All posts by Chris K

NMM newsletter this week

Lins Emails

Good morning everyone, and I hope you were able to enjoy this lovely weekend we just had.
This is the message from Chris for this week’s rehearsal:- 
Hello Everyone
Well done with how the new songs for the Summer Spectacular are coming together.  I have now put together a draft programme for the Summer Spectacular (I may tweek it slightly as Amelia is doing a solo but I don’t know what yet).  Currently though it looks like this – 
First Half
Beatles Abbey Road Medley
(Welcome)
Alexander’s Ragtime Band
Chattanooga Choo Choo
Liz Solo
Circle of Life
Come What May
Craig Solo
Thank You For the Music
Bohemian Rhapsody
Old Macdonald
(Break)
Second Half
Galway Girl
To Make You Feel My Love
Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You
Ladies Small Group- I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love
Jane Solo
Comedy Tonight
Roy Solo
Tell Me It’s Not True
(Raffle)
Shine 
This Thursday we will run through the 3 “New” Songs – Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You, Comedy Tonight, Tell Me It’s Not True.  We will then run through the programme from the beginning.  We will be rehearsing until around 9pm then Keziah will take a practise for the people singing in the “Gospel” concert on Saturday 28th June and I will take the ladies small group to continue to rehearse I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love.
See you Thursday!
Chris
For those of you that will be singing at the Gospel Concert on Saturday, if you don’t have the three pieces of music that we will be singing, can you let me know asap, and I will get them from the lockup for you.  We will need to be at the church for 1.00pm as that is the time allocated to us for sorting out where we are going to stand etc, and we are first on at 3.00pm.  If you are bringing anyone with you, can you please let me know asap so that I can reserve a seat for them.
 
Don’t forget we have Local Vocals on Wednesday at Sunnycroft Nursing Home, West End.
Well, that’s all for now, so I will see you sometime during the week.
Bye for now.
Eric

Note for the newsletter this week

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

Hello Everyone
This week we will continue rehearsing for our Summer Spectacular.  We will be focussing on the following songs – 
Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You
Comedy Tonight
Tell Me It’s Not True
Galway Girl
Bohemian Rhapsody
Circle of Life
Come What May
Shine
We will finish our main rehearsal around 9pm.  We will then give some  time for the small group to start rehearsing I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love.
Have a good week and see you on Thursday! 
 
Chris
Thanks for all those that have offered to get cakes and scones for the Summer Spectacular, it is very much appreciated.
Over the next few weeks, we will be rehearsing until 9.00, without a break, and that will mean that the four soloists and the small group of ladies will be able to rehearse their songs, and those that are going to the Gospel Concert on the 28th June will also have a chance to go through the three songs with Keziah.
Well, that’s all for now, so I will either see you at Local Vocals on Wednesday at Hawthorns on Wednesday, or at rehearsal on Thursday.
Bye for now.
Eric

Fw: Note to NMM this week

Lins Emails

Hi there,
Well, what a great day yesterday, it certainly seemed to go well.
Here’s a message from Chris:- 
Hi all
First of all a huge WELL DONE for Saturday’s concert!  I was really pleased with how it went and I’ve heard a lot of very positive feedback. I’ve really enjoyed watching the videos and I hope that you feel we did ourselves proud and all our hard work paid off – though I do have a few things we are going to come back to this Thursday 😉   
We now need to start working on the Summer Spectacular.  This Thursday we will be learning….
– Comedy Tonight
– Tell Me It’s Not True
– Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You
I then want to do some additional work on bits of Galway Girl, the Abbey Road Medley, Annie’s Song, Come What May and Circle of Life to help us get more confident on certain bits before the Summer Spectacular.
This Thursday we will run our rehearsal from 7:30pm to around 8:50pm without a break. From 8:50pm-9:30pm we will audition soloists for the Summer Spectacular.  If you didn’t sign the list last week and want to audition for a solo please could you let me know before Thursday (cmallison1974@gmail.com or 07860 800277).
The following Thursday we will run similar timings and I will start working with the 12 ladies on “I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love from 8:50pm-9:30pm.
I really appreciate all your hard work and look forward to seeing you on Thursday.
Chris
One other thing we need to do is get your opinion on the venue.  I know that there was a problem with the number of staff serving in the cafe, and that is something I will talk to them about, but we need to decide if the venue was suitable, or do we need to find somewhere else.
From a numbers point of venue, we had about the same number as we had at KCC last year, so moving the concert out of Hedge End and into Eastleigh seems not to have made a difference.  The set up was much easier although if we decide to go there again, we will need an extra hour before hand so that Isaac can set the lights up properly, not in a rush to get them done before the audience comes in. We had much better room on the stage, instead of being squashed together.
We have a Committee Meeting on Tuesday, so it would be helpful to get your thoughts.
Well, that’s all for now, so I will see some of you at Snowdrop Place on Tuesday for Local Vocals, or the rest of you on Thursday at the rehearsal.
Bye for now.
Eric

Community Showcase at Eastleigh

Lins Emails
Hi there,
We have been asked if we would like to take part in the above event which is happening on the  Sunday,15th June, and there are two slots available for us to perform for about 30 mins.
Chris is available, so we need to see if there is enough of us to warrant us going.
It is a chance for us to showcase our choir to the community, especially as we have enough songs to choose from at the moment to fill 30 mins.
I will ask for a show of hands tomorrow night.
Also, I will put out a list for the School Fete on Saturday, 28th June, to see if we have enough to do that event.  We will be singing sometime between 11.00am and 12.00 midday, as we need to get to St James Church, West End for1.00 ready to sort out where we will be standing at 1.15, as we have a time slot from 1.15 to 1.30 to sort ourselves out, and then we are first on at 2.30, and will be singing “You Raise Me Up”, “One Voice”, and “The Music is Always There with You”.
See you tomorrow night.
Bye for now.
Eric

Fw: Note for this week’s newletter

Lins Emails

Hi there,
Firstly, here’s a note from Chris:- 
  
Hello All
I’m looking forward to our Summer Concert on Saturday, especially after hearing how our songs were sounding in Thursday’s rehearsal!  A big thank you for all your hard work and I hope you are looking forward to the concert too!
This week we will run through our entire set again but in a slightly different order.  We will have Amelia with us so we will start with “Galway Girl” and then “Make You Feel My Love”.  We will then run through all of the second half of the concert and go back to the first half.  The best practise you can do if you have time this week is go through the songs trying to learn words and notes so you are less reliant on your music and able to look up more.  By watching me we can lock into our rhythms better, get more variety of dynamic shading and be more engaged with the audience.
On Thursday 12th June we will start working on the four new songs we are including in the Summer Spectacular.  These are
– Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You
– Comedy Tonight
– Tell Me It’s Not True
– I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love
The last of those songs (I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love) is for a small group of 12 ladies (3 sop 1, 3 sop 2, 3 alto 1, 3 alto 2). If you would like to be part of this group please could you email or whatsapp me (cmallison1974@gmail.com / 07980 800277).  If we exceed 12 people I will need to take people on a first come first serve basis.  

On top of these songs and others solos we will carry forward the following from our Summer Concert 

– Bohemian Rhapsody
– Galway Girl
– Annie’s Song
– The Beatle’s Abbey Road Medley
– Chatanooga Choo Choo
– Alexander’s Ragtime Band
-Old MacDonald
-Come What May
-Circle of Life
-Shine
– Thank You For the Music
I look forward to seeing you on Thursday.
Chris
Secondly, here’s details of how to get to the Rose Theatre next Saturday.
If you enter the college from Chesnut Avenue, as soon as you enter, turn right, go through the barrier, and the car park will be in front of you.  There are two ways to enter the foyer of the theatre.  If the gate is open on the lefthand side, at the rear of the car park, you can go through the gate and enter the double doors on the left, which will take you through to the foyer.  If the gate is closed, you will have to come back out of the carpark, through the barrier, and then turn right through another gate, and the entrance to the foyer is on your right.  I enclose a map of the college showing where you need to go. If you have any queries regarding this, contact me and I will give you any help I can. I will try and make sure that the gate in the carpark is open for us.
As Gen has mentioned in the WhatsApp group, the uniform will be as follows:-
Men – Black Shoes, Black Trousers, White Shirt, Pink Bowtie.  There is a question on whether we need to wear Black Jackets, but the theatre is normally quite comfortable, so I do not see the necessity for them.
Ladies – Black Closed Shoes, Black Pop Socks or similar, Black Trouser (no leggings etc) Pink Tops, Jewellery if you chose to wear – Pink Necklace or Silver.
You will need to be at the theatre for 12.45 so we can start the warm-up at 1.00, as we need to give the Ushers a talk before the doors open at 2.00pm.
The cafe in the foyer will be open before the start of the concert and during the interval.  There will be no provision for hot drinks in the classroom we are using as a dressing room.
I mentioned last night that we have been asked if we could go and sing at a School Fete on Saturday, 28th June, but that is the same day as the Gospel concert at St James Church, West End, but that is at 3.00pm, so we could go in the morning, at say midday, and we could sing the songs we have used in Local Vocals, with anyone else who would to come and join us.  Could you let me know if you are available.
I’m sure that I have forgotten something, so if I think of anything else, I will let you know.
See some of you at Local Vocals on Wednesday morning, at 10.45, at Netley Court, or the rest of you at rehearsal next Thursday.
Bye for now.
Eric

pdf icon Barton-Peverill-Plan.pdf

This Week’s Rehearsal

Lins Emails

Hi there,
Here’s a message from Chris regarding this week’s rehearsal:- 
Hello everyone,
 
We are down to our last two rehearsals!  I was really pleased with our last rehearsal. We are looking up and smiling more (even in Galway Girl). Our songs are  expressive. You will have an idea from our last rehearsal of where there are rhythms/word endings you still need to work on. Please continue to practise this week and this coming Thursday and the following one we will be aiming to sing through our whole programme.
 
Thanks for all of your hard work and see you on Thursday!
 
Chris 
We are still looking for help with the raffle on the day of the concert. 
Other than that, have a good rest of this bank holiday weekend, and I will either see you at Local Vocals on Tuesday, at Florence Court, or at rehearsal on Thursday.
Bye for now.
Eric

Availability for Concerts

Lins Emails
Hi there,
Just so we know how many will be at either our Summer Concert on the 7th June or the Summer Spectacular on the 12th July, can you let me know if you are NOT going to be available for either of these.
Many thanks
Eric

This Week’ Rehearsal

Lins Emails

Good morning to you all on this nice, fine day,
Firstly, here is Chris’s message for this week’s rehearsal:- 
Hi Everyone
Well done on for almost getting through everything in our last rehearsal!  This Thursday we will aim to do the same again. We will have Amelia with us at the start to run through Galway Girl and Make You Feel My Love (She will take v3 as an instrumental over the men’s harmonies).  We will then run through everything else in concert order and make sure that we do the Rocket Man Medley this week.
I am really pleased with how we are sounding.  The key thing to delivering a strong, enjoyable performance now will be knowing words and notes better so we can look up more (and smile!) so we are really communicating with the audience.
 
Three rehearsals left to master that!
 
See you Thursday
 
Chris
Secondly, we need someone to look after the raffle at our Summer Concert, so if any of your partners or friends would like to help please let me know.
Well, that’s all for now, so enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Bye for now.
Eric