A merry band of 35 singers met at the Barn for our March session with the Spring very much in mind. Notices about our spring season public events opened proceedings before the main business of the evening - singing. Suitably enough we began with “When Spring Comes In” , followed by "Hal n Tow” for which Emily sang for us a first verse we have not thus far included. We didn’t learn and sing it at this session but it could be added in the future (so it's now on our “Other Songs to Try” SDFS Blog page for reference). Moving further into the spring we sang the lovely "Ladies Go Dancing" with the arrangement of women leading and men’s voices backing them initially with a gentle hum and later with softly sung words as the song progressed. We gave it a second go to polish the pace and the emphases in the phrasing.
In a pause from the spring theme we sang "Come Stranger Come Friend”, which has been used in the Chichester and Lewes SDFS sessions but not in Worthing so deserves more of our attention. Alan and Anne reminded us of it in their duet before we all had a go and agreed we should sing it more often. Returning to the spring “It is the First of May” came next, with Alan and Emily highlighting the fall and rise of notes in the last line of the chorus - lower on ‘of’ and rising on ‘May’, which was duly practiced. Before a break we closed the first half with a bright rendition of the “May Day Carol”.
We resuming our vocal journey towards warmer and longer days with “Summer is A’Commin’ in Again” - including a couple of lovely verses Alan has offered either as substitutes or additions to the song. (They are now available as appendices to the original on the SDFS Blog's "Other Songs to Try" page, and also on our "Songs by Us" page.) This reopened discussion about the possible meaning and intention of, and some previously voiced objections to, the last couple of verses in the original (with their references to battles, fighting men and the slain). Agreement was reached that Alan’s verses are available to be used when and if preferred - or they could simply be added to an already good song. (In this discussion due respect was paid to the creator of the original, noting that his views had not yet been explored nor permissions given - but we hoped our interest in his song and our wish to sing and enjoy it would be appreciated by him as a positive.)
After that debate ”The Oak Tree Song” was requested and unanimously welcomed. We took time again, under Emily’s careful guidance and supervision, to continue to develop the high and low harmonies for this lovely song, as well as polish the melody. There is still enjoyable work to be done to be really fluent, but the combined sound after just a few goes was already rewarding and lovely to be a part of - and thank you again Emily for what you bring to our singing!
Last but never least - we raised the rafters to finish the session with the tried, tested and, by most, much loved “Thousands or More” - an anthem from our original workshop days and a reminder of how much the Copper family have helped to keep the songs of the South Downs alive. And thanks to everyone who brings their voice to the "South Downs Folk Singers", you are helping us to do this too!
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