Post title: general response to much of current repertoire.
Another Wednesday and another rehearsal. It was a big welcome back to Alison after her trip to Cuba and to Robin (who has been to... well... I'm not sure where Robin has been) and to Tom who will be leaving us for good soon so we are gearing up for a tearful 'Irish Blessing'. Anne was away on her jollies but we managed to (almost) organise ourselves successfully without her; Jen had to take the 'men's rehearsal' while we women went off to try and sing in tune. My mum visited as well and thought we were great... though it has to be said, she always thinks we are great.
Our evening started with a swimming session led by Claire 2 - yes you did hear right. Imagine us all waving our arms around pretending to do butterfly...nice image huh? Well, we went on to do some concentrated effort on the Tormis and then progressed/regressed on to Arvo Part's 'O Morganstern'. My particular highlight of the week was Alison's face as she plowed her way through these new pieces.
Now, those who are familiar with Rudsambee music will know that we often sing in different languages from Estonian to Zulu. We like the challenge and it makes us sound intellectual and highbrow (joke). We often sing in Gaelic relying on Peter, our resident Gaelic speaker. However he is now in China getting to grips with a really tough language and we are left to battle through alone. Except that Peter made an appearance last night as a disembodied voice on CD. His voice was very deep which is strange as he was a tenor by trade. All I can say is, Peter come back! We need you to shout at us about Gaelic 'ts'! Ol did very well with the CD player though and turned it into a sort of rap which you should really look into recording, Peter. Gaelic rap is a little explored genre methinks.
We finished with a bit of 'Five Hebrew Love Songs' which really sound very strange without the violin and piano. Next week we are practicing this with our new violinist so Ol felt it best to have a bash through. The sopranos remembered how much they enjoyed the final note of Kala :-)
Well, we are looking towards our next concert on August 16th at St Giles. It is always fun to play the festival even if you do find that the bagpiper or shouting escapologist outside ALWAYS interrupt the quiet bits. In fact last year I seem to remember that Ol gave us a note and the bagpipes struck up in another key, its dulcet tones drifting through the hushed church. I for one followed the bagpipes, Ol's note going out of my head immediately. Was glad for Anne who sang the right key loudly and in true Rudsambee style we modulated by bar 2.
That's all for now folks. Sorry for lack of Czech reminiscences. This is due to two main reasons: (1) I haven't got my act together to gather the thoughts of the masses and (2) Rudsambee members are notoriously 'bish at actually getting their act together... this is a hint btw :-)
Enjoy the week ladies, gents, and miscellaneous others.
CSW
Thursday, 31 July 2008
Monday, 28 July 2008
A late one
Well, if Claire 2 was apologising for the notes being late this week, I have to apologise for the extreme lateness of this post. No excuse so I'm not going to try!
Well, what's going on in Rudsambeeland I hear you cry! A great rehearsal on Wednesday began with a Jenny-led warm-up. For any Rudsambee members past and present you know you are going to be in for a treat when our resident zany alto takes the lead and Wednesday was no exception as we gargled our way through nursery rhymes- water and Casio keyboards don't mix apparently and fortunately we didn't have to test out this theory, though Claire 2 got dangerously close to spewing water all over our instrument of choice (the keyboard btw is like the one you had when you were a kid...with strange piano sounds and a demo you can dance to and pass off as your own composition-genius!). Perhaps another candidate for the hidden track, Ol.
We began with some more Tormis and moved on to our new Frog song. We were pondering the fate of Rudsambee frogs once again. We definitely need to find a ditty in which the frog is turned back into a handsome prince. Then we tackled our new metaphorical (though in many ways literal) hurdle 'O Bone Jesu'- that's good Jesus, not bony Jesus btw. This is by the Scottish Tallis, Carver and is absolutely rock hard (man, I haven't used that expression since I left junior school). We struggled our way through trying to work out why on earth anyone would throw time changes so liberally throughout a work. Apparently, the original was for nineteen voices. Blimey! Glad we are only doing it in six! We'll battle on with this one as we are doing it at the National Library in the autumn.
Anyways, a good rehearsal all in. As promised to AL (and all others who appreciate the value of beautiful, heart rendering (can anything else 'render'?) music) (Ooo a double parenthesis- did you keep up there?), here is Harry Hill's poignant song, 'The Queen is Pregnant' written just in case this happy event should happen again. It is a victorious song of royalist devotion. Seriously I very nearly fell over when I heard this for the first time- laugh...like a drain!
http://www.harry-hill.tv/audio.html (look bottom left and click)
Until next week...
CSW
Well, what's going on in Rudsambeeland I hear you cry! A great rehearsal on Wednesday began with a Jenny-led warm-up. For any Rudsambee members past and present you know you are going to be in for a treat when our resident zany alto takes the lead and Wednesday was no exception as we gargled our way through nursery rhymes- water and Casio keyboards don't mix apparently and fortunately we didn't have to test out this theory, though Claire 2 got dangerously close to spewing water all over our instrument of choice (the keyboard btw is like the one you had when you were a kid...with strange piano sounds and a demo you can dance to and pass off as your own composition-genius!). Perhaps another candidate for the hidden track, Ol.
