25 of us met at the Barn for this month's session. Unfortunately Emily was needed at home so couldn't join us but sent good wishes to all in her absence. Alan and Amaryllis kindly agreed to lead us through a goodly mix of songs and they took turns to introduce them and guide us. Henny began the evening by giving Em's apologies and sharing some notices, including additional details and reminders about this year's programme of SDFS public events (already on our Blog Diary page), with an invitation to singers to volunteer to sing at them. (The first of these will be singing at Petworth House again, on April 12th as part of their Spring Festival; Amaryllis will be leading and will soon prepare two sets of songs to sing at 12.00 noon then 2.00pm.)
Our singing at this session began with Alan leading with "When Spring Comes In" - a suitable celebration of the recent up-turn in our weather and the joys of spring arriving at last! Amaryllis took her first turn with "Life of a Man" reminding us in a different way of our life cycle and seasons' changing. We headed for the hills after that, with Alan "Searching for Lambs" and Amaryllis with "Hares on the Mountain". We sang the latter together, men and women, with the repeat line in each verse sung softly like an echo. Continuing the spring theme we looked towards May with "Hal an Tow" - and Alan encouraged a united and positive single hand clap to punctuate the pause in the first line of the chorus (i.e. Hal an tow, (clap) jolly rumbalo) - which seemed to work well and added to the vibrancy of the song.
Continuing with our tandem leads we sang "Lark in the Morning" - after a discussion about which lyrics to use. We ultimately chose the one based on the Coppers' version without chorus intervals. (This is on the 'Other Songs to Try' page of the SDFS Blog, but will soon to be added to the main 'Songs...' page). Next came "Ladies Go Dancing at Whitsun" with a reminder to ensure use of the extra lift in the notes of 'go' in the last line when just women's voices end the song.
We sang "The Cuckoo" with a light bright touch, led by Amaryllis, remembering to pace the timing to hold the note a little at the end of the third line in each verse, and also to give emphasis in the last line of each verse on 'summer', 'bring' and 'maiden'. We sang it with a repeat of the first verse to conclude the song on a more cheery note - but Angela S then shared with us some alternative lines she has which might serve better - "And when her time is come her voice we don't hear, and where she goes we do not know until another year'. (These will soon be added to the song on the Blog.)
After a break with various drinks and chats, we continued with a mix of songs suggested by Alan or Amaryllis or by general request. Starting with "Summer is Acommin' In Again", and "My Downland Remembered", before Alan suggested "The Rambling Comber" including its low and high harmonies which are now beginning to bed in. "One for the Rook", now a firm favourite, was prefaced by details shared by Steve and Henny of their recent contact with Paul (an associate and friend of the song's writer, Mike Barber), who has endorsed our use of the song saying that he and Mike's family are pleased to know his songs are being used, this being a fitting epitaph to Mike who died a few weeks ago. With this in mind we sang the song with our usual pleasure and gusto.
As the clock ticked on, two more requests followed to conclude the evening - "Rosebuds in June" and last but not least the "Parting Song".
Many thanks to Alan and Amaryllis for their generous efforts - and to all the singers who turned up in the face of winter colds and other bugs, multiple works or diversions on the roads just now, and all the other demands in their busy lives - to support another jolly good sing at the Barn! See you in April !
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