If anyone has ever wondered what the collective noun for a series of Eleanor’s warm up exercises might be, I’d suggest that a “dram” might fit the bill - warming (especially on a night as cold as this) and great for loosening muscles, voices and inhibitions.

Suitably warmed up, we spent a while practicing the songs we’ll sing before Friday’s performance of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. Points to remember are:

Can’t Eat Money; Eleanor will bring each part in in turn. Remember “this” has a long vowel and short consonant.

Jute Mill; Remember the short “livin’” in verse 3.

Turn things upside down; remember not to drown out the basses, who carry the tune.

Tyrants of England; Verse 4 is back in. Take care with “And”, line 2 of verse 5. Remember a short vowel and long “nnnn” for the “done” of the final chorus.

We also spent time working on the 3 sections of the beautiful Halsway Carol, before finishing with the rousing Union Miner.

We’re meeting on Friday at 6.45pm at Unity Hall, 79 Vernon Street, Nelson, BB9 9DE, ready to sing at 7pm. (There is street side parking on Vernon Street or on Thomas Street at the top of Vernon St.) Thanks to everyone and especially Eleanor for another most enjoyable sing.

Eleven of us met for a mid-September sing after what had turned out to be a sunnier day than many this year. Eleanor guided us through a variety of warm up activities (some of which, as an added bonus, proved beneficial to muscles tired from gardening). Consonants practiced, bodies and voices warmed up, we began the singing with the wonderful Murmuration song “100,000 starlings fly together, dancing in the sky wherever they will…” - words which paint a lovely picture. The song works really well as a round and sounds great. (I saw a starling Murmuration on Skipton Old Road, near Pinhaw Beacon, a few evenings ago; if I see it again, I’ll definitely stop and sing an accompaniment).

The rest of the evening was spent working hard on the songs we’ll be singing on Sunday 22nd at Clarion House. First was “Let us Stand”.  Written at the time of Brexit, the words of this song resonate even more strongly today. Sung in four parts, it includes some interesting clashes and lovely harmonies.

We then practised the Diggers Song, World Turned Upside Down, Sing John Ball and Unison in Harmony. All are sounding good and everyone is looking forward to singing them on Sunday. (We’re meeting at Clarion House at 12.30pm).

As always, a big thanks to Eleanor and to everyone who contributed to another very enjoyable sing

Fourteen of us warmed up by (nicely aligned!) rocking, shaking, shimmying, arm-swinging, ear-to-shoulder gluing, squeezing and stretching faces and hands, humming and sing-nying-nying ing.

Suitably ready, we began the singing with “I like Monday...”, which works well sung in canon. Next was the round “I believe that one fine day”, most enjoyable to sing and absolutely right in its sentiment.

Eleanor then took us through the parts of the Blackstone Edge song in great (and patient) detail. Although it still needs some work, we had a magnificent attempt at singing it all the way through and it sounded much more confident.

Next, Moira helped us go through the three parts of “On High Cliffs”, one of the two songs for the “Behold ye ramblers” play on May 9th, before Eleanor took us through “We’ll turn things upside down”, the second song for the play. Both sounded good.

We finished with “Palestine”, in which it’s important to concentrate on timing, as the last line of each verse comes In more quickly, and “Unity”, a lovely uplifting song to end on.

We have a very busy schedule ahead, singing at the Blackstone Edge Gathering, Burnley May Day and the “Behold ye Ramblers” play all in the same week, so Eleanor made the excellent suggestion that we can double up on some of the songs; “Blackstone Edge” for both the Gathering and Burnley May Day and “We’ll turn things upside down” for both Burnley May Day and Behold ye Ramblers.

The other songs we’ll be singing at Burnley May Day are “Palestine”, “Unity”, “In the Dark Times” and “Our House is on Fire”. Eleanor asked that we bring the words for all six of the songs for May Day to the next practice, and to reacquaint ourselves with “Our house is on fire” before next week, for homework.

Finally, it’s great news to hear that Val is now back home after her op, and I know that everyone wishes her a speedy recovery.

