Big Sing

The Spirit is Moving

2008-07-31T11:04:00.005+01:00

Ten days after this year's summer gospel weekend I am left with two overwhelming impressions : one of musical excellence and the certainty that God was at work.

As usual the three days were exhausting (more like four days as I started the previous evening with a rehearsal for a concert Rejoice were giving on the Friday evening of the course, and on the Monday I had another late night as Rejoice organised a surprise party for Taïa Kronberg who is moving back to Denmark.) It took me the best part of a week to recover physically but also to get my ideas in order as so much had happened.

The programme of songs seemed simpler than previous years - or maybe everyone is getting better ?! And there was a return of the individual workshops seen in previous years : Urban Gospel (Fabrice Cler), Caribbean Gospel (Erwan Jan), Male Voice Choir (Wayne Ellington) and Traditional a-cappella Gospel (Colin Vassell). Each prepared two songs for the final concert and the result was excellent in each case.

I was particularly moved by the male voice choir which sang in close (and quite difficult) harmony. I would have wanted to do this workshop but obviously couldn't! Wayne did an excellent job teaching the men and building their confidence. Colin remarked to me in the concert how amazing it was that men together sounded so confident and yet when you stuck a couple of women in the choir they weren't quite as at ease. Must be a 'guy thing'! This, I think, was Wayne's point in proposing this work as a time for empowerment of men. Indeed he made an interesting speech at the beginning of his workshop's performance when he explained that God had called Man (not Woman) and that some men felt undermined by women these days. However, they shouldn't feel so as God had called Men because they were strong. It was a bit odd translating that as the only girl on the stage, even if I completely adhere to the idea. The musical result : especially the a-cappella song, was remarkable.

The Caribbean workshop was lively and included a great dance : that was a happy couple of songs. I appreciated Wayne's solo during that which spoke to me of churches across London with a Caribbean feel.

The Urban gospel was too loud (I know Les Halles has rotten acoustics but still). Even so, there was a 'rock' feel to it that got the audience moving. I was touched to see a little boy (about 8 or 9) rock 'n' rolling with his mum. It was such a touching sign of complicity to witness. This urban gospel had brought them together. Even if the words were inaudible the spirit of the music showed the audience that Christians can have a good time : something a lot of French forget, I think.

The traditional workshop sang two a-cappella songs led by Colin. He was the revelation of this workshop as Karen Gibson was unable to come this year. We did miss her but Colin was rather a success! He has an amazing, open personality which communicated so much to everyone. He was a very precise director also and so it was almost impossible to make a mistake! He taught the choir some breathing tricks (snatch breathing and stagger breathing) which allowed them to hold a note for 42 seconds during the concert : to much applause! I've been trying to explain stagger breathing to my choir for ages : maybe they'll get it better now?? Must try again. He also gave me a little solo to do which was a-cappella and VERY high! I'm not pleased with how it sounded but I did hit all the notes which was a boost to my flailing soprano confidence. Also, I was pleased to hear Kevon's compliment on finally finding my 'chest voice'. Coming from him (check out his myspace of you don't know what he sounds like) that was a compliment that'll keep me trying next year! Also my friend, Natalia Lubrano (check out her myspace too!) said she'd enjoyed my 'timbre' and wondered if we could sing something together. Fine.

Colin's workshop was marked by a very personal input as he told the choir how gospel music had helped him through the time of his mother's death and again as he went through a bout of depression. I had to kind of divorce myself from his words as I translated them as too much of it rang home for me and I'd have blubbed! He sang his favourite Kirk Franklin song "In His Hands" both just for us and again at the concert. In fact, I think he decided to sing this during the interval and phoned someone at home to find out the key so the pianist could accompany him. Olivier, the pianist rose admirably to the challenge. Even better, Wayne was about to sing a solo during the concert when another song came to him and Olivier managed to accompany that as if by telepathy! I was definitely impressed by Olivier, as a musician, but also as a young Christian. We had very interesting conversations and I was much heartened to know that young people (he's only 22) are actively Christian today.

The rest of the concert was so moving : everyone cried at some stage : the audience, the choir, the singers... Wayne was in tears at one point as he really tried to get a message across. He explained to me afterwards that he was praying for at least one person to come to Jesus and hey presto : after the concert, several did.

I have started the summary of the weekend at the end it seems but it sums up the whole period quite well. You just need to add a concert in the park by Rejoice on the Friday evening (good fun and a relaxed outdoor crowd) with an impromptu duo from Wayne and Colin going over some classic gospel songs together. Actually it was more like a dual than a duo! Also Wayne's rendition of "Total Praise" which had the café owner in tears even though she isn't a Christian. This led to a very stimulating conversation about whether certain songs are anointed. I think here it's a definite yes, but the singer is most certainly too!

On Saturday evening the open stage concert took place in the Temple Protestant (United reformed Church of France) and it was great to discover some new voices. Natalia did a great performance.

Unfortunately not enough members of Akwa-Gospel were present for us to prepare anything this year. But there was quite enough for us to hear anyway!!

There is so much I could say about these few days and yet no words can summarise the feelings that assailed me during and after it. Simply I feel priveleged to have been part of something so powerful, to have met Wayne Ellington again, Colin Vassell and Olivier, as well as members of Rejoice who I am only now, at the end of the year, coming to know. I have been priveleged to translate some important testimonies that I believe will help people redirect their lives. Mine has certainly been redirected. Thanks to all the participants and especially to Erwan Jan whose choice of theme in the songs was definitely 'inspired'.

Here are some of the comments from Akwa-Gospel (bilngual version!!)...

Deirdre writes :

Je te remercie encore de m'avoir encouragée à participer au stage il y a deux ans.

C'est un pur bonheur. C'est simple, un mois avant je trépigne d'impatience et pendant la semaine qui suit, je reste sur un petit nuage jovial et swing 24 h sur 24.

Les chants me reviennent (même les paroles, mais oui !) tout au long de la journée, pas les mêmes, cela dépend des heures. La gaîté se communique aux collègues, le "gospel attitude" est entré dans leur univers.

Que te dire, que c'est dur de redescendre, car j'ai atteint des sphères où il est bon de vivre. J'ai rencontré des chanteurs professionnels qui savent se mettre à ma portée (bon à part que je n'arrive pas glisser même pas trois mots d'anglais tellement je suis émue en face d'eux). Je n'oublierai jamais leur regard, leur écoute et ce qu'ils m'ont transmis sur scène et pendant le stage. Je me suis laissée portée presque jusqu'aux cieux.

Ces chanteurs, avec leur virtuosité et leur talent très grand ont su garder une grande simplicité. Ce sont des "humanistes" qui m'ont transportée là où je ne pensais pas arriver. J'ai beaucoup apprécié leur humour, et pour tous, j'ai senti qu'on existait individuellement, hors du groupe, et notre participation était la base d'une construction et ça c'est extraordinaire. ..

Quant à l'émotion en fin de concert, elle a été réelle et partagée de manière très pudique. Les larmes furent épongées dans la joie. C'est un moment intense qui m'a fait, une fois de plus, promettre de rester toujours optimiste et joyeuse...

L'idée d'ateliers est très bonne, cela permet de travailler en petit groupe...Et en plus le résultat de chaque atelier est génial ! On voit l'évolution du gospel et en bref tout était bien quoi ! je n'ai que des compliments et si j'étais moins timide, j'aurais été voir Wayne et je lui aurais dit qu'il est exceptionnel même si il le sait par d'autres, j'aurais été voir Colin (quelle performance de soliste et de formateur pédagogue !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) et lui aurais dit qu'il a ensoleillé nos journées, et Keaven , était vraiment à l'écoute des gens (jeunes et moins jeunes), et c'est rare aujourd'hui. Et je confirme que Fabrice ... nous a beaucoup aidées, nous les alti, il sentait (bon il a de l'oreille) quand on peinait et arrivait à notre secours, (comme Colin)...

Vraiment, j'ai vécu trois jours d'exception, d'émotions fortes, et de bonheur.

Thank you for encouraging me to take part in this course 3 years ago. It's pure joy. I'm restless with impatience for a month beforehand and the week afterwards I'm on a little cloud of 'swing' 24 hours a day...this joy gets through to my collagues and the 'gospel attitude has become part of their universe.

I met professional singers who knew how to talk to me on a level I understand...I’ll never forget how they watched and listened to us, nor what they communicated to me on stage and throughout the weekend. I was transported almost to heaven. These singers, with their virtuosity and great talent know how to hold on to their simplicity. They are “humanists” who took me to a place I didn’t expect to go. I really appreciated their humour, and for each of them I felt we existed on an individual level outside the group and that our participation was the basis of building something extraordinary...As for the emotion at the end of the concert, it was very real and shared with a great sense of modesty. Tears were wiped away in joy. It was an intense moment which made me promise once again to stay optimistic and joyful...If I wasn’t so shy I would have spoken to Wayne, and even if others have already told him this, said that he is exceptional, and to Colin (what a solo performance and what a good teacher) and said he brought sunshine to our days and Kevon really listened to people both young and not so young, which is a rare thing these days. And Fabrice helped we altos a lot and , like Colin, if he saw us struggling he came to our help.

The workshop idea was great and allowed us to work in small groups. To cap it all the result was brilliant...
I really experienced three days of strong emotion and joy.

Anna writes :

du beau, du bon, du vrai,...pour mon corps, ma tête,mon mental,mon âme...que du bonheur! du grand bonheur.

Il faut se laisser entrainer, chanter "à plein", chanter pour soi, se faire plaisir, laisser l'émotion m'envahir, puis faire passer ce trop plein à ceux et celles qui écoutent et le courant passe c'est magique!

Dans ma tête restent les gospel appris cette année mais me reviennent ceux des années précédentes, alors toutes la journée les airs s'installent et sans m'en rendre compte je chante du matin au soir (c'est quelquefois usant surtout lorsque l'on ne se souvient pas des paroles)

Tous les ans je souhaite faire découvrir à mes proches (famile, amis...) ces 3 jours de grand "décapage" je vous assure que ceux et celles qui ont participé à ces stages ne souhaitent qu'une chose c'est de recommencer. ..

je souhaite à tous de vivre ces moments de pur bonheur!

Great, true, real, beautiful joy for my body, my head my mind and my soul!

If you let yourself go and let the music speak through you to the people who have come to listen there's a magical current!

In my head I hear all the new songs I've learned this year but also the ones from previous years and I keep singing all day long : which is a bit tiresome when i can't remember the words.

Every year I want ot bring the people I love to these tree days of renewal and those who have come have onyl one thing in mind afterwards : to do it again!

I wish for everyone to experience these moments of sheer joy.

Carol writes :

J'ai eu du mal à m'endormir cette nuit! (...)

Pour ce qui est du stage , j'ai beaucoup apprécié les ateliers, je trouve que ça donne une couleur au concert. C'est vrai qu'on a eu du mal à se quitter hier soir, quel arc-en-ciel d'émotions !!! Sur la palette du rire aux larmes, on a tout fait !! On avait tous pensé à nos bouteilles et nos anti sèche, mais personne n'avait de mouchoirs !! Alors il y en avait beaucoup autour de moi qui reniflaient discrètement ( en fin aussi discrètement que possible ;)).

Colin et wayne sont extraordinaires, Fab et Kevon ont un bel avenir devant eux, ils ont des qualités pédagogiques exeptionnelles! ...Pour les techniques vocales je crois avoir progressé encore, j'arrive plus facilement à protéger ma voix avec le "twang", même si aujourd'hui je "grésillais" un peu !!!

J'ai vécu un moment très fort, je voudrais pouvoir prier plus souvent comme ça, (mais les catho sont trop coincés du c.....!!!!!) je signe tout de suite pour l'an prochain!!

Gros bisous Karen et merci à toi

I couldn't get to sleep tonight!
As for this weekend I appreciated the workshops : they gave a colour to the final concert. It was hard to say goodbye at the end. What a rainbow of emotions!!! From laughter to tears. Everyone had crib notes tucked away somewhere but no-one had thought of the handkerchiefs (I had !: Gospella) so everyone around me was sniffing as discreetly as possible!

Colin and wayne are extraordinary, Fab and Kevon have a bright future and they all have amazing pedagogical talents. I thinkI'vemade progress in voacl technique and I manage to protect my voice a bit more with the "twang" now, even if there are still a few parasites.

I experienced a powerful moment and I would like to pray like that more often but catholics are just too ‘square’! I’m signing up for next year straightaway!”

Sylvia says :

Tu peux le dire , une montagne russe d'émotions.
Comment expliquer ce frisson qui te prends des orteils jusqu'aux cheveux , cette émotion qui t'envahit lorsque tu chantes, jusquà te faire pleurer,tellement c'est fort.
Que dire de la voix des solistes qui te transporte dans un autre monde, particulièrement celle de Wayne pour moi.
Enfin voilà ,vraiment que du bonheur, que ceux qui n'y étaient pas ne peuvent pas comprendre.Le seul problème c'est qu'après on en veut encore et encore et qu'on ne voudrait pas que çà s'arrête.
Et là, quand çà s'arrête c'est le vide ,mais on chante toujours et toujours les mêmes chansons.

