In Dulci Jubilo- Rudsambee Christmas begins in earnest...or rather begins in mirth.

Good evening merry friends and welcome to another blog post for your general informed enjoyment.

Another Wednesday another carol. Tonight we began with the 'Apple Tree Wassail'. For anyone who attended a yuletide concert last year, this was the one with stamping (or rather stomping), clapping, and discussions of a farmer's old cow and the problems of milking her. What larks! Well, it must be said we largely remembered it quite well, although we do have a tendency to make up the words when we are swinging along. As you may recall, it finishes with Jen and Claire 2 doing a Macbeth-three-witches impression (or rather two witches): 'three bushel baskets/ little heaps under the stairs' (for anyone who hasn't heard this piece, I am quite sure that my description sounds bizarre to say the least- come and watch us and you'll see what I mean). Except that Claire 2 struggles to remember how many 'bushel baskets' there are; three? forty-seven? Anyways, as Helen so eloquently put it, 'there is something creepy under the stairs'.

Our brains were tested again trying to remember 'In Dulci Jubilo'. Last time we sang this was in front of Richard Wilson and Carol Smillie no less, and we were fairly impressed that we had recollected any of it. We even thought about dynamics. Goodness! The first time Robin sang the trio (I nearly said triplet then, but singing a single triplet isn't quite as impressive as singing a whole trio) he apparently managed to sing about 'nasty tashes'. The mental images on that one are really endless... and horrid! Suffice to say, the piece requires a little more work but at least we don't have to do that painful note bashing malarky (sp?).

While we were on a roll, Maestro boy decided that a quick sing of the old 'Lux Auremque' was in order. Poor Helen has probably heard this piece more often than the illustrious composer due to her valiant work on the CD. Nevertheless, her solo note still sounded beautiful. As a second soprano, I am constantly amazed by our Diva duo (Helen and A-L) who stay on the same note for about half an hour. I could go away, make and drink a cup of chamomile tea, eat a chocolate Hobnob (there's a biscuit for dunking [Chris says: But not in herbal tea, surely!]) and do a short Irish jig while singing my current favourite folkie song, 'She moved through the fair', and come back, and the Diva duo would still be smiling and holding on to that note. Impressive stuff!

Anyways, we concluded our evening with our usual intellectual chat and banter. A brief rendition of 'Little Green Frog' was in order and with that, and an animated discussion of what indeed was happening at the Pleasance next Friday (I'm not sure that we came to any conclusion on this one even though it is written in the communal diary, so if anyone knows an answer then please do leave a comment), we were done.



Just enough time to send best wishes to all those in our Rudsambee family who are feeling a little under the weather right now. There seems to be so much illness about. Get well soon to all and 'break a leg' (not literally ladies, especially with your track record!) to the Wild Myrtles who are off to blow Ireland away with their great sounds.

Apparently Rudsambee received an email about doing Eurovision. Well... the possibilities are surely endless! Definitely skirts you can whip off, the tenors doing some sort of tribal-infused dance sequence, the basses doing their best didgeridoo (honestly can't be bothered with the spelling of that one) impression, Maestro boy in a sparkly suit... oh goodness, this one is going to keep me up at night.

And with that merriment, I bid a fond farewell to all readers for this week.

felicitations (that should probably have gone at the beginning- Ooo cyclical blog posts, how very Modernist! The beginning that could be the end, an end that could be a beginning... agh my tiny mind is imploding).

CSW

Decking Hall(s) and a bit of Tallis

Morning people of the blog

Hope this finds everyone well this morning. Judging by last night's patchy rehearsal attendance, there are lots of folks who aren't feeling well this wet Edinburgh morning. Take echinacea, vitamin C and sleep lots - my suggestions. Anyways... the lowdown on all things Rudsambee is here -- the perfect cure!

We began last night with an African round ably led by Maestro boy Ol. This after a small group rehearsal of Noel Nouvelet, a tunelet we did last year as a small group and this year are singing as a slightly larger group. With the additions (John, Susan and Claire 2) the whole thing sounded much brighter and less 'light on top', as Helen put it. The previous year Helen, Jen and I had battled against 5 boys in a sort of musical gladiators. Adding a couple more women (and John of course) has helped a great deal. We then bashed through the 'Bog off' again, a piece that is sounding better now we are getting the Russian into our heads.