Arriving for our first choir session after the Easter break in (bright) daylight was an auspicious start to an excellent evening. Eleanor began by encouraging us to stretch, rock, yawn, massage our faces and so on before going on to sing “How low can you go”, the vocal version of a limbo dance. As a complete contrast, we then sang “I’m a soprano”, each successive repetition getting higher, until I think Eleanor had heard enough!
Voices stretched and warmed up, we then enjoyed singing “Oo la la lay, Another evening fades away...”, before beginning the main (and hard) work of the evening, learning the rest of “Blackstone Edge”. With great patience, Eleanor took each part through the second section of each verse, encouraging the basses to make the most of some of their enjoyable phrases. The song is certainly quite a tricky one to learn, but it’s history alone makes it worth the effort, as it was written by Ernest Jones, who addressed 30,000 people at a Chartist rally at Blackstone Edge, in 1846. There’s more information about the song’s history at https://radicalmanchester.wordpress.com/2009/12/04/ernest-jones-and-the-1846-chartist-gathering-on-blackstone-edge/

After a lot of help from both Eleanor and Moira we were able to attempt singing the whole song. It’s certainly  starting to sound good, and, hopefully, is on course for us to join in with confidence at the Blackstone Edge Gathering in May.

Next Moira helped us with “We’ll turn things upside down” (one of the songs for the “Behold ye ramblers” play in May). Tenors, basses and sopranos have the tune, which is quite straightforward. The main work is fitting the (excellent) words in correctly. 

After all the learning, it was good to relax our brains a bit and sing “In the dark times”, then “Peace around” and “To change everything we need everyone” - a lovely finish to a very enjoyable session. Thanks Eleanor and Moira. 

18 of us assembled, seeking shelter from the relentless rain and a good night's singing. We found both.

Interwoven with our usual thorough warm-up was an unusual thread of musicality. We may, in our singing, very occasionally produce inaccurate notes...what, us?....but the same could not be said of the exquisite musicality of the floorboards at the bass end of the choir. Every time pressure was applied to them they responded with a very percussive bass line. There must be a song somewhere needing an unusual accompaniment? 

However, back in the real world, having stretched, lifted, swayed and attempted the virtually impossible(for me, anyway!) one arm forward and one arm back manoeuvre, Eleanor led us into a variety of minimalist voice sounds which were satisfying to make and produced some surprisingly lovely blends. Explorations in rhythm followed, with an emphasis on accuracy in syncopation. As ever, Eleanor developed these simple rhythms-this time into a jazz syncopation which worked beautifully. She continued the syncopation theme with Val Regan's I Have 5 Things To Say, layering rhythms into an impressive complexity of sound.

We worked extensively on Raw Chives, refining the various parts and coming to terms with the speed at which we have to sing some of the words. Eleanor makes it clear that listening to her-and to each other-is hugely important and if we forget that, things tend to drift away from what we're trying to achieve. 

We have several events to look forward to and the Blackstone Edge Sing is one of them. That said, nothing could have been more appropriate than our next song, The Blackstone Edge Gathering. Our last sing of the evening was Dougie McClean's beautiful This Love Will Carry, a note of optimism to take away with us into a troubled world. 

18 singers, music full of depth and pleasure and an MD who leads us all through the labyrinths of accuracy and interpretation with skill and patience: an enjoyable evening was obviously in store! The warm up was the usual combination of targeted stretching and swaying-even without the assistance of alcohol-and a moment when we reached for the sky and became positively balletic. Perhaps not positively-but you get my drift.

We launched into explosive sounds, facial contortions(perhaps we could be the first gurning campaigning choir?)and a maniacal shake, reminiscent of a horror movie. Our next exercise was making a variety of sounds whilst keeping our mouths perfectly still-thus, Eleanor informed us, encouraging a variety of sound and tone. There is always a cunning plan behind our warm-ups, moving us to being more aware of how we sing. 

Then it was a softly melodic paean to trees, extolling their many virtues, shifting in emphasis from one section of the choir to another. Then, This Love Will Carry unfolded its harmonies like the turning pages of a book, each part of the choir coming in separately. Eleanor added oohs to give another level of texture to the song and also experienced a musical revelation when she realised that the second part was the same as the first! It' always rewarding to learn something new.........

