Voces8 Education Day at Bedford School (5.10.09) - Concert

The concert was BRILLIANT!!! I can't remember all of the songs they sang, although I knew most of them (hooray for the internet! The internet doesn't do them justice though, by any means). These are the ones I can remember (in no particular order):

Magnificat Primi Toni - Palestrina
Nunc Dimittis - Gustav Holst
I Got Rhythm^ - Gershwin (^ = arr. Jim Clements)
Me and My Shadow^ - Jolson/Rose/Dreyer
Jailhouse Rock^ - Leiber/Stoller
Il est Bel et Bon - Pierre Passereau
Mack the Knife^ - Kurt Weill
Hark by the Crystal Fountain* - Thomas Weelkes
O Clap Your Hands - Orlando Gibbons
Steal Away - spiritual
Straighten Up and Fly Right^ - Cole/Mills
Fever^ - Davenport/Cooley
Feelin' Good^ (possibly; I'm not sure) - Newley/Bricusse
Let's Do It^ (again, possibly – but I'm really not sure) - Cole Porter

Encore: James Bond Medley^ (I think it was a medley; it may not have been. Could just have been one I don't know.) - various

*Charles took great delight in telling us a little about the character of Thomas Weelkes. He was fired from his post as .. what was it? Organist and master of the choristors at Chichester Cathedral for being drunk, and he wasn't best pleased. So he waited until a procession of archbishops? well, dignitaries of the church, anyway, and urinated on them from the gallery! (How verifiable this is I don't know, but it was certainly an amusing anecdote. Numerous sources report that he was dismissed from his post for habitual drunkenness, profanity, and blasphemy.)

Um, it was amazing. Such great fun! I knew from YouTube videos that they really perform, rather than just sing, and I saw a bit of that during the performances earlier on in the day. But the concert had a completely different atmosphere; they were really engaging with the audience and having a ball ~grin~. The audience was – well, I was pleasantly surprised at the turnout, but it wasn't huge. So it kind of felt quite an intimate concert, which was really nice. I think it's probably the best concert I've ... what's the word? seen? heard? both. Hehe, it turns out the controller of Radio Three, who also happens to be involved with organising the Proms, was there. I have no doubts he will have been impressed ... watch this space?

It was an amazing, fun, educational day. Really, really brilliant. I'm so glad they invited us along; it's a real shame the others missed it (most likely because they were working. Alas).

Voces8 Education Day at Bedford School (5.10.09) - Senior School masterclass

The masterclass was for the part songs for the then forthcoming House Singing for the senior school. There were five ensembles; alas I didn't write down all of the song titles because I didn't actually hear any of them! I only knew some of them because I recognised the songs. So, the main points:

First ensemble:
- Important to look as well as sound good. ENSEMBLE; effectively one instrument [did Barney really say that? Either that or my notes are wonky]
- Emotion: imagine no words; communicate emotion still. Also overall shape of piece.
- Basses and tenors, back up the melody. Harmony, give the shape.

Second:
- Stand together! Be an ensemble!
- Try less conducting – breathe together (standing closer together helps) [on the floor was tape for Voces8; standing within the tape meant they all stand quite close together. Somewhat closer than the boys were!]
- Pyramid of sound: basses give the most, melody (counter-tenor) gives the least [it made sense when Charles was talking about it; I'm not sure I can explain it sufficiently to do it justice alas. It was a few weeks ago now ... ]
- Key changes: practice!!! Listen to the bass.

Third (This may have been 'On the Dock of the Bay'; I forget):
- Own the solo (not vice versa) – guts! and showmanship.
- Middle: unify vowels
- Basses: 'bom' – round, resonant. And groove! [Dingle spend a while helping the basses with it; it was interesting]

Fourth (The Bare Necessities):
- Learn from memory.
- Solo makes its way around the parts; need to see where it goes (and hear for certain).
- Character
- Don't need conductor (stand and breathe together – already discussed)
- Make it fun! Project and perform the solos.
- Basses: line is inherently boring (bom) – make it fun, live it. Be a bear!

