December 2013 Ditties for your Delectation

Yet again we welcomed several new singers to our final session of the year.


I will never forget the initial terror and then incredible exhilaration of singing with others in front of several hundred people at a Transition Towns event a few years ago after a singing by ear workshop. Our teacher didn't announce the idea to sing in front of everyone until the workshop was over, very wise! This sowed the seed for me to get community singing going in Wivenhoe.

I do a silent 'Oh Yes!' when someone arrives for the first time looking nervous and leaves with a grin saying how much they've enjoyed the workshop. We are so lucky to have such a brilliant teacher in Chris Rowbury who makes it seem so easy.

If you are reading this and want to share your 'coming to singing' story please write and tell me, so between us we can help inspire others to take the plunge. jowheatley[at]yahoo.co.uk

Click here to listen to December's songs, remembering we've only just learned them at the two and a half hour session! The Paraguayan one is my favourite.

Boudica is coming...!

 

More details here

November 2013: World Premier at the Library!

Chris taught everyone in the library a song too! 

Click here to listen to the songs performed last Saturday. There are four MP3s, one for each song.

Fly away home slipped out of sync, but I don't think anyone noticed!!

Just to say what amazing work it was to learn FOUR songs in only an hour
and a quarter, AND have time for a tea break and run through. Eat your
heart out Gareth Malone! All the singers seemed to enjoy themselves and looked like a solid group that had been together forever, no visible nerves. Well done everyone!

If people want to sign up to my mailing list to be kept in touch with
local singing workshops and other events, just click here and fill your details in.

Chris

Come and hear SingWiv in action!

October 2013: Listen To Us Sing!!

Each month several new singers join in at SingWiv, and this time many newbies came via Wivenhoe's Woolly Thoughts group - thanks Janie for spreading the word! Luckily they were far from woolly singers and with just over twenty of us all together we once again made some lovely sounds with Chris's guidance.

Click here to download or just listen to three of these, a Welsh lullaby 'Hui Hui', a Cuban party song, 'Adios Mama' and a great gospel number, 'Where Shall I Be?'

November's session is on the 9th, and for anyone who wants to, we'll be singing a few of the songs we've learned that day, over the road at the library for the final 15 minutes of the session!

Chris is back!

Chris Rowbury is back in October after a great session with guest teacher Clive Barker last month, thanks Clive!

All are welcome - we learn new songs each time so there's no need to have been before.
So, turn up on the 5th just before 2pm at the Scout Hall (behind the council office, High St) and you're pretty much guaranteed a fantastic afternoon :)

June 2013 Tunes & Summer Break

Hi there

Here are my recordings from the workshop in Wivenhoe last Saturday
afternoon.

I had forgotten to tell you that some of the songs are HARD, especially
with a relatively small group!

So fantastically well done!! The songs are a little shaky in places, but
considering we learnt four songs in less than three hours, that's only
to be expected.

Here is the link to the songs I recorded:

https://www.box.com/s/847uug5ueo9z1u5my9b5

There are three MP3 files, one for each song (I didn't record Tonight I
belong to you).

I've added lyrics and song information as a comment to each song.

Click on each song to play it. Hover over each title to see the option
to download. You can also download the entire folder (i.e. all five
songs) at once by clicking on Download at the top.

Ignore any "Sign up for Box and get 5GB free" pop-ups by just clicking
the cross in the top right corner.

You can also leave comments on each song if you feel inclined! It would
be nice to hear what you think.

I promised a link to some real Corsicans singing. Here is the group A
filetta (http://www.afiletta.com/):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU-wBJ4r3f0

Exquisite!!

And now for something completely different, Patience and Prudence
singing Tonight you belong to me (written in 1926):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOjVjc5vJ6I

and here is Steve Martin singing it in the movie The Jerk where I first
heard it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqtmXnQZ6Qk

Enjoy!

Hope to see you in October, but don't forget Clive's session in September.

Chris

Come & Sing!

May 2013: May the fourth was with us phew...

Whilst others were lying around in the sunshine last Saturday, 10 eager singers gathered in the Scout Hall in Wivenhoe and had an amazing singing session!

We managed to learn FIVE songs in an afternoon and fit in some detailed small group harmony singing practice. Which I think is pretty wonderful. I think we make a damn good sound for such a small group. One of the songs (Kada Kidi) had SIX separate parts AND actions.

