Hi all

Keziah is away for our next rehearsal so rather than continue to run through the programme I want to focus on specific songs/parts of songs that need more work.  Our rehearsal on Thursday evening showed some of these.  

We can only achieve so much in our Thursday rehearsals so please can I ask you, with only 3 Thursdays to go before we sing in Bishops Waltham and only 6 rehearsals before our Christmas concert, to practise with tracks any songs/parts of songs you know you are not yet confident with.  Practise them with your part playing but then practise singing to the track of the whole choir too.

This Thursday we will work on the following – 

It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Pentatonix Medley – just Hark the Herald

The Shepherd’s Farewell (100 carols no. 89, p344)

Walking in the Air

Step Into Christmas

Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth

Cradle Song (100 Carols No41, p178) – Final Verse only

We Wish You the Merriest

We will then spend some time on our carols – 

We Three Kings 100 carols no.95, p370

See Amid the Winter’s Snow 100 Carols no. 70, p283

O Little Town of Bethlehem 100 Carols No 57, p234

Once in Royal David’s City 100 Carols No 61, p260

I look forward to seeing you again on Thursday.  Have a good week! 

Chris

Here is Chris’s email for NMM next week – 

Hi all,

This week we will start our rehearsal with Cradle Song and work from there.  This is a new song for this year.  Can I ask you to practise with the tracks on the website if you are still unsure of any of this.  Sopranos you may find it helpful once you are confident with your part to practise singing the third verse with all the tracks/the other soprano part going.  We will start on Thursday with this song and then work through our programme from there.  On Thursday we will sing 7:30-9pm without a break and finish early so we can audition all of our Christmas soloists.

Here is a reminder of the order all of your music should be in – 

FIRST HALF

It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Pentatonix Medley

(Carol – We Three Kings 100 carols no.95, p370)

The Shepherd’s Farewell (100 carols no. 89, p344)

A Muppet’s Christmas Carol Medley

Walking in the Air

Do You Hear What I Hear

MidWinter’s Chill

(Carol – See Amid the Winter’s Snow 100 Carols no. 70, p283)

Step Into Christmas

 

SECOND HALF

All I Want For Christmas Is You

Grown Up Christmas List

Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth

The First Noel/Pachabel’s Canon

(Carol – O Little Town of Bethlehem 100 Carols No 57, p234)

Cradle Song (100 Carols No41, p178)

Fairy Tale of New York

(Carol – Once in Royal David’s City 100 Carols No 61, p260)

Somewhere in my Memory

We Wish You the Merriest

Have a good week and see you on Thursday.

Chris

Here is Chris’s message for our next rehearsal.

Hi all,

To help with the next two rehearsals please could you put the music in your files in the following order – 

FIRST HALF

It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Pentatonix Medley

(Carol – We Three Kings 100 carols no.95, p370)

The Shepherd’s Farewell (100 carols no. 89, p344)

A Muppet’s Christmas Carol Medley

Walking in the Air

Do You Hear What I Hear

MidWinter’s Chill

(Carol – See Amid the Winter’s Snow 100 Carols no. 70, p283)

Step Into Christmas

 

SECOND HALF

All I Want For Christmas Is You

Grown Up Christmas List

Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth

The First Noel/Pachabel’s Canon

(Carol – O Little Town of Bethlehem 100 Carols No 57, p234)

Cradle Song (100 Carols No41, p178)

Fairy Tale of New York

(Carol – Once in Royal David’s City 100 Carols No 61, p260)

Somewhere in my Memory

We Wish You the Merriest

 

On Thursday we will pick up where we left off this week starting with “Midwinter’s chill” and working forward from there.  

The aim now is repetition of songs to build confidence so we can look up from our music and communicate the character of each song with good dynamics and precision.

For the next two weeks we will sing through our programme in order each week starting where we left off the previous week.   If there are parts you find you are unsure of after a rehearsal do go back over these with the practise tracks to help you learn these.  

On November 5th Keziah is away.  If there are still parts where you are struggling with notes/rhythms then we will use that rehearsal to specifically focus on those.

I’m really pleased with how far we’ve got already.  I know there is still work to do but thanks for all the time you put in to this both on a Thursday evening and during the week!  I’m looking forward to our first performance in just under 6 weeks time!!

Chris

Here is Chris’s email for NMM for this week.

Hi all,

Well done last week for getting through almost all of the new songs.  I’ve listened to several recordings now of our arrangement of “It’s Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas”.  The best versions do not sing “Christmas” staccato as marked – instead they perfectly time quickly getting to the first “s” with a short “Chri” at the start and then getting to and coming off the final “s” all together.  I have a plan for how we can do that but have a listen to these 2 versions as this is what we will work towards achieving –

https://youtu.be/mgAtZeo11GI?si=mE9p2QfpUPJaGU1L

https://youtu.be/C9aEaODDzQE

The plan for our rehearsal on Thursday is…

– Finish “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas” (intro and ending)

– The Shepherd’s Farewell (100 Carols For Choirs No89, p344)

We will then start working through each song in a draft concert order, working on confidence and communicating the music more expressively.  Our draft order will be – 

FIRST HALF

It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Pentatonix Medley

(Carol – We Three Kings 100 carols no.95, p370)

The Shepherd’s Farewell (100 carols no. 89, p344)

A Muppet’s Christmas Carol Medley

Walking in the Air

Do You Hear What I Hear

MidWinter’s Chill

(Carol – See Amid the Winter’s Snow 100 Carols no. 70, p283)

Step Into Christmas

SECOND HALF

All I Want For Christmas Is You

Grown Up Christmas List

Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth

The First Noel/Pachabel’s Canon

(Carol – O Little Town of Bethlehem 100 Carols No 57, p234)

Cradle Song (100 Carols No41, p178)

Fairy Tale of New York

(Carol – Once in Royal David’s City 100 Carols No 61, p260)

Somewhere in my Memory

We Wish You the Merriest

Do keep listening and practising with the tracks.  I look forward to seeing you on Thursday!