You can say that again : A roller coaster of emotions.
How can you explain this shiver from your toes right up to your hair, this emotion that invades you when you sing, so strongly that it makes you cry.
What can you say about soloists whose voices transport you to another dimension, particulary Wayne's as far as I'm concerned.
Indeed true joy that those who weren't there can't really understand. The only problem is that afterwards we want to go on and on and never stop.
Then everything is empty but we keep singing those same songs.

Gospella says :

I don't think there's anything to add. Did you notice how often the word "joy" was mentioned? You may draw your own conclusions but as the title of this blog implies (and I have not told you of all the many spiritual events of this weekend for myself and others as they remain private) the Spirit Is Moving!!

God bless,
Gospella

Post-poning!!

2008-03-06T22:28:00.002+01:00

Hi all,
I have been trying to think of ways to post extracts from our February concert so that you can see how we're progressing. Unfortunately, it seems impossible to upload audio files (anyone out there know how/if it can be done??).

I have a video disc (késako??) but it needs editing : I can't possibly upload 45 minutes of other people singing! Also the films lack the beginning (and sometimes the ends!) of the songs. I don't seem to be able to edit this video disc (VCD) with Windows Movie Maker : again...anyone out there have any ideas??
I have also asked my choristers if anyone has any photos of our performance! Not a dicky bird! It's all quite disappointing. The audio files are very good and excellent quality too. I wish could attach them. The only thing I can think of doing is to give you our new (and much unused!) Myspace link to have a listen to "Help Me Find The Way".

http://www.myspace.com/akwagospel

That way you can at least have a listen. The site is pretty bare : but until I have something to pad it out I can't do much about that!

REJOICE!

The other gospel choir I sing with had a big concert last Saturday and it went very well. Despite some agitation on my part the couple of days beforehand I felt very relaxed and had a blast singing. I enjoyed myself so much (thanks notably to the excellent performances of the soloists Lurine Cato, Fab27 and Kevon as well as the detailed direction of Erwan and Taia (names unchanged for publicity purposes and because I can't think of them as 'Edward and Tina'!!!) that all throat tension seemed to disappear and I got out all those high notes I've been worried about.

Unfortunately the acoustics in the hall were appalling and the sound mix not particularly good. Once again, I couldn't really hear myself and so when I watched a video extract of the concert I heard myself quite distinctly and not really pleasantly! Ach!

The evening was full of the spirit of God. I'm sure it carried Lurine who was there despite being bereaved, and her selfless performance made the whole thing very emotional. I saw my own family members, who never get very excited about me singing usually, up on their feet and clapping their hands. I had a whale of a time. I made some mistakes but hey!

Next stop for Rejoice will be a gig all to themselves in April. Between now and then I have to learn all the back catalogue of repertoire and have my wisdom teeth removed! (Thus putting an end to my constant throat infections I hope.) Fun ahead then.

Next week, Akwa-Gospel meet again to perfect our current performance and also to start on songs for the July wedding. We need to keep learned songs fresh too as I'd like us to be able to stand alone in a concert eventually.

Love and blessings,
Gospella

Little Cabin

2008-02-03T21:59:00.000+01:00

Well, two years after trying we have finally built our little cabin! Our concert was greeted with enthusiasm this afternoon and I must congratulate the singers for their performances.

Of course, Maureen gets a special mention for her first ever solo in Help Me Find the Way. She was really nervous but bit the bullet and did a good job. I don't quite get the mysterious faery-like quality I wanted but it was melodious.

As for the chords in the intro to Little Cabin... They were in tune but I still don't get the feeling I want from the celestial choir. This morning at rehearsal they said couldn't I just sing them their notes instead of their having to try to find them by themselves! Cheeky! That was what I wanted to do at the beginning and they refused! Ha!

It is a shame that we were so few : seven or so of our singers didn't participate today. And whilst we're on the subject of participating, the audience was pretty grey! A bit of clapping but that was it. Mind you the average agewas 60! There were less audience members than usual and less young people too. I wonder why? It's a shame because there was an excellent African group that had some of us dancing in the alleys.

Next rehearsal for Akwa-Gospel will be in March and we'll start on rehearsing the songs for the wedding we'll be singing at in July. I hope to recruit a few of the Akwaba-a singers for this to boost numbers and also as the bride is the daughter of an ex bass!

If someone has some good footage of this afternoon I'll post it here.

Bye for now.
Gospella

D-2

2008-02-01T21:21:00.000+01:00

Well it's D-2 until our first concert of the season. Are we ready? As we'll ever be!

After the last rehearsal in December when I felt rather demoralised, I decided to share my feelings with the singers to see what they had to say. They were surprised to hear I felt that way and basically said they weren't really complaining ; they were just expressing their difficulties! They absolutely want to keep going and are enjoying themselves! Well! I guess it does to be honest about how you feel. I think (as I also told them) that I am rather unsure of myself as a choir director, not having done it before and therefore perhaps pay too much attention to their complaints.

Afterwards the rehearsal was a success. We've packed in another one since then too as we wanted to get in some extra practice before our concert on Sunday.

For the intro of "Little Cabin" we've decided to let the singers find their own chords to harmonise my solo and that works well most of the time except that they can't get the hang of the one or two 'blue' chords I wanted. Ben's going to help out there but I fear he'll be alone! We've practised this intro with the main village choir as they come in on the full version of the song (four-part harmony handed on to us by Karen Gibson - thanks, Karen. You have been credited in our concert programme!) and that goes pretty well. I've toned down the solo a bit. I decided to go for an understated, curbed sound rather than a full-throated belt, which should make a contrast with the power of the fifty-voice choir.

2 days until my own composition gets its premier! I couldn't find an alto to do the second voice on the duet of the second verse (Anne is having trouble with her voice : there has been a horrible virus going round which attacks the vocal chords and lasts for over a month) so I decided to sing that part and gave the soprano solo to Maureen. She doesn't have the Celtic lilt I wanted for the sound but she has a powerful voice and a good musical memory. Also, and this is the most important thing, she has never sung a solo in public before and when she joined the choir two years ago she told me that it was her ambition so this is my gift. I think she's quite nervous about it but I've practised with her alone and she'll be OK! The alto part is quite low for me but I don't think I'll choke!

"This Train" is still causing a few problems with the lyrics but we'll take it a bit slower and maybe we'll survive the "cigarette puffers and cigar smokers" not to mention the "hootchie-cootch shakers and Charleston prancers". They're not meant to get on that train anyway!

Step-clapping and smiling remains one of the constant challenges but I'm hoping they'll be caught up in the heat of the moment as they usually are and not caught like a rabbit in footlights!

We have a new 'costume'! Akwaba-a have new waistcoats (bright orange with an African print) and we all wear black underneath. This means that when Akwa-Gospel step forward we'll be in all black, so to relieve that I have provided goldy-green scarves for the ladies. Thanks must go to Maureen for hemming them. And sorry that the sequins melted on to her iron!!:-)

As for numbers we are pared down to the bare minimum. Six sopranos, five altos, four tenors. It's not a lot but it's quite well balanced so the sound has potential.

So "break a leg". If we get some good recordings I'll be sure to post them here.

Bye for now.

Gospella

All Good things for 2008

2007-12-31T17:53:00.000+01:00

There are still two major reports to file before the end of 2007 (in just a few hours now!).

AKWA-GOSPEL
The first is our final rehearsal of the year which I exerienced with mixed feelings...

Our objective was to rehearse with a view to the concert in February. There were not so many people present and, as usual, latecomers ate into the rehearsal time. A couple had said they'd be unavailable, Ben was stuck in Parisian traffic again. Mary arrived after working late and in a foul mood.
After our initial stretching and vocal warm-up I decided to get everyone moving and put on a track from the WOW 2006 CD. In a semi-circle we started stepping in time and dancing a bit freestyle. The instructions were to be aware of those around you and try to get something structured going. There are a couple of dancers in our group who put the rest of us to shame but we had a lot of fun. There was always someone out of step with the rest which caused much hilarity. The goal wasn't to invent a choreography but rather to feel at ease moving about in time to the music and to create a feeling of how we look as a group. It's an exercise which was quite fun and I'm going to have them do it again.

We ran over "It's Me" as we're keeping this song in our repertoire for this year. Then we went on to "This Train". The words of this song absolutely panic the singers! They knew they'd fluffed a few words at the concert and tried to mutiny and get rid of it! I repeated my Dad's compliments for those who hadn't read their e-mail and we went through the words again : first speaking fragmented sentences, then singing them fragmented, complete but slow, and then up to speed. The progress was good but they'll need to practise those words. I'm full of hints on how to cheat the pronunciaton (I do that for a living!) and showed them which syllables to aim for if they couldn't get their tongues round them all. That seemed to calm them down a bit.

Then we went over our intro for "Little Cabin". It was a bit of a disaster. Even when I give each group their note they can't always hear it! There is one chord in particular which I love and has a dissonant quality which we may have to put under wraps for a bit! I'm rather concerned that this won't be ready for February. Basically we need to keep singing it over and over for them to get the right notes but we only have one rehearsal scheduled before the concert!

To get everyone feeling positive and leaving in a good mood I finished off by playing the WOW version of Kurt Carr's "God Great God" for those who knew it to sing along to. They did a pretty good job considering we haven't sung it for over six months. The point I was trying to make is that their memories do work and that they can achieve something complicated in English if they just make a bit of effort. It surprised some to know we'd learned it last year. Everyone was in good spirits : but they were kind of dashed to the ground by a bout of complaining from Mary about the burden of organisation of Akwaba-a events. The good humour disappeared and I went home wondering if it was worth continuing if all the singers get out of it is to complain.
Subsequently I have asked one or two of them individually if they think it's worth continuing and they say yes. I feel, however, it's going to be a long hard slog.

REJOICE
The second report doesn't concern this group but the other gospel choir I'm singing with this year as we had our first concert of the season.
It was a Christmas concert mainly for the members of the association and took place in the Protestant Church in town. The large choir (80+ singers) the Kids' choir, an a-cappella set-up and Rejoice were performing one after the other and then together. A few of Akwa-Gospel's members came along to listen and seemed to enjoy the evening.

It was minus 4°C outside and not much above in the church where we arrived at 5pm for a sound-check with the band. It's really quite strange but the sound levels are never what they are supposed to be when the concert gets going! (Audience members have commented on this several times to me.)

Anyway, there was no vocal warm-up (I had anticipated this and done mine in the car!) and the run-through of two of the songs was disastrous as no-one was directing us! Also, I was on my own in the soprano department a few times as one hadn't arrived, another had pulled out and two were singing a duo! Me and my inflamed vocal folds were left to their own devices! HELP!
When it came to the Real Thing there was absolutely no fold-back on our mikes and we were singing at the top of our lungs with no idea if we were on key or not. Obviously you unconsciously yell when you can't hear yourself and this led to a 'breakdown' for my voice in the middle of 'Total praise' where I decided it was best to mime than to sound like a cracked bell!
(I've listened to one of my friend's recording of the evening and it isn't obvious thank goodness!)

Apart from that, the evening was a good one. The atmosphere was very intimate and friendly. Technically there's progress to be made but it was an encouraging start for me, I think. Let's see what 2008 brings...

WEDDING BELLS
A final development over the Christmas Holidays has been a meeting with a young couple who want Akwa-Gospel to sing at their wedding. They wanted gospel music but didn't really know what. They said "Amazing Grace" and "Happy Day"! (A bit too trad for my taste and not in our repertoire at all.) I managed to do some hard-sell thanks to video and MP3 files on my PC of us singing "Bless The Lord" which they loved and "Because of Who You Are" for a meditative moment in the ceremony. They love the idea. I think the choir will be relieved because most of them know these two songs, although they'll need some work between now and July.
There is a little post scriptum : we're also to sing "All You Need is Love" at the exit of the church during the photos! Need to buy the music and learn that one!

Well, this brings you up to date on the end of the year and now let's look forward to more adventures in 2008.

I wish all you readers Peace and the Lord's Blessings for all you encounter in this coming year.

Gospella

The sound system!

2007-12-09T12:37:00.000+01:00

Well, Akwa-Gospel did its 2007 'coming out'! We have our first 'gig' of the season under our belts and it was pretty OK despite appalling conditions for performance!

Last Sunday we were invited to sing along with Akwaba-a at a gathering of 360 people belonging to an association called "Hospitalité de Touraine" who organise trips to Lourdes for handicapped people. They have a day together : mass, lunch and then entertainment, of which we were a part.

We were told the schedule was tight and we had to be on stage performing at 2pm sharp and off 45 minutes later for the next singer to start. It was agreed that we'd arrive at 1pm to set up the stage as we had many instruments and a sound system to install (there are abour fifty performers in our set-up). There were also costume changes planned etc.

We arrived at 1pm as planned, on a day only ducks want to be outside (torrential rain!) only to find that the venue was chock-a-bloc with people, there was nowhere for us to leave our belongings or even stand (we spent half an hour in the toilet to keep out of the way) and particularly ... there were people having lunch on the stage! No chance of setting up the sound system then as they were still on their main course and as anyone who knows the French will see, cheese, dessert and coffee were still to come!
So we just hung out in the toilet until 2 o'clock when we made a frantic dash to set up the stage (the plinths and daïs, the speakers, the mikes, the instruments, costumes...) in ten minutes flat. Congrats to Ben for the sweat of his brow!

