All posts by Chris K

Chairman’s Newsletter

Lins Emails
Hi there,
First, I must send my apologies to you all.  I thought I had sent out the details of the Mayor’s Charity concert on the 9th May, but I realised after last night’s rehearsal, that I had only sent it to the 
Committee, and I was waiting for any response from them before I sent it out to you.
The details are as follows:-
Time: 1.30 for sound check – 2.30 start
Where: West End Parish Offices, Chapel Road, West End SO30 3FE
Duration: approx 2 hours
Costumes: Gold Tops for Ladies – White Shirt and Black Bow Ties for Men – both with Black Trousers, Socks and Shoes
There will be an interval where tea, coffee and biscuits will be served.
The concert is in aid of the Mayor of Eastleigh charity Appeal which is supporting three charities.
The list of songs we will be singing are listed in Chris’s message, and are all from our current programme.
Here is Chris’s message for next Thursday’s rehearsal:-
Hi Eric

Here is my email to NMM this week.
Hello “Party people”!
What a change in “Celebration” on Thursday evening! It sounded great doing it with a track and as we keep working on familiarising ourselves with words and notes and rhythms in all of our songs I do want to start looking more at expression and conveying the different character of all the songs we are learning this season.
To put our rehearsals into context here is a timeline of the number of rehearsals we have together and where our concerts and other events fall in relation to these.  Please continue to listen to and practise with tracks (especially things we have done that you are not sure of).  Rehearsal wise we have – 
1 Thursday March 26th
2 Thursday April 2nd
3 Thursday April 9th
4 Thursday April 16th
Thursday April 23rd afternoon Sing at Bitterne URC
5 Thursday April 23rd
6 Thursday April 30th
7 Thursday May 7th
SATURDAY MAY 9TH MAYORS CONCERT
8 Thursday May 14th
Saturday May 16th sing at John Lewis
9 Thursday May 21st
10 Thursday May 28th
11 Thursday June 4th
SATURDAY JUNE 6TH SUMMER CONCERT 
12 Thursday June 11th
Saturday June 13th sing at Bishops Waltham Summer Fayre
13 Thursday June 18th
14 Thursday June 25th
15 Thursday July 2nd
16 Thursday July 9th
SATURDAY JULY 11TH SUMMER SPECTACULAR
This Thursday we will finish learning The Seal Lullaby
We will then work through a draft programme for the Mayors concert (we will draw from this list too when we sing at Bitterne URC)
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Beatles Abbey Road Medley
Believer
Dance a Cachucha
The Rose
Fix You
Shine
____
Let’s Dance Medley
Let the River Run
Something Inside So Strong
The Bare Necessities
Go the Distance
Why We Sing
Celebration (I will teach an easier alternative for bars 48-51 so hold of practising this bit!)
Have a good week and see you on Thursday.
Chris
We have Local Vocals on Wednesday ay Rosewood Care Home, Swift Road, Woolston, at 1.45 for 2.00 start. 
If you are able to attend the three “Outside” concerts – Bitterne URC, 23rd April, Mayor’s Charity Concert, 9th May, and John Lewis, 16th May, can please put your names down on the sheets that will be placed on the table inside the door, on Thursday.
Just to remind you that we are looking at suggestions for the Christmas programme, and we will be holding a Music Committee meeting on the 12th May to decide what we will be singing next term.
Well, that’s all for now, so I will either see you at the dinner on Saturday, Local Vocals on Wednesday, or at rehearsal on Thursday.
Bye for now.
Eric

Mayor’s Charity Concert

Lins Emails
HI there,
Due to number that are singing tomorrow, we have had to adjust the seating arrangements, so I enclose a copy so that you can see where you will be seated tomorrow afternoon.
Can you make sure that you arrive ready to start our sound check for 1.30 as we do not have a lot of time before the audience will be let in at 2.00pm.
Regards
Eric

