So You Don't Have To - Part I

Hey, it's the summer season and the Pink Insider takes a look at the repertoire. As always, it is hard to find an exact recording of the arrangement we are doing. And I'm not even going to talk about the quality!

You Can't Stop The Beat, for instance, has been done to death by a million show choirs, but not our arrangement. In the end I went for one from NTU who hail from the island state of Singapore. Sunday, from Sunday In The Park With George, does not seem to have been recorded by anyone on YouTube, so I just took the version from last year's Proms featuring the rather yummy Daniel Evans.

This is also not the full repertoire of course, more to come in Part II!

Anything Goes


Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy


The Evening Primrose


Hello Dolly!


Sunday


To A Locomotive In Winter

You Can't Stop The Beat

Pinkies' Repertoire Winter 2010

For Nathalina.

And So It Goes
There are two common arrangements, we are doing the slightly less popular Kirby Shaw version. Bob Chilcott's has the tenor solo singing "And ev'ry time I've held a rose". This is sung SATB in the Kirby Shaw version.


Cantique de Jean Racine Op. 11
Gabriel Fauré, orchestration by John Rutter
I am presuming we are singing this in French.


Come, Sing and Be Joyful
Sorry, this is the only video I could find on YouTube.


Flight of the Bumble Bee
Who suggested this one? By heart?


Härlig är Jorden
Sorry, there doesn't seem to be a version of Lindberg's arrangement of this song. Here's another acapella arrangement.


I Got Rhythm
This is the Mark Hayes arrangement. There are a couple on YouTube - this one is actually better than the other.


Like A Prayer
The other song from Glee which we're doing.


Lullaby of Birdland
Paris Rutherford's arrangements. Has female and male solos, and improv scatting.


Lux Aurumque
Last year's virtual choir piece by Eric Whitacre.


And if you haven't seen Whitacre's own instructional video have a look here:


Of course, if you are interested in joining in this year's Virtual Choir, then check it out here!

Proud Mary
Skip the preamble and fast forward to 1:40 in the video.

Eurovision 2010: My Predictions

Well, the first semifinals are over and here are my predictions so far...

Number 1
The Paulo Nutini/ Jason Mraz soundalike Tom Dice from Belgium. Sweet introspective song with a great chorus.

Number 2
Iceland's Hera Björk who has a song which is entirely different from the Belgian entry, but still amazing.

Number 3
Not strictly speaking in the semifinals as Norway won it last year and is automatically in the finals. This year they are represented by the stupendously talented Didrik Solli-Tangen from Norway. Quite a traditional (i.e. dull) song, but with a big ending, and he really is very easy on the eyes which helps!

I Give A Damn, Do You?

The big news today appears to be Anna Paquin coming out as bisexual. I love her in True Blood, but not being a particularly obsessive person, have never really thought about what she is like in real life. It turns out that things aren't really so different as she is actually in a relationship with the actor who plays Bill the vampire. Anyway, that's by-the-bye.

Ms. Paquin's closet busting move was in aid of Give A Damn, an on-line campaign to promote LGBT rights, with a focus on the law - employment protection and marriage. However much people may or may not doubt the efficacy of these efforts, for those of us who are out or even coming out, it is reassuring to see statements of support by famous people, both straight and gay, trying to fight injustice.

Here's the main promo video. This Pink Insider totally loves Jason Mraz! Check out more on their YouTube channel.

Summer 2010 Repertoire (updated 23 Feb)

Yes, despite the cloudy skies and wet weather the summer season really is starting today! To give you an idea of our repertoire I have searched YouTube to collate what the Pink Singers will be learning over the next 4 months (our concert is on Saturday the 19th of June 2010!). Not everything is here of course. For instance, the lower voices will be performing a medley called The Music Of The Chiffons, but as far as I can tell there is no TTBB recording available on-line. As for the rest, well, where possible I tried to go for the choral arrangement, but this wasn't always possible. What I will observe, looking at everything in aggregate, is just how diverse our repertoire relly is!

April Is My Mistress' Face


Choo Choo Ch'Boogie


Come Again


Does Your Mother Know?


Gloria In Excelsis Deo - Vivaldi


Send In The Clowns


Sh-Boom


Time To Say Goodbye


Voir Sur Ton Chemin (this is the one for the upper voices)


Cloudburst (there is an Eric Whitacre song in the repertoire, I just don't know which it is, so I thought I'd post this amazing version of Cloudburst). (Note the song we will be performing is With A Lily In Your Hand - see the update below)


Glory of Love (this is the version the barbershop quartet will be performing including the really difficult sustained A♭ ending by the tenor)


Update: Here is are the confirmed track from Eric Whitacre
With A Lily In Your Hand
Beautiful, and challenging - I don't think we have tried polyphonic singing before. And if we sound half as good as the choir Polyphony (who are masters of this art form) I will be amazed.