Encouragement

I must have struck a chord or two (no pun intended!) with my previous post as I have had several responses, and requests not to drive people too hard!! Sorry chaps! I am always conscious that we have a lot of work to get done in just two hours a month and tend to just charge on forwards leaving no casualties! I shall try my hardest to be gentle with all the singers in the future.

I have now sent out voice-by-voice MP3 files for people to a) practise the texts of our new songs and b) practise their harmonies. This worked miracles last year and left us with time to work on nuances and style during the rehearsals.

The true reason I am writing today is to report a very special conversation I had this week with Frances and Anne. The latter said she was particularly moved by my translation of part of my song "Help Me Find My Way" :
When I enter my darkly wooded fears...
She said this spoke volumes to her and that gospel songs often said things in a way which touched her like no traditional hymn ever had. There was some debate between the three of us as to whether this was a cultural thing (French/English) or a religious thing(catholic/protestant). I'm not sure we really came down on one side or the other but we all agreed that singing gospel should be a prayer and not something we do by rote. Obviously this choir is working in some people's lives, which is what I hoped. As for myself I pray to be a vehicle for whatever message there is for the singers.
I heard an interesting thought on BBC Radio 4's Daily Service today : It is not up to us to convince or convert people. Our job is to bear witness. Christians can be a way for others to reach God. I shall try to be more modest in my ambitions.

God's peace to all.
Gospella

Gotta name!!!

Hi. It's official and so are we. We now have a name...Akwa-Gospel! Nothing to do with 'aqua' (although I like the double entendre with water of life). The real reason for the choice (almost unanimous) is because our original village choir is called Akwaba-a (which means Welcome in Ivorian) and we are an off-shoot of that. So now we really exist!

We had another rehearsal on Thursday (11th Oct). We had yet more new recruits (four + one who will hardly ever be able to come!). This makes it a bit hard to have any continuity in what we do but I guess the group will stabilise over the next month or two.

We did some stretching and warming up the body from the toes upwards, ending up in a kind of frenetic dance. Everyone thought this was hilarious (except Carol who has lumbago!). Then we did some breathing exercises and worked a bit on support. After that we tried again our 'blind man's buff' game with a variation suggested by Mary where everyone walked around eyes closed (lots of cheating!) and tried to form groups of three with one soprano, one alto and one tenor. Not everyone managed. It was odd that people singing the same note thought they had found someone singing a different note.

We repeated our work on Little Cabin but the choir seem to have some difficulty finding the chords. It seems so obvious to me but they don't seem to hear the notes. Perhaps it depends on what kind of music you've been exposed to before? I have always listened to a lot of jazz and close-voice harmonies, growing up with a mum who was a cabaret singer and who watched all the Hollywood musicals! It wasn't a disaster so I hope we'll have something ready for our first concert in December.

Because of the lack of rehearsal time between now and December we shall have to use some of last year's repertoire : It's Me; Were You There; This Train... We'll need to prioritise those at the next rehearsal. We did try This Train and it was getting there but the rythm is all off and it sounds too contrite and 'square'. I had spent so long singing the alto part to help out the altos I found it impossible to sing the soprano part which is the melody - weird!

We worked again on my song Help Me Find the Way. Everyone seemed very unnerved by it but they worked quite hard and by the end of the evening there was an approximately remembered version of the three-part harmony! There was absolutely no vocal nuance though so we shall have to work quite hard on style. I must also record the various harmonies on MP3 and send them out by mail to the singers so thay can practise before next time. We won't sing this one in December but I'd like it to be ready for February (and that is only 3 rehearsals away!).

Judging by what I saw when we were doing clapping - we've got our work cut out there too. People really don't all have the same sense of rythm!

Numbers are up to about 25 members : which means in theory there are too many of us for the room we rehearse in (safety regulations put the cut-off point at 19) but I'm supposing we'll whittle ourselves down in the next month or two. People are always enthusiastic at the beginning of the year but enthusiasm wanes in the winter! Today I hope to record the voice parts I mentioned. I'd like us to learn I'm Gonna Sing but the rythm is a bit complex so I need to learn it better myself first.

Once again I was dissatisfied with the evening. People moan because they can't get the tune or rythm or whatever, but it's hardly surprising as everyone talks between and even during the learning of it. I know