This is Claire2 speaking. An older, wiser (yes, debatable, I know) Claire and more of a drama-queen than a diva (but if ever you tire of that role, 1st lady, I feel sure I could play it with equal conviction though probably with less assurance on the top notes).
So, haven’t we had a day? A full day’s rehearsal – well, six hours. Maybe five and a half – but we had to get up in the morning to be there and some of us (Ollie the Great Leader, for one, Chris for two and Helen for three) only just made it and, I’m afraid, looked rather like they’d missed out on morning ablutions and general grooming procedures in order to arrive at anything close to the right time.
I had offered to wake up everyone’s minds and bodies with a silly ball game to start the day. We played said silly game. What did we learn from this activity? Rudsambee members can count up to 20 but only with great difficulty and they certainly struggle with counting, looking and listening all at the same time – which may explain a good deal... Add in the demand for throwing and catching skills and the majority of the time will be spent, I fear, with at least half the group on hands and knees (bums inelegantly in air), rummaging under chairs for tennis balls gone AWOL. We proved ourselves expert at the hardest stage of the game, however - (hard = movement required – never popular) which suggests to me there may have been some cheating going on... but far be it from me to turn judgemental and accusatorial. I am, after all, simply your replacement blogetteer.
How am I doing, btw?
Then we sang. Then we had lunch. Then we sang again. Then we went home. Ta-dah!
(Claire’s supper break).
(Now I’m back. With, you’ll be delighted to hear, more energy to complete this task. Here goes!)
The singing was good. We learned two new songs – Crucifixus for 8 voices (Antonio Lotti) which has something to do with cheese but I’m not sure what. I think the cheese are important (Ollie’s grammar leaves a lot to be desired). And also She Moved Through the Fair (Daryl Runswick) which has various very speedy twiddly bits, some of which are faster than others, all of which are confusing. But I enjoyed the sight-reading. Shall I repeat that? I enjoyed the sight-reading. I must be going down with something.
We also practised Hide and Seek and some bright spark (Susan) suggested we should, really, try to sing it off by heart so we dutifully gave it a go and, you know, it wasn’t at all bad. I can, at least, now report that Rudsambee does a fine line in the rabbit/headlights school of expression. I am planning to write a little ditty arranged for SATB on the subject of small, frightened leporid mammals in order to show off our skills in this area. I think it will be a winner.
We did quite a lot of Cloudbursting stuff, too. Clapping and slapping and clicking. (Well, as has many a time and oft been recorded in rehearsal, I CAN’T CLICK. Just as well I’m such a fine actress; nobody would ever guess my deficiency). Ollie is going to ‘encourage us with his face’ at some point during our Cloudburst rendition (which promises to be extraordinary). Do watch out for this if you are in the audience. Someone’s got to.
I can’t remember when it was but for one awful moment today I thought those bloody cows were back with us. 1, 2 moo, I heard; 1, 2 moo. Third time through I realised Ollie was saying ‘move’. Phew!
What else do I have to tell you? Oh, yes. We have a new Bass. Name of Angoh. An interesting chap. Looks much like Arno. Sings the same part. Think he’ll be rather good. He certainly worked very hard today all by himself. And he brought croissants for everyone so he’s obviously keen to be accepted.
I got the impression the GL was pretty pleased with how the day went and I certainly think we ought to do it more often. More space = more warm-up fun. I’m already planning for the next one...
All right, move over, Warden. I’m here to stay.
[Chris says: Susan took a photo which we need a good caption for. Any suggestions?]
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