Session Five

This Session was well attended by our new Chorus people. There were twelve this week and there may be more next week when the seasonal ‘lurgies’ subside.

Mike Spiller, our (retired) Chorus Director had us all singing a lovely short piece about ‘The Old Apple Tree’, it had some stunning minor chords, quite challenging. After that Phillip had some fun with ‘Knees-up Mother Brown’, we pretended we didn’t know the words because we are all too young. He cleverly substituted numbers for the words, another wake-up call to the dormant brain cells.

One More Song followed at full volume and low volume, concentrating on improving our mouth shapes. If we all make the same ones and open our mouths that bit wider, matching sound is more likely to appear. We practiced lots of tune ups with Mike Spiller, this was very useful because some of us are mystified about the intervals required.

After the break the new Chorus girls gave us their first performance all on their own. This was met with rapturous applause, Phillip and the ‘old Chorus’ were truly delighted. We tackled that feisty madam ‘Calamity Jane’ next, she’s a complicated one, then the soothing ‘Lullaby’ and ‘Heart of my Heart’ the audition song. Phillip needed a fillip after that one, and so our jolly song about summer and ice cream ‘Boardwalk’ cheered him up so much that he was seen to twirl his braces over his head!

Much has been accomplished over these weeks of the Course and we rejoice in our lovely new Chorus sound. After another successful evening, it was out into the rain and home, still singing.