Then, despite Maestro boy's protestations to the contrary last week, we began to note bash 'Deck the Hall'. Note the singular 'hall' here which shows it is a carol for our credit crunch age. Btw I really had to concentrate not to put an 's' on the end of hall - surely we can do more than one hall? We have tinsel, I can fetch more holly from the garden, all the basses can dress up as Santa - we can have four grottos! Anyways, it is a jolly version with some of the funniest notations I have ever read. At one point the sopranos are meant to be 'teasing' (I'll leave that to your imagination, discretion being the better part of valour), the altos 'inviting' (as always), the tenors 'persuasive' (?) and the basses 'bullying' (which is entirely out of character may I say). Later the altos have to be 'hysterical' which, to be honest, was worryingly easy for Jen, Claire 2 and Anne, though it is only supposed to be a bar of hystericalness (is that even a word?) - it's stopping them that is the problem! At present we haven't done the final page and finishing abruptly on a 'la' is perhaps fun for Rudsambee, but less satisfactory for an audience. Apparently the cadenza can be omitted or the conductor can write his own. Come on Maestro boy, I want an interesting piece of wackiness (with at least four key changes and the addition of panpipes) for our finale!

We moved on the a new bit of Tallis which just means you have to count... a lot! It will be lovely at St Giles. It has a long bit of plainchant which we did at double quick time with Anne as plainchant is pretty dull to rehearse though, hopefully, nice to hear.

Our final conversations focused on the CD (as always, though a decision has now been made and I'm sure fans will be suitably impressed by the artistic wonderment), promoting the Canongate concert (it is in Edinburgh, has nice acoustics and, most importantly, it is a darn sight warmer that Roslin) and Ecclefechan tart which is like an Eccles cake except, well, 'fechaned'. Anyways, we finished with a rousing rendition of Little Green Frog and Alice the Camel, and chatted about the importance of a work/life balance. And with that serious, self-helpy final suggestion, I bow out for the week.


Alice the Camel:
DISCLAIMER: This is not us, nor do we sound like this!





Keep feeling Christmassy folks!

CSW

CDs, Carols and a Cuppa

Morning all,
To fill you in on last night's rehearsal...After a challenging concert (a la last Wednesday), the next rehearsal is always a cheery, freedom-filled affair and last night was no exception. Queue quite a lot of laughing (including at one stage me and A-L literally crying with mirth). If you had inadvertently walked into the Wexler's abode at about 7.50pm, you would have discovered fifteen (ish- lots of illness!) grown people with books on their heads (I got a Chalet girl novel, A-L got 'The Secret Garden', I was jealous...) attempting to do a basic celiedh dance while singing barely recognisable notes. What larks! Our new tenor, Oliver (yes...another one) joined us and wasn't put off by this general madness. WELCOME OLIVER!

And so on to the rehearsal proper. We concentrated on two pieces- the Betinis 'Run, Tobogan, Run' which has A LOT of words and a jazzy tune, and Part's 'Bog off'. The former has a lovely easy soprano line and a really tough alto line so we sit there looking smug. It sounded very good and it will be fun to sing at Christmas. The latter is exciting, mainly because, as Robin so eloquently put it, 'you get to sing loud'. Well, indeed you do, very loud! It is the dynamic change that makes this piece so interesting...that and the fact that in true Rudsambee style, it is in Russian. Ol has decided to leave 'Deck the Halls' etc for November. Singing proper carols before that seems wrong somehow, like stores that have their advent calendars in before the end of August and shopping centres that insist on playing Cliff (who I love btw) in October.

Anyways, the final half hour was spent talking about the new CD. Had you been in the Rudsambee email inner ring this week (not quite as exciting as it sounds actually), you would have had an inbox full of correspondence relating to this very topic. It is the big discussion point of the week (forget the stoopid American election...this is where it is at). Actually I think we got away quite lightly as no one threw anything, stormed out or took umbrage, and we made decisions. Hoorah! Helen is working jolly hard on the recording while our resident Roger Dean-alike, John, battles with the design. Look out for it folks- it will be there in time for Santa to bring you a copy.

It was great to see Alison back last night. We missed you very much and are really glad you are up and about. Lots of illness in Rudsambee right now so get well soon to all who feel sick, especially Kay who sounded dreadful. Final chat went as follows...Peter Kay, the remarkable similarities between his joke song and the new single from lovely Leon Jackson, the Biblical book of Ezra, the problems in our academic system, the little green frog song and Alice the camel. For a small fee, I will perform either of those final two.

Felicitations
CSW

A triumph...ok...so that might be overstating it but we didn't fall off the metaphorical cliff

This will have to be a quick one this morning as Jen and I are off to visit Rach and the wee one. Suffice to say last night's concert was really good. We arrived to be ushered into a room with a complicated coffee machine by some extremely efficient and friendly NLS workers. One told us that they had some rare Burns manuscripts in the 'ball room'... not sure whether his comment was a threat or an invitation to nick them and share the proceeds. Or indeed just a fascinating piece of information of course.

