Beginnings of Cloudburst

So...what do seals, gorillas and JS Bach have in common? Stumped? Well, they are all an integral part of Arno's warmup last night- genius friends! Our two guests must have thought they were entering a madhouse...which isn't far from the truth actually.

We had a good rehearsal last night, spending a lot of time on Cloudburst which is a piece that has been on our metaphorical horizon for a while. It requires a great deal of percussion eventually but at present we are just concentrating on the vocal bits. By the end it was actually sounding pretty good. It is really unusual (what a surprise!) but is by our favourite composer Mr Whitacre of 'Five Hebrew Love Songs' and chiselled cheekbones fame. We are looking forward to performing it is the near future.

We also bashed through 'O Bone Jesu' which really is quite a challenge for us all. The guys in particular have a couple of really tough phrases. We'll be performing this at the National Library in October which should be great. Other than the fact that I had the collected works of 'Spinal Tap' in my head all night we had a great time.

For our patrons...please don't give up hope. Your newsletters are on the way. I am just slow on the uptake.

Hope everyone has a fabulous day.
CSW

Do I get a prize?

Well, I definitely broke a record last night. I arrived at choir at 9.30 exactly after a long meeting. It seemed that everyone had had a great night though and apparently the Carver actually sounded like a piece of music this evening. I should stay away more often! Then we discussed future plans which include tour possibilities and a concert of a very jolly piece called 'Cloudburst'. Watch this space for more info folks. So, since I missed the rehearsal, the question is, what to write in the blog today? So I thought I'd take this opportunity to welcome our newest member Angus. He is our latest bass and, in spite of the name, is actually an Aussie. We hope you'll settle in quickly and look forward to singing alongside you, Angus. I could give you lots of warnings and words of advice but I'll leave you to find it all out yourself!
Following on from my last post, here is a young gentleman playing the theremin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-3lU3bgOgE). He actually does a version of 'Video Killed the Radiostar', not only the best pop song ever written and the first video to be played on MTV, but also a song I had the pleasure of hearing Asia perform with Geoff Downes (legendary ex-Buggle) in a silver jacket- now that was a musical event.
Enjoy the day folks.
CSW

Great night at St Giles

Well looky here. You wait ages for a blog post and then three come along in one week- like the number 35 bus which we waited forty minutes for yesterday until we got so cross that we went for the ever-dependable number 22. Just thought I would sum up our evening at St Giles. What a good concert! Thanks to all who came along to support us. We really had a great time and I must say I thought we sounded pretty tight- the 2nd sops managed the 'ahs' in 'Envoi', A-L hit that top C so well that it resounded round the walls for about half an hour (I could have gone for a cuppa tea and a piece of maltloaf and still have been able to hear the note rattling in the rafters upon my return- did you notice the alliterative merits of that sentence? Genius!) , Robin very ably took a line on his own and the tenors sounded more than lovely in my favourite bit of Kala Kala. We even smiled and looked about.

The general professionalism of the performance has to be down to Ol who grinned his way through the conducting and even made me smile at the beginning of 'When I Fall in Love'! No bagpipes outside the door this year but we did have a drumming band which bashed about a bit. Muchos thanks to all at St Giles who made our concert so enjoyable- we'll look forward to coming back soon! Thanks also to Anne who played the piano and as usual made sure that we were all in the right place at the right time and to Claire who played the violin so beautifully for Hebrew Love Songs. Now we have escaped the acapella-ness of Rudsambee perhaps new exciting instrumental doors will open...electric guitar, euphonium, xylophone...Oooo balalaika, ukulele, didjibodhrán (yes, you heard right, this is a real instrument) or for one of our most loyal supporters Jake, a Theremin (yep, Jake we were listening to the radio show tonight!) (Chris says: Be careful what you wish for!).

Anyways as a couple of final bits of concert trivia- this was Rach's last concert with bump (we are looking forward to a new member of the choir arriving in a couple of weeks), when we warmed up downstairs we apparently sounded like seals (according to Robin), A-L's great hubby Tim had to come to the rescue with her shirt that she had left at home, only an hour before the performance we were without a tambourine and Christopher had to go to Blackwells' percussion section every bloody shop in town (Chris says: apparently music shops alone stil hold the Sabbath as a day of rest) and finally I have decided that my wooly scarf is just too much for a summer concert and will invest in a more appropriate red accessory... perhaps one of those groovy hats with a fan in the peak or a swimsuit... blimey that would cause a stir and I'm not sure that Edinburgh is quite ready for that even at anything-goes festival time.