Our penultimate song was the energetic and exhilarating Raw Chives-full speed ahead! We were straining like greyhounds in their pre-race stalls then racing full speed through the sections, which Eleanor most definitely didn't want us to do! Who knew that vegetables could cause so much trouble? Or be so varied in tone? Restored to order, we delivered the goods like well-trained greengrocers.

And finally, it was the wistful but optimistic In The Dark Times, which came together beautifully. As we sang about the power and resilience of song I felt quietly amazed that such simple songs, sung straight from the heart can generate the joy that keeps us coming to sing together, week after week.

On a damp, dank late February evening, it can be tempting to stay at home by the fire, but a good sing is, of course, a much better option, as twenty or so of us realised tonight.

Eleanor soon had us swaying, stretching, yawning, drumming feet, and standing on one leg amongst other things, then getting our voices slide up and down and singing numbers up and down the scale. All this meant that our voices were warmed up and ready for a really good sing - which we certainly had.

The songs were all ones we hope to sing on Saturday at the Palestine march, (meeting on Saturday at 11am at Burnley Central Methodist Church), the first being the beautiful four part round “Olive Tree”, one that feels quite meditative after a time. It ended with all the parts singing the last line, “Symbol of my home”, in unison.

This was followed by “A Salaam”, sung in four parts, the bass part being particularly interesting. The simplicity of the words and melody belie how effective the finished sound is, and the feeling it creates.

Next up was “Sing around”, which Eleanor suggested we sing as three separate parts rather than as a round; this worked well and the song felt very uplifting.

We worked hard on “Palestine”, in particular on the timing and fitting the words in. Indeed, the words are such an important part of this song. Eleanor took us through the last two verses, with the whole song beginning to sound good (and especially when we reprised it later).

“In the darkness” and “Peace Salaam Shalom” were our last two songs and both sound lovely.

Well done to everyone and a big thank you to Eleanor.

An unusually mild February evening lured 17 of us to choir rehearsal, ready for whatever the evening had in store. As ever, Eleanor-with beautifully floral legs-started on time with the business of warming us up to sing. Stretching and swaying loosened stiffened bodies and then our breath control was put to the test when we were asked to inflate and deflate imaginary rubber rings around our middles. If only we could so easily complete the process for the rings- like mine!-which are far from imaginary.....

Exercising face muscles followed swiftly and we made a most satisfying and diverse arrangement of noises, ending by elevating ourselves to the regions of the upper-crust, with a stream of Yahs, sung with completely open mouths all the way through. Eleanor was reminding us that the more we open our mouths the better the sound which comes out, again structuring the warm-up to improve the rehearsal. She returned to this idea in Olive Tree, our first round, and it supported the simple but beautiful harmonies which she taught us.  

Enthusiastic consensus took us to Palestine-impossible not to sing Jim Page's powerful and poignant song in view of the horrors beleaguering the people there. Moira led us and Eleanor gave robust and welcome support to we sopranos, our numbers swelled to four by Ewa's generous (and temporary) defection from the altos. We all had a mixture of Bom Boms and words, written to produce a call and response effect, but the Bom Boms were devilishly elusive critters at times! This is one of the songs we will be singing at the Palestinian event in Burnley on March 2nd. There will be a march which will begin from Central Methodist Church in Burnley at 11am and possibly end at the Peace Garden outside the Library-this last venue has not yet been finalised. We won't be expected to march and sing at the same time but will be given a place to stand where our voices can be heard.

One of the songs we hope to sing at the event is In The Dark Times, which we managed to perform well enough to receive a 'Good' from Eleanor! What came next was Let there be peace, from the Taize tradition, which seeks to produce rich, meditative songs with simple, repeating melodies to act as musical prayers. It was utterly beautiful and will be perfect for a gathering dedicated to unity. 

Our final musical meditation was Salaam Shalom, which we sang with all our hearts.

Around twenty of us braved the chill wind of January’s stinging tail, to enjoy the warmth provided to body and soul by a good sing.

