Medium Voice said on 2010/09/27 at 11:33 pm
Singing Weekend 2009
Judging from the noise on the street outside, and the road works all along the sea-front, you might have thought we were all on a Spanish holiday! But no - we had descended on Weston-super-Mare in order to sing, and we only had to take a look at the decidedly English summer weather to confirm that we were indeed in England. But in spite of that questionable weather, it was a wonderful week-end.
Most of us arrived at the Lauriston Hotel in Weston, on the Thursday, and we were given a warm welcome by the friendly staff. It was great to see friends from last year, and especially to meet our lovely choir mistress Christine again, freshly arrived from Switzerland with husband Larry. Now we could begin!
We duly met at 10 o´clock on Friday morning, about 18 of us altogether, and we were seated in a large semi-circle in the hotel lounge. Can you imagine being asked how you are feeling, and having to give your answer in song? Well, start practising now, and you can join us next year!
We worked hard at our music, learning songs from Croatia and Israel, from Georgia and Elizabethan England - definitely a challenge, but also tremendous fun. Some of our members even bravely taught us some more simple music, which they had brought along from home.
By Sunday evening, we were ready for our concert! The other hotel guests were invited to come along, and we all gathered in the bar/lounge after dinner. We sang our newly-learned repertoire with gusto, and were rewarded with applause and much praise! The young musician who had been employed by the hotel to entertain us that evening, listened to our contribution, and was full of praise. (Should we, too, turn professional?).
On Monday morning we met again for the last time, to sing our songs again and assess the week-end. For me it was a great experience. If you want to find out how a group of blind and partially-sighted people can learn interesting music at a Singing Week-end, and be able to perform to and interested audience, just come and join us next Summer, when we will be meeting at Teignmouth in Devon at the Cliffden Hotel from Thursday 29 July to Monday 2 August 2010. The hotel telephone number is 01626 77 00 52.
. Watch this space!
Diana Hellbusch
Consort5 said on 27/09/2010 at 11:33 pm
Hi Diana, and what an uplifting story!
This is hopefully an appeal to all those medium and low voiced ladies out there. I am V-Imp and run a vocal harmony quintet.....but we are missing voice 3 = the contralto. If anyone you know among your singing friends mightg be interested, please pass on the message!
We do a mix of madrigals, sacred and popular stuff. We're not looking for pros, far from it, just someone who truly enjoys blending with others ans can learn their music by sight reading or alternative means. Eventulaay we perform without the music, so all V-Is are very welcome!
cheers, Maggie
We are at: www.consort5.com