Sounding Good And Ready To Rumble!

The Pinkies ran through our entire season's repertoire and the concert yesterday. It was the first time we had properly sung through everything, and worked in the choreography and entrances and exits, and the first real chance for us to see how the whole concert comes together. It feels like ages, but it was really just in February that we started putting the pieces together, and even technically challenging pieces like Eric Whitacre's With A Lily In Your Hand are very close to performance standard. We have just two weeks to polish things up a bit, but otherwise, we are in a pretty comfortable position as things go, and will be ready for the summer gig.

Yesterday was also the AGM, an opportunity for the choir to look back on the events of the last year, and vote in the new committee. It is with a great deal of sadness that we lose Mark as our chair. Mark really has been instrumental in taking the choir in new directions. Our choir has benefitted in terms of organizational structure and better planning, and has more people involved in many more ways than ever before. Yesterday's rehearsal reinforced that level of teamwork we all feel. Our new chair is the eminently capable Max who will undoubtedly take us to new heights!

Now and then I have a tiny complaint, and yesterday's was the coffee left behind in the studio after rehearsal. Drinks are VERBOTEN, and more so if you expect someone to clean up after you!

There And Back Again

...or how even a volcano can't thwart the Pink Singers!

It was the first concert of the season, and an overseas concert to boot. The Pinkies were invited to perform with the ever-amazing Mannenkoorts at their annual concert in Den Haag, the Netherlands, and naturally we were excited. Mannenkoorts is easily one of my favourite LGBT choirs. Actually, they transcend the LGBT choir label and are easily one of my favourite choirs full stop. They have a very slick sound and their peformance, including their choreography, is always flawless. The Pink Singers are really good too of course, but there was some trepidation as this concert was also seeing the trial of five of the new songs this season, two of which included choreography.

Over the last few weeks we've been polishing the dance moves, which in Pinkie parlance, means we've been simplifying the actions so that they were achievable in the time allowed. I am sure this frustrates our choreographers so end, but needs must, and the more complicated manoeuvres will undoubtedly be reintroduced later on for the summer concert itself. Anyway, thanks to the marvels of the internet, the Pink Insider, who has been in New York, missed most of the Den Haag rehearsals, but was quite thankful for the editing of the choreography for this concert.

It was with some excitement, therefore, that this Pinkie flew back from JFK to Heathrow, but an hour out from the airport, the captain of the plane made an announcement on the tannoy that, owing to a volcanic eruption, we would be diverting and landing in Paris instead. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Paris, but after ten days away I was really looking forward to returning to good ol' Blighty. Instead, I found myself with a few hundred bewildered passengers in Charles De Gaulle. Because it was so early on in the catastrophe, no-one really had any clue what was going on. I decided I'd take my chances, bite the bullet knowing that I'd have to pony up more cash, and buy a train ticket straight to the Hague.

I was grubby and smelly, not to mention somewhat hungry and dehydrated, and while I felt sorry for myself, on the balance of things, I was actually pretty lucky. By some quirk of fate the Pink Insider had decided to make the crossing by ferry, and so my transportation links, apart from this first leg, were not disrupted. Several of the other Pinkies, however, were still stuck in London, or already in the Netherlands, wondering how to get back. In true Pinkie spirit, and led by the indomitable Tanya, together with the driving skills of Mark W and Jenny Co, a little convoy crossed over to Dunkirk and made the 12 hour journey up to Holland. Through a variety of trains, boats and cars then, the majority of the Pinkies made it to our performance venue, and in fact we were only missing four people, due in part to illness.

So, how did the gig go? Well, we were all incredibly tired after the trip across, and our rehearsal was quite painful. We kept going out of tune, the blending was bad, we seemed to be racing through the songs and the choreography was messy. Part of it was due to the auditorium, which was a converted swimming pool and was therefore quite acoustically challenging. Still, we were running on a bit of a high, having already survived one challenge and looking forward to the next.

Mannenkoorts opened and closed the show, sandwiching the Pink Singers, and we had a chance to sit in the audience to watch them perform. As always, they were absolutely stunnning with a great blending of sound, some outstanding voices, and a great stage presence. I must confess to being a secret fan of Eric, the countertenor in Mannenkoorts, whose facial expressions were hilarious, and whose dulcet falsetto has a beautiful ring. In a way, that was probably good for us, because it made us all the more aware of just how good our own performance had to be.

And of course we pulled it out of the bag. The funny thing is that no matter how bad the rehearsal, we do seem to come together in the end. And, despite a rather tentative start, it was a really fun performance. It was telling that all the new songs were sung the best we have ever done them, which bodes well for our summer concert which is still quite a way away. Even the choreography, which tends to flummox us, came off pretty decently too. The audience, while seeming a little cool, eventually warmed up to us, and by the time we got to the end of the set, the stamping on the floor in appreciation threatened to sink us into the swimming pool below!

