14 singers, including 2 newcomers, met at the Chichester Inn this month, with Alan finding time from a busy week to be there to lead us.
Voices were loosened up by "Country Life" before "England for Me". Then, with some introductions about the "Ebernoe Horn Fair" which still happens in the village on July 25th, we sang the song, with men and women in unison for a good sound. "Loyal Lover", a gentle and beautiful song came next, and having not sung it for a while we agreed it needed more work to revive it. Stephen A updated us on his progress with assembling the "Chithurst Songs"- and spoke about "Phoebe and the Dark Eyed Sailor" for which he has yet to confirm the correct tune. (This song is not to be confused with "The Dark Eyed Sailor" which features in the sea songs collection of the SDFS' cousin the "Secret Shore Singers".) So work on this, and "The Young Recruit", were left for a future session and instead we sang "Valiants All" and "The Stedham Oyster Man's Donkey" again to consolidate preparations so far - and agreed to reduce the length of the latter by coupling the verses to have fewer choruses. (This modified version will be added as an option to the SDFS Blog songs page in due course).
For its energy and fun we moved on with "Three Drunken Maidens" before talk began of having a refreshment break. In this pause Steve W briefed all about a response received from John Kirkpatrick about the SDFS using his song "St.George the Knight", a version of which Alan has recently shared with us. (Both versions will soon be available on the SDFS Blog's "Other Songs to Try" page.) A request was then made for "Ladies Go Dancing at Whitsun" which the women dully sang with the men's voices joining in, a little randomly, as the song progressed. Alan noted this and gave reminders and advice to improve future renditions.
After that we took the break - and it took a while for various chats to conclude and attention to return to the singing when we were otherwise ready to resume. Alan reminded singers of the melody and harmonies, high and low, for "The Rambling Comber". Our first attempt to recreate these was rather ragged with perhaps an imbalance in volume between the harmonies and the melody, and the melody getting a bit lost. A second attempt was better - but still disappointing and not as good as it had been when done in the past - so more work needed there too! "Our Captain Cried All Hands" came next, followed by "The Oak Tree Song", by which time concentration and voices were running low. "Oak and Ash and Thorn'" was suggested to finish but it faltered at the start and Alan, already weary before he came, felt he'd had enough and decided to leave a little early. So a sociable evening but not an entirely successful sing concluded, and we hope to do better in July!
H
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