jenkins' "Dies Irae" for the first time as a choir - a very interesting piece for the difficulty came in the timing. The tenors seemed to have about 3 notes to sing so that bit was easy but at a fast pace that was more difficult especially in Latin. Also we found ourselves singing di ... di ... di ... ... to everybody else's "dies irae" and this went on for some time. Thankfully our musical leaders decided to cut out big chunks off this - otherwise I might find myself rehearsing this piece at bedtime when I feel insomnia creeping in.
All in all, I think things are moving on steadily. I've managed to speak to a couple of the new altos now. With any luck I might managed to say hello to the rest of the newbies before the end of the season....

Breaking News: Dumbledore is Gay!

Um, there's not much more I can add to this... it does mean I will be reinterpreting the books in a new light.

The revelations emerged at an event at New York's Carnegie hall:

The biggest revelation of the night came when Jo [J. K. Rowling] revealed to her audience the fact that Albus Dumbledore is gay and had fallen in love with fellow wizard and friend, Gellert Grindelwald.

I also wonder who will play the young Dumbledore in the film version - I favour Ryan Reynolds...

Singing In A New Place

As I said in a previous blog, our choir has really increased in size over the last few seasons, and we are nearly full. At the rehearsal on Sunday Lynne announced that with the confirmed new members we are running at maximum capacity for the tenors and sopranos, and are just a few off filling the altos and basses. I keep revisiting the issue because it is really wonderful: the current group is just manageable in terms of getting to know everyone, but more importantly we are beginning to sound really warm and rich.

Ironically, none of the new tenors could attend this last rehearsal, so I ended up chatting with some of the new basses and a new soprano in the break. As ever, being in the tenor section means that the altos are physically the most remote of the sections, and getting to know them on the far side of the rehearsal space always proves to be problematic! I’m sure they feel the same about the tenors.

One implication of the larger choir is that we have outgrown our previous rehearsal space at the Royal Academy of Music. In the last few weeks I have noticed that we are not only bursting the rooms at the seams, the venues have taken on a decidedly unpleasant whiffiness, the result of sixty lungs breathing in and out in a confined space for four hours no doubt. Not the place for hypochondriacs!

So this week we went back to one of our older rehearsal venues, the Place. It is a dreadful name which can lead to silly conversations like, “Where are we rehearsing?” “The Place”, “Which place?”, “You know, the Place!”, “No, I don’t know what place we are rehearsing at, that’s why I’m asking you!” Ugh.

Anyway, the Place (definite article, capital “P”) is nominally a dance studio by day with beautifully sprung floors, and, as we discovered, decidedly warm central heating with windows which cannot be opened. My other relatively minor complaint was having to see myself in the full-length wall-to-wall mirrors during warm up. I like to delude myself that I look effortless when reaching the high notes, and do not need a reminder of how contorted my face actually appears.

In the end, the dance studio proved to be especially useful for the blokes as we started our choreography practice for I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair and ABBA Pink. Lynne had already sent her warning to wear socks with no holes, but few unfortunately, heeded Jo’s comment about loose leg warmers. The rooms are surrounded by warm-up bars which I presume dancers gracefully swing their legs up on to in a Jennifer Beale moment. Johnathon gave us a demo with a little less elegance, but which was achievable for him because he is so tall. Being somewhat shorter, Sue and I decided that it was not worth taking the risk of dislocating our hips for. We all need a whole lot more practice with the dance moves!

So, this season is bedding down nicely. Can’t wait for Paris!

Until My Dying DAAAAAAAAAY!

Yes, we are singing this song this season, and yes, three weeks in we are still murdering it.

This clip also begs the question, how do people have so much free time that they can spend it creating a home-brewed music video?

Not that I'm complaining mind...

I Ache All Over

One of the side effects of being in a social group like the Pink Singers is that you meet people who have other interests. Case in point: Celso, one of the new tenors, jogs with the Front Runners, and, partly out of politeness, I agreed last Sunday to give this group a shot with Johnathon. By yesterday afternoon I was already chickening out, but Johnathon, very slyly I might add, decided to call me while he was already on the way down to the meeting point.

Great.

I was comfortably sitting on the sofa with a nice cup of cha and the Simpsons on telly, but had to then pack my running gear into a bag and head down to the South Bank.

To cut a long story short though, I had a really good time. I haven't really run properly in years, but the stretch along from the Houses of Parliament to Tower Bridge is wonderfully scenic, especially in the failing light of a London autumn. Johnathon is a little more out of shape than I, but I was actually quite glad for the excuse not to run at the pace of the rest of the group.

The biggest appeal of such groups though, is the people, and I met some really wonderful members yesterday like Steve, Nicholas, Dylan and Toby. Interestingly, when we went to the pub later, all the new members sat together while all the older members congregated elsewhere. Thankfully, there were some who made the effort to come across and involve us, and conversation flowed smoothly.

It is a situation I noticed with the Pink Singers when I first joined all those years ago. This has changed over the years, and there is now a much larger contingent of gregarious souls who make the effort to engage new members. At the same time though, it really is a two way street: being a newbie means stepping outside your comfort zone (as Johnanthon likes to say) and requires you to reawaken the dormant socializing genes.

Really glad I went, and will go again tomorrow, and even on Saturday. I ache all over, but it looks like I've found a new hobby.

How Fast?

Week 2 and the new members keep rolling in. For some reason this season there seems to be a lot more interest than last year, and there is still one more week to go for potential newbies. I am always interested in finding out how people find out about the Pink Singers, and also why they join us rather than one of the other gay and lesbian choirs in London. It turns out the majority hear about us through Google (no duh!) and our website. Remarkably few have ever heard of us through any other route, and even fewer have come to our concerts. I guess that means lots of room for improvement in terms of self-promotion. As to why people would rather join us than the LGMC or Diversity, or any of the other fledgling choirs for that matter, well, the new members I’ve spoken to seem to think that we seem really friendly and fun (and we are!) and have a good mix of voices and repertoire (which we do!). I’m glad that comes across. At the same time London is large enough to sustain three major LGBT choirs with very different social approaches, management and vocal styles, so really, there is something for everyone.

At the pub yesterday after rehearsal I was speaking to one of the new members, and he was saying that he was amazed at how fast we go through the music. This is in comparison to his old choir which seemed to slog through the pieces. In contrast, I actually find our progress slow going. For a brief period in college I was in the Gilbert and Sullivan society, and you were expected to just pick up the sheet music and start singing – our musical director was horrible in that he’d pick you out if you hit a bum note. It really was needlessly stressful. Thankfully Mladen is a much calmer influence, and is a good combination of firm and fair. In addition to last week’s songs, this week we started learning Hymne a l’amour (refer to video of Edith Piaf at her finest above), You’ll Never Walk Alone (another of Michael’s outstanding arrangements) and Lacrimosa from Jenkins’ Requiem, for a total of six songs in a fortnight. Balancing the needs of different people in the choir, from those who can sight-read music to those who have never seen musical notation before, is a real problem, but I do believe that people who sing have a natural affinity for a melody so pick things up quickly, and the Pinkies do it at a pace which caters to the greatest number of members.

The other news is that Johnathon, whose birthday it was on Friday, has convinced me to join him on a run around the South Bank with the Front Runners. This is after a conversation with another one of the new members who also runs with that group. I used to run competitively, but it has been a while since I did anything of the sort, and I am woefully out of shape. This does sound rather appealing though, and jogging along the South Bank in the cold winter evenings has a certain Rocky Balboa-esque attraction for me. Once it starts raining, of course, all bets are off.