So well done all. Here is a link to the recordings:

https://www.box.com/s/sduovya5sjnozrtutlv2

There is one MP3 file for each song. You can listen to them online, download them individually to your PC or download the entire folder.

Some of them are a little shaky at the start (not bad considering how quickly we learnt them!), but they all settle down well.

Many thanks again for being the guinea pigs for my April songwriting challenge "Alleluya".

I taught Kada Kidi with actions to almost 200 singers on London's Southbank yesterday. The bobbing up and down and hands up actions were a joy to behold!

I look forward to seeing you all on Saturday 8th June.

Chris

April 2013 Recordings

Here are the recordings I made last Saturday:

https://www.box.com/s/f75l5asxy44oll14hdca

There is one MP3 for each of the songs we sang, plus I've put real live Georgians singing Gazapkhuli for your delight. I thought we did a pretty good job of it ourselves actually!

And thanks for bearing with my Spring song. I thought we just about got it towards the end!

I hope you enjoyed it and see you on May 4th. Spread the word!

Chris

'Singing-in the Spring'?

Well, it was milder and slightly Spring like when we started singing at this month's workshop... and chilly and raining as we left.

But we sang our hearts out, as ever.

Here are the words to a beautiful song from Georgia. This month's recordings to follow soon.


If you are reading this for the first time and want to join in, please come along to the next workshop on 4th May 2013. See Workshop Dates page for more info. 

If you are interested in joining one of Chris's other workshops, Singing Safaris or other events, have a look at his website here.

March 2013: Merry March Minstrels

Here we are about to learn a Maori song in the British Legion Hall.

Hi there

I hope you enjoyed last Saturday singing in Wivenhoe down by the riverside.

Here are the recordings I made:

https://www.box.com/s/x4t6sdrfkkz2jdexntzk

There are four MP3 files, one for each song.

Click on each song to play it. Hover over each title to see the option
to download. You can also download the entire folder (i.e. all four songs) at once by clicking on Download at the top.

Ignore any "Sign up for Box and get 5GB free" pop-ups by just clicking the cross in the top right corner.

Some people have had problems in the past. It may be because you don't have Flash Player installed. If you have any problems, click here to see if you have the latest version installed:

http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/find-version-flash-player.html

You can also leave comments on each song if you feel inclined! It would be nice to hear what you think.

Enjoy! And I hope to see you on 13th April with a whole new bunch of songs.

Chris
http://chrisrowbury.com

February 2013: and any February ones...

Click on the link to listen or download
https://www.box.com/s/wgpadwch1o33xxd01wfq

What variety! A song written by our fab teacher, Chris Rowbury, so that's Suffolk covered - then Jewish, Scandinavian and South African ones! Listening to Bim Bam again just makes me smile and I can't stop humming Hvem kan segla. Lovely, lovely stuff. We make such an amazing sound given it's the first time we've ever sung each song and then only learned it for 20 minutes or so.

Next month we're at the British Legion Hall (downstairs), usual time.

These sessions are purely for fun and enjoyment. Singing for sheer pleasure, so there's no pressure to be 'good' at it, or pitch perfect, no auditions or solo singing; just singing in a crowd with lots of laughs along the way - and a tea break of course.

If you live in or near Wivenhoe, why not come and give it a try!

January 2013: Singing the January blues away

Here are four songs Chris recorded at last month's workshop.

Click here

& enjoy!

November 2012 workshop, have a listen!

Here are recordings from November's workshop Chris has sent the link below you can download them from.

https://www.box.com/s/kys2x6ajh1lqs7e79m9s


Chris says:
  There are five MP3 files, one for each song plus a version of Oj Dobricu by an American group which appears on a CD called Balkan Bridges.

Click on each song to play it. Hover over the title to see the option
to download. You can ignore the "Sign up for Box and get 5GB free" by
just clicking the cross in the top right corner. You can also add
comments if you like!

Box is a free service and there didn't used to be any quick way to
download all songs at once, but now I think you just have to click on
Download Folder.

Here is a link to Brian Abraham's song Tedumela with an extra part by Roxane Smith ("We are one"):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr5YMYc_LUI

Here's a version of Up above my head in a Country-stylee (kicks in after about 2 mins.):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACgvzDFSxm0

And Gaudeamus hodie (with percussion!):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS7jc3x1FS0