Chairman’s Newsletter

Lins Emails

Good afternoon to you all and I hope you are enjoying this Bank Holiday Weekend.
Firstly, here is a message from Chris regarding our rehearsal on Thursday:- 
Hi everyone,
Can I say again I was so pleased with the sound and quality of our singing in our last rehearsal (and also that we got through “Celebration” by memory!)  
The biggest improvement we can make now is through repetition so we feel more familiar with the music and  can LOOK UP and SING OUT and most importantly WATCH ME for all the dynamics and other cues.  
In our Thursday rehearsal we will run through the programme for the Mayor’s concert on Saturday and then spend any time at the end working on songs for our own Summer concert in 6 weeks time.  Here is the running order for the Mayors concert-
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Beatles Abbey Road Medley
Believer
SOLO – Roy Hogben – “Stars” from Les Mis
Dance a Cachucha
The Rose
Go the Distance
Shine
____
Let’s Dance Medley
Let the River Run
Something Inside So Strong
SOLO – Saffron Armstrong “The Man I Need” by Olivia Dean
The Bare Necessities (by Memory)
Fix You
Why We Sing
Celebration (by Memory)
If there is time at the end we will look at – 
Galway Girl
Let the River Run
Circle of Life

Have a good week and see you on Thursday.

Chris
Secondly, Local Vocals are at The Firs, Church Road, Park Gate, on Wednesday, at 2.00pm.
Thirdly, next Saturday we are singing at the Mayor’s Charity concert at West End Parish Council Centre, Grange Road, West End SO30 3FE.  We need to be there for 1.30 to organise the seating and a sound check as the doors will open at 2.00.  The costume is Gold Tops for the ladies and White Shirts and Black Bowties for the Men, with us all wearing Black Trousers, Black Shoes and Black Socks or Hosiery. Your music needs to be in your Black Concert Folders, in the order as above.  There is a room where we can leave our coats and bags which will be locked whilst we are singing.
Lastly, we will be looking for Solos for the Summer Spectacular, on the 11th July, so if you are interested either let Chris or me know.  Auditions will be held after our Summer concert on the 6th June.
Well, that’s all for now, so I will either see you at Local Vocals on Wednesday, or at the rehearsal on Thursday.
Bye for now.
Eric

Chairman’s Newsletter

Lins Emails
Hi there,
Here is a message from Chris regarding next week’s rehearsal:-

Hi all
All of our songs for the Mayor’s concert in just over 2 weeks time were sounding good in our last rehearsal.  In our coming rehearsal I just want to focus on the songs that we need to get a bit more confident with and then revise some other songs for our own Summer concert.  This Thursday we will be working on – 
Refine Mayor’s Concert Songs – 
Go the Distance
Let’s Dance Medley
Something Inside So Strong
The Bare Necessities (By Memory)
Fix You
Celebration (We’ll practise it twice – once with the music and once by memory!)


Revise Summer Concert Songs – 
Galway Girl
The Parting Glass
Circle of Life
Can Can
The Sound of Music Medley
All Things Bright and Beautiful
The Seal Lullaby
I’m really pleased with how we’re sounding and I hope you are still enjoying and feeling increasingly confident with our songs and ready to start performing them!
Have a good week and see you on Thursday.
Chris
Local Vocals are at Florence Court, Segensworth, next Tuesday , 1.45 for 2.00 start.
Well, that’s all for now, so I will either see you at Local Vocals on Tuesday, or at the rehearsal next Thursday.
Bye for now.
Eric

Chairman’s Newsletter

Lins Emails
Hi there,
 
Here is my email for NMM for this week.
Hi all,
Well done for getting through our entire programme for the Mayor’s concert in our last rehearsal!  It was good to see where all of our songs are currently at and where we need to keep working.  A lot is now about repetition and familiarity so we can look up more and communicate more expression and character in our songs.  As always try to find time going through the practise tracks that Jerry has done for us to help with this.
This week a group are singing on Thursday afternoon at Bitterne URC.  We will do the following songs:
1. Let the River Run
2. The Beatles Medley
3. The Rose
4. Dance a Cachucha
5. The Sound of Music Medley 
6. FIx You
7. Something Inside So Strong
8. All Things Bright and Beautiful
9. Why We Sing
10. The Bare Necessities.
In our rehearsal on Thursday evening we will run through our songs for the Mayor’s concert again, spending a bit more time on the songs in bold –
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Beatles Abbey Road Medley
Believer
Dance a Cachucha
The Rose
Go the Distance
Shine
____
Let’s Dance Medley
Let the River Run
Something Inside So Strong
The Bare Necessities
Fix You
Why We Sing
Celebration 


If there is time left at the end we will run through – Circle of Life, Can Can, The Sound of Music Medley.
Have a good week and I look forward to seeing you again on Thursday.
Chris
For the Bitterne URC, we are singing at 2.00pm, so you need to arrive in plenty of time to sort out where we are seating, and remember you need to pay for parking in the car parks in Bitterne. As per the website, the uniform is Pink tops for the ladies and White Shirts of dark Pink Bowties for the men, with both with Black Trousers and shoes.
Next Tuesday, Local Vocals are at Sunnycroft, West End, 2.15 for 2.30.
Well, that’s all for now.
Bye for now.
Eric