After that it was time for a much-deserved three or four glasses of beer and a chance to chat with our very friendly hosts and their friends. We are hoping to see Mannenkoorts as our gusts in the very near future, so do watch this space.

Yesterday was filled with the journey back: tram, train, ferry, bus and tube. I cannot tell you how glad I was to see my bed at long last!

Look Back In Wonder

Every season with the Pinkies is memorable, just as every season is different. There are always new Pinkies coming, old Pinkies leaving, new places to visit, old friends to catch up with, and the baseline level of flux keeps things interesting. This season, and this year in fact, has been significantly more exciting than before though, because there has been a considerable amount of change happening. Lynne, our former chair, left the Pinkies on a very even keel, and I know I felt a little trepidation at the prospect of someone else taking over. But Mark and the new committee have put their own successful stamp on the Pinkies, and I thought I'd like to jot some of my thoughts down on what it has meant for me.

1. A much busier season
The biggest change has got to have been that we have performed a whole lot more this season than in any season before. Even before the summer session properly kicked off we were in the Southbank Centre, and this was followed by loads of small gigs, trips to Paris, Edinburgh and Malta, Various Voices London and our usual summer concert. There has been nothing quite like it, and it has been challenging to the choir to learn all the music and choreography to the level we want.

I must confess to not being entirely comfortable with this level of activity, in the main because choral singing really is a team effort. Because we are amateurs, it is hard for all of us to commit the time required to fully polishing up our performance. Most seasons I learn all my music by week 6 or 7, and then I just cruise until the concert. This time round though, the music was chopped and changed from concert to concert, and we had new joint songs to learn as well. I barely got all my music down pat, and must confess that I probably had 95% of the repertoire at performance level, not the 99% I am used to, but even that required a lot of hard work. I am not sure that others want to or can put in the hours needed, nor, arguably, should they be expected to.

On the plus side - there's nothing like common adversity (this word is a bit strong, but you get the idea) and a shared challenge to draw people closer together, and I know the Pinkies who stuck through all the gigs from the start of the year came away feeling exhausted, yes, but with a sense of satisfaction at having worked hard to create something which was worthwhile. I was rather teary at the end of our gig in Malta, partly because we performed really well, but also because it was the end of a great season, packed to the brim with fantastic moments and lasting memories.

I hear that in the coming season we are going to take things just a little bit easier, with fewer events. After the summer I think we need it! But at the same time we do need more performance opportunities to progress us musically, and also to create those experiences which make me glad to be in the Pink Singers. That line is a fine one, and I think the Pinkies are still trying to find the right balance. We know now how far we can go if pushed though!

2. A cap on numbers
When I joined the choir those years ago there were just over thirty members. In the intervening years our choir has grown steadily, and each time we moved our rehearsal venue, from the Drill hall to the Royal Academy of Music, and then to the Place, it became possible to increase the size of the choir. Thankfully, the choir has never had a shortage of would-be Pinkies, but the number of place in the choir always seemed to grow in tandem with the them. At present, however, we have a cap of 80 members, that's 20 per section or 10 per voice. Yet our retention rate is now very high as well, and if you couple that with more and more people writing in their interest to Liang, our new-members' rep, something has got to give.

The first thing was that former Pink Singers are now no longer guaranteed a place in the choir if they have spent more than 2 seasons out. Retired Pinkies still get first dibs on places if they are under that threshold, because people have to take time out for a multitude of reasons. But I certainly think this makes it much fairer for newbies. At the back of my mind, I realise that circumstances may mean I am unable to sing for a year, which would in turn mean that I may not be able to come back. But at the same time I would not want to deny others the wonderful experience of being a Pink Singer.

The second thing, is that the entry process is now not just a simple "voice check" as it used to be. In fact, for a while it has been an audition of sorts. But while Mladen and Michael De can keep an ear out for vocal quality, the Pinkies are not just about singing, it is a real community of people. Sadly, you can't tell how much people will embrace being in the choir by a single trial session: some of the quietest people in their first rehearsal have blossomed the most in the past year, just as some of the noisiest contribute the least. How this is going to be addressed is another issue. I know this is an area that Liang is putting a lot of thought into. We'll see what happens in the coming year!

