| Date/Time | |
|---|---|
| 3rd Jun 2016 |
Berry Theatre
Friday night is ‘Music Night’ – and so it was on 3 June at the Berry Theatre, Hedge End. The New Music Makers’ summer concert entitled ‘Pop In’ to Summer (to reflect the Mary Poppins medley) was not only a veritable music extravaganza but it also coincided with the BBC Music Day. The choir sang to a packed audience and the interval gave everyone the opportunity to meet and have a drink in the plush bar and to buy raffle tickets.
This year’s concert was truly eclectic, with music ranging from Karl Jenkins’ Cantate Domino and a sublime mix of Believe and Ave Maria, to a Mary Poppins medley, Elton John’s ‘Your Song’, Pharryl Williams’ ‘Happy’ and music from several films and musicals, not to mention jazz and gospel numbers. Michael Goldthorpe, our Music Director and David Farnell, our Assistant Music Director both brought musical razzamatazz to the evening and we were accompanied by Chris Allison on the piano, ably assisted by his son Zak, as page turner. A New Music Makers’ night out is not only about the choir, as we support talented young musicians by involving them in our concerts. This year, Rory Staff joined us on saxaphone and clarinet. Rory belongs to the Southampton Youth Jazz Orchestra and has played with the jazz saxophonists John Surman and John Toussaint, the jazz pianist Joseph and the award winning singer Leanne Carrol, so we knew we were in for a treat with his jazz set. We were also joined by the multi talented Bethany Mayers. Bethany is a member of the Hampshire County Orchestra and the National Youth Chamber Orchestra. She has recently returned from a music tour in Switzerland and from playing at the Royal College of Music. Her chosen pieces were Chopin’s Waltz in B minor, Op 69, No 2, on the piano and Fool Contrast, on the trumpet, by Tony Cliff. After completing her music studies at Peter Symmonds College, Bethany hopes to pursue her music studies at one of the UK’s top music conservatoires. Our Christmas concert is on Saturday 10 December (2.30pm and 7.30 pm) at Hedge End Village Hall and we are pleased to announce that we will be under the baton of our new Music Director, Lillian Sediles from the USA, who takes over from Michael Goldthorpe, whose professional musical expertise over the past five years has helped make the New Music Makers the award winning choir it is today. We welcome Lillian and also you to our concert in December. 
|
| 13th May 2016 |
St Edwards Church, Netley Abbey
Friday 13th May was certainly a lucky day for us, as we had the pleasure of singing at one of our favourite venues – St Edwards in Netley. With an amazing acoustic, a wonderfully warm welcome and a church filled to the roof with a brilliant audience, what more could you want? Cakes? Well we got those too – in platefuls!
Our audience really appreciated the wide ranging musical genres on offer, as well as being treated to Roy’s solo (If I Were A Rich Man) and David and Sandie’s duet (I Remember It Well). Both Michael (our Musical Director) and David ( Deputy Musical Director), ensured each piece of music oozed musicality, which made for a sensationally sonorous evening. The Beatles sing along proved a great hit (pardon the pun) and everyone joined in singing and waved their arms in unison to the ever popular ‘Hey Jude’. All this and the concert raised over £500 for the church. We look forward to returning to our friends at St Edwards next year, for another fantastic concert. 
|
| 7th May 2016 |
Chandlers Ford
Wedding 7th May. The New Music Makers were asked to sing at a wedding in Chandlers Ford. The ladies of the choir enjoy singing at weddings as they get to see, from a good seating position, the wedding ceremony first hand and also what the latest wedding fashions are. The men come mainly under sufferance and to enable us to achieve a balanced sound. We can offer suggestions for music to be sung before the service, during the signing of the register and to accompany the newly married couple as they leave the ceremony. 
|
| 2nd Apr 2016 |
Hedge End Village Hall 1
An evening to be proud of. The hall was decorated in the style of a street party. Red, white and blue bunting, together with Union Jack’s and ribbons everywhere. Even the table decorations carried on the theme. It was certainly a splendid sight. The Mayor of Eastleigh, Jane Welsh, had organised an Old Time Music Hall evening with fish and chip supper, and the New Music Makers provided the entertainment.