I spent most of my time with Akwaba-a miming, as I have very little voice. The bronchitis I had a month ago has never really gone away and my vocal folds are at least twice their normal size.
I tried to save them for the two solos I had to do.
Needless to say my solo on "Were You There" was disappointing as I couldn't get much subtlety into my voice. The choir did a pretty good job putting nuance into theirs but unfortunately it was totally lost in a place where people were chatting over coffee, walking around to go to the toilet after lunch etc.!! We followed up with "It's Me" and "This Train". These are quite lively and were appreciated (I was sweating buckets by the time I'd finished jumping about at the front as the hall was stifling!). The choir cocked up the phrases "cigarette puffers" and "hootchie cootch shakers and Charleston prancers" but the overall effect was good. The whole of Akwaba-a plus gospel singers on "I'm Gonna Wait" had great impact too.

We had to rush through our last number in which I do a jazz impro, which meant I had to come in white-hot without any build-up which is a bit rough (like my tonsils!).

Anyway, the event was appreciated by the audience who have asked us back next year (??!!?)
As Terry (who is one of our tenors and also a volunteer with this organisation) said, we brought some colour into the lives of people who really need it. In that respect it was a very successful day!

My father was in the audience as he happened to be here for the weekend. It was the first time he had seen me sing since my teens! Not a perfect performance by any means, but it gave him an idea of the service we provide for our community. He was impressed by the gospel choir and said he had no trouble understanding their English. I have passed on the compliment.
The previous evening he and I had been to see New Gospel family perform in the city. Here are a few thoughts on them.

There were 26 performers in total forming a giant semi-circle around the director who leapt around between them like a crazy thing! They were from many nations : France, Switzerland, Haïti, Guadeloupe, some African countries... The sound was a good strong one with some amazing voices. There were several different people singing the solos and they sang a mixture of Urban gospel, Traditional gospel both in English and in French. They had a lot of conviction and indeed, when it came time to bear witness, the director said they were all there from spiritual conviction too. I was particlarly impressed by one tenor who sang a couple of solos as he was technically perfect. He never missed a single beat or note! Some of the other soloists were not always on pitch, which offended my ears at first but then I got to thinking. We are too used to studio perfection these days and it would do us good to be more tuned in to the emotion behind a singer's voice rather than technical prowess! As far as emotion goes : they scored ten out of ten!

One thing that was a little disappointing was that there were no live musicians. Everything was sung to a pre-recorded backing tape, which made the whole concert rather formatted as it didn't give room for any kind of improvisation.
Despite this they did a rather long set (with interval) and kept up the energy for the whole time. They had simple but effective choreography going too. All raising a hand at the same time, or clasping each other's shoulders, or a step in the same direction. I must work on the visual effect with Akwa-Gospel. We meet on Thursday : I think I'll try to get some 'dancing' going to the WOW 2006 CD my Dad brought me back from the States!

A nice touch at the end of the New Gospel family concert was that they were all lined up to say goodbye in the foyer as the audience left. That gave a really warm feeling.

I shall spend the next few days resting my voice and then it's off for our next rehearsal. Let you know how we get on.

God bless.
Gospella

Why do we sing?

2007-11-13T10:58:00.000+01:00

This isn't really an up-date to our activities but a reflection on some issues that have been raised by some singers about the nature of gospel music.

To me, gospel music has always been entirely indissociable from the gospel (QED!). I was brought up in a church where the musical element was a very important dimension of our worship, and although it was not 'gospel' music, the outreach element was the same. When I first realised that some people involved in gospel singing here in France didn't even know that they were preaching God's word I was shocked!

I was reluctant to pursue my singing with them as I didn't know if the integrity of the message was getting through. (This was never a judgement on the singers themselves, only about the way the music would be perceived by those listening.) Since, I have come to the conclusion (in fact I have returned to the way I thought about things in my adolescence : is it regression or progress??!!) that people sing for a variety of reasons and that God is working through all of us whether believer or not. The Bible is full of stories where He has used non-believers in His work : think of Pharoah putting Joseph in charge of all his property and inviting his family to live in the region of Egypt during the famine (Genesis 45 : 1-15); or Saul of Damascus who by his persecution of Christians and subsequent conversion was a pretty good advertisement for God! (Acts 8 : 1-3; Acts 9 : 1-22).

The question was raised again when Akwa-Gospel was deciding whether to sing for a wedding. Here are the thoughts of one of our sopranos, who is non-religious :

"If someone is a believer, the least they can do is to appreciate the diversity in the world and the people they encounter. There are so many religions, or so many other ways of perceiving our passage on this earth!
I did some soul-searching before signing up to the summer gospel course. Karen Gibson's words helped me : if you have something you can offer others, do it. You need to be aware of what you can give others (and they will return your gifts).
I think of my presence at the wedding as a gift. Singing is a gift we can offer those who can't sing or who don't dare to and who like it. If I can bring them pleasure that's all that matters...I'll praise the Lord to please them, in the same way I used to sing songs I didn't like to please my grandmother."

Gospella

Shrinking

2007-11-11T17:51:00.000+01:00

Hi all!
Another rehearsal is behind us and numbers are already down. I was expecting this as people are always very enthusiastic at the outset of the new school year, but in the event they can't find the time to continue all the activities they sign up to. One face who didn't turn up was the person who won a year's subscription to Akwa-Gospel in a tombola. The first time she came she looked miserable the whole time and said it was too hard, last month she didn't come and this month she checked rehearsal times with me and declared two hours far too long! I guess she's not cut out for the choir.
Others have more courage and continue to turn up from quite far away, and our hero, Ben, arrived direct from Paris where he'd been caught up in traffic! That's dedication.
It was great to see Terry back after an op on his hand. He had a rythm nerve grafted inside to help him with the clapping! LOL

We started a bit late as we were waiting to see who would come. In the end there were eighteen singers with a vast majority in soprano. Our goal was to go over some of the songs for last year as we'll have to sing them in concert on December 2nd. This actually meant learning them for some people. Not too difficult I think as "It's Me" is fairly easy. They managed it quite well.
"Were You There" needed a bit of work but by the end of the evening the nuances were coming back to everyone. I had a bit of trouble with the solo though. It seems to be over the break (passagio) and I'm not very happy with it. I need to practise hard (but right now I have a stinking cold and can't emit a sound!). The altos complained it was too low for them and wondered if it could be transposed, but that would make the tenor part unreachable! It's a real alto part - I manage to sing it so I don't see why they can't?!
They also had a mini mutiny about "This Train" which surprised me as it is a song we've even sung twice in concert before! They said the words were impossible, the rythm too hard yadiyadiya... In the end, Anne said, "Let's just sing it!" and it was fine.
I even made them sing it again without their wordsheets, just looking at me and apart from one or two blanks they managed that very well also. We decided to rehearse in 2 weeks' time (29th Nov) mostly to put minds at ease.
I think they're all a bit nervous about getting up and performing in public but you have to make the leap some time. I am confident that they will do just as good a job as they did last year.

We didn't have time to go on to any of our new projects, which is a shame. I hope they won't have forgotten everything by the time we get round to those songs again. I have sent out MP3 files for practising to so that should help.

Our warmers were about identifying the muscle groups necessary for vocal support. It was quite funny. I asked everyone to clutch a partner under the ribs to see whether their muscles were working or not and they ended up in a conga-style line around the room! I wished I'd have had my camera!

I talked a bit about retracting the vocal folds and twang (but I'm not very proficient at that all the time myself, so I feel a little hypocritical : "Do as I say and not as I do!") and trying to reduce tension in the jaws, neck and throat. I had pinched a couple of interesting exercises from Mark Baxter's website
which involved singing me-ee-me-ee-me up a scale of 5 notes and back down again. Then we did the same rise and fall on "ee-ah-ee-ah-ee..." with a finger on the chin to make sure the notes were only produced by the tongue. This denotes lack of tension in the other facial muscles.
After a bit of cackling (after all Halloween had just passed!) to access twang, we were ready to start.

Not sure what my conclusion of the evening is. People seem to be fairly happy with what they do but it's hard to tell when they're all whacked out after a long day at work. What we really need is for the group to stabilise so that we can move forward each rehearsal instead of always going over the same ground.

We have a summer project for July, which is singing at the wedding of a former choir member's daughter. Everyone was pretty much in favour, although some worried about setting a precedent. That doesn't worry me in the slightest. If we don't want to do a wedding we can always say no! No-one is really sure whether they're free on the date and also we don't know what the bride wants us to sing. If we have to learn new songs it could be complicated (I have written to her and asked but received no reply as yet). We shall have to see how that pans out.

In between rehearsals I have been doing lots of research on my own account about voice technique. I am particularly interested in accessing different voice modes as I have realised I sing a lot in head voice. I think this must have developed as a sort of instinctive way to protect my throat when I was having all those bouts of tonsilitis last year. It is interesting to see the varying opinions about voice, which vary from "do whatever it takes to hit the note", to "head voice is ugly". I think the main thing is to be comfortable with what you produce and not expect to sound like someone else.
From the reading I have done on voicelesson.com I have decided to try being less tense in the throat (hence my warm-ups last Thursday :-)) and to lessen the amount of air used on high notes (as this can bring tension). I'll see if it makes any difference once my cold has gone!

God bless!
Gospella

Encouragement

2007-10-18T14:26:00.000+01:00

I must have struck a chord or two (no pun intended!) with my previous post as I have had several responses, and requests not to drive people too hard!! Sorry chaps! I am always conscious that we have a lot of work to get done in just two hours a month and tend to just charge on forwards leaving no casualties! I shall try my hardest to be gentle with all the singers in the future.

I have now sent out voice-by-voice MP3 files for people to a) practise the texts of our new songs and b) practise their harmonies. This worked miracles last year and left us with time to work on nuances and style during the rehearsals.

The true reason I am writing today is to report a very special conversation I had this week with Frances and Anne. The latter said she was particularly moved by my translation of part of my song "Help Me Find My Way" :
When I enter my darkly wooded fears...
She said this spoke volumes to her and that gospel songs often said things in a way which touched her like no traditional hymn ever had. There was some debate between the three of us as to whether this was a cultural thing (French/English) or a religious thing(catholic/protestant). I'm not sure we really came down on one side or the other but we all agreed that singing gospel should be a prayer and not something we do by rote. Obviously this choir is working in some people's lives, which is what I hoped. As for myself I pray to be a vehicle for whatever message there is for the singers.
I heard an interesting thought on BBC Radio 4's Daily Service today : It is not up to us to convince or convert people. Our job is to bear witness. Christians can be a way for others to reach God. I shall try to be more modest in my ambitions.

God's peace to all.
Gospella

Gotta name!!!

2007-10-14T10:51:00.000+01:00

Hi. It's official and so are we. We now have a name...Akwa-Gospel! Nothing to do with 'aqua' (although I like the double entendre with water of life). The real reason for the choice (almost unanimous) is because our original village choir is called Akwaba-a (which means Welcome in Ivorian) and we are an off-shoot of that. So now we really exist!

We had another rehearsal on Thursday (11th Oct). We had yet more new recruits (four + one who will hardly ever be able to come!). This makes it a bit hard to have any continuity in what we do but I guess the group will stabilise over the next month or two.

We did some stretching and warming up the body from the toes upwards, ending up in a kind of frenetic dance. Everyone thought this was hilarious (except Carol who has lumbago!). Then we did some breathing exercises and worked a bit on support. After that we tried again our 'blind man's buff' game with a variation suggested by Mary where everyone walked around eyes closed (lots of cheating!) and tried to form groups of three with one soprano, one alto and one tenor. Not everyone managed. It was odd that people singing the same note thought they had found someone singing a different note.

We repeated our work on Little Cabin but the choir seem to have some difficulty finding the chords. It seems so obvious to me but they don't seem to hear the notes. Perhaps it depends on what kind of music you've been exposed to before? I have always listened to a lot of jazz and close-voice harmonies, growing up with a mum who was a cabaret singer and who watched all the Hollywood musicals! It wasn't a disaster so I hope we'll have something ready for our first concert in December.

Because of the lack of rehearsal time between now and December we shall have to use some of last year's repertoire : It's Me; Were You There; This Train... We'll need to prioritise those at the next rehearsal. We did try This Train and it was getting there but the rythm is all off and it sounds too contrite and 'square'. I had spent so long singing the alto part to help out the altos I found it impossible to sing the soprano part which is the melody - weird!

We worked again on my song Help Me Find the Way. Everyone seemed very unnerved by it but they worked quite hard and by the end of the evening there was an approximately remembered version of the three-part harmony! There was absolutely no vocal nuance though so we shall have to work quite hard on style. I must also record the various harmonies on MP3 and send them out by mail to the singers so thay can practise before next time. We won't sing this one in December but I'd like it to be ready for February (and that is only 3 rehearsals away!).

Judging by what I saw when we were doing clapping - we've got our work cut out there too. People really don't all have the same sense of rythm!

Numbers are up to about 25 members : which means in theory there are too many of us for the room we rehearse in (safety regulations put the cut-off point at 19) but I'm supposing we'll whittle ourselves down in the next month or two. People are always enthusiastic at the beginning of the year but enthusiasm wanes in the winter! Today I hope to record the voice parts I mentioned. I'd like us to learn I'm Gonna Sing but the rythm is a bit complex so I need to learn it better myself first.

