February 2012
4 posts
What does "singing in tune" mean?
Here is the second of our music theory crib sheets.
Mystery Event!
If you are one of our choir members and have been intrigued over the past few weeks about our ‘mystery’ event, do come along to rehearsals this week where all will be revealed - although you will be sworn to secrecy!
Check out Playing For Change
If you haven’t come across this music and arts education charity, have a look at their site at www.playingforchange.org. They enlist musicians from all over the world to take part in their songs. If you click on the episodes section you can view these songs. Look out for Clarence Bekker who appears in Stand By Me and Imagine and is a big favourite of mine.
Christine
Learning to read music
When we started the Total Voice Chamber Choir, we disappointed a few keen enquirers because we asked that our singers have a basic ability to read music. We really meant basic - we weren’t remotely expect people to be able to pick up a complex piece and sing it at sight!
We have quite a wide range of music-reading skills in the choir, so every rehearsal we warm up then spend a short amount...
January 2012
9 posts
If something's worth doing, it's worth doing badly
One of the most important skills a singer can possess, and one that only comes with experience, is the willingness to sing the wrong thing.
When we start out, particularly if we are singing in a group, we are often terrified of getting it wrong and showing ourselves up. This leads to the development of another skill, an undesirable one, which is following the next singer by staying a fraction...
Wow!
What a rousing evening at choir last night. Everyone was on top form and the atmosphere was fantastic. The scat warm-up of Minnie the Moocher seemed to go down well and is a great exercise to try at home with any scat song you like.
The new number Suddenly I See had bags of energy from the moment we started it and it was great to see such a large tenor section.
Well done everyone. Keep...
The Chamber Choir gets underway
It feels like a very long time ago that Christine and I first discussed the idea of setting up a second choir to complement the Contemporary Choir. I had loved conducting the Choir in Christine’s absence on maternity leave and was keen to do more, but I also wanted to use my classical music training. I thought there might be an appetite among local singers for a small choir that would...
Chamber Choir starts tonight!
Tonight is the first rehearsal of the Total Voice Chamber Choir. It seems to have been a very long time coming, with auditions having been held before Christmas.
We’ll be kicking off with work on vocal technique and harmony, and making a start on a lovely song.
January Tune-up feedback
This is what our singers had to say about the “January Tune-up” workshop held on Saturday, 14th January (see here for pictures).
“Thank you! A great experience! I would definitely come again!”
“There was a good mix of voices and the workshop brought out the less confident ones. It brightened up a dull Saturday in January.”
“Really enjoyed. More than...
January Tune-up nearly here!
Preparations are nearly complete at Total Voice HQ for the “January Tune-up” workshop on Saturday. We’ve planned lots of vocal acrobatics that will get your voice soaring and banish the winter blues. There’s also a fabulously uplifting song to finish with.
We can’t wait to get started!
Welcome Back!
It was great to be back at Contemporary Choir tonight as we enter the third year of Total Voice. Our new number, “9 to 5”, proved very popular and you all sang it with great gusto. It was lovely to see everyone and Victoria and I wish you a Happy New Year.
Back to choir tonight!
It feels like much more than three weeks since the fabulous Total Voice Open Mic night. Won’t it be great to get back to singing tonight? We’ve got some fun, uplifting songs lined up to get us back in the groove. See you tonight!
December 2011
18 posts
Children's Choir Carols
Members of the Total Voice Children’s Choir sang this morning at the family carol service in the Baptist Church in Milford. It was a lovely service and their songs were enjoyed by all. Jo Vezey of Allegro also joined her daughter Emily for a lovely rendition of Hallelujah.
Click here for photo.
Oh What A Night!
The Total Voice Christmas Open Mic Night was fantastic! Shorefields did us proud with a beautifully-decorated room. The atmosphere was lively and all our wonderful acts were cheered to the rafters. Well done to everyone who had the nerve to get up and sing. It really felt like Christmas started last night.
For lots of great pictures, click here, here and here.
“Many thanks for your involvement in the carol service which I believe went very...”
– Ray Sales, Chairman, Milford on Sea Village Community Committee
“We would like to pass our sincere thanks to everyone who brought their wonderful...”
– Juliet Emberson, Business Manager at St George’s Nursing Home
January Tune-up places going fast!
Total Voice’s “January Tune-up” workshop on 14th January promises to be a fun-filled afternoon. We’re going to focus on the power of singing to lift our spirits and enhance our well-being - the perfect antidote to the post-Christmas blues.
