"Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, please to put a penny in the old man's hat..."

Ah, my favourite things about Christmas... eating chocolate for breakfast, falling asleep after dinner with my paper hat over my face, rubbish telly... and starting to sing about snow and sledges in September. As anyone in a choir will know, the festive season always begins early for us singers. By the time you actually get to Christmas Day you never want to hear another carol again and as for that song by Slade (you know the one), well, I wouldn't want to describe the sort of emotions that dredges up. However at this early stage in proceedings songs discussing the pros and cons of knitwear and woolly scarves are still very welcome.

We began a jollyAbbie Betinis Christmas piece tonight, Run, Toboggan, Run which has some extremo tough bits particularly for the poor altos. We sops have a pretty easy time of it except that we are responsible for bringing the choir back to the original key after a wee musical dalliance elsewhere. It is, as usual with Betinis it seems, a good, challenging, pretty jazzy sort of piece.

We also looked at the Arvo Part piece again (the one that sounds like Ollie is telling us to "Bog off" - man I love singing in wacky languages!). He reckons this will be a good piece to start a concert with. All I can say is hang on to your hats dear audience and prepare to be bombarded with sound! All the best prog bands begin their concerts with a bombastic classical piece by Wagner or Britten... this is the Rudsambee equivalent.

Once again, in the absence of the piece itself, here's a fascinating insight into the mind of Part. And Bjork.



Anyways, highlight of our evening was a visit from Rach and Isabel. Now I don't know much about newborn babies (Rach filled us in on a couple of things I had never even thought about... eating hair and the like!) but generally IMHO babies look like old men or those troll dolls we had when we were kids [Chris says: Please stop accusing me of having Troll hair, everyone!]. Isabel however is beautiful - genuinely, not just saying that. Welcome to your first rehearsal wee one- we look forward with anticipation to future rendition of, say, Envoi?

That's all for now folks. Hope readers have a happy week and all.

CSw

'Cheesy Wotsits Are All I'll Eat'

The title of the post was the central task of our warm up tonight. Don't ask! Suffice to say it was a musical triumph... as always. It was sung to the tune of 'Viva La Musica', a wee song taught to me by my old music teacher Mr 'Wacko Jacko' Towers. We also made animal noises... classic Rudsambee weirdness.



Anyway, we spent a considerable amount of time on a jolly Russian-stylee piece by our newest friend Arvo Pärt. It isn't in two different keys this time at least but it is in, well, Russian. A tough language to sing in especially at breakneck speed. This piece has one of the most difficult page turns I have ever seen. In fact so difficult that currently we are singing it avec a large fermata (man that sounds like something you might eat as a side in a Mexican restaurant) at present to give us time to collect ourselves. We'll gradually speed up I'm sure.

We did a wee bit of work on our new Gaelic pieces. Ol had once again typed up the phonetic notes. This time though one line starts (apparently though I'm sure our friends on Skye or South Uist or wherever would challenge this) 'U rine'... seriously! Ol hadn't noticed his slip and Douglas went as far as to say that it was a good job there was a 'wee gap' between 'U' and 'rine'. Brilliant!

And finally, congratulations to Rach and Jake who now have little Isabella Mary in the family. She was born this morning I think and weighed 7.12 (I think) which is, as Christopher put it, nearly the same size as Rach! Congrats to the Kings; we'll look forward to her joining our altos soon.

And on that note, I'll sign off. Chris introduced me to Imogen Heap's new version of 'Hide and Seek' called, originally and profoundly enough 'Hide and Seek 2' (well if it's good enough for Playstation and Spiderman) which has a brilliant background electric axe playing. It left me wondering whether choir funds would stretch to a limited edition Knopfler Fender Strat.

And with that final dream, I bid you goodnight (did you notice I did the 'and finally' three times there- this is a trick that all lecturers and vicars learn early on... there is always the hope you are going to bloomin' finish soon).

CSW

Goodness that was quick: baby watch and some more Czech

Morning all,
Well if you were to find an old wife and ask her to explain the key ways to bring on labour she may well tell you that hot curry works well, or a trip in a mini over cobbles (my mother's chosen method) or a long walk. However, a full day of recording with Rudsambee is the latest way to get that kiddo going. Welcome to the world, our newest affiliate member: Kay had a wee boy on Sunday morning. Just goes to show the power of a quick Tormis number! Congrats lady.

A second installment of our Czech vocab book. I thought I would today provide some useful info if you happen to meet a lovely Czech lady or gentleman:
You are my sweetheart: Jsi můj miláček. (the middle word sounds like 'mu-ey')
Will you marry me: Vezmeš si mě?
You're beautiful: Jsi krásná (the first word drops the 'j')

Well hope that is useful. Tune in tomorrow for our final post before we travel.

CSW

It's all done!

Well, Saturday came and (eventually) went. A very long day but we managed to complete our recording. It may have been sunny outside (at least for part of the day) but St Peter's, as usual, had its own unique climate. In fact if global warming ever gets so bad that Edinburgh is transformed into a desert landscape I really feel that those in the know will congregate in this building to escape the heat. The day started in an interesting way with our recording of 'Geographical Fugue'; one take ended with the exclamation 'oh pants' which is never a good sign but often an appropriate response to this piece of 'music'. Got it sorted eventually though and Susan and I giggled at the thought that we (the two sops) have only ever got this piece completely right twice- the first was the concert at Canongate Kirk last year and the second was the final take on Saturday. We smiled at our diva tendencies to only get it right when it matters ;-)

After a few bum notes, lots of stretching (man, standing up for eight hours is tough on the back) and, most of all, some great singing it was in the can (is that the right expression?...I am new to this recording artist business). Now poor old Helen just has to edit the whole thing...good luck with that! Oh and what are the chances that on the day Rudsambee want to record, a helicopter spends all day flying backwards and forwards over the church. If you were flying this thing beware- you are now on the Rudsambee hit list (otherwise known as the Chris-will-tickle-you-until-you-pass-out list).

Anyways, only two more sleeps until we hit the Czech Republic. A few of our number have left for the continent today (hope you are having a great time guys!). So I thought I would update the blog each day before then with a few Czech phrases and points of interest that might help. So a couple of phrases...

Nice to meet you: Těší mě (jeshi m-na)
I'll have a beer please: Dám si jedno pivo prosím (actually this sounds exactly as you would imagine. Good on the Czechs for simplifying where needed!)
Would you like to dance?: Smím prosit?

But I couldn't finish this post without mentioning the difference between British and Czech underground/subway announcements. In Britain (actually I'm basing this observation on London) a polite lady tells us to 'please mind the gap' and to 'please mind the doors'. In the Czech Republic apparently the announcer says something like this...Ukončete výstup a nástup, dveře se zavírají! which means 'Finish exiting and boarding the train, the doors are closing!' So much more direct than we are! Basically 'stop dilly-dallying around you fool and get off before you lose a body part in the closing door'. Fabulous- I love it.

Anyways (this is the final 'anyways') must just mention Kay who is due to have the baby sometime in the next week. She amazingly managed nearly the whole recording session. I'm pretty sure this baby will come out with the rhythms for 'Hide and Seek' already down! Much love and all the best for the next couple of weeks Kay. We'll miss you. Of course she isn't the only member of our group to be expecting. Rachel and Jake are also waiting on a wee one so I'll add a 'baby watch' entry when we have news.

Over and out until our second Czech culture report tomorrow
CSW

p.s. in answer to Chris' (my esteemed editor's) inserted comment of last post, no this diva will not be setting fire to any tables...sadly...barring any accident...