Singing Weekend with Jane Harris - Saturday 19 & Sunday 20 March 2022
Bishop Edward King Chapel, Ripon College, Cuddesdon, near Oxford.

Despite the howling gales and the endless rain, 46 singers found solace in the beautiful Holy Trinity Church last week for the Early Spring Sing. The church provided a sanctuary from the stormy weather, and the calming affect of the space allowed for some glorious singing. Below are some of my thoughts on the workshop with a recap of the songs we learned. There is also some participant feedback which feature many recurring words: uplifting, calming, joyful. I agree! Thank you for supporting the second Sing with Clarity workshop. 

We began the workshop with a gentle warm up including singing scales in harmony. Following the warm up we learned a Nigerian round, Yo Yo Yo, a deceptively simple tune with delicious harmonies when you get into 3 parts. Next we sang Wake Up, a song written for community choir by Nick Prater, arranged by Ali Orbaum for Sing for Water. We began with the tune to the verse and learning the harmony parts around it. It's a wonderful song, anticipating spring, moments in nature and the new day.

We took a short refreshment break and then learned Noyana, a Zulu song about heaven. A short song, with very few words, Noyana is a joyous song with some crunchy harmonies. It also has some tricky entries, particularly for the basses and sopranos, but it didn't take long for the singers to nail it and it was fantastic! The next song we sang was Madre Tierra, a song for Mother Earth by Alonso del Rio from Peru. This is a piece arranged by Nickomo, a much-loved choir leader, song arranger and writer. We dedicated this part of the workshop to him as he is in hospital recovering from a serious illness. The basses had the lead part on this song creating a rich, warm sound throughout. Once the parts were learned we explored the space whilst singing - it's a beautiful thing when you can walk past the other harmonies and hear them all weaving through each other.
We then went back to Wake Up to learn the chorus with it's wonderful run of alleluia's. Every part has a slightly different rhythm to learn which makes it a little challenging, but very satisfying to sing.

After a short break, we put the verse and the chorus of Wake Up together and sang it through a few times, experimenting with taking parts in and out. To round off the workshop we went back to the very first piece, Yo Yo Yo, and sang that in a close circle with parts split across the whole space, creating a lush sound. We ended with taking the volume right down and singing gently, creating a trance-like stillness and calm within the whole group. Absolute magic.  

I was left feeling uplifted and re-energised. Thank you to you all for contributing to a wonderful afternoon of singing. ​

On Saturday 3 August, we welcomed over 50 singers to Edington Priory Church for a wonderful afternoon of singing. The group were taught songs from South Africa, Georgia, Israel, Corsica, the USA and Canada by choir leader Clara Atkins. In the last part of the workshop the group enjoyed singing everything they'd learned in the most extraordinary acoustic of the chancel. 
Below is some feedback from the participants along with some photos from the day. 
We'd like to thank Edington Priory Church for being so accommodating and welcoming. We hope to have another Sing with Clarity workshop there again soon.

What was your favourite thing about today's workshop?
Superb organisation, wonderful welcome, the BEST leader. 
The happy atmosphere. Really enjoyable afternoon.
High quality of leader. Wonderful.
I LOVED IT!
Everything! Fantastic. 
An inspiring very professional choir leader - really impressive. 
Encouraging and positive teaching (non-threatening!).
YOU! I loved the way you taught, made songs easy to learn.
This has added another dimension to the singing experience and the acoustics were breathtaking. 
Lovely mixture of songs taught beautifully.
Inspirational teaching, clear and encouraging. Excellent choice of songs. 
Singing with others and making an amazing sound. Escaping the worries and angst of the news / world. 
Hearing the power of voices singing together and the emotional effect. It was all brilliant. I want to do it again! Fantastic!

As part of the Wiltshire Rural Music's fundraiser at Holy Trinity Church, Trowbridge, Clarity leader Clara Atkins delivered a 1-hour workshop. It was well received with over 25 people joining in, including 3 under 16. We learned a 16th century Michael Praetorious 3-part round called Jubilate Deo and a four part South African song called Haufi Le Morena. At the end we shared what we'd learned to the audience of supporters before enjoying some delicious tea and cake. 
To find out more about Wiltshire Rural Music, visit their website: http://wiltshireruralmusic.co.uk/