Places are being snapped up pretty quickly, so contact us by phone or email to reserve your place. Details can be found here.
Carols round the village Christmas tree
The run-up to Christmas is a wonderful time of year in Milford on Sea. The village is bustling with activity, typified by the late-night shopping evening last Friday, with street stalls selling food and hot drinks, and of course lots of rousing carol-singing.
The weather was notably kind to us this year, with high winds and rain the night before and the night after, but a crisp, still evening...
Carols at St George's
What a lovely time we had at St. Georges Nursing Home this evening, we were made to feel so welcome and the Christmas lights were fabulous – the children’s choir loved them. There was also a Santa’s Grotto and many families were there visiting.
We sang outside first of all under a gazebo covered with Christmas lights. It was a little on the chilly side but we sang through with plenty of...
“I spent many years laughing at Harry Secombe’s singing until somebody told...”
– Spike Milligan
Total Voice Christmas Open Mic Night
Preparations are now well underway for the Total Voice Christmas Open Mic night. It’s the talk of the choir with many of you preparing to brave it up on stage to sing us a song.
We can’t wait to see what everyone has prepared and think it will be a great night. We have sold just over eighty tickets so there will be plenty of support and festive cheer!
Exciting Times!
Things are really hotting up here at Total Voice HQ. Our new website is up and running and looks fantastic. Publicity postcards for our January Tune-up workshop have arrived, along with some adorable mini business cards from Moo.com.
Planning is well under way for the start of the Total Voice Chamber choir early in the new year, and the Contemporary Choir is going from strength to strength.
...
November 2011
12 posts
The Immortal Memory
I guess my Scottish accent can’t have been too bad as I’ve just been invited to sing at a Burns Night supper for the second year.
Lightning Quick Choir!
Last night’s rehearsal really brought home to me how far the Total Voice Contemporary Choir has come in its two year life. We started working on “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and the choir picked it up very quickly. Within fifteen minutes, we were on our feet singing most of the song (okay, we postponed the slightly tricky four-part conclusion) with confidence and joy.
...
“We were thrilled with the energetic workshop on voice, presentation and...”
– Sandra Cain, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing, Southampton Solent University
“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a...”
– Maya Angelou
The Military Wives Choir
Wow. What an emotional episode of The Choir. I’m in awe of the women who sang at the Albert Hall. I’ve been lucky enough to sing there a few times, and I remember being incredibly nervous because it felt like such a huge deal. For a new choir of inexperienced singers to achieve that on so little rehearsal is genuinely inspiring.
I'm reading The Musician's Guide to Reading &...
… and it’s a hoot. I’ve never read a tutor book before that had me laughing out loud. He has this to say on the subject of 9th chords:-
“Of course, there are those who believe that rock and pop music should stay as basic and brutal as possible, but you and I, happily, are not among them - so while the heathen hordes grunt and deface this book with their crucifixes,...
BBC News - How can musicians keep playing despite... →
Scientists are trying to understand how amnesiacs can lose all memory of their past life - and yet remember music. The answer may be that musical memories are stored in a special part of the brain.
Just Another Useless Tumblr: Choir Tonight! →
justanotheruseless:
I have choir tonight and it’s reliving all the stuff we have done in the past, but as a newish member I have to learn all that music today for tonight.
I’m looking through the list and I find this! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ulhv54TWJIE
We did a band arrangement of this ohh about three…
shouting at the universe: I have a story to tell... →
goingpostale:
I have singing anxieties. I don’t mind singing in a choir, especially if I’m next to a strong singer because I can listen and hear where I ought to be. I more or less can’t sing alone in front of people (with the few exceptions being Dr. Hodson and Erik) and can’t perform in a small group without…
What can we do for you?
Total Voice creates workshops and events for singers and anyone who wants to sing. What could we do for you? What courses or workshops would you like to see in our diary?
“Some days there won’t be a song in your heart. Sing anyway.”
– Emory Austin
Cheesy Christmas Songs
The Total Voice Contemporary Choir is gearing up for its Christmas gigs, which of course means rehearsing carols and festive songs. The thing about Christmas singing is that you have to willingly suspend your disbelief and just GO WITH IT.
Merry Christmas Everyone (the Shakin’ Stevens classic) is never going to be anything but cheesy, but it’s also hugely enjoyable to sing if...