We began with the usual warm up of stretching, swaying, balancing, oohing and aahing etc., (oh how I wish that they made WD40 for knees!) Then Eleanor had us exercising our bilabials, dentals, labio-dentals and palatals, which was much more fun than it sounds, as they’re all consonant sounds. These were followed by some numerical singing exercises, 1,121,12321 and so on, up the scale. So far, fairly straightforward, and a not insurmountable challenge for the brain. Things became a good deal trickier when we did a similar exercise, but descending the scale; 8,878,87678 etc. Who knew that counting backwards could cause confusion?! But we managed it. With muscles, lungs, mouths and brains now engaged, we began the singing in earnest.

First was a beautiful two part round “Murmuration”, the words reminding us of one of nature’s awesome spectacles;

“100,000 starlings fly together,

Dancing in the sky wherever they will.

Murmuration, Murmuration,

Murmuration, Murmuration”.

It’s a beautiful song and it sounded very good.

Next we revisited “Auch eine reise”, the German words feeling less of a tongue-twister this week. We sang this as a two part round, sopranos with tenors and altos with basses. The resulting sound was stirring and a joy to be a part of. Indeed, we could have gone on singing this one for a long time. As someone pointed out, it would be an excellent song for a march.

The next song, “Raw Chives” was a new one for me, although some longer standing members had not only sung it before but also written the wonderful words. The main tune was the well known “Raw Hide” melody, but combined with two other parts, creating a build up of both volume and harmony. It was tricky in places (for me, at any rate) but starting to sound good. As Eleanor rightly pointed out, though, you should never overdo the raw chives, so we then sang straight through the beautiful, uplifting “In the dark times”, before finishing with “Five things to say”, with its splendid bass part, and its thoughtful words by Rumi.

Another great evening’s singing, thanks to Eleanor. 🎶

PS we missed you Val, and send every good wish.

The trumpets sounded their most triumphant notes! The celebratory balloons soared into the sky! The champagne flowed like water! And all because 21 eager and able singers attended rehearsal! No longer were we held hostage by the cruel masters of ice and snow; no more were we soaked through by the endlessly pouring rain. We triumphed............

And of course we were eager to stretch, bounce-and, impressively, bounce and stretch at the same time. No end to our talents and to Eleanor's ingenuity in warming us up, ready to sing. She made us sample the Devil's Work-the exercise we all dread....one arm swinging forward and the other swinging backwards AT THE SAME TIME. Oh my. Then, more manageably, we skied, exhaling powerfully 'like disgruntled teenagers' as Eleanor lyrically put it. What followed was a crescendo of stretchy-faced and stretchy-voiced cats with a good deal of fierce meowing: very satisfying! A quick burst of body-ironing to ease away any remaining stiffness and we were ready to begin the singing warm-up.

We named and sang our choir parts, then Eleanor developed that into a punchy call and response. An action song followed: I'm alive, alert and wake enthusiastic. Hmm. Well, at least the actions were true! We were asked to gradually increase the speed of those actions....I'll leave you to imagine the result. The great thing is that Eleanor always keeps the warm-ups fresh, interesting and light-hearted.

We returned to our work on Auch eine Reise von tausend Meilen, with Eleanor paying very careful attention to our German pronunciation. Then the lines were repeated in English. Phew. When we came together as a choir we sounded very effective. In the dark times, will there also be singing is another imaginative choice by Eleanor and, as always, she taught it with enormous perseverance and patience. As a result of her continued hard work the piece is really starting to come together and will be very solemnly beautiful when it is finished. We began with basses and tenors interleaving, then tenors and sopranos repeating the process. Eleanor then formed a fifth group, a mix of tenor and alto voices, weaving their part into the tapestry of the others. We ended with a dramatic and (usually) melodic descent, concluding that descent is not our strongest suit!

We finished with what is an old favourite for quite a few of us and which never loses its relevance: Peace Around. We sang confidently and well, allowing us all-and Eleanor!- to end the evening in a relaxed frame of mind. She brings enormous energy into ensuring that we improve whilst giving us an evening of companionship, enjoyment and a real sense of achievement. Thank you, Eleanor! 

14 of us gathered together to share music and we enjoyed a hugely convivial evening, packed wall-to-wall with song. Christmas memories were exchanged and a plethora of Happy New Years echoed around the walls of St Peter's Junior School hall but the main business of the evening was, as ever, singing whatever goodies Eleanor had selected for us. But of course, as any singer knows, the warm-up must come first......