Fifth (Teddy Bears' Picnic): [The arrangement we attempted and failed at music school. Sadly. It was fun!]
- Vital to choose a song suited to the group's voices and personalities; commendation for succeeding – 'genius', to quote Barney.
- Characterisation! (Treble perfect for the teddy bear.) Never shy away from the obvious characterisations (e.g. Dingle/Paul) – cheesy but it never ceases to raise a smile. USE THE GROUP.
- Choreography [choralography? Charles and Andrea] – character of the piece. [Stand in, with 'teddy bear' in the front; others in semi-circle behind him. Stand with hands on knees/thighs, in 'telling a hushed secret' kind of stance.]

I don't know which group won the unison song – I know it was Crescent but I've no idea which group that was. St Peter's won the part song, with Teddy Bears Picnic – yay :) That made me smile. It seems that the ensembles didn't end up taking much notice of Barney's advice to stand together – or if they tried, ended up drifting apart nonetheless. Ah well. The Teddy Bears' Picnic looks to have been characterised more than their original performance in the masterclass, which is good.

Next post: Voces8 concert.

Voces8 Education Day at Bedford School (5.10.09) - Prep School workshop

Taken almost straight from my notes on the day, the write-up of the Prep School workshop:

Straighten Up and Fly Right
Q: meaning of a cappella? Who sings what instrument?

Paul's warm-up:
- Movement (watch, together) + sounds -> deconstrict face
- pitch+movement – rollercoaster
- watch: stop (obvious signals)
- hearty laughing [gets diaphragm etc. working]
- copy rhythm: clapping
+ movement
+ clicks
- simple sequence --> extend --> accelerate
(click x4 L, R; clap x4; thighs x4 + shins x2, thighs x2 + more)

(Gave choice for next song: classical or jazz)
Feeling Good [had to recount votes b/c chn kept changing their minds!]

- Group into 2 teams (already sitting with aisle between chairs; natural division)
- 2 volunteers to be pulse + Charles -> + more volunteers as need arose for louder pulse
- Andrea – vocal rhythm (L team)
- Dingle – percussive rhythm (R team)
- Andrea and Dingle can change; chn have to change also. [ => WATCH]
- Basic conducting [obvious signals]: cresc. / dim. Team dynamics different (f / p at different times) [encourage musicianship; parts]
- then into four groups. Faster tempo
+ actions for rhythms
- (Rob and Chris periodically going round to the back of the groups to check everyone was okay)
- In the middle of my page I wrote ENERGY underlined three times in a box. I cannot emphasise enough just HOW energetic Paul was, and therefore the children. It was brilliant fun even just to observe :D

There was a boy at the back of the R-hand group (Dingle's) who kept turning around to look at me, and who didn't really seem to be participating. I wasn't sure how to respond, so I made sure I was moving my leg with the pulse, so he could see that I was engaged, in a way, even though I was 'only' there in the capacity of observer.

Madrigal: context.
Hark by the Crystal Fountain (I think that's the title; I couldn't quite hear)

Hand over to Charles:
- stretch, shrug & relax [deconstriction!]
- shake top to bottom + voice
- characterisation: black holes / supernovae
- muscles: breathing and support
- Cowboy! Theme tune, toffee
- boom-chica-boom [characterisation]
- voice: core of the earth up to infinity. 'Follow the hand' “he, not she” (ended up as a catchphrase; the kids finished Charles' 'he' with 'not she!' ) [hard palate 'ee'; pharynx]
- watching hand – smaller intervals, up and down [setting up for R.o.B]
=> Rivers of Babylon; notes+hand
+ harmony. 'Follow the hand!'
- Crossed legs and leaning on the back of the chair -> stand up and shake [any tension can and will be transferred!]

The same boy was still turning round and not really participating, so when we got onto the exercises with words I made sure to be mouthing along at the very least (when I wasn't grinning!). Eventually he started to join in – at the very least he started mouthing the words; one hopes he was singing along but of course I can't know whether or not he was. His friend had started to participate a little sooner and wasn't turning all the way around quite so often.