We warmed up in the performance room and were massively impressed with the acoustic. Although it meant that we couldn't change tempo easily, it made it a beautiful listening experience (hopefully!) for the audience and great fun for us. So we went out to perform with a sick sort of feeling in our stomachs. Actually I can only speak for myself but I'm not sure I have been as nervous as that since the senior music competition at school. Well as it goes, it sounded really rather good. When Ol returned to his place out front as chief, conductor and leader of men, his face was smiling in relief. All downhill from there folks and our two new Gaelic ones were even passable in spite of dodgy lyrics. Peter 1, had you been standing next to me and been dead you would have turned in your grave.

All in all a jolly evening and I even got back in time for a run to beautiful Newhaven harbour. It was also lovely to see some happy smiling faces we knew and particularly nice to see Alison. Great to see you up and about lady. We miss you very much so come back...soon!

Enjoy the day one and all

CSW

The night before the errr...night after

Just a quick post to fill you in on the night's proceedings. We had a small group rehearsal to go through O Bone Jesu. I am pleased to announce that I can now sing at least, ooo, three words without looking at my music (definitely not one for the 'let's do it by heart' brigade) and have even nearly cracked the first page. We had a very jolly time and by the end of the rehearsal even had (shock horror!) dynamics! It actually sounds like a piece of real music. What joy!


So roll on tomorrow evening when we perform at the National Library of Scotland. Apparently there are tickets left in case anyone reading this fancies a jolly jaunt to see Rudsambee battle with Carver (man, that sounds dangerous!). Join us if you can.


Thanks to A-L for a great birthday party on Saturday night. Sebastian sang West Side Story [Chris says: What, ALL OF IT?], I realised that Bernstein is just way higher than I thought, Anne wore a basque (just see how you missed out), Tim looked like a Chav and A-L looked like the cleaner (aka Mrs Overall) in Acorn Antiques. We finished the evening admiring the beauty of Takamine guitars. Even Dave Gilmour played one don't you know and he is a discerning gentlemen with a posh voice and a penchant for impressive light shows.


Here, have a snatch of Mrs Overall (not Anna-Lauren in this case):





You'll get an update tomorrow night of course.


CSW

'Gaelic is a dead language'...

...or so says Kay in our official quote of the night. Peter, if you are reading this, apologies. Actually after last night there were a number of us wishing that Gaelic were a dead language. Ol rather brilliantly made a new 'verse 3 sheet' for the ladies but we still had long discussions about the actual pronunciation. This, fans, is something that occurs every time we sing in an unfamiliar (though by the end of rehearsal I was beginning to think in soft 't's') language (sorry for confusing that sentence with unnecessary parenthesis- it is the way my mind works! Ha apologising in parenthesis, how ironic in an Alanis Morrisette way i.e. not ironic). Generally, however, we have our resident Gaelic expert and all round good egg Peter there to keep us right. Now he has abandoned us for the delights of Asia, we are all alone in the world.

Well, we eventually coped admirably. I think we probably all lost the will to live at some stage in the conversation. In fact, Anne began to eat her tea which, by her own admission, excluded her from proceedings. Nailed the two songs by the end.

This is all in preparation for next week's turn at the National Library. As regular blog fans will know, we have been working on (tearing up, cursing) a piece called 'O Bone Jesu' for a few weeks now. I still sometimes come to a passage and feel I have never read it before. If Jenny and Susan decide to sail away before next week, the two Claires will do a small avant-garde solo piece while the rest of the choir sing Carver's original. It would indeed be quite funny and a little frightening, but would be better than us attempting the tenor and second sop lines alone. It really could be a whole new song. We sang a bit of 'O Bone Jesu' to the rest of the choir. Sebastian actually looked quite impressed while Kay (in fact she won first and second place in the quote of the night comp) expressed surprise and horror(?) that the extract was only about a quarter of the whole piece. It is indeed the longest thing (except 'Five Hebrew' which doesn't feel long) we have sung in a while. We are considering handing out hot bacon rolls or providing an intermission after page six so people can stretch their legs and spend a penny.

Anyways, the concert is next week at the National Library. It is ticketed to stop the riff-raff getting in, but I suppose if you are respectable you may well be able to gain entry. This weekend is A-L's birthday party so there should be some jolly photos of that at some stage (by the by, cheers for the photo of the autograph, Christopher- how exciting Boosh fans!). Apparently we have to come badly dressed which is proving to be a challenge for yours truly (I jest). I concluded the evening by taking Jen on the most roundabout route back to Leith. Sorry lovely lady! I can partly blame my own incompetence and largely blame the roadworks which are beginning to drain the life out of us Leithers. Edinburgh Council, 'Relative Pitch' calls on you to get it sorted!

And on that political (oo-er dodgy territory here) note, I bid you a fond adieu.

CSW