Once again I was dissatisfied with the evening. People moan because they can't get the tune or rythm or whatever, but it's hardly surprising as everyone talks between and even during the learning of it. I know it's a cultural thing and that French people have no self-discipline when it comes to chatting but it has direct consequences on efficiency.
The following day, however, some colleagues who have joined us said that they had had a good time! That is, of course, the main thing.

A little parenthetical information : I have been accepted to sing in Rejoice - the gospel choir led by Taïa and Erwan of the Gospel Aujourd'hui association. It is quite a privelege as there are some fantastic voices in the choir. I am sure this will have an influence on how I hear Akwa-Gospel : I hope for the better. Of course, the styles are not comparable. Rejoice sings with a four-piece band and Akwa-Gospel sings a-cappella; Rejoice has professional musicians to lead it and Akwa-Gospel only has me! We'll make do. At least now we really exist :-D

Gospella

Back to work

2007-09-20T11:40:00.000+01:00

All back from holidays now!
We started up the gospel singers again last Thursday evening and we were quite a crowd, including several newcomers.
We recruited Val and Giles from the summer gospel course, Marion, Kath and a lady who won her year's subscription to the choir in a village tombola! She looked less than enchanted to be there. I hope she cracks a smile if she comes back because we do try to look as if we are enjoying ourselves!!!

I made a little welcome speech and reminded everyone that I was there out of spiritual conviction but that the non-religious were welcome as long as they had musical conviction so that we could sound convincing.
First things first, we tried to find a name for the choir. We are now down to a shortlist of two : Akwagospel (a derivitive of the original village choir's name which is Akwaba-a which means 'welcome' in Ivorian) and Gospel Attitude. We shall have to do as in the French presidential elections and have a run-off round of voting! You can post your preferences here by clicking on "comment" at the bottom of this post!

After a basic warm-up (stretching, breathing and 'buzzing'), we did a bit of sirening to try and find and extend our vocal ranges. Then we played a game I invented. I wanted to work on several objectives : precision of pitch (not always 100% with some singers), holding a chord, and listening to others. It's a game a bit like Blind Man's Buff. The choirs gets a chord going and then one guinea pig (eyes closed) tries to find his / her own voice after the singers have all moved and mixed themselves up. Some found it quite nerve-wracking! One guinea pig accusingly pointed a finger directly at a singer who was outside the chord. (The singer shall remain nameless, but it is often the case!) All in all, it was an interesting experience and I think we'll play it again.

We first sang "It's Me" as we know it quite well and I think it's encouraging to star with something that people can manage. Also, it gave a little idea to the newbies of what we can do.
Then I presented my idea for an introduction to Lord Build Me A Little Cabin, which is to be sung by the main choir. I have written a solo intro which is accompanied by the choir humming chords (hence the aforementioned game) and then which leads into the main song sung by the full choir. Ben played the notes on his accordeon for the singers as we have no keyboard where we rehearse. Not everyone got the hang of it but I think if we keep practising we can have it ready for the concert in February. I rehearsed the whole song with the main choir this week and they're beginning to get the hang of it well (also they rehearse every week so they practise more often).

Then I sang the song I had written over the summer : Lord Help Me Find My Way. Some of them laughed as they know I'm having a tricky time at work (understatement) and immediately linked the theme to that! Mary and Ben helped out when my harmonisation was dubious. It wasn't a resounding success but again, once we've spent a little more time on it, I think it could sound quite good.
Ben has kindly offered to go over my manuscript and change some of the chords. Herein lies a small dilemma : I have deliberately been a little non-conformist with certain harmonisations and I wouldn't want to produce somthing middle-of-the-road. Such is the lot of the poor misunderstood artist (sniff!).

Anyway, the reunion was encouraging and we're all eager to meet next month for the next rehearsal. I hope some of the absentees will be able to come (Bridget, who is in my thoughts and prayers as her family go through a hard time; Terry, who will have to give up clapping for a while after a finger op!). I shall keep practising!
Keep you posted.

Gospella

Even more reactions!

2007-08-12T16:19:00.000+01:00

Here are some thoughts from Carol. She also says her husband filmed the final concert of the summer course, so if maybe we can make a little link... Meanwhile, here's Carol :

ça fait déjà 3 jours que c'est fini, et j'ai l'impression d'y être encore!!!
Non je ne regrette rien (!).... Pour le concert, quelle bande d'idiotes ses
sopranes qui ont fait des histoires pour ne pas être devant, parce que nous,
avec Maureen, on avait une super vue, chanter à 2 mètres de Karen Gibson et la
voir chanter, je vous promets que c'est un souvenir inoubliable!! Que du
bonheur ces 3 jours ! Si je suis libre l'an prochain, je remets ça! Merci à
notre Gospella pour nous avoir entraîner dans pareil aventure, merci aussi à
vous tous pour votre bonne humeur, votre bon humour et vos bons petits
plats. Je vous souhaite à tous de bonnes vacances, on se retrouve en
septembre avec plaisir.

BIG BIZ

CAROL

It's already been three days since everything has finished and I still feel like I'm there!!! I don't regret a moment ("Je ne regrette rien..." dixit Edith PIAF - Gospella) As for the concert, what a bunch of twits there was in the sopranos, all complaining about not wanting to be in front, because Maureen and I had a great view singing two metres away from Karen Gibson and watching her singing too, honestly it was an unforgettable memory!! 3 days of pure joy! If I'm free next year I'm signing up again! Thanks to our Gospella for taking us on this adventure with her, and thanks to all the rest of you for your good humour, your fun and your tasty little dishes. I wish you all happy holidays and see you in September with great pleasure.
Hugs,
Carol.

It's very interesting what Carol says about the squabbling sopranos. She and I both sing soprano but weren't standing together. I also had constant bickering of sopranos behind me as they all wanted me to stand at the back, saying I was too tall. The problem was, I had to be near the front to get to a microphone for interpreting. I guess some people are never happy!

This wraps up the comments I've received from our group.

Meanwhile I've been composing a song for our choir to learn this autumn : I'm still working on some of the harmonisations but I'm pretty pleased with it so far. I started it before the summer course but have had no time to get back to the writing. I really wish my piano skills were better honed so I could make less of a meal of transferring the music from my head to the page! I have been practising in odd moments of freedom but a hectic lifestyle doesn't leave me much of those and I know I'll never be an accomplished pianist. Never mind. My voice is definitely my instrument. I hope to use it a little more this next year by auditioniing for another gospel choir (while keeping up our un-named one and the village choir, which will mean abandining another activity). I'll let you know what happens there in the autumn.

I think it is time that our "experiment" got a name. It would make us feel a little more permanent. I'll see what our friends can come up with. Your suggestions, dear Reader, are welcome too : just click on "Comments" at the bottom of this article and make your suggestion.
Hope to hear from you soon,

Gospella.

More reactions

2007-08-09T13:40:00.001+01:00

I've been away from the computer for a while and have been lent this one so here are a few more comments on the gospel weekend workshop...

Deirdre writes :

Gospella, bonjour Merci encore pour m'avoir entraînée dans cette aventure, je suis encore sur mon petit nuage, très fatiguée mais heureuse.Et j'avais une fan dans mon bureau lundi matin !!!! alors je n'avais pasl'impression d'être incomprise comme l'année dernière... elle a même filmé et j'ai pu chanter !!! super !Bon, côté blog, je suis un peu fatiguée pour lire les nouveautés,imagine la concentration que cela demande, tu sais je pense.A très bientôt
Dierdre qui chante jour et nuit dans ma tête Promis, à la rentrée je m'y remets.

Hello Gospella,
Thanks again for dragging me into this adventure, I'm still on my little cloud, tired but happy. And I had a new fan in my office on Monday morning!!! so at least I was understood by someone, unlike last year... she even filmed and I could sing along!!! Great! As for your blog, I'm a bit tired to read all the new stuff, imagine the concentration that would require , I'm sure you know what I mean. See you very soon,
Deirdre, singing night and day in my head> I promise to take up the singing again in September.

Deirdre writes (again) !!
Bonjour à tous ceux présents aux pique-niques,
Cela fait trois jours que je mange de la pizza. Epique, tu peux le dire.
En tout cas, merci Gospella again and again and again…………………………………
Je suis restée sur un petit nuage musical pendant 4 jours et j'étais à me demander si il n'y aurait pas d'autres stages Gospel ailleurs ? en France ?
Je serai des vôtres dès la rentrée avec joie.
Merci à Elaine de nous avoir éclairés de phares, c'était une idée lumineuse et sucrée .
Merci à Frances d'être toujours aussi douce et adorable (les prunes étaient délicieuses)
Merci à Ben d'avoir chanté dans tous les registres (c'est Terry qui va être jaloux) et bon, pour le vin, je suis abstème mais je trouve l'idée conviviale.
Merci à Jack de nous avoir rejoints avec bonne humeur comme d'habitude. Les rillettes étaient les bienvenues.
Merci à Maureen (en retard) pour toutes les photos envoyées progressivement, j'ai bien ri. La confiture sur le gâteau, c'était comme the top of the cake (c'est ça Gospella ?).
Merci à Carol pour son taboulet, même si je n'en n'ai pas mangé, il avait l'air bon, et j'enverrai des photos quand je saurai les compresser, vous verrez qu'elle se donne à cœur et à corps dans le gospel sur scène !
Merci à Mary pour la menthe sur le melon, c'est hyper important, et maintenant il lui faudra expliquer à la rentrée comment fonctionnent les cordes vocales (instruments plus ou moins importants) mais Gospella pourra traduire… Imaginez déjà les basses à entendre ce jargon … ho on est bien !
J'espère que je n'oublie personne. C'est dans toutes les fins de concerts ainsi et c'était du professionnel ! J'en ai encore la chaire de poule .
Moi je pense qu'on devrait prendre des cours d'anglais pour être plus performants, 'isn't it Gospella '? et c'est absolument nécessaires dans les pique-niques.
Bonnes vacances à vous et à très bientôt
Deirdre à la menthe

Thanks to everyone at the picnics : I've been eating pizza for three days! Epic, you might say.
Anyway, thanks to Gospella again and again and again.............
I stayed on my little musical cloud for four days and started to wonder if there were other gospel courses somewhere in France?
I'll rejoin you all in September with pleasure.
Thanks to Elaine for all her custard pies a 'illuminated' and sweet idea (the cake bears the same name in French as a lighthouse - Gospella)
Thanks to Frances for being as gentle and adorable as ever (the plums were delicious)
Thanks to Ben for singing in all registers ( Terry's going to be jealous). As for the wine i don't drink but it was a convivial idea.
Thanks to Jack for his usual good humour. The coarse pate was very welcome.
Thanks (belatedly) to Maureen for all the photos which made me laugh. The cherry on the cake " on top of the cake" - is that right, Gospella?
Thanks to Carol for her taboule even if I couldn't eat any, it looked delicious. I'll send on the photos when I've found out how to zip them and you'll all see how she gives body and soul to gospel on stage!
Thanks to Mary for the mint on the melon. It's very important and now she'll have to explain how the vocal cords work when the village choir meets again ( whatever the size of your instrument!) Gospella can translate - I can already see the basses listening to the jargon - oh this is fun!
I hope I haven't forgotten anyone. They always say that at end of the show - and it was very professional! I still get goose bumps thinking about it.
I think we should all take English lessons so we're more efficient "innit, Gospella"? and it's vital for the picnics!
Have a good holiday everyone and see you soon.
Minty Deirdre

There's more but this isn't my computer so it'll have to wait.
Love bilingually,
Gospella

Reactions

2007-07-28T19:31:00.000+01:00

I've had several feedback e-mails from our participants in the Summer Gospel weekend and below are some of their comments. No-one was brave enough to write in English so I have added a translation in italics...

Ben writes :

Ouf ! on l'a fait ce concert !Au dire des spectateurs que j'ai invités, c'étaient génial, décoiffant, avec des super solistes qu'ils étaient un peu décus de ne pas entendre davantage (un peu fort les instruments).Pour ma part, il faut que je fasse un régime au poisson concentré pendant les vacances du mois d'août histoire de retrouver un peu de mémoire et de ne pas oublier les paroles le prochain coup ... Jespère que vous n'avaz pas trop rigolé en entandant nos puissantes voix de basses de course ...Merci à tous pour ces 3 jours très sympa

Phew! we' managed the concert! According to the spectators I had invited, it was great, sky-high, with super soloists, but they were a bit disappointed not to hear better (instruments a bit loud). As for me, I'll have to go on a fish diet during the holidays in August to get back my memory and not forget the words next time... I hope you didn't laugh too loudly when you heard our powerful bass voices (Only 4 men ; Gospella) ...Thank you all for these three very pleasant days.