........and so it was. There was a variety of swaying-perfected, no doubt, during the Christmas and New Year periods. Unhand that eggnog! This was followed by a range of wordless sounds(suppose the levels of wordlessness depend on how much eggnog was imbibed)to develop resonance and body in our voices. Eleanor invoked memories of Christmas balloons by asking us all to inhale deeply then deflate by pushing out air powerfully, reminding us of the need for breath control in our singing.

And then-to song! Peace Around was aptly named as we did sing it as a round. Initially, each part sang together, then Eleanor, always innovative, mixed all the part members and the round was sung again. What a difference-a richer sound threaded through with voices of different colours-several choirs within one. The originality of Eleanor's ideas and the simple nature of their structures keep what we do fresh and interesting.

A piece by Melanie Goulding poignantly asked the urgent question `In the dark times, will there also be singing?' Worldwide, the times are some of the darkest we've known and we, and others like us, can make our voices heard in peace and unity. The first verse of the song was call and response and after a little-er-experimentation and careful, meticulous guidance from Eleanor the song breathed its determined message.

The clock had beaten us and as we packed away our music and chatted, full of inner warmth from our singing, we might think once more about Rumi, who urged us thus: `Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.' Isn't that what we'd just been doing?

Happy New Year

A good number of us (I’m sorry but I forgot to count exactly how many) met on a very chilly evening for the final choir practice of the term. Eleanor soon had us swaying, moving shoulders and making figures of eight with our hips, thereby soon feeling warmer. Once our mouths and voices had also been exercised, (courtesy of consonants, blends, slides and days of the week), the singing began in earnest, with two really lovely rounds, “Long the night”, which Eleanor encouraged us to sing smoothly, even though it had lots of notes, and “Ceasefire now”, to the tune of “Ah poor bird”. Both sounded very good, and singing them created quite a meditative feeling. 

The rest of the evening was spent on the songs we’ll be singing at Clarion House on Sunday; “Chiming Bells” (which sounded great), “Season of Peace” (other parts must remember not to drown out the sopranos), “We wish you joy”, “Peace on Earth”, “Jingle Bells” (with an extra, fast chorus at the end), “Deck the Hall”, “Let it Snow” and “O Christmas Tree” (English verse, German verse and the The Red Flag). In case anyone isn’t sure, the Red Flag words are:

“The People's Flag is deepest red,

It shrouded oft our martyred dead,

And ere their limbs grew stiff and cold,

Their hearts' blood dyed its every fold.

Then raise the scarlet standard high.

Beneath its shade we'll live and die,

Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,

We'll keep the red flag flying here.”

We’re meeting at the Clarion at about 12 on Sunday, and it certainly promises to be a festive event (don’t forget to bring mulled wine and mince pies to share). 

Out of the black depths of a Burnley evening came 18 intrepid souls with singing in their hearts and minds! As usual, Eleanor wasted no time in engaging us in a variety of bodily manoeuvres which released our stiffened joints and muscles. Breathing, too, was given its own focus-yawning (special mention to Peter for the musicality of his!) and using our whole bodies to breathe in deeply and expel the breath slowly. That'll assist us in getting through those long lines in one breath! Eleanor then took us through a variety of syncopations and refreshed our understanding of note values in order to improve accuracy.

We began our singing with 'Christmas is coming' which Eleanor developed into a 2,3 and four part round then reduced back down to unison, helping to develop flexibility and reminding us of the necessity of watching her carefully as we sing. Our next sing is at Clarion House on 17th December so we visited the shepherds who eternally watch their flocks (we were encouraged to make them 'bouncy0; lovely thought) then added 'Sweet Chiming Bells.' Eleanor wanted us to give this song a rustic feel and that conjured up visions of similarly rustic cider-but alas, there was none to be had...........Our Christmas repetoire, however, is refreshed. 

It was lovely to hear from Sue Boardman that Rachel, the organiser of the Victorian weekend at Gawthorpe Hall, was so enthusiastic about our performance there last Sunday. In case Sue's email hasn't reached everyone we've been invited to sing again-not only at Christmas but in the summer, too. Many thanks to Sue for arranging the event with Rachel.