3. Dividing the load
Although a larger choir means a lot more organisation, this is balanced by having more people who are willing to volunteer a little bit more in running the choir. For the first time in a while all the committee positions were filled, and we even had two positions which were contested at the elections. This is a marvellous place to be in. Part of this was due to the reorganisation of the roles within the committee, to make them more consistent with what they were actually doing, but part of it is due to people now getting more involved in how the choir is run. The open meetings certainly give people a say, and many Pinkies now participate in the running and promotion of our concerts. I agree with Emelda, as she told me on the night of the concert, that it has felt a whole lot more of a team effort this season.

What is probably most reassuring for the committee members is that there are many Pink Singers who would be willing to take on individual projects, even if they do not want to go for a committee role. For instance, Gary did a superb job in handling our new T-shirts with Mark's guidance. Our twitter, Facebook and MySpace pages have been handled by people other than the webmaster (already a full-time job!). It was wonderful that the committee this year recognised the help so many general members provide by giving them a token of appreciation - the limited edition Pink Singers mug. Looks like I have to keep doing stuff for the next few years if I want to get my set of 6!

4. Taking care of new Pinkies, remembering old ones.
One downside of the manic summer season was that because we had so many concerts early on, it was really only possible for existing members to perform, using older repertoire. The new Pinkies were started on the new repertoire of course, but they didn't really get a chance to be part of a performance until later on, and I think they felt a little left out as the rest of us went of and did gigs everywhere else. Some people, like Joanna and Frances for instance, seized the day, but some others found it really hard going and eventually left the choir. My philosophy is that we can't please everyone all the time, but what we can do is offer as much support to struggling members as we can. I know the section leaders do keep an eye out to make sure people are not being left behind, but if they do, and they decide that being a Pink Singers is not for them, then we need to find out whether there is anything that can be done to remedy the situation. Often there is not, and being in a choir does need a degree of commitment which they were perhaps unwilling to make.

Conversely, this season we have also had to deal with two of our longest serving members leaving the choir for personal reasons. Bill has been a Pinkie for 11 years and Andy M has been one for a decade. Both have contributed in so many different ways to the choir, by singing and taking part in events, and in Andy's case also arranging music for us. They will be sorely missed, and it was wonderful that we could recognise their labours. Thank you both once again!

5. A sense of Pride
Although we can hardly be described as activists, I don't think it is going too far to say that for an LGBT choir we weren't very LGBT about it. This does not, of course, mean wearing spandex or platform shoes - we can be gay or lesbian without any of the stereotypes thank you very much - it meant that, apart from Pride, LGBT History Month and World AIDS Day, we weren't really doing very much in or for the community. Part of the hesitation was that people were, for personal reasons, worried about being out. However, the fact that the Pink Singers identifies as a lesbian and gay choir, and have many public performances, makes this point somewhat moot, as well as being incongruous. Indeed, just because you are in the choir doesn't mean that you are necessarily lesbian or gay, just that you share a sense of social justice for all members of society, especially lesbian and gay people. The good news is that where we were once hamstrung by issues of privacy, we are now much prouder. Our role in Malta has galvanised me, and now that we have a community director by way of Jules, expect a lot more Pinkies community involvement in the future.

There are so many other people to thank this season: the entire committee of course, with special shout outs to Ben P, Andrew F and of course Mark. And there are so many things to look forward to in Winter 2009. It is a very exciting and challenging time to be in the Pink Singers, and we are still all trying to find our way. But it is oh so rewarding as well!

Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?

The title of this post is a rhetorical question, a song by Rod Stewart, and, most importantly, the name of the Pinkies' social organized by the altos. In the last couple of years the Pinkies' socials have become one of the highlights of the season, usually revolving around a lot of singing. As the choir gets bigger, it is also a great chance to get to know people in other sections as well.

The altos social was no different, but whoever came up with last night's theme deserves an award. I mean, who would have thought a village fête, replete with game stalls and home-cooked food the W.I. would be proud of, would meld so well with karaoke at the downstairs bar of the Black Cap? I had a blast!

To be honest, I nearly didn't make it. Stepping out the front door at work at about a quarter past eight I was greeted with a drenching rain, and I very nearly cycled home. Then I reminded myself how much fun the last few events have been and made the trek up to Camden. Yes, I was soaked by the time I got there, but the party was in full swing when I arrived. I got myself a beer from behind the bar, picked up some of Rachel's mum's flapjacks (so good I ended up buying three!), and a bottle of Claire A's jam. She's been slaving over the stove for the last few days, so you just know it is going to be good!

After that I decided to play a few games like pin-the-member - very much like pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, but with an alternate appendage - and a knock-the-dildo-off-the-perch. Jo C was in her special carnie outfit, and despite having launched about a dozen balls at the dildo it refused to tip over. I was convinced it was stuck down to the stool with blu-tack, until Amy proudly showed me the food hamper she had won. Hmmm. I could say something about her in depth knowledge of such toys, but that would just be rude.