Elaine writes :

C'est vrai que le réveil a été un peu difficile, mais j'ai une pensée pour ceux qui sont allés travailler!Difficile de faire le bilan de ces trois jours de stage, mais voici quelques impressions en vrac:- des grandes découvertes anatomiques: contre toute attente dans pareil contexte, j'ai fréquemment entendu MYCOSE of who...défaillance auditive de ma part? certains confirment, d'autres non; nous avons un muscle hari, harry, ari, (?) épiglottique (merci Elodie); je contracte des sphincters en haut depuis 40 ans à mon insu, mais voilà, maintenant, je le sais; les laitages donnent des glaires aux Anglais(es); les cordes vocales sont une histoire de faux plis qu'il faut écarter...- 2 mystères: comme on ne peut pas y mettre les doigts, comment faire pour les écarter? et pour le twaing, le bout de la langue, Karen, se place-t-il derrière les dents du bas ( ce que je pense) ou celles du haut (d'après d'autres choristes)?- une vision horrificomique (?)Une grosse frayeur: ça fait 3 jours que je répète les mêmes paroles, certes en anglais, mais pas non plus très compliquées et une fois sur scène pour la dernière répétition, plus rien! mon cerveau ne serait-il plus que de la sauce blanche, comme dirait Boris? Que nenni, j'entends beaucoup de bouillie buccale autour de moi; Maryse me confirme de surcroît qu'elle subit le même trouble et ton mail , Bernard, me rassure définitivement: je conserve encore toutes mes facultés mentales. OUF!!!- une grosse déception qui se profile au moment de la répétition sur scène: après tout ce boulot, ça ne va pas être que cela?- beaucoup de moments de bonheur: le chant "Ride on King Jesus", le travail avec Karen G, les traductions de Gospella, les pique-niques tous ensemble, les odeurs de rat mort de la place Plum' et les mines déconfites assorties, les moqueries de Maryse (que je passe sous silence), ET NON, LE CONCERT, CE N'EST PAS QUE CELA!!! Energie, enthousiasme, quel beau moment!Merci à tous pour vos spécialités culinaires: je retiens entre autres la rillette de Jacques, l'art d'accomoder les restes de Maryse pour son cake à tout, l'organisation de Murielle, fournisseuse officielle d'assiettes en carton et de couverts en plastiques ( en plus de toutes les bonnes choses à manger), la variété des plats de Marie-Françoise et de Corinne ( à chaque jour sa spécialité...), le vin de Ben ( même si ce n'est soi-disant pas bon pour la voix); mention spéciale "abondance" au tandem Dominique- Pascale: pizza, poulet, fruits, rouleaux de printemps...et je dois en passer!C'était vraiment un plaisir.

It's true that waking up was a little hard (on Monday) but I had a special thought for those off to work! It's difficult to sum up these three days but here is a jumble of ideas : great anatomical discoveries contrary to what one might expect in such a context. I frequently heard "mycosis" - a hearing failure on my part? Some confirm this others don't. We have a hari/ari/harry epiglotic sphincter (our thanks to Elodie); I've been contracting sphincters for 40 years without knowing, but now I know; dairy products give English phlegm; vocal cords are matter of false folds that need parting 2 mysteries remain : how do you get them apart without using your fingers, and for the twang is the tip of your tongue behind the top or bottom front teeth, Karen? A horrificomic vision emerges! One big scare - I've been repeating the same words for three days albeit in English but not terribly complicated, and suddenly, on stage I don't know any of them! Has my brain turned to mush as Boris would say? Not at all I can hear a lot of verbage around me; Mary confirms she has the same problem and your e-mail, Ben, reassures me I haven't lost my mind. Phew! A huge disappointment during the rehearsal on stage : after all that work, surely that's not going to be IT !!?

Moments of joy : The song "Ride On King Jesus", working with Karen G, Gospella's translation, our group picnics, the smell of dead rats in PLace Plumereau and the expressions it caused, Mary's jokes (which I shall not reveal), AND NO, THE CONCERT WASN'T GOING TO BE JUST THAT!!! Energy, enthusiasm, what a fantastic time! Thanks to all for your culinary delights : amongst others I recall Jack's coarse pate, Mary's ability to use up leftovers in her savoury everything-cake, Maureen's excellent organising as official provider of paper plates and plastic cutlery (as well as all the fabulous things to eat), the diversity of dishes provided by Frances and Carole ( a new speciality every day), Ben's wine (even if it's not meant to be good for your voice); a special "abundance" prize goes to Pascale and Deadre: pizza, chicken, chips, spring rolls... and more!

It was a huge pleasure.

Mary (director of main choir)writes with much of her customary humour:

J'ai mis du temps à ajouter mon grain de sel (oublié à ts les pique-niques et réclamé par D. ) les lendemains qui déchantent, on les sent bien venir! malgré les chansons qui vs envahissent la tête en évitant bien la région épiglottique particulièrement humide du nord au sud aujourd'hui; on va vous en apprendre choristes qui chantez encore sans vous douter de ts ces mystères qui couvent ds votre larynx et qui produisent la fatale fausse note, le bruit de chat écrasé et autres abominations vocales! attention, danger: que ceux qui se protègent depuis de longues années de l'ostéoporose fassent leur choix : l'os ou le glaire, il faut choisir ! proscrivez de votre alimentation le dessert lacté, l'english glaire remonte vers la gorge du non-initié!bon, le riz au lait de je ne sais qui avec la confiture de Mu-mu, ça demande réflexion! le beau temps reviendra dès que votre plexus solaire pointera son nez : ouvrez les côtes, basculez le bassin,maintenez le dos, serrez le bas- ventre, le tps de faire fonctionner tt ça en même temps, faut changer la durite qui vient de péter au cerveau! c'est physique le gospel, on ne fait pas que chanter: on bouge, on respire, on boit, on élimine ,on crie, on twaing à mort ,on cherche ses dents du fond dans la masschoir , on vibratote comme on peut, on clape et on tâche de maitriser tous ses sphincters. Côté musique, ns avons eu le maximum: 12 chants en anglais , il aurait fallu un peu de totus latin pr s'en sortir côté mémoire;une chef anglaise hors du commun, n'acceptant aucun bavardage, mais elle a réussi des prodiges et nous a tous conquis, une black costaud qui frappe le rythme avc ses pieds comme si elle y mettait le poids de tous les siècles d'esclavage. vous vs plaignez des changements de dernière minute, mais vs n'avez rien vu! on ne savait même pas quel chant on allait chanter pdt le concert, il fallait deviner avc l'intro, et ds la panique, on n'a pas tjrs reconnu; je ne parle m^ pas de l'entrèe en scène de 130 choristes ss aucune organisation!mais il y a tjrs la magie qui fait que ça fonctionne et que le concert avait la pêche malgré la fatigue de chacun! je pense que personne n'a regretté son stage, sauf ceux qui ont hésité à s'inscrire et qui n'étaient qu'au concert. on peut tous remercier notre Gospella de ns avoir poussés; j'ai bien failli partir dès les premières minutes, parce que la prédication ce n'est pas mon truc, mais j'ai tenu bon! ns avons tous passé de très bons moments, en répé comme aux repas en commun, en voiture (merci Carole) et ns avons tenu notre place à la scène ouverte;il y aura donc des chants nouveaux pr la rentrée , avc un negro spiritual que ns adorons tous et qui prends aux tripes. attention, faudra bouger! et voilà, la dure réalité est revenue, surtout pr ceux qui bossaient ce matin! Bises a toute la masschoir.

It's taken me a while adding my 'grain of salt' (which we forgot at every picnic and which Deardre never failed to remind us). You can almost see days of anti-climax looming ahead. Despite all the songs invading your head, and making sure to avoid the epiglotic region, which is forcast as wet both in the north and south today, have we got a thing or two to teach you singers who are blissful in the ignorance of the mysteries of your larynx, producing a bum note and the sound of a cat being run over and other such abominations!

Attention, danger! : all those trying to avoid osteoporosis for many a long year have to now choose between your bones and phlegm! Strike dairy desserts from your diet : Phlegm Anglais sticks in the throat of the uninitiated. What about rice pudding with one of Maureen's jams? Have to think about that one. The fine weather will return as soon as you stick out your solar plexus. Open your ribs, tilt your pelvis hold your back and tummy firm ...doing all that at the same time will have you blow a gasket in your brain! That's gospel, it's not all about singing, it's physical : you move, you breathe, you drink, you yell, you twang your socks off you try to find your teeth at the back of your masschoir ('masschoir' sounds like the French word for 'jaw' : Gospella) you vibrato as best you can, you clap and you try to control all your sphincters.

As for the music, we had the lot : a total of 12 songs in English, we should have had a bit of 'totus latin' to help our memories, an extraordinary English director who didn't tolerate the least bit of chatting, but she worked miracles and won everyone over - an awesome black lady who struck the rythm with her feet as if she were hammering out centuries of slavery. You who always complain about last-minute changes, you ain't seen nothing yet! We didn't even know which song we were going to sing during the concert and we had to try and guess by hearing the intro, which we didn't always recognise in oour panic. Not to mention 130 singers getting on stage with no organisation. But the magic needed made the concert work and everyone was dynamic despite their fatigue. I don't think anyone regretted their weekend except those who had hesitated to sign up and only came to the concert! We can all thank Gospella for having talked us into it. I nearly pulled out after the first few minutes because preaching is not my thing, but I hung on in there. We had a great time in rehearsal, on our picnics, in the car (Thank you, Carole) and we held our own at the 'open stage'.

So there will be some new songs in September, with a negro spiritual we adore and which grips you from the heart. Attention : you'll have to move! And then the stark reality of normal life hit us - especially those who were working today. Love to all the masschoir.

Summer Gospel 2007

2007-07-24T09:30:00.000+01:00

The come-down after the last intensive and intense three days of gospel is a little hard but while it's still fresh in my mind I shall try and share some of it with you.

Once again, this was a weekend of hard work and fellowship. The difference this year was that the choir never split up for smaller workshops as it had done in previous years. It meant that the final performance of the songs was better, of course, but it also meant less time to explore other things and get to know people on a more personal level. Some of the members of our little gospel group regretted this. At least they did at the end of the first day ; but that was before the arrival of Wayne Ellington and Karen Gibson from London. As I watched my singers I saw they were riveted to the stage listening and enjoying themselves.

The first day got off to a start with a word of welcome which I appreciated, as the importance of the Word of God was insisted on (the true meaning of gospel after all). In previous years I had felt God took second place to the music so this was, from my point of view, an appropriate start. Others from my choir disagree as they hate "preaching".

The work that day was dedicated to two compositions by Erwan Jan (both very funky, and unlike the beautiful ballads we've heard in the past). These really got people moving and were rather challenging from a rythmic point of view. Then we moved on to working with Taïa Kronberg on songs by Martha Munizzi and the Chicago mass Choir. The former "Because of Who You Are" will remain one of my favourites from this course. The dynamics were quite well mastered by the choir and at the final concert the excellent soloist, Lurine Cato, made the song very moving. Unfortunately, on stage we couldn't really hear the soloists as the foldback wasn't very loud. I think this was for recording purposes as the concert was being recorded on the Sunday evening.

On the Friday evening there was a video concert of various songs. We didn't stay for that as we were already quite tired and knew the weekend was going to be a long one!

Saturday : Getting up was a bit of a struggle and the warm-up session with Erwan was welcome and necessary. There was major revision of the previous days' songs as well as a little advice on vocal technique. Some work on twanging and vibrato, as well as breathing and voice control. This was interesting. Some of the singers I know wanted to be able to do it immediately, but I pointed out that the course just gives information and then it's up to us to practise!! I saw several people in the choir handing round throat sprays, pastilles etc. so the hard work was beginning to tell. The rest of the day was taken over by Karen Gibson and Wayne Ellington.

It was a pleasure to watch how they work together with such complicity and professionalism. After a while I was called to interpret into French so learning the songs at the same time meant extra concentration. I was already very tired by the end of the day. In the evening our gospel singers went out for dinner and then came back to the hall for an "open stage" evening. We had decided to share our small repertoire with the others.

I am very proud of our group, especially those who didn't know the songs before Wednesday evening and had learned them especially! We had practised during our Saturday lunchtime picnic on the banks of the Loire. We sang "It's Me Oh Lord", "Were You There" (and the choir's dynamics were well done), "This Train" (well done with the difficult lyrics), "Mary Had a Baby" (directed by Mary as it's from our large village choir repertoire) and then we finished with a jazzy number, which isn't gospel, called "Le Petit Cireur d'Harlem" about a shoe-shine boy in Harlem who wears no shoes himself. I have a scat solo to do in that which I always enjoy, but I must admit it's not the same singing it with 8 voices as backing instead of the usual 40!!
I was very pleased with our performance and touched when Wayne Ellington said it was great !! (Well done choir!)
Some of them complained about lack of voice on the way home in the car (thank you, Carole, for driving us around all weekend in your minivan) but after a (short) night's sleep they were OK again.

Sunday morning started with an interesting physical warm-up by Wayne called "The Sleeping Bag" in which you emerge slowly from your duvet and stretch. Done correctly this really does get you to stretch all your muscles. The title was apt too as I was exhausted already!

Then his vocal warm-ups were interesting too. They aimed at not only warming the voice but working on voice control and rythm. I shall steal these ideas for my choir. Karen arrived after that and did some work on vocal technique : opening the voice and twang. I was interpreting for her all day and was challenged by terms such as "ari-epiglotic sphincter" (sp?) and "glottal pop" but I always rise to a challenge. (Fortunately we had brought a speech therapist with us who helped out there in French! It's all about knowing the right people!!!)