Chairman’s Newsletter

Lins Emails

Hi there,

Firstly, here is a message from Chris regarding this week’s rehearsal:- 
 
Hi all
As there are only 4 rehearsals left before the Mayor’s concert I want to focus our rehearsal on Thursday to rehearse the entire programme for this.  I have slightly changed the order to bring “Go the Distance” earlier.  We will run through all of the songs on Thursday in this order.  If there is any time left at the end we will do some revision of other songs we have practised for our own Summer concerts.
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Beatles Abbey Road Medley
Believer
Dance a Cachucha
The Rose
Go the Distance
Shine
____
Let’s Dance Medley
Let the River Run
Something Inside So Strong
The Bare Necessities
Fix You
Why We Sing
Celebration 

If there is time at the end we will rehearse: All Things Bright and Beautiful, Circle of Life, Can Can
Have a good week and see you  on Thursday!
Chris
Secondly, for those who want details of the mayor’s Charity concert, I enclose a copy of their poster for the event so that you can order tickets.
Don’t forget that we will be having a Music Committee meeting on the 12th May to decide to songs we will be singing  at Christmas, so if you already haven’t let either your rep or myself know if you have any suggestions.  Your reps are Hilary for Sops, Eunice for Altos, Percy for Tenors and myself for Basses.
Well, that’s all for now so I will see you at rehearsal on Thursday, and we will be back in the hall this week, so if it is cold, wrap up warm.
Bye for now.
Eric

pdf icon Charity-Concert-Poster-Final.pdf

Thursday’s Rehearsal

Lins Emails
HI there,
Just to let you know that the door to the hall has been blocked off due to the repairs to floor on the inside, so you will have to use the front door to the church to get into the rehearsal on Thursday.
Regards
Eric

Chariman’s Newsletter

Lins Emails
HI there,

Here is a message from Chris regarding this week’s rehearsal:-
 
Dear NMM
Well done in our last rehearsal.  This coming Thursday we start again with some “quick revision” of songs for our main Summer concert and then work more on the programme for the mayors concert.  This week we will look at – 
QUICK REVISION: The Sound of Music Medley / Seal Lullaby
Below is the draft running order for the Mayor’s concert. We will focus on the songs in BOLD starting in the second half with the LET’S DANCE MEDLEY.

Bohemian Rhapsody
The Beatles Abbey Road Medley
Believer
Dance a Cachucha
The Rose
Fix You
Shine
____
Let’s Dance Medley
Let the River Run
Something Inside So Strong
The Bare Necessities
Go the Distance
Why We Sing
Celebration 

See you Thursday!
Chris
At the moment there is no Local Vocals next week as Hawthorns have not confirmed whether they want us or not, so you can enjoy a week off.
Don’t forget that if you have not signed up for the three concerts in April and May, the sign-up sheets will be on the table as you enter the Church Hall.
Well, that’s all for now, so enjoy the rest of this Easter Weekend, and I will see you on Thursday.
Bye for now.
Eric 

Chairman’s Newsletter

Lins Emails
Hi there,
Here is a message from Chris regarding next week’s rehearsal:-

Hello Everyone
In this coming Thursday’s rehearsal we will start with a quick revision of  The Seal Lullaby  and Can Can
With 6 rehearsals to go I then want to focus on songs we will perform for the Mayor’s concert on Saturday 9th May.  Do try to spend a bit of time before Thursday going through anything in these that you are not sure of to build confidence and give us time to look more at performance and expression.  Here is the draft running order and we will focus on the songs in bold
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Beatles Abbey Road Medley (beginning by looking at “She came in Through the Bathroom Window)
Believer
Dance a Cachucha
The Rose
Fix You
Shine
____
Let’s Dance Medley
Let the River Run
Something Inside So Strong
The Bare Necessities
Go the Distance
Why We Sing
Celebration 

Have a good week and I look forward to seeing you on Thursday evening.
Chris
Local Vocals are at Snowdrop Place on Wednesday, 1.45 for 2.00pm start.
Well, that’s all for now, so I will either see you at Snowdrop Place on Wednesday, or the following week at rehearsal as I am away next week. 
Bye for now.
Eric