In true “The Good Old Days “ style the master of ceremonies wielded his gavel – making us jump nearly every time – and introduced each item with well written rhetoric and enthusiasm. Beau Regarde (Chris Kellaway) stepped in to the breach at the eleventh hour when the original MC was taken ill. Fortunately Tom Rodaway had done a lot of work on the introductions which made the task for “Beau” easier. We had solos and duets full of laughter, pathos, decadence, debauchery and even forgetfulness, all splendidly performed by a cast with such names as Carmen Verandah, Buttercup Meadows, Abi Downton and Third Officer Aloysius Pickles, to mention but a few. At the start of the second half several members of the choir joined the cast on stage to perform ‘Sing, Sing, Sing’ and a medley called ‘Old Time Religion’ and these were received with much appreciation from the audience. The accompanist, Mr Ivor E Tinkler (Chris Allison) ably assisted by his daughter kept everything flowing on time and in tune. Costumes were mainly provided by Lin Kellaway although some people were in “home-grown’ but generally everyone entered into the spirit of the evening. A sum of over £600.00 was raised for the Mayor’ three charities and Jane was absolutely delighted with the efforts of Lin in putting the evening together, arranging for the bunting and decorations and for organising the team for the decorating of the hall. Mention must, however, be made of the audience who were fabulous, joining in with the singing and responding with the “oooh’s” and “aaah’s” in all the right places. The singing of “Land of Hope and Glory” accompanied by much waving of the Union Jack, brought the evening to a fabulous conclusion. 
|
| 20th Mar 2016 |
A few months ago, Lin, Sarah, Louise and Jenny recorded a programme of Songs of Praise for the BBC at The New Community Church Southampton. The first week they practised the songs with around 150 other singers, with direction from the conductor. It was interesting to be instructed how to ‘perform’ for filming – no looking directly at the cameras, having a joyful expression and conveying visually and musically the meaning of the songs. The second week recording took place, the process of which was truly engrossing. Each song was sung twice and if required, a few bars were re- recorded for the mixing crew to blend in. The conductor directed voice warm up exercises before recording, many of which were familiar from choir and the words were projected on a large screen with the accompanying band playing from the stage. There were only 3 cameras, one on a boom for wide angle shots, one on a track for closeups and a hand held one for filming from all positions. Several takes were done so as to mix up the filming angles to give the impression that there were more cameras than there really were. Obviously a BBC Cutback! Everything was relayed to a huge mobile studio parked outside the church and the conductor had 2 ways to talk to the Producer – one through a headphone mic , which everyone could hear and another which was an old WWII type field ‘phone which ensured a private conversation – obviously so the Producer could tell the Conductor ‘to get the old dear in the second row to smile etc! After 3 hours, with no loo stops and minimal time to sit down, everything was ‘in the can’ as they say. Ultimately it was a really interesting experience and despite not knowing any of the songs initially, we had them ringing in our heads as we left. |
| 6th Feb 2016 |
Prince Consort
How do you stretch Christmas, so that the festive season can be enjoyed even longer? Answer: book your Christmas dinner for February! And that’s just what we did. Much fun and a delicious meal, with a fine choice of fayre to choose from, was enjoyed by all at the welcoming ‘Prince Consort’ in Netley. Sandie’s table top quiz was a corker, as was the wine (pardon the pun)! Herewith Pete’s pick of the ‘pics’ of what was a great night out. Click on a pic and watch the slide show.
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| 20th Dec 2015 |
Brambridge Garden Centre
Our what now seems annual carol singing event at Brambridge garden centre was again great fun. It’s always a pleasure to sing there as the shoppers are most generous in both their compliments and donations to our charity collections. This year over the Christmas period more than £670 was put in our collection tins and we were pleased to split the amount between Southampton Hospital League of Friends and the Countess Mountbatten Hospice – our sincere thanks to everyone for their generosity. Whilst we were at the garden centre, we were able to enjoy not only some Christmas shopping, with all the tempting wares for sale, but also the cafe/restaurant, which sells the most delicious cakes. Our abiding memories of our time at Brambridge are two fold – the little girl who danced to our carols for over 20 minutes and the rainstorm, for which we had to move the piano and ourselves in order not to be drenched! Not even a storm of such ferocity could drown us out! |