The other songs we worked on were a coded spiritual "Ride On King Jesus" (four-part a capella harmony which I shall borrow for the village choir) and Andrae Crouch's "Bless The Lord" (ditto), "Whatever You Want (God's Got It)" (played so fast by the musicians it almost made you choke), "You Covered Me" and "We've Come To Lift You Up".

Sunday afternoon was the 'dress' rehearsal. It went on until after 8pm and the concert was to start at 9pm! I didn't picnic with my friends. I preferred to take a few minutes to myself to eat my sandwich, get changed and pray.
The concert was a success. Everyone gave their all and there were some very moving moments such as Wayne 's solo of "Divine Love" which made Taïa cry and "Because of Who You Are" and "You Covered Me" which made me cry!
I was privileged to interpret Karen's personal message for the audience. I feel I contribute to my spiritual duty when doing such work. I would love to more of it : I wonder how I can get more involved in using my gifts for the Lord?

After the concert I spent a while translating for Karen and finally said goodbye. It is always rather sad to say goodbye to the people of this course as I'm never sure that we'll meet up again. I have always particularly appreciated Karen (let's be honest : I love her) as every year she has said something that has come just at the right time in my life. God surely does work in mysterious ways. She is generous enough to allow me to share occasional news from our choir. I was sorry she didn't stay for the 'open stage' evening to see how we were getting on but when sleep calls...

It is really great to see faces I met at previous courses. These people really make an impact on you even if you only meet them for one weekend. Some of the highlights I was honoured to experience this time include :

a lady who gave me the gift of a personal rendition of the Letter to Timothy in Ewé (from Togo);

another who explained her love of others which she expresses through buddhism;

the lady in an electric wheelchair who participated valiantly in the concert and then took herself home unaccompanied and undaunted at midnight;

hearing Karen explain how to use your gifts to honour God in a spirit of sharing and not being afraid to use them

seeing my singers have such fun and make such progress (it is a privilege to serve them)

the lady who told us gospel singing is helping her through health difficulties and a time of divorce

having to take time out during the afternoon session as I was just too full of emotion and burst into tears. ..

I could go on. How to sum up something so vast! I am trying to by setting up a forum for my singers to share their thoughts. I shall report on the results in a subsequent blog.

This has been long and bless you if you have read to the end! Time to sign off and let all this weekend mature in my thoughts. Until the next time...

Gospella

Learning Curve

2007-07-13T22:57:00.000+01:00

To say it has been a while since my last blog would be a slight understatement. But I'm prompted to write again as another summer course in gospel singing looms next week. I and several members of our gospel group are going to participate and we hope to learn lots of new songs as well as get some valuable advice on vocal technique. For some, it will be the first time they have taken part in such a course and for others we are returning for a third year running.

So what has been going on since March? Well, we have continued to meet once a month and taken part in a few concerts and got together quite a little repertoire. We took part in the annual 'fête de la musique', France's national music festival where everyone takes to the streets and makes music. We were with the village's main choir, as usual, but the gospellers stepped forward to sing "It's Me, O Lord" and, "This Train" as well as others we had already sung before ("Bless The Lord", "I'm Gonna Wait"). The whole choir even bravely tried a rendition of "Little Cabin" which we haven't quite mastered. This was a challenge I made for us with Karen Gibson last year so when we have a recording of a better version, I'll blog it, or send her a copy to see what we've done with 'her' song!

Over the various concerts, I have learned more about leading. I insist on no wordsheets and so I have to mouth the words perfectly for the singers. Of course this is a bit challenging when they're not all singing the same thing (!) but by the time we're in a concert situation they usually know the song well enough for that not to matter. Although I always praise the choir after it has sung (no demagogy there, I'm sincerely inpressed by the good job they do), I often fail to recognise the stress that singing in English brings them. Apart from constant reassurance, I don't think I can do anything else about that. I guess it helps that I'm an English teacher because I can give them tricks to better pronunciation. The stress shows and so they have a bit of trouble smiling and looking joyful while singing despite my grimaces to get them to show their teeth.
But during the 'fête de la musique' I found the solution...wear trousers that are slightly too big! As I jumped up and down encouraging everyone to invest their energy, my trousers gradually moved southwards and I had to keep clutching at the waistband. This had the whole choir bearing broad grins! And the crowd. And the photographer from the regional newspaper who'd come to report on us. Generously he used a different photograph to accompany his article!

In a very brief way that brings us up-to-date. Now we're contemplating rehearsing something for the open stage at the gospel summer course. We won't all be present, of course, and I'm not sure everyone is on board but we'll see.

And next year?? Well, the group seems keen to continue and I'd like to, even though I find it exhausting. I have just received news today that I shall be working closer to home next school year so that will make it easier for me to organise rehearsals but I shall be working with children with learning difficulties (politically correct term for problem children) and so I'm not sure my energy levels will be much higher! The Lord will provide!

I shall blog again but I won't promise it'll be soon...
Gospella

Tall Tenor Tries Triumphant Tunes!

2007-03-16T09:55:00.000+01:00

Another rehearsal under our belt and we have gained another male voice.
Terry the tenor has joined us. He is another member of the village choir and so is used to us singing together and I hope he will be a valuable addition to the tenor section for us. He was a bit phased by juggling the words, music and rythm of the songs, which were all new to him but seemed to cope okay.

I was a bit disappointed at the non appearance of another recruit I made in the supermarket (!).
Peter is a bass who used to sing in the village choir a few years ago and I persuaded him he could spare one evening a month to sing with us and he had promised to come, but 'he no show'! Meanwhile our only bass struggles valiantly to pretend he's a tenor!

Last night we did a bit more exploration of the different breathing spaces with a few movements adapted from yoga. Using different arm movements we concentrated on the different areas of the abdomen and chest which are sollicited in breathing fully. We went on to hum with sustained sound until the lungs were empty so that everyone could feel the pull (push?) of certain muscles. The idea is that once they have identified them they start to use them consciously to produce sound. It got quite competitive in the tenors to see who could hum the longest. Chris sounded like a whole swarm of hornets by himself!

I wanted to introduce the singers to the four voice modes mentioned in the Complete Vocal Technique of Cathrine Sadolin. We took the first two bars of "It's a me" as an example and everyone tried to sing it in the four different ways. They did quite well and it has given us a helpful short cut in explaining certain sounds I want them to produce during the singing. At one point I wanted a more neutral sound and they automatically sang in a more breathy style once I said "neutral". They're fast learners!

We played another "Ya!" which worked a bit better than last time, even though some of last month's 'flu victims didn't know the rules, and got everyone concentrated.

We started off with "It's Me Oh Lord" to see how much was left from last time (and to teach it to the absentees). It worked quite well musically but something has to be done to nuance it.

We went over "Bless The Lord", "Were You There?" and "God Great God" as I think we'll be asked to sing at another concert on the 1st April and I guess we'll keep the same repertoire.
On examining the video I can see one or two tricky bits that need brushing up - the singers are flat sometimes and that throws off the harmony. The clapping works well and they're pretty much together which is good.

On request we sang "Jesus On The Mainline". Terry was flummoxed! I'm not surprised : it's really complicated with people coming in all over the place. Bits of it were all right but it needs polishing. I was ready to pack up after that but noone was moving so we started a new song : "This Train Is Bound For Glory" . They loved it! The rythm is difficult because it's not regularly on the beat and the harmonisations are hard, but the result is good. I spent a long time singing with the altos, which was hard on my voice as it goes right down to bottom G!

As for the other song I had planned for them ("I'm Gonna Sing"). I have discovered that it's quite complex rythmically speaking, so I need to practise hard before I present them with that! On the subject of practising, I have started working on playing the piano. I have never learned but spent years as a child and teenager applying my knowledge of other instruments (clarinet and bassoon) to the keyboard and playing by ear and from music accompanied with chords. I am now working on analysing the chord structures so I can be a bit more autonomous. At home I have a synth to practise on but unlike the Kaiser's comments to Mozart ("Too many notes") there are not enough! Also, there's a dodgy jack and the sound cuts out sometimes which is irritating. Of course there is no piano in the rehearsal room anyway, but at least I'll be more prepared if we ever do find one! I'm having fun anyway so that's the main thing guess!

I hope to add some more video links this weekend. We've had quite a few hits, and not only from choir members. Apparently we've gone international with viewers in the USA and Japan! Watch this space...

Gospella

Moving Pictures

2007-03-12T21:24:00.000+01:00

And now, in glorious technicolour...
I am including video clips of our recent February concert. To watch you just have to click on the underlined link below...

Moving pictures!

or on the relevant link in the links section on the right-hand side of the blog page.

So, here is the group in full swing on Feb 4th. Happy viewing.
Gospella

Fun and Games

2007-02-24T12:17:00.000+01:00

The school holidays are finally here and so are a few minutes to blog!

After a super concert on the 4th Feb we met again on the 15th for our monthly rehearsal. Unfortunately everyone seems to be stricken with 'flu; colds; gastric 'flu so we only numbered 12. And only two altos who valiantly represented their group. There was a new addition however in the sopranos.
Myself, I was sruggling with bronchitis which has decimated my voice (especially after making myself heard in a classroom din all day!). I wish I could get rid of this cough which has been hanging around for over a month now.

We had a good write-up in the newspaper (although the journalist had me down as a tenor rather than a soprano! Perhaps the bronchitis has taken its toll!).

We stretched and then warmed up with some vocal slides. I introduced a new warm-up : a "YA"!
This is like a party game which is often used in theatre. Everyone stands in a circle and send energy to the others by yelling "Ya" as they shoot their left arm from left to right across their body. First objective was voice production and to send vocal energy.
Once everyone had the hang of that I introduced new rules : If someone shouts "Haul down" the "Ya" changes direction, and if someone shouts "Aïe" the next person skips a turn.

It was quite hilarious as we were all exhausted after our various day's work and the concentration was a bit of a challenge. The second objective is there of course : to act as individuals within a group and be aware of the other members (all necessary for an efficient choir).

After that we started rehearsing. We began with "Were You There?" which lacked the finesse of our concert performance, but I put that down to fatigue and lack of numbers. Maybe the "Ya" had worn them out!!
We sang "Come Here Jesus" as well on the request of an alto.

Then we started something new : "It's Me Oh Lord". A bit of pronunciation practice was necessary before we began singing - "brother", "mother" always cause trouble for French speakers who can't manage the 'th' sound and want to pronounce the 'o' as in "bother" rather than as in "brother". I have banned 'z' substitutes (does anybody reading this know how to type in phonetic symbols? I could use them on a daily basis for my teaching) and preferred the 'd' sound for incorrigible singers as it stands out less than 'z' or 'v'.

The harmonisation was learned quite quickly, although as usual the altos had the most complicated harmonisation and will probably need to revise before next time. Mary was one of those present and so fortunately she can spot when things haven't gone to plan AND identify the problem thanks to her musical training.

We decided to tackle "Jesus On The Mainline" again. It's complicated to put together because there are different entry points for the different voices which need practising. Also, there are a lot of words to come to grips with for the non-English speakers (i.e. everyone except me!). Mostly though, we only hear it once a month and we always seem to have someone present who's never sang it before. If we could have the same people present every month it sure would simplify things. I wonder if it'll ever be presentable enough to sing in public?? Not for the next appearance planned which is uncannily on April Fool's Day!! I haven't decided what we'll sing then, perhaps the same as in February.

Another project is a song which Ben found for us. I can't remember its name and hadn't heard of it before. I think I'll ask him if he can direct that one : he's itching to take up the proverbial baton!

Well that's all for now. I hope to figure out how to post a copy of the newspaper article (in French). But before that I'm off skiing! Happy holidays to those of you also 'off' this week.
Keep singing.

Gospella

The spirit is moving!

2007-02-04T22:34:00.000+01:00

Had things gone otherwise I would have entitled this blog "Stage Fright"!!
We had a great concert. The gospel singers were really concentrated and had revised their parts like crazy. They made a real effort at different nuances and I am very proud of them. Likewise, the gospel song with the main choir was very joyful and everyone got their notes this time!

The only quack was my introduction when I used the word "ressuscitation" instead of "resurrection". I am sure I have heard this used in bible study here in France but everyone thought it sounded more like First Aid than gospel so I shall strike it from my vocabulary forthwith!

Some interesting people were very complimentary about our performance. A gospel choir director had come especially to hear us and a musicologist wants to do some work together. It seems like our little experiment has set a few things rolling. Hope I have the stamina to keep all my balls in the air at the same time.

Meanwhile, next meeting is 15th February, so we'll have to try and build up our repertory, and maybe think of a name! Any suggestions?

Gospella

Countdown

2007-02-03T22:50:00.000+01:00

D minus 1
Tomorrow will be our big outing! I had recounted the build-up in my previously lost post and don't know if I have the energy to say it all again but maybe I can summarise some of it...

We managed to squeeze in an extra rehearsal in preparation of tomorrow's concert but I see our initial numbers dwindling. I guess that is part of the course with any new enterprise but it leaves us with only about 15 singers. Most of us sing together on a regular basis and so that simplifies certain things, but when the strong voices are absent, singers develop a suddent shyness although they more or less know their part. Partly it is to do with singing in English. I know that they are all worried they'll forget their words (and I have banned wordsheets on stage). Last evening I met up with one of the singers who said she's been rehearsing like mad at home every day! To allay their fears, I had e-mailed the different vocal parts as an MP3 file which I recorded myself one by one so they could sing along to it at home.

