Eleven stalwart singers attended this month's SDFS Chichester group meeting. Alan led the evening, with occasional leadership from Amaryllis, who will be leading a forthcoming event and who was a most welcome addition to the Chichester meeting!
We opened with a seasonal song, "All Among the Barley", that some folk had recently not felt ready to sing out, and Alan demonstrated a couple of tune points. Anne and Steve managed to hold the base part that had been taught at Worthing. Following this, all present felt they would be happy to sing it out. "Lammas Carol" was sung with confidence and kept the group in seasonal mode. Alan reminded all that some parts had been introduced by Emily and these can be found on the SDFS Blog along with the tune (which may need a revised recording). "Oak and Ash and Thorn" followed and gained applause from the bar – what a great song, well sung last night by our group!
Delving into some less well known parts of the repertoire, the group tried "The Loyal Lover" which hadn’t been sung a great deal recently. Perhaps this is not a song for a noisy outside venue and possibly the starting note was also a bit low. Amaryllis sang her new composition "Michaelmas" – again in keeping with the season. This great little song, to the tune of "Poor Froze Out Gardener" was much appreciated by all present and certainly should be included in the official repertoire. It can be found on the SDFS Blog and will be included in the upcoming W&D 'Michaelmas' event set list (Oct.1st). On the theme of upcoming set lists (for the Stanmer event on Sept.18th), the group tried "Hannaker Mill", with some discussion about whether or not verses 2 and 3 should be “run together”. Before a well earned break, the group tried "My Downland Remembered", a newish composition presented by Alan. There was discussion about adding a harmony to enhance the last line of each verse. Alan provided one and Steve duly recorded it to add to the song's Blog listing.
The second half opened with the "Woodcutter’s Song" in preparation for Winter set lists! Amaryllis then led "Hares on the Mountain" at a brisk pace and all agreed it went well at that speed. She later led "Life of a Man", and then "Smuggler’s Song"; all are going to be included in forthcoming events. Alan turned to the newly introduced version of "The Lark in the Morning". As in the Worthing group's session, a few changes to the wording were proposed for ease of singing. Henny outlined plans for displaying any such changes suggested for a song on the song's lyrics sheet on the 'Songs to Try' page of the Blog (colour coded per local group and dated to identify the origin). Alan led "One for the Rook" with full actions which was much enjoyed. The evening finished on the suitable theme of "The Parting Song", enthusiastically supported by all.
No comments:
Post a Comment