We began with some more Tormis and moved on to our new Frog song. We were pondering the fate of Rudsambee frogs once again. We definitely need to find a ditty in which the frog is turned back into a handsome prince. Then we tackled our new metaphorical (though in many ways literal) hurdle 'O Bone Jesu'- that's good Jesus, not bony Jesus btw. This is by the Scottish Tallis, Carver and is absolutely rock hard (man, I haven't used that expression since I left junior school). We struggled our way through trying to work out why on earth anyone would throw time changes so liberally throughout a work. Apparently, the original was for nineteen voices. Blimey! Glad we are only doing it in six! We'll battle on with this one as we are doing it at the National Library in the autumn.
Anyways, a good rehearsal all in. As promised to AL (and all others who appreciate the value of beautiful, heart rendering (can anything else 'render'?) music) (Ooo a double parenthesis- did you keep up there?), here is Harry Hill's poignant song, 'The Queen is Pregnant' written just in case this happy event should happen again. It is a victorious song of royalist devotion. Seriously I very nearly fell over when I heard this for the first time- laugh...like a drain!
http://www.harry-hill.tv/audio.html (look bottom left and click)
Until next week...
CSW
Friday, 18 July 2008
More Tormis...
Evening folks,
Welcome to our weekly blog update. Another jolly night on Wednesday. We continued with our excursion through the canon of Estonia's favourite import. We really are beginning to develop a liking for this Tormis stuff. One particularly fun new piece is Kanarbik (Estonian for 'heather' don't you know). Though you would imagine a piece called 'heather' to be a peaceful celebration of the delights of the Scottish countryside, it is actually quite a dramatic piece about the "sad purple heatherbell" that "frantically blazes". Exciting stuff! Ollie threatened that if the basses didn't sing the solo line nicely then he would sing it as he does it particularly well. Fortunately our warrior lower line rose to the challenge so that particular Tenor v Bass battle was assuaged.
We also began a fun song about a frog that was eaten by a crow. In Rudsambee songs the frog (or rather any amphibious or is it reptilian creature) never does very well (cf the Pudduck). This is no exception - one day the small slimy (actually they aren't slimy at all) animals will take over the world and those who have suppressed them for years will have only themselves to blame. Anyways, I am particularly chuffed with this one as it contains five or six key changes. Yey! I love a good key change. My top is always Genesis 'Invisible Touch' which is seriously brilliant. You can feel it coming for about half an hour... rather like a burp actually. Apologies for the analogy. So '80s pop music hits Rudsambee... or maybe not.
Hope everyone is having a great week.
CSW
Welcome to our weekly blog update. Another jolly night on Wednesday. We continued with our excursion through the canon of Estonia's favourite import. We really are beginning to develop a liking for this Tormis stuff. One particularly fun new piece is Kanarbik (Estonian for 'heather' don't you know). Though you would imagine a piece called 'heather' to be a peaceful celebration of the delights of the Scottish countryside, it is actually quite a dramatic piece about the "sad purple heatherbell" that "frantically blazes". Exciting stuff! Ollie threatened that if the basses didn't sing the solo line nicely then he would sing it as he does it particularly well. Fortunately our warrior lower line rose to the challenge so that particular Tenor v Bass battle was assuaged.
We also began a fun song about a frog that was eaten by a crow. In Rudsambee songs the frog (or rather any amphibious or is it reptilian creature) never does very well (cf the Pudduck). This is no exception - one day the small slimy (actually they aren't slimy at all) animals will take over the world and those who have suppressed them for years will have only themselves to blame. Anyways, I am particularly chuffed with this one as it contains five or six key changes. Yey! I love a good key change. My top is always Genesis 'Invisible Touch' which is seriously brilliant. You can feel it coming for about half an hour... rather like a burp actually. Apologies for the analogy. So '80s pop music hits Rudsambee... or maybe not.
Hope everyone is having a great week.
CSW
Thursday, 10 July 2008
Back to rehearsals
Well, after our jollies in the Czech Republic we are now back to work in Rudsambee with a great load of new music. Veljo Tormis dominated last night, and may continue to do so. My favourite is definitely the wacky 'Ronis harg kuuse otsa' (or for those without fluent Estonian, 'The Ox Climbed a Fir Tree') which discusses the plight of an ox who climbed a tree (clue is in the name huh?) in mittens and boots. Tormis' lyrics are as weird and wonderful as those on the second best album ever made Abbey Road. Think Octopus' Garden with a Baltic twist - nice!