The stage set up is as follows :
The main village choir (who have invited us to sing) will begin its programme with three African songs (their speciality) providing us with a spurious link to gospel music (it was that or a Breton folk song!). Then we shall step forward having shed our African print waistcoats (stage costumes!) wearing black and white. We'll begin with "Were You There?" for its beautiful harmony and feeling. I sing the first verse as a solo and then the choir joins in for the rest. It's crying out for a bass line and Ben has volunteered but I'm afraid if he abandons our two tenors they'll get lost...
Then we get up tempo with "God Great God" (which is making everyone particularly nervous). As a finale we'll join with the main choir for "Bless the Lord". So we'll be about fifty singers for that. We've ironed out our problems with "Bless The Lord" (which were mostly about being an assertive leader!) and have stepping and clapping pretty much under wraps. I just hope that the main choir keeps quiet while we sing as they will still be on stage and are prone to fidgeting and chatting. The French (and this is a purely objective observation) see nothing wrong with chatting while someone else is talking but hopefully they'll make an exception for us!

We've been working quite hard on nuances and feeling, and I've done some voice projection work with the singers which I learned from years of doing theatre workshops. This has been quite funny : trying to articulate tongue twisters and try to make it understood by the neighbour in the next building! I've tried to include a few tips from the CompleteVocal Technique to help them improve voice production. Maureen, who has never sung formally before, nor learned music, but who has an amazing voice (soprano), told me yesterday that she feels like she's made a lot of progress even though we've only met such a few times. That's encouraging.

A couple of us went to see a gospel concert in town last evening : Gospel Aujourd'hui (our unwitting mentors) were celebrating their fifth year. It was a fantastic night and I was quite moved by the spirit. One of our singers had said they weren't sure about the religious element (?!) which I thought was odd coming from someone who had chosen to sing gospel with us. I guess it is something she is working through. My friend told me then that she had appreciated what I had said at our initial rehearsal about my singing gospel with conviction. Another said that without that faith he couldn't ever hope to sing with the conviction required. It seems that quietly people are doing a lot of thinking about the subject - at least we'll have achieved that if nothing else!

Well, the next post will be to report on happenings tomorrow. God bless all.
Gospella.

Unchristian thoughts!!!!!*$**%*

2007-01-30T19:26:00.000+01:00

I have just lost an hour-long blog and have no time to bring you up to date now. Must dash for another rehearsal. I'm mad as anything but trying not to swear!!!
Catch you some other time!
Gospella

Happy New Year

2006-12-31T20:28:00.000+01:00

This is a quick blog to wish all gospellers a very happy 2007.

Also, it's a quick update on our village choir's rendition of "I'm Gonna Wait On The Lord" (see previous blog). In short it was a disaster. We had rehearsed it before our concert and I'd gone over the bass part in detail (even though the choir has been singing this song for a year now!)I don't know why they find it so difficult to memorise a part, it's the same with the latest song I'm trying to teach them. ("Bless The Lord")
But come the moment to sing it on stage and the tenors completely lost it. They never managed to get their starting note and sang more and more loudly out of key. I was sure they'd catch up somehow as there are at least two musicians among them, but no it kept getting worse. The bass singers, seeing my disarray just stopped singing completely!
Lesson learned for me : make absolutely sure everyone has their note before starting (I had given it to them but they lost it somewhere along the way).
We'd better all buck up our ideas if we're going to share in the February gala concert as planned!

Iffy news for 2007, I may have to have a tonsillectomy. I am concerned about the effect on my voice and also the long recuperation time needed at my age. (Helpful comments and prayers welcome!)But time now for a litle partying first!

So, I shall end this as I started, by wishing you a very happy year, full of the joy of the spirit and much gospel to nourish the soul.
Praise the Lord.
Gospella

Tuning up

2006-12-16T18:30:00.000+01:00

Thursday 7th December saw another gospel rehearsal in the village. We had a bit fewer than 20 people this time. Depending on people's engagements they can't always come on the chosen date but this was the only available Thursday for me. As it was, I ran in straight from an 8-hour teaching day with lunchtime meetings, and two student council meetings in the evening followed by the compulsory hour-long drive before rushing in breathless to the rehearsal! I said a quiet prayer in my car before I gathered together my music stand and papers for enough energy to get people going as well as enough voice despite my laryngitis.

We started up with some gentle stretching and breathing exercises and then warmed up with a harmonisation exercise which went quite well although the sopranos tended to be a bit flat. We did a bit of voice work to try and get some power vocally. Not everybody managed to do this : some were a bit reluctant to make a noise on their own. I realise it's hard for people to suddenly change the way they use thier voice but I think the more opportunities they are given to take notice of how they breathe and use their vocal chords the easier it will be for them to develop a sound they are comfortable with.

First stop was a rehearsal of a gospel piece "I'm gonna wait on the Lord" which I direct in the main village choir. Most of the group belong to the main choir and know it so it was a good way to get them to feel like a cohesive group. More importantly we'll be singing it at a choir competition on 17th December and I won't have an opportunity to rehearse them beforehand. Now I expect our gospel singers to pull along the other chorists.
We launched into "God Great God" which was a challenge but ended up sounding OK. We had pitched it too high previously. Ben had been convinced we started on an E but in fact it was a C as I discovered when watching the home video soeone had made of the summer concert with 'Gospel Aujourd'hui' . This explains why everyone had been looking particularly strangled by the end of the song after the keychanges! This time, however, it was very hard for the sopranos to get any power while singing so low. I told the altos we were counting on them for volume! The tenors managed OK.

We went quickly through "Come Here Jesus" which is fairly simple and which the group seems to have pretty much mastered. I tried to get them to sound a bit more prayerful as it was rather childish-sounding with a rythm which was too 'square' and regular.

Then we spent some time on "Were You There". The harmonisations are a bit challenging and the altos had some difficulty remembering their part, particularly when thrown by the other voices. The end result was, however, rather good. We sang through the whole thing with several verses and it sounded OK. I'm quite proud of them.

Then we attacked "Jesus On the Mainline" again. The structure is hard to remember and the singers are riveted to their wordsheets as they find the text quite difficult. Two poor altos had missed the previous rehearsal and had no idea what we were singing but they stoically managed to catch up by the end - well done to them. Proof that persistence is everything! We went through the harmonisations again and the tricky bits where people come in at different times. The sopranos were very flat (how ironic Mary still had to point out the flats we'd missed!!) and the song ended up a good tone lower than it had started every time.
I had to ask Ben to stop rehearsing the tenors while we were trying to learn the alto part as it was a bit off-putting, and then Mary pointed out it wasn't possible for him to rely on the sheet music to bring in the tenors as I had changed the rythm in certain places to allow for the lack of instrumentation. The only solution is to "follow my leader"!!! I hope they get rid of the wordsheets soon so that will happen!

Our grand finale was a final run-through of the whole song which sounded quite good bar one or two tricky corners we turned with two wheels in the air!
The music/the singers/my prayer had managed to give me the energy I needed to carry the group along and I felt quite awake when we finished singing at 11 o'clock!

Mary asked whether we were going to sing something at the big choir concert planned in February in the village!!! Every year the village choir invites a couple of other choirs from different towns to join us for a concert and she thought it would be good to 'advertise' our existence by singing something. I looked at the singers who had the same expression on their faces that a hare has when caught in headlights!!
I think we will probably sing one or two of the pieces we've learned but probably not "Jesus On the Mainline" as we only have one sceduled rehearsal before February's concert and it's going to take a few more than that to get our lines uncrossed!! Ideally we'd sing something soft and something a bit more up-beat for variety. If the choir agrees to do it I think I shall choose the songs myself, as democracy doesn't generally work as everyone will have a different opinion! The next meeting is supposed to be after Christmas so I hope we don't forget everything we've done up to now.

Until then "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill t'ward men".
Merry Christmas.

Gospella

New venue

2006-11-17T09:13:00.000+01:00

The second gospel rehearsal has been and gone. (I don't know if we can use the term 'rehearsal' as I'm not sure what we're rehearsng for!)

We were all set to invest a second basement, when I had a call from one of our singers saying the Parish had been in touch with her about using one of the church halls for our meeting but first the Parish Priest wanted to speak to the leader of the group to find out what we would be using te hall for. We don't really have a leader - I wave my arms about at the front but it's more of a collective project, so I didn't really think I should answer for the group : and I found the prospect of a Spanish Inquisition a little unwelcoming, especially as it was two regular members of the congregation who had made the request - but maybe that's just me!!
Meanwhile, another singer had managed to secure the reservation of one of the municipal meeting rooms so the question of meeting the priest became academic.

So last night it was 8.30 in the village. A fairly spacious, brightly lit room with low ceilings which meant we could fill it with sound!

There were a few faces from October missing due to professional/family obligations, but there were also a few new faces who hadn't been able to make it to be with us last time. We'd lost our teenagers as they have school on a Friday morning and had found the late night too hard to deal with. Fair enough.
We had lost one 'chap' but gained another so we're even Stevens for the tenors.

We started with a little warm-up session to loosen up during which I tried to get everyone to feel the different stages of breathing (abdomen, chest, clavicle...) so they could become aware of how they produce sound. We did a few 'hallelujahs' to warm up the vocal chords and then I asked the choir to try and reproduce the four gospel sounds of "neutral" voice; "curbing"; "overdrive" and "belting". The tenors started fantasizing about Tina Turner as they tried to belt!!
Then we were into our rehearsal.

We started off with "Come Here Jesus" again as it's nice and soft and not too daunting. It had been well remembered and the new singers picked it up quickly.
We sang it a couple of times because I wanted it to be sung in a more 'imploring' manner. The image of the ringing bells during the final "Amens" worked much better this time.

We decided to plough on with "Jesus On The Mainline" after that. What a challenge!
I gave a copy of the sheet music to Ben so he could help out with the tenors, and also because we may eventually ask him to accompany us on the piano; and another to Mary so she could help out with the altos. Suddenly there were three choir directors in the room so I'm not sure that was a good idea!!
The sopranos sang the solo parts and did quite a good job, although Mary pointed out we were missing some of the accidentals. Suddenly there were flats everywhere, even where there shouldn't have been. That will have to be ironed out soon before bad habits are formed!
There are lots of tricky entry points and we spent over an hour on learning the whole thing. We decided to take the plunge and try to sing the whole thing from beginning to end without stopping! Ha ha! It was tied together with string and we lost a repeat and a Dal Segno somewhere along the way but everyone was smiling at the end so I think we've got a good base to work on next time.

Then we had a quick sing through of "God Great God". It was more to help those of us who know the song to remember it and let the new singers hear it rather than to learn or improve it. Leaving it completely for another month would have wiped it from everyone's memories surely! We didn't spend long because I wanted to get to "Were You There" as Pauline (another protected identity!!) had brought her guitar to accompany us with it. As predicted, the harmonisation is rather tricky in places. I found that I had spent such a long time memorising the tenor part that I fluffed the altos. Our only bass singer agreed he didn't want a part of his own and stuck with the tenors!! (Phew, because I hadn't revised his part!)
Anyway, we kind of pulled it together, and after a final strum of Pauline's guitar we packed up for the night as it was getting late and everyone was exhausted.

Speaking to a couple of people afterwards, I got the impression they had enjoyed themselves and would be back, but they certainly looked a bit stressed during the 'ordeal'!! I expect it was concentration - and I forget they have the added complication of the words. English is not their language and some don't speak a word, so they can't register meaningful sentences, or anticipate what comes next from a linguistic point of view which slows down the learning process for them.

I have to find a solution for the noisy tenors though. They did keep practising their line while other parts were trying to learn theirs and it was off-putting.

All in all, it was a pretty good session where we got a lot of work done. no-one recorded it though, so I hope that memories will be functioning properly by December!
Meanwhile, it's more revision and choosing a new song for me in the intervening period! Fun fun fun.
Gospella

A Little Less Rosy?

2006-11-14T09:49:00.000+01:00

Well, it's D minus 2 until our next gospel encounter and things are not really up and running.

For one thing we still don't have a place to meet. The town parish had offered us a room but have never got back in touch, despite pestering by one of our singers, to say whether it is in fact possible on Thursday evenings. As we were waiting for a reply for them we put the town hall on hold - they asked us for a year-planner of dates we would like to use one of the municipal facilities but we were waiting for the parish answer first and now it's probably too late. Not sure how this will be resolved. Maybe we'll find another basement and start a sort of trail from basement to basement. We could finish the year with a quiz on people's underground amenities!!
Question 1 : Who served us cake in their basement?
Question 2 : Whose basement smelled of fuel?
and so forth!
What would an appropriate prize be??

Further complications are my lack of mastery of the songs on the agenda!! I have pretty much got the sopranos covered - but then they have the melody most of the time. I have more difficulty with remembering the alto and tenor parts. I can follow the music (although I admit to cheating with the bass clef and pencilling in the notes as I'm taking too long to decipher with the help of "All Cows Eat Grass" and "Good Boys Deserve Favour Always"!!!)but ideally I would like to be paper free. A lot of it is a question of time - one luxury I have very little of.