The highlight of the evening, of course, was the karaoke. And it was a chance for members of the choir to strut their stuff. Everyone had a chance. Stand outs for me were Mark and Rachel's Copacabana which, with its five minute instrumental, turned into a conga line around the bar, and Nathalina's rock-chick version of The Winner Takes It All. Even Mladen got on stage! I was really glad to see some of the relative newbies take to the stage as well, with Daniel singing and Lou performing Freedom to a boogieing crowd. This Pink Insider even got on stage with the marvellous Gill P to perform My Baby Just Cares For Me. I think this is actually the first time I have ever gone up to stage to karaoke, so a big thanks to Gill for egging me on!

In the end it was a fabulous evening and I had a really great time. The money raised goes to helping the Pink Singers on their overseas trips, and we have a number coming up including one to Paris in just a few weeks for AIDS awareness, and one to Malta in the summer for their Pride. Thanks altos, and thanks to those of you who came along to support!

Who's That Guy?

Guess who? Well our new Pink Singers' chair of course! Here he is looking particularly grizzly (and sexy, but don't tell him I said that). In fact, Mark's pic appears on our website where he introduces the Pinkies. Several of the pages have been revamped in advance of the new season, kudos to our new webmaster Michael Da. Michael's also the one responsible for spawning a whole slew of new Pink Singers' mailing lists, including the section-only lists. As the choir gets bigger it is the best way of keeping us all in touch without overloading our inboxes with email. Anyway, enough rambling, what are you waiting for? Go check out the Pink Singers' website.

Team PS At The London Pride Run 2008

"Citius, Altius, Fortius" is the Olympic motto, and this last week it has been impossible to avoid being caught up, at least a little, in the Games over in Beijing. Unfortunately, for the somewhat less athletic of us, taking part in any sport is more a case of "Rubor, Calor, Dolor" than anything else!

With that in mind, a group of more the adventurous Pink Singers decided to brave the risk of inflammation, and went on an jaunt on Saturday through Victoria Park for this year's 10km Pride Run. There was, initially, quite a bit of enthusiasm for the run from the choir, but with the usual attrition rate for various reasons, the numbers were whittled down to a hard-core six: Annie, Ben P, Claire G, Hsien, Mark and Michael Da.

The biggest fear had been that it would rain on the day, and given that it had been pouring down just two days' prior, it was definitely within the realms of possibility. As it turns out, meeting at Mile End tube, the sun was trying to peek out from behind the clouds, and there was a pleasant breeze blowing - the perfect weather for a run. I know all of us had been training a little for the run. Some Pinkies like Michael go for runs regularly, and since I joined the Frontrunners, so does the Pink Insider. But that said, for the majority, 10km was an unimagineable distance which they had never even attempted before - just showing up to the start was a definite victory!

We all met at the northeast end of the park where were got changed and pinned the conveniently matching number tags to our Pink Singers T-shirts. There were loads of people there, but the run was very well organized, and it never felt chaotic. Of the 800 people who registered, 577 people (or thereabouts) actually ran. After dropping our bags off in the clubhouse, we went on to the start point. Ooh ooh! Andy Bell from Erasure was there to honk the horn to set us off.

And away we went! The route itself was a fairly simple one: three laps of the park though shaded avenues with no hills. I started the run at a leisurely pace alongside Michael Da, but before long some of the last year's worth of running paid off and I pulled ahead. There were some tremendous runners competing, and I was lapped at 6km by the eventual winner. What is most annoying is that I put my slow running down to my short legs, but this guy was actually significantly shorter than me (damn!). He completed the course in 32 minutes, an unbelieveable time, considering that I finished a good quarter of an hour or so later. The real dark horse was Claire. I know she runs quite a bit, and she certainly has the physique (i.e. long and lean), so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at how fast she actually ran, but she really was a speeding bullet, and she finished right next to me.

As I mentioned, for some of Team PS, 10km was a never-before-attempted distance, and completing it was quite the achievement. When things were getting rather shakey on the ground, it was good to hear the calls of support from the Pinkies who had come to cheer us on. Joey and Charles were there, as was Emelda, and Celso and his friend. Warren also had a word with the race commentator, and whenever a Pinkie ran past the stand, he'd call out "Go Pink Singers!" which was a great psychological boost. Thanks to their help, I am really happy to say that all of us made it through the final rainbow arch, and in pretty good time too. We all walked away with our medals and our goody bags. Then there were the unexpected perks, as Ben discovered, of sharing a changing room with dozens of fit, sweaty atheletes...

Congratulations to all of us - go Pinkies! Pride Run 2009 anyone?