In-person rehearsals having been banned during the two Lockdowns, a regular group of members of Weymouth Choral Society continued to meet on Monday evenings via the Zoom online platform to sing and chat. This involved everyone getting used to the technology involved, and, for the Chairman, research into the requirements of online music licencing!
Helen recorded the “lesson” part of the rehearsal and played that to us. We would then sing along to a professional recording of the work being studied. It took some getting used to, singing in a room at home, alone, hearing only oneself and the recording. We were grateful that Helen couldn’t hear our wrong notes too!
Helen planned the rehearsal material to follow our usual programming during the year, with a mix of composers and styles. Among the music we have studied were sacred pieces including Mozart’s Dona Nobis Pacem, Pergolesi’s Magnificat, Elgar’s Ave Verum Corpus, Stella’s Dona La Pace, Signore, Bruckner’s Locus Iste and Franck’s Panis Angelicus. There were also excerpts from Stainer’s Crucifixion, Handel’s Messiah, Fauré’s Requiem and Goodall’s Eternal Light.
Our sessions have also included some more modern and popular music such as Rutter’s A Gaelic Blessing& The Lord Bless You and Keep You, Whitacre’s Seal Lullaby, Simon & Garfunkel’s The Sound of Silence, selections from My Fair Lady and Henry Wood’s Fantasia on British Sea Songs.
Helen also found some songs with an international flavour for us to tackle: Hanacpachap; Halle, Halle, Hallelujah; Amen Siakudumisa and at Christmas The Brazilian Carol. Such pieces had our tongues twisting and brains working hard to understand the words and keep in time to the music!
To celebrate Burns’ Night we sang Robbie’s My Love is like a Red, Red Rose which brought out the tartans and the whisky! For St David’s Day we sang the beautiful Calon Lân and there were many daffodils on display that evening. Jo Simpson really entered into the spirit and wore her national dress. At the end of each term we showcased the music we had learned and were delighted to be joined by family members and Friends of the Society.
There was also time to chat, keep up to date with news, to mourn our losses and to celebrate significant birthdays, anniversaries and births.
We are looking forward to returning to live rehearsals in the very near future and to performing live before real audiences but for the time being we continue to Zoom. Watch this space!
Here are some comments from members about their Zoom experience:
“We had never Zoomed before but once we got going we found it really good. During the pandemic we were not going out or meeting people and the weekly zoom was a high point of the week. To sing together was really good. Seeing other people’s faces and hearing their news was so refreshing. Helen was always encouraging and making us laugh with her enthusiasm and assurances that we were doing very well. She seemed well able to know how we were singing even though we were muted! Working towards the showcases gave us an incentive and a target. It also made a very nice occasion. We came off the zoom meetings ready for a drink and hugely refreshed as if we had just left St Aldhelm’s.”
K&BD
“Choir on zoom has been a valuable link to our normal routine of choir practice on Mondays with Helen and everyone. It got us singing again after a long break through the Lockdowns, and we’ve enjoyed seeing friends, keeping up with people’s news and being free to sing all the parts, including solos!”
R&ST
“Of all the activities that have gone online during the pandemic, singing is not the best suited, and yet choir rehearsals have been surprisingly successful. It’s uplifting to see familiar faces and hear everyone’s news, and to remember that we all still care about singing! The Monday night rehearsals also provide some much needed structure during a time when “extra-curricular” activities have dwindled. Finally, it’s reassuring to know that WCS will be there, ready and waiting, when it’s finally possible to meet and sing together.”
JL & CM
“The Zooming singing experience has been a godsend to me during the Covid lockdowns and I find I can sing anything to my heart’s content if I remember to MUTE! The social interaction has helped us all talk to each other and the tenors have no chance to misbehave!”
RP