Anyways, a Yes DVD beckons on my TV courtesy of hubbie and I'm going to settle down with a cuppa. Thanks again for support folks. It would have been pretty dull without an audience.
Peace... go play that didjibodhrán and explore your sound space.
CSW

Good times in Balerno

Well Rudsambee warmed up for tomorrow's concert with Pims and Elderflower juice at Anne and Dick's in Balerno. Even the weather stayed nice. We ate some brilliant pavlova and discussed the pros and cons of wearing lobster suits to PhD VIVAs. Don't let it ever be said that Rudsambee members don't address the key issues of the day. See you all tomorrow at St Giles!
CSW

A note that only dogs can hear

This post is dedicated to the vocal talents of Anna-Lauren, our resident top soprano and all round good egg. Last night, in a very jolly rehearsal at Priestfield Church, I had the pleasure of standing next to A-L as she hit the top C (yes, you hear right fans) in the Tormis. Blimey, it's no wonder the church windows are boarded up at present (actually I think they are doing improvements but it may well be because A-L's top note would indeed shatter glass). Certainly impressive. She tends to get a round of applause after each take. Come on Sunday night and you'll see what I mean. Genius!

Last night we were preparing for our St Giles' concert on Sunday evening. Hilariously we picked up 'Envoi' and the French Lauridsen one for the first time since our exploits in the Czech Republic. My brain is extremely sieve-like and I struggled to remember the tune let alone the dynamics. We don't want to peep too early, it'll be alright on the night and various other performance-based platitudes. Listen out for the second sopranos 'ahs' in 'Envoi' and be suitably impressed. We have to dance our way through them otherwise maintaining the rhythm is virtually impossible! After going through each of the pieces we are singing on Sunday, making stupid faces at 'O Morganstern' which will sound pretty special in a big acoustic and having a quick run through of 'When I fall in Love' (Oh yes a bit of cheese never goes amiss...even in St Giles) we finished for the night. Playing 'ten girl's names' on the way home (ask Ol) meant for an entertaining ride and that was about it. We welcomed our new bass last night as well who hopefully wasn't put off by the general chaos of Rudsambee-ness.

Hopefully see you all on Sunday evening. I'll be the one dancing salsa in the tougher bits of 'Envoi'
having just eaten a large falafel and hummus wrap (go the Theatre Workshop for lunch folks...it is the best) it is goodbye from a full and slightly sleepy scribe.
CSA

"Your say potato and I say pot-a-to" etc

Well good morning to all. Hope everyone is enjoying Olympic fever and seriously contemplating whether to take up kayaking or synchronised diving. Sorry for delay in post but I have been up to my eyeballs in boxes, dust and stuff I never knew I had (we have been moving house!)

We had a great rehearsal on Wednesday. I thought we sounded rather good (there is not a hint of surprise in that comment btw). After last week's attempt to transcribe Peter's Gaelic pronunciation CD Ollie made the excellent decision to print out a sheet with it all on already. Wise choice bro! So we bashed our way through our new Gaelic song at breakneck speed stopping only when the words could not be squeezed into the rhythms.

After this we had the joy of Tormis. Our key Estonian-based music question for this week...what do you call a collection of Tormis pieces...Tormii, Tormis', Tormisupials (this last one is my favourite- wacky Eastern European song meets kangaroo, I bet you weren't expecting that combo!). Whatever, these pieces are really coming on well.

'O Morganstern' is our piece in two keys and we are singing it at St Giles on Sunday. Although it is sounding rather beautiful in a 'difficult-to-listen-to' sort of a way, we are still making pained faces as we sing it. Claire 2 (always sensitive to the way our performance looks) drew our attention to the frankly ridiculous faces we were all pulling. I guess that the face in question is a cross between sucking a lemon, someone standing on your toe and trying to concentrate extra hard on a actor who isn't projecting his voice (goodness, imagine that sort of a visage- I wanted to think of a synonym for face as I feel that I have used that word enough, however visage was all I could think of so excuse the pretension). Hopefully we will look calm, serene and angelic when we perform this on Sunday. On second thoughts...

Anyways, that's all for know. Can I remind all Rudsambee followers that we are doing our 'festival gig' on Sunday night at St Giles so please come along if you are free. It should be a great show.
ttfn (Ooo an abbreviation I haven't used in a long while)
CSW