Month: September 2021

Rehearsal Audio and Notes – 29.09.21 9.30am

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NHSBT zoom rehearsal audio 29.09.21

Ooohhh what a lovely session today!

We did some bonkers dancing (thanks to Adam for the new ‘walk like an Egyptian’ move!) and a bit of breathing with the plastic toy – love this.

We sang ‘Waterloo’ briefly recapping the two parts – we think this may have been a song to jive or quickstep to (lots of Strictly chat going on this morning)

‘Chasing Cars’ was next which was lovely followed by ‘Eternal Flame’ (both likely to be rhumbas if we are still chatting about Strictly….)

We finished with a rousing ‘Paradise’ (cha cha cha!) to really brighten our day!

Our next recording project will be ‘Chasing Cars’ and we’ll pick through the detail in this at our next session on Wednesday 6th October 8-9pm.

And we’ll also be using this as a warm up…. good luck!

Rehearsal Plan 29.09.21 – 9.30am

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We’ll be back ready to bring brightness to the start of your day on Wednesday!

Here’s the plan: at the end of the session we’ll have a little vote on what song we are going to record. This will give us time to get into the nitty gritty of it during the next session on 6th October which is our hour long evening session.

So, let’s start the day with a bit of ‘Waterloo’ – we’ve got it in 2 parts at the moment which will sound marvellous.

Waterloo lyricsDownload

I’d like to sing both ‘Chasing Cars’ and ‘Eternal Flame’ with you also. Both of these songs are arranged in 4 parts.

Chasing Cars pdfDownload
eternal flameDownload

I’d then like to veer off track slightly with something happy and bright so let’s have a go at ‘Paradise’ by George Ezra – just to wake us all up a bit!

Paradise lyrics EzraDownload

See you at 9.30am!

Rehearsal Audio and Notes – 15.09.21

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NHSBT Zoom rehearsal 15.09.21

Ooohhhh lovely to see some familiar faces again today!

We had a lovely tongue twister warm up about Emma Raducanu to the tune of chitty chitty bang bang…. check it out on the recording! We sang through ‘Eternal Flame’, ‘With or Without You’, ‘Chasing Cars’ and we worked on the lower harmonies in ‘Waterloo’. It’s not that low – in fact most of you can probably manage it!

We have a rest next week then we are back for a morning session on 29th September. I’d like to look at a new recording after that session so that we can devote some time to that at the next session.

Have a great couple of weeks!!!

Rehearsal Plan 15.09.21 (9.30-10am)

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Hi Everyone! Ready for the next rehearsal? It’s the short one this time so a tiny bit of teaching and some feel good singing….

We’ll have a warm up with ‘Turn Around’ – the words are easy and repetitive so I’ll teach them by ear on the morning.

‘Eternal Flame’ – soooo love this one but it really is quite high in places! See if you can hit those top notes thinking about the high hair hoodie thing. I’ll run through this again for anyone who’s unsure.

eternal flameDownload

I’d like to dip a toe into ‘With or Without you’ just the first little 2 part bit of harmony….. then we’ll have a sing through.

with or without you lyricsDownload

We can sing through ‘Chasing Cars’ then we need a bit of a lift with……. ‘Waterloo’. It’s in 2 parts – the higher part you’ll know as the usual tune….. the lower part I’ll run through again for anyone who missed it last time. The harmonies are on this website for anyone who likes to get ahead!

Chasing Cars pdfDownload
Waterloo lyricsDownload

Looking forward to seeing you all on Wednesday – PLEASE remind your fellow singers of the session and if there’s anyone in your organisation you’d like to share it with, they’d be very welcome to come along!!!

Rehearsal Audio and Notes 08.09.21

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NHSBT Zoom audio 08.09.21

Lovely to see you all for our extended session tonight!

We had a warm up and did a few long notes…. we also investigated the difference in the types of voices we can use in our singing.

Waterloo – we sang this and learned the lower harmony – it’s in just 2 parts. Actually, it’s not that low at all! I’ll pop the harmonies on the site under the password so that if anyone wants to catch up or practice before next week, they can.

Fix you – a really lovely sign through of this one.

Little Respect – we sang along to our own recording of this – just to lift our spirits!

Chasing Cars – we worked on the harmonies for this. It’s in 4 parts but the main tune takes up a lot of voices. We used a raindrop type of voice (I might later refer to this as skittles – the sweets not the ten pin bowling type) as we need the articulation between the notes to make it sound gentle and lovely.

Eternal Flame – we sang along to a 4 part choir recording – it transpires that the 80s are, in general, thought to be the best decade for singing!

With or without you – again we sang along to a choir recording. and we managed to squeeze in

Let it be! Which was our original recording.

We’ll continue with Chasing Cars at the next session and make a start on With or Without you…….

Thanks for your energy and love tonight x

Rehearsal Plan 08.09.21 – 8.00-9.00pm

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Ooohhhh tomorrow evening is the first of our hour long sessions in our new format! Bring your tea/gin/wine/water and settle it!

We’ll have a little vocal warm up – nothing too strenuous.

I’d like to work on ‘Waterloo’ which l’ve arranged in 2 parts – literally a high and a low – we can all learn both then you can pick your favourite one.

Waterloo lyricsDownload

We’ll have a sing through of ‘Fix You’ but not really fo any ‘work’ on it.

fix you lyricsDownload

I’d like to throw back to ‘Little Respect’ for the sheer joy of it!

A little Respect – Erasure 1988Download

We’ll have a short break out session – this gives you the opportunity to talk in smaller groups and get to know each other a little better. If you’d rather not join the rooms, that’s fine. It’s a good opportunity to make more tea, check your Twitter account or go to the toilet! It’s always an invitation and never a demand.

After that, I’d like to work on ‘Chasing Cars’ – the harmonies for this are already on this website if you wanted to have a head start.

CHASING CARS ICU APRIL 2021 ALL PARTSDownload

We’ll have a sing through of ‘Eternal Flame’ and ‘With or Without You’ and if there;’s time, squeeze in ‘Let it be’

eternal flameDownload

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with or without you lyricsDownload
LET IT BE LYRICSDownload

Rehearsal Notes – 01.09.21 9.30am

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So lovely to see you all again!

It was a whistle stop tour through the songs chosen this morning just to get a feel for them and to get us set up for the day. We sang along with the original artists then I played a snippet of the ‘choir’ versions I’d created and recorded to give a flavour of what we could achieve. We ran out of time and didn’t sing ‘Take on me’ but we’ll get to that next week!

So, when we meet next week for our hour long session 8-9pm we’ll be working on the harmonies for Waterloo and Chasing Cars. We will also sing ‘Take on me’ and other songs but the main focus and area of work will be these two. I’ll also do a decent, proper warm up and a tiny bit of vocal technique with you all. There will be a short break in the breakout rooms to help people connect with others. If you don’t want to attend the breakout rooms, you really don’t have to! You can turn off your camera and go to make a cup of tea, stay in the main room with me or do whatever you need to do. It’s really no pressure on anyone.

Really looking forward to seeing you all next week again! Thanks for your energy and smiling faces this morning. x

NHSBT 01.09.21 Rehearsal Audio