We also began our work on a couple of jolly Gaelic songs. We definitely missed Peter's linguistic skill but it all sounded rather nice. Arvo Pärt's O Morganstern was also on the agenda last night. Now, imagine that you are singing two completely different songs with different keys, rhythms etc... put them together and hey presto! you have O Morganstern. Advice given by Ollie for both this and the Ox: Don't, under any circumstances, listen to anyone else in the rest of the choir. Sing with your fingers in your ears if necessary. You should hear this (difficult perhaps with your fingers in your ears so remove them for a moment please)! There is actually a moment when it sounds like a normal (ish) song but this only lasts two bars and the final bar is very peculiar. The sopranos made faces at each other... although this isn't realyl unusual, it must be said.
Also of note last night was the return of Kay. It should be minuted that actually she didn't miss a rehearsal, due to our month's break. Dedication to the cause, Kay! It is great to have you back and we are pretty sure that Baby will be fluent in Hebrew, adept at Estonian cat sounds and able to hit the top note in 'O Magnum Mysterium'. We are actually looking for a bass... maybe it is a bit soon.
Anyways, that's all for now. More Czech stories coming very soon...
CSW
[Chris says] No sign of the Ox or the Pärt, but here's one of the other Tormis pieces we were making a start on:
We also began our work on a couple of jolly Gaelic songs. We definitely missed Peter's linguistic skill but it all sounded rather nice. Arvo Pärt's O Morganstern was also on the agenda last night. Now, imagine that you are singing two completely different songs with different keys, rhythms etc... put them together and hey presto! you have O Morganstern. Advice given by Ollie for both this and the Ox: Don't, under any circumstances, listen to anyone else in the rest of the choir. Sing with your fingers in your ears if necessary. You should hear this (difficult perhaps with your fingers in your ears so remove them for a moment please)! There is actually a moment when it sounds like a normal (ish) song but this only lasts two bars and the final bar is very peculiar. The sopranos made faces at each other... although this isn't realyl unusual, it must be said.
Also of note last night was the return of Kay. It should be minuted that actually she didn't miss a rehearsal, due to our month's break. Dedication to the cause, Kay! It is great to have you back and we are pretty sure that Baby will be fluent in Hebrew, adept at Estonian cat sounds and able to hit the top note in 'O Magnum Mysterium'. We are actually looking for a bass... maybe it is a bit soon.
Anyways, that's all for now. More Czech stories coming very soon...
CSW
[Chris says] No sign of the Ox or the Pärt, but here's one of the other Tormis pieces we were making a start on:
Friday, 4 July 2008
Douglas' Czech story
Further to my request for stories from our recent trip, I am pleased to share Douglas' little tale. Well, rumours did go round the following day and I can confirm that Douglas did indeed go skinny dipping in the host's garden pool after the concert. His email to me posed the question "can anyone beat this?" No, Douglas I don't think they can! Sadly, despite Chris' David Bailey-esque efforts, there are no photographs of this event. On second thoughts, this might be best without any pictorial evidence. I am sure Jean would agree. Thanks for starting the metaphorical ball rolling Douglas. You are indeed a man of many (sometimes surprising) facets.
Enjoy the weekend ladies and gents
CSW
Enjoy the weekend ladies and gents
CSW
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
Back and ready for some Czech Stories
Hello again folks. Well the scribe has returned from over the pond. This isn't my own private blog so I promise to refrain from telling New York stories except to say that on our first night there we went to see the legend that is Les Paul play at the Iridium Jazz club. He was amazing (if I am as sprightly as him at 93 I will be a happy girlie) but in the middle of his set what should he play but my favourite (see previous blog post) song the "Tennessee Waltz'. As you can imagine I found it pretty difficult to keep a straight face. It was a little different from our Czech friend's rendition!
It would be great to start posting stories and memories of our Czech trip up here on the blog over the next few weeks, so Rudsambee members (and others of course) this is your chance to share your thoughts with the world (ok so that sounds a little grand but trust me it is quite liberating). Just drop stories, quips and general comments to my email and we'll put them up.
Rudsambee have a couple of weeks off for good behaviour but we'll be back rehearsing next week, preparing for our August concert.
Before I sign off I do feel it is important at this juncture to say a huge THANK YOU to Anne for organising our trip. We all had a really amazing time and it was largely due to Anne's planning. When she finally left us to enjoy a well earned break in Prague we stood on the platform for quarter of hour (seriously) trying to decide what to do next. I need say no more. Anne, you are the best!
so long for now
CSW
It would be great to start posting stories and memories of our Czech trip up here on the blog over the next few weeks, so Rudsambee members (and others of course) this is your chance to share your thoughts with the world (ok so that sounds a little grand but trust me it is quite liberating). Just drop stories, quips and general comments to my email and we'll put them up.
Rudsambee have a couple of weeks off for good behaviour but we'll be back rehearsing next week, preparing for our August concert.
Before I sign off I do feel it is important at this juncture to say a huge THANK YOU to Anne for organising our trip. We all had a really amazing time and it was largely due to Anne's planning. When she finally left us to enjoy a well earned break in Prague we stood on the platform for quarter of hour (seriously) trying to decide what to do next. I need say no more. Anne, you are the best!
so long for now
CSW
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