On Sunday 5 March, a group of 40 singers came together for an afternoon workshop. The whole workshop was was full of joy and I found it very uplifting. It was great to see some new faces as well as many familiar ones. Below are some thoughts reflecting on what was a wonderful workshop.
After our warm up we learned The Sun Will Rise, a beautiful round about hope written by Kate Shrubsall in the early weeks of the first lockdown. Next we sang Walk in the Light, a fun gospel-style song by Nick Prater, a pioneer of the community choir and natural voice movement. This song is full of joy and it was wonderful to hear you all sing it!
After a well earned cup of tea we continued our singing with Soyiwela, a South African freedom song. A relatively simple, short song, I found this to be quite moving. Many of you have written in your feedback that it was a highlight for you.
We then moved on to learning Dave King's fabulous arrangement of Sydney Carter's rousing Bells of Norwich. Based on a text by Julian of Norwich (all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well), this song reminds us that all things shall pass, like the seasons come and go. It was great to hear the basses sing their wonderful line that sounds like a peal of bells ringing out over the melody. It's such a fun song to sing and a real ear-worm!
To finish the afternoon, we learned a few lines of Penny Stone's In Ev'ry Grain of Sand to send us off on our way. A beautiful song about our precious Earth and how we are all connected.
After our warm up we learned The Sun Will Rise, a beautiful round about hope written by Kate Shrubsall in the early weeks of the first lockdown. Next we sang Walk in the Light, a fun gospel-style song by Nick Prater, a pioneer of the community choir and natural voice movement. This song is full of joy and it was wonderful to hear you all sing it!
After a well earned cup of tea we continued our singing with Soyiwela, a South African freedom song. A relatively simple, short song, I found this to be quite moving. Many of you have written in your feedback that it was a highlight for you.
We then moved on to learning Dave King's fabulous arrangement of Sydney Carter's rousing Bells of Norwich. Based on a text by Julian of Norwich (all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well), this song reminds us that all things shall pass, like the seasons come and go. It was great to hear the basses sing their wonderful line that sounds like a peal of bells ringing out over the melody. It's such a fun song to sing and a real ear-worm!
To finish the afternoon, we learned a few lines of Penny Stone's In Ev'ry Grain of Sand to send us off on our way. A beautiful song about our precious Earth and how we are all connected.