I tinkered with the idea of adding the bass line to the harmonisation of "Were You There?" but gave up as it is a superb but tricky line to learn and we only have one bass (one has already abandoned after the first rehearsal)and I'm not sure he's up to holding the fort on his own.

As for "Jesus on the Mainline" - I am almost ready if I follow the music. I am going to have the sopranos sing the solo part and see how that sounds. If that doesn't work then I shall have to look further into a piano accompaniment - what makes me loathe to give Ben the sheet music is that he will realise I'm not respecting the timing at all! I always hated maths and prefer to do things by feel than by counting! Besides which, the original idea was to be a-cappella so we couldn't have too many rest bars of silence. Mind you, the harmonisation would be much easier to find if we had the piano.

I shall keep practising (and praying) beofre Thursday and hope for the best. Of course I'll blog and let you know after the fact.
Keep singing.

Gospella

Mulling things over

2006-10-28T16:48:00.000+01:00

Well nothing new has happened as far as the group is concerned but I have continued to prepare our next meeting, at least mentally.

I was really pleased with how the first part of "Jesus On The Mainline" sounded and have been trying to memorise the different harmonies of the rest of it. The main difficulty is that there is a major part for a soloist. I was hoping to have the sopranos sing that but the way it is written includes lots of accidentals which I'm not sure they will find easy to learn. The sound is more for someone with jazz/blues experience; I wonder if a dozen voices can get the same twiddly effect? It seems quite natural to me as that's the kind of music I grew up hearing my mum sing but I know people with a more 'classical' musical background have trouble imagining the harmony.

What makes this song quite difficult to memorise are the different response-style entry points for the different voices as I've never heard the song actually sung before, except in my head! It's like having a whole pile of lego and knowing it's going to make a great helicopter but you have to put all the pieces in the correct order! I guess if we all plod forwards together we'll make it eventually.

Another question I haven't answered yet is whether we should sing a cappella or accompanied. I would prefer to do without instruments and highlight voices but there are some songs which would be better with at least a piano accompaniment. It's a very practical question as we need our prospective pianist to sing and I'm not sure he could do both efficiently. I know a backing track exists to accompany the songbook but I don't know what it sounds like. The choir members have always criticised the over-important role of the band in gospel concerts they have attended so I'm not sure they'd like the idea. Technically speaking, wherever we sing it would be difficult to have playback. No-one is a sound engineer and levels would be hard to achieve, if possible at all as we'd need to provide our own amps in some venues (assuming we ever sing anywhere other than someone's basement!).
But a full band does energise the singing.I suppose I could fall back on the synth?

I need to discuss this further, obviously. Keep you posted>
Gospella

From the basement!

2006-10-13T10:14:00.000+01:00

"Phew!" (or "Ouf" - pronounced 'ooff' - as they say in French!). Our first gospel meeting has been and gone. I woke up this morning with slightly stiff shoulders so I must have been jumping about all over the place as I directed. I kind of feel as if by sheer physical will I can get the note/sound I want out of the singers!! Great sport!

So, last night at 8.30 I set off to join the others at the house of one of our singers. Cars were parked both sides of the street and people headed into the dark recesses of the basement. I joined them as they huddled in a circle giggling that it was like some clandestine sect meeting! Actually the basement was very well lit, heated and spacious - which was just as well as there were over twenty of us. Our friend's husband scoured the house for as many chairs as he could find but I reminded them that gospel music is best sang standing anyway!

There were a couple of unfamilar faces - two teenage girls who wanted to join us and a couple of other new recruits, but mainly people who are already used to singing together. We only mustered four men - who did a good job but who could do with reinforcements.
I was pleased to see my fellow gospel 'students' who proved to be invaluable with the harmonisations they remembered from the summer course. Also our regular choir director who was sitting discreetly with the altos. Haha : a chance for revenge for all the jibes she sends our way on Tuesday evenings (all in good humour, of course). :-)

I decided to start by a short speech outlining the origin of the idea for the group and the short-term objective of basically being a musical experiment. Then I gave a quick introduction to the sense of gospel. I said this was religious music and that no-one should feel uncomfortable at that idea if they were going to sing it convincingly. I explained that I was a Christian and that just as Christians try to show their faith by the way they are, gospel music must inhabit you if you are going to get the impact of its message across. I wonder what anyone thought of that little comment? It was hardly a moving testimony but I didn't want to preach a sermon. Perhaps they just ignored it? Anyway, I then said a bit about the sort of music it was (i.e. modern rather than negro spirituals) and we started warming up.

The warming up is, I think, essential before a good sing and recently I have been delegated this job at our Tuesday choir practice. I don't know why me but everyone seems to enjoy it. They're particularly fond of the facial massage I ask them to do and yesterday I only had to say "Let's warm up," and some of them were already rubbing their cheeks!
I got them to stretch their arms and concentrate on their breathing, pointing out the muscles that should be working so they could later feel where to squeeze! Then we started a chromatic ascent singing "Wonderful, Marvellous, Fabulous" in a neutral, dreamy voice at first building up to a joyful volume by the end. Then it was time for some work!

We started off with "Lord Have Mercy (Come Here Jesus)" which is quite gentle. A lot of it is in unison so it gave us a chance to hear what our voices were like together and then to experiment with a simple harmony. Of our four men, two sing bass so they were an octave below the tenors and the danger was of having a sound more like a Gregorian chant than joyful bells at the end. Even with such simple words everyone was stressed by their wordsheets. This got worse as we moved on to more complex texts such as Kurt Carr's "God Great God".

I had intended to have them just learn the beginning of this song but things went well and everyone wanted to finish learning it so we spent a good hour on it. The greatest difficulty (apart from the words) was for the three voices to find their notes as we were singing unaccompanied. By the end of the session, though, we had managed to memorise it pretty well. The bass singers pulled a face when they heard some of their high notes but they compromised with the octave again which actually gave quite a rich harmony in places. We managed to sing the whole song through by the end without too many problems apart from one or two ropey moments for the altos.

I could see people were getting pretty tired (it was around 10.15 by now). They'd been concentrating quite hard both on the foreign words (complete with pronunciation input from me) and music. But mercilessly I wanted to get them started on a third song : "Jesus On The Mainline". Just the first verse, go on...
It took a while for the altos and tenors' voices to get in place as firstly I missed the starting note (whoops) which took us on the wrong path, and secondly there are a lot of accidentals which they felt odd about singing. But the result was great! By the end I had them on their feet stepping and clapping and singing the three-part harmony. I can't wait to teach them the rest of it. With the help of Ben (pianist and 'gospeller') and Mary (musician and choir director) I hope, who will shove me back on key when I miss!! (Names have been changed to protect the innocent!!)

Then we were all fed cake by our hosts and given a glass of wine to recover from our exertions (this is France, remember!).
I tried to get a bit of feedback from the singers to see if they'd enjoyed themselves but they just returned the question and asked how they'd done!!

Very well, I must say. From a dots-and-staves point of view. There still has to be a lot of work on vocal technique though as there is little if no nuance. But that will come. My unfathomable problem at the moment is how to get them to lose the wordsheets. They all sit/stand with their noses in the words even though I'm singing them all and articulating like some crazy cartoon character, so they don't look at me and miss entrances etc. I'll have to think about that one.

One disappointment was that the cassette of the rehearsal I had recorded for revision purposes was completely blank as the 'tape' function on my stereo wasn't on!! Now we'll all be counting on memory next time.

Then in the pitch dark (streetlights are off at eleven sharp in our village to save money and there was no moon!) I tried to find my car and came home. After seven straight hours of back-to-back teaching (I'm a secondary school teacher by the way), two-hours' driving, family obligations and two hours of gospel I slept like a log!
Gospella

Reaching out

2006-10-08T20:58:00.000+01:00

I want to tell you about Frances (not her real name, but then you don't think I'm really called Gospella do you???)
Frances is a lady of about 60 who sings with our village choir. She's very quiet and reserved, she doesn't have a powerful voice and isn't always sure she's on key, but she likes music and enjoys singing. In 2005 I managed to persuade her to come along to the gospel course. She was really nervous and worried she'd somehow 'fail' and didn't relish the thought of singing in public (which is odd as she takes part in all the village choir's concerts).
Well I can honestly say that she has been transformed by the experience.

After that first course I directed a gospel number with our whole choir and as I conducted I saw her come alive. She had become enthusiastic, joyful to watch and opened her mouth so wide, letting out such a strong sound - she was hardly the same person.
Needless to say, she came along to the summer course again this year and has signed up to join us with our new group.
Frances doesn't speak English and always asks me the meaning of the texts we have to sing and she writes a little translation at the top of her wordsheets. She says it really helps her. I don't think she means just musically as I know she is a practising catholic.

For those not familiar with the French 'id', they are very reluctant to speak of faith, almost as if religion were a dirty word. Prayer is most definitely confined to mass and loud gospel music is not something that enters into worship. (I realise I am doing many faithful in France a disservice by writing this but I do like to challenge people's status quo! Please take no offence.)
I was, therefore, overjoyed when Frances explained to me that she was very excited at having found a new way to pray through gospel music. It took her a lot of courage to say it and she told me she hadn't dared say anything in front of the other choir members.

Her reaction has really encouraged me to agree to this gospel experiment. Someone wise once said it wasn't just a coincidence if gospel music moved people; it was the holy spirit working. I think Frances is a case in point and I hope she's not going to be the only one.

Gospella

Sheet music

2006-10-06T21:15:00.000+01:00

I love it when you open the mailbox and inside you find a parcel you've been expecting for a while. Today the two books of Gospel music I had ordered from the UK arrived and I have spent the afternoon seeing if any would be suitable for the choir on Thursday.

One book is arranged for a-cappella choirs and the songs are pretty standard. The other is a bit more exciting and modern but requires accompaniement and soloists. I am generally the soloist when I sing with the people involved in this group but I can't lead and sing solo at the same time so I'll have to either re-arrange the pieces or hope someone else steps up! (Unfortunately, the ones with great voices don't want to be centre stage - never my problem ;-D)

Out of the new books I think we'll try "Were you there?" for a soft number and I'd like to try and put together "Jesus On The Mainline". It's really snappy and I can hear it in my head already. I reckon it will take us a good few tries to learn it but it would be worth it in the long run. I have also decided to start with a couple of songs we learned on the gospel course : "Come Here Jesus" which is fairly simple and should encourage the group to get started; and "God Great God" - but I only have my memory to go on. Actually, I don't play the piano so that's pretty much all I have to go on most of the time anyway! It's rather an ambitious piece but I think you've got to keep people motivated and it's a high energy number. Also, there will be at least one person from each voice (soprano, alto, tenor) present who already know the song which should help to move things along.

Still no change on the venue so I hope our friend lights a stove in her basement! It's been pouring with rain for two days and is cold - we're going to have to do a lot of warming up exercises if this weather continues. We are hoping the municipality will find us a place to rehearse. There is a great new theatre rehearsal room with good acoustics but I suspect other associations have set their sights on it already. Maybe just once a month? Pretty please? I'll have to butter up the mayor : he has a weakspot for my carrot cake. Maybe that'll do the trick...

In the beginning

2006-10-04T17:43:00.000+01:00

So, this is the story of a few amateur singers who wanted to put together a gospel choir.

I sing in a village choir of about 40 singers in France (although I'm English). I'm a soprano and sing solo. The choir sings a very eclectic mix of World music, renaissance drinking songs, humorous songs in French, Russian orthodox music, Eastern European folk songs, traditional Mexican songs, and lots of African songs. Occasionally we sing a gospel song or two.

In 2005 I signed up for a gospel singing weekend in Tours which involved several voice workshops, rythm, and preparing for a mass choir concert on the last evening. I dragged along a couple of members of our choir and it was fantastic. Not least because of the superb group leaders : Erwan Jan, Taïa Kronberg, Wayne Ellington (GB) and Karen Gibson (Kingdom Choir, London UK).

We were all really energised by this weekend and I had no problem persuading the same people, along with a few more, to join me again in 2006 for a similar course. Once again it was a fantastic weekend which we enjoyed immensely. (Check out the CD of the concert coming out in October 2006 - details will follow!!)

Several participants were so excited about this gospel music that they asked me to start up a gospel choir. I must say that apart from having taught them a couple of gospel songs in the regular choir I am not a choir director normally. But no-one seems to mind that so we've decided to go for it.

I wasn't sure if anyone would be really interested in singing exclusively gospel music : a lot of our singers are non-believers. But we have a list of over twenty people who want to come along.

As we are all rather over-committed with work/family/associations we decided to meet only once a month. So the first challenge will be to see if that suffices to learn the songs. The language is another potential difficulty for all the chorists as some of them don't even speak English. For me the biggest challenge will be musical : kind of an upward learning curve as my years of formal music learning are rather a long way behind me. I'm relying on my ear!

We haven't managed to find a venue for our first meeting (set for next Thursday 12th October) so we're meeting in a friend's basement if nothing else turns up!

This blog, then, is to chart our progress (or lack of it) and will be a place for my thoughts on the project. Your comments and tips will be welcome for us to improve.
Catch you later.
Gospella

Under construction

2006-10-03T09:22:00.000+01:00

Soon to come : news and views on starting up a gospel choir from scratch. Wish us luck.
Gospella