Another full house saw us blast past the 40 mark yet again and we were delighted to welcome 3 more new faces, so a massive ‘hello’ to Maggie, Moira and Sonia.
After a little wing flapping and stretching, we coo cooed at Harry, Larry, Barry, Carrie and Gary to warm up the vocal chords before launching enthusiastically into WWIDWMM. Sadly, things didn’t quite go to plan and we were politely told that “it was not a complete disaster” (which in Fiona speak, means it was, and who am I to disagree? ). But the good news is, that it did sound much better second time around. Quick learners these newbies!
Undeterred, we ploughed on through Anthem, which in fairness, sounded pretty good, especially the altos, who were this week’s ‘teachers pets’ as they seemed to be on the money for much of the night, which the rest of us could only aspire to. Well done ladies.
MBS was next up and we are just about there on this one. Just be careful with the repeat at Bar 29 which nearly caught some of us out. Once again, second time around was an improvement and even warranted a ‘very good’.
For Amazing Grace, we were expertly guided by our esteemed conductress that it was ‘in unison up until it isn’t any more’. Seems logical to me. Didn’t seem to make much difference mind you. We did move a little further through the piece and painstakingly put together the parts, one by one, at times a Capella which prompted some unnamed wag from the back row to exclaim ‘who needs Matthew?’ Clearly, we do. Never fear though, I have it from the horse’s mouth that the miscreant was severely dealt with upon return to la maison. Not that I am calling anyone a horse you understand?
BTS seems to be dividing opinion and to be honest, it was a bit of a struggle at times, lurching from gruesome to great in equal measure. I do, however, have words of encouragement for those new to this one. When we first learnt this some time ago, we encountered exactly the same problems, even to some questioning why on earth we were trying to learn this version. But, we got there in the end and it became a firm favourite to the point that we regularly sang it without music whilst putting the chairs away, in beautiful harmony. So, do not despair mes amis, we will get there. No pain, no gain!
Happily, FOG and SSS rounded off the evening in fine style, as ever, and clearly left many of us in need of refreshment as there was an exceedingly healthy turn out at the bar.
Well done to everyone (and Matthew, we do need you, honest ).
In harmony
Haz