I Got Rhythm
(Interesting moment: Paul points during his solo on 'you won't find him' and that particular time he pointed to me. It was one of those split-second moments that feel like ... well, much longer! I wasn't sure if indeed he was pointing to me or not, but all of the boys were sure; the majority of their faces just turned and Looked at me. It was a moment filled with, in equal amounts, confusion, bewilderment, and abject terror. 'WhatDoIDo?!WhatDoIDo?!' so I ended up deciding just to shrug and hope they stopped looking at me! The look on Paul's face was an amusing kind of apologetic – which is only when it dawned on me that um, yes it was me at whom he'd pointed. The reason it was such a terrifying moment is my fear of people Looking at me ... mm, stupid, I know. But again, I survived ( ... just)! However, it's very amusing now and I just chuckle when I think about it; and he did apologise very profusely afterwards, which was quite sweet.)

I had to laugh; some of the teachers who found themselves worn out after only a few minutes of participation! I did sympathise as my knees had given me quite a lot of gyp during our Take the Lead! Session ... it was still amusing though; they themselves were laughing anyway :)

During the half hour between workshop and masterclass I joined Voces8 in the staff room (nearly losing my balance on the way down the stairs – oops) and had an interesting conversation with Paul about, well, in short, nerves and how the only way to learn to deal with them is to get on and do whatever it is that causes the nerves. Think that may be a subjct for an entire post in itself, just because I've been thinking about it a lot since then. Still, it reinforces my 'don't think, just do' motto (which is much easier said than done, but most days it's the only way I get myself out of bed if the truth be told. I digress). Anyway, they seem a thoroughly lovely bunch of people, and Paul and Charles made me feel welcome, rather than someone just tagging along.

Senior School masterclass to follow ...

Voces8 Education Day at Bedford School (5.10.09) - Preamble

This turned out rather longer than anticipated (I suspect this pattern may continue for the rest of this blog, so apologies in advance) so I have decided to split it into parts. So that which follows is the preamble:

Voces8 did an education day (well, afternoon) at Bedford School the Monday after the first session of Take the Lead!, followed by a free concert, and we were invited to observe the afternoon (workshop and/or masterclass) and of course to attend the concert. Initially I hadn't been sure – mainly because I was scared, I will confess! - but after being so impressed by Paul and Charles I decided to Google Voces8 and was blown away by what I discovered. So I decided I ought to at least give it some serious consideration, and eventually decided to go (if the invitation were still open – happily it was). I am so glad I did!

Monday morning I wasn't feeling too well. My IBS had been playing up over the weekend and was still giving me grief; all the while I was in Luton I was quite apprehensive about the afternoon. I also had no appetite whatsoever, so was feeling a bit dizzy but could manage barely more than an inch of baguette. So er, I was altogether not feeling great and quite scared still about the afternoon. My two main fears were that I'd get to Bedford School in plenty of time but end up finding out that the location of the workshop had changed and end up being there ~only just~ on time; and that I'd be the only one there observing.

Well, I got to the Erskine May Hall at 2.40pm (the workshop to start at 3pm) ... asked a few teachers if they knew where Voces8 were but nobody had a clue. It got to ten minutes to ... five minutes to ... almost 3pm ... and nobody came for the workshop. Eventually I noticed a stream of boys (most of whom looked young enough to be in the Prep School) plus teachers going past, so I decided to enquire. It turns out the workshop was in fact in the Great Hall. Stupidly somehow I got to the main building but was totally disorientated; I had NO IDEA where the Great Hall was (had totally forgotten since the BYO concert 2 ½ years ago) so ended up feeling a wally before having to wait to ask the secretary for help. Oops. So, fear number 1 was realised!

Fear number 2 was realised when it became evident that nobody else was coming to observe. Where I'd chosen to sit (whilst simultaneously flustered and trying to work out the best place to stand a chance of being able to lip-read whomever was leading) I felt hideously exposed but got myself too flustered to move. Gha, I hate being a phobic wimp! (I also hate the way being a phobic wimp makes me self-centred so my apologies to whomever may be reading this. I just find myself having to mull things over.)

However, I survived. And had a jolly fun time too! It was also exceedingly useful, as both Paul and Charles used warm-ups that were almost identical to what we'd done the previous Wednesday, so we could see how it works with the children.

Workshop to follow ...