Actually, this was advertised as “Songs and Scones” but my priority might just have been slightly different.
This was a singing workshop organised by Fiona and her husband Rob. There were two over the summer but I only managed to get to the second as I had a visitor on the day of the first one. So – what did it involve – apart from eating scones, of course? First a drive out to a local village hall – with the traffic bad and slow. Parking where directed by Rob and then going in, collecting the music and finding a place to sit in the alto section (for me) and catching up with all the news from my Coffee Choir friends.
We did a warm up, led by Rob. Different from the way Fiona does one, but at least at a pitch I could reach! I did wonder if perhaps I might be able to cope, for once….
But then we started (trying) to learn songs.
Well, I did try. As usual, I only sort of got the alto part and when Fiona asked “OKish?” I shook my head. When asked which bit I hadn’t got, I didn’t like to say “All of it”, although I knew that I hadn’t got the hang of the tune, so that when either the other parts were taught their bit I would forget ours or when the other parts joined in I would lose the pitch, the tune or both….. I can never believe quite how bad I am and how slow to pick up our part. There weren’t many altos, either so it was harder than usual to pick out what I should have been doing. I keep hoping I will get better, but…..
After one and a half songs, Fiona was sent out (note that!) to make the tea. Also note the traditional division of labour – Rob sorts out the parking and Fiona makes the tea. (Rob did come in and offer to help with the tea at the break and he was helping with the washing up – Brownie points?) When they moved on to singing something they had done last time, I knew I had no hope of picking it up so went to see if I could help with the tea.
So it was tea time. Very welcome cups of tea and a traditional cream tea. Excellent home-made scones and good jam and cream – better than we had in Cornwall. Top marks, Fiona!
There was plenty of time to chat and catch up with people and to enjoy the sunshine.
Then it was back to learning another song (well, tying). I have to say that for all the songs we tried, nothing was too high for me to reach, which made a nice change. I couldn’t hit the notes for “Scarborough Fair” when we all sang it through together first – until I realised I could join in at the same pitch as the men!
It was interesting seeing how Fiona’s teaching style was a bit different from usual when she was working with Rob and also how they worked together. Perhaps not how I would have expected.
There was a final “concert” of the songs we had “learned” – well, some people had learned them!
So would I recommend it? Yes, definitely – and that is just for the top class cream tea!
Actually, I thought it was a brilliant idea. I might be hopeless at singing but I miss the chance to have a go during the holidays, so a couple of workshops over the summer was great. (I was sorry not to get to the first one, but my visitor was more important.) I keep hoping that with more practice I might improve, maybe? It was also good to catch up with people, especially having got to know some of them better on the Cornwall trip.
I liked all the songs at the workshop I went to and it was wonderful that there were no notes too high for me to reach – a first? Fiona suggested that one of the songs was too low – not for me! The soprano part might have been a bit low, though. (Nice for them to have problems with notes that are too low instead of us having them too high!) Were they too difficult? How would I know? Even the easy ones are too hard for me to pick up in an afternoon! It was really nice to have the tune occasionally, though, as that makes sticking to my part so much easier. Here’s to TUNE FOR THE ALTOS more often!
And finally – I loved the quotes about tea in the music book!