Last night Freedom Train were back at our "old" rehearsal venue Skyline Song Studio (aka our place) because Talbarra RSL Care was closed on the Public Holiday.
Reminded us how much extra work we did (well mostly Jay did, I have to admit) to have choir sessions in our lovely open plan upstairs space - all the cleaning, dishwashing, furniture moving, etc. Well at least it forced us to clean the floors every Monday!
Also reminded me that I do so love having all those joyous sounds filling our home. It is an honour and just what we planned for the house - lots of voices raised in harmony whilst gazing at that glorious western sunset vista.
But definitely, rehearsing at Talbarra this year has made things a lot easier. The poor choir members don't have to climb our big hill for one thing, or park on a slope!!
So Freedom Train are very grateful to Talbarra RSL Care for allowing to meet & sing in their lovely big Venue - thanks to Dean & all the staff there for making us welcome.
We look forward to repaying the generosity with a Freedom Train concert for residents, friends and family there on Sunday 1 August.
So what did we do last night?
A lovely relaxed warm-up including some arpeggios both ascending and descending - don't often do that, I tend to do more fun sliding to increase flexibility. (I perhaps have an aversion to a lot of classical approaches after years of classical training myself.)
It was nice to welcome Celia's mum Barbara along, all the way from the Daintree, on holiday to see her kids "down south". Celia (aka Renaissance Celia) is the person responsible for setting up this website - something else for which we are very grateful!! Thanks Celia!!
AHAKAMA
Sang it for Celia's mum and added some simple choreo, for performance coming up on 22 May.
ONE MORNING SOON
Revisited this wonderful gospel number, arranged by the great Tony Backhouse, which the group learned a year ago. It's so nice to come back to our previous material, teach it to the newer members and hear HOW MUCH BETTER we can do it this year than last. The intonation was superb.
As said in my previous blog entry, the choir have come a looong way!!
"One Morning Soon" sounded great in the proverbial no time and we had the whole arrangement happening in full flow.
Even altered the shape a bit for more effect: the 3-part female voices coming in to start for one verse, before the bass lead part came in on next verse. The women singing just on their own sound just like the angels the song talks about.
(Aside: I don't know why we associate angels with the typical female voice range. Angels in the Bible are all male aren't they? They may all be bassi profundi for all we know. LOL!!!)
RAH-DEH
The group voted to do this simple chant as start to our warm-down and opportunity for a bit of improv, before some relaxation exercises and group massage to finish us off feeling great!!!
NO CHOIR NEXT MONDAY - MAYDAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY. See you in two weeks. Happy Singing!
Reminded us how much extra work we did (well mostly Jay did, I have to admit) to have choir sessions in our lovely open plan upstairs space - all the cleaning, dishwashing, furniture moving, etc. Well at least it forced us to clean the floors every Monday!
Also reminded me that I do so love having all those joyous sounds filling our home. It is an honour and just what we planned for the house - lots of voices raised in harmony whilst gazing at that glorious western sunset vista.
But definitely, rehearsing at Talbarra this year has made things a lot easier. The poor choir members don't have to climb our big hill for one thing, or park on a slope!!
So Freedom Train are very grateful to Talbarra RSL Care for allowing to meet & sing in their lovely big Venue - thanks to Dean & all the staff there for making us welcome.
We look forward to repaying the generosity with a Freedom Train concert for residents, friends and family there on Sunday 1 August.
So what did we do last night?
A lovely relaxed warm-up including some arpeggios both ascending and descending - don't often do that, I tend to do more fun sliding to increase flexibility. (I perhaps have an aversion to a lot of classical approaches after years of classical training myself.)
It was nice to welcome Celia's mum Barbara along, all the way from the Daintree, on holiday to see her kids "down south". Celia (aka Renaissance Celia) is the person responsible for setting up this website - something else for which we are very grateful!! Thanks Celia!!
AHAKAMA
Sang it for Celia's mum and added some simple choreo, for performance coming up on 22 May.
ONE MORNING SOON
Revisited this wonderful gospel number, arranged by the great Tony Backhouse, which the group learned a year ago. It's so nice to come back to our previous material, teach it to the newer members and hear HOW MUCH BETTER we can do it this year than last. The intonation was superb.
As said in my previous blog entry, the choir have come a looong way!!
"One Morning Soon" sounded great in the proverbial no time and we had the whole arrangement happening in full flow.
Even altered the shape a bit for more effect: the 3-part female voices coming in to start for one verse, before the bass lead part came in on next verse. The women singing just on their own sound just like the angels the song talks about.
(Aside: I don't know why we associate angels with the typical female voice range. Angels in the Bible are all male aren't they? They may all be bassi profundi for all we know. LOL!!!)
RAH-DEH
The group voted to do this simple chant as start to our warm-down and opportunity for a bit of improv, before some relaxation exercises and group massage to finish us off feeling great!!!
NO CHOIR NEXT MONDAY - MAYDAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY. See you in two weeks. Happy Singing!