Chris

Here is Chris’s email for next week’s rehearsal:-

Hi all

We did it! We’ve got all the way through the Pentatonix Christmas Medley!  So far we have sung through 11 of the 16 performance songs in our Christmas Programme so this week I would like to look at the remaining 5.

We will start by singing through the 3 carols we are doing in the Pentatonix Medley (Hark the Herald, Coventry Carol & O Come all Ye Faithful).

We will then look at – 

Midwinter Chill

It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Step Into Christmas

Grown Up Christmas List

The Shepherd’s Farewell (100 Carols for Choir No89. p344)

As always try to listen through parts before Thursday so that we can make the most of our time together.  Thanks for all your hard work.

See you on Thursday!

Chris

Here’s Chris’s rehearsal plan for next week:-

Hi all

Well done on Thursday.  We are near the end of our Pentatonix Medley (God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen is an “optional song”; we will include that in the medley when we bring it back for Christmas next year).  I’ve done a quick count up – we have 8 rehearsals left before our first Christmas event (Bishop’s Waltham Christmas Fayre on 26th Nov) and 10 before our main Christmas concerts.   My aim is to finish all the teaching of songs in the next 4 weeks so we then have a clear 4-6 week period to consolidate and feel confident with everything before we perform.  

Do make sure you are going over things with the tracks as this means we get the most out of our time together on a Thursday.

Here is the plan for our next rehearsal – 

FIRST HALF
Finish off “O Come All Ye Faithful” from the Pentatonix Medley.

– Learn bar b257-end Sop1 and Alto1 will take the top stave; Sop2 & Alto2 will take the middle stave. (Men just follow what’s written for you!)

– Run through the medley

Cradle Song – 100 Carols for choirs No41, p178 (especially focussing on the last verse)

SECOND HALF

Fairy Tale of New York

Somewhere in My Memory

The First Noel/Pachabel’s Canon

Walking in the Air

Thanks for all your hard work – see you Thursday!

Chris

Here is a message from Chris regarding next week’s rehearsal:-

Hi all,

This week we will continue working on our Pentatonix Medley but then I want to do some easier/more familiar songs that are on our programme.  I can almost hear the relief!  Here’s the plan…

FIRST HALF

Revise Pentatonix Medley 

– Hark the Herald Angels Sing (b1-71)

– Coventry Carol (b152-205)

– O Come all Ye Faithful (b206-236 – basses are now singing the melody with the tenors in b210-226 and practise tracks will be changed accordingly)

– Learn b238-261 (from b240-253 the choir splits.  Sops 1&2 will sing the “Mixed Small Group part” (though at times I’ll have to divide you into 3!); altos 1&2 will split to take the two treble parts of the main choir; 

-at b254-257 we all back to normal; 

-in b257-end Sop1 and Alto1 will take the top stave (again at times I will need to divide you into 3); Sop2 & Alto2 will take the middle stave. (Men just follow what’s written for you!)

SECOND HALF

Walking in the Air

Cradle Song (final verse)

Fairy Tale of New York

The Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth

We Wish You The Merriest

Thanks for all your hard work and I look forward to seeing you on Thursday!

Chris

Dates for the Diary

• Bishop’s Waltham Christmas Fayre – 26 November 2026 from 5.00pm
• Freegrounds Infants School Christmas Fayre – 28 November 2026 – 11.30am and 12.45pm

·         Break -up for Christmas – 10 December 2026

• Christmas Concert – 12 December 2026 (1.00pm for sound check, 2.30pm and 7.00pm performances)
• Haskin Garden Centre – 13 December 2026 – 1.30pm
• Haskin Garden Centre – 20 December 2026 – 1.30pm

·         Return for Spring Term – 7 January 2027

• Summer Concert – 12th June 2027(1.00 for sound check, 2.30 performance)
• Summer Spectacular – 17 July 2027 (1.00 for sound check, 2.30 performance)
• Christmas Concert – 11 December 2027 (1.00 for sound check, 2.30 and 7.00 performances)

·         ‘All dates and information as known for forthcoming Events can be found on the website Calendar | New Music Makers.’ 

  ·         All the dates for the Local Vocals can be found on the website. Local Vocals! | New Music Makers

Here is a massage from Chris regarding next week’s rehearsal:-

Hi all

Great work in our last rehearsal!  Two weeks into the Pentatonix Medley and two songs done!  This week we will do the following – 

First Half

Pentatonix Medley O Come all Ye Faithful b206-the end  

– from b240-253 the choir splits.  Sops 1&2 will sing the “Mixed Small Group part” (though at times I’ll have to divide you into 3!); altos 1&2 will split to take the two treble parts of the main choir; 

-at b254-257 we all back to normal; 

-in b257-end Sop1 and Alto1 will take the top stave (again at times I will need to divide you into 3); Sop2 & Alto2 will take the middle stave. (Men just follow what’s written for you!)

By the end of song we will be singing in glorious 8 part harmony – can’t wait! 😃 

We will then sing through the medley from the start.

Second half

Cradle song (Carols for choir p178) – Revise

Midwinter Chill – learn

Fairy tale of New York.

Look through as much as you can before Thursday and listen to the tracks so you’re ready for what’s about to happen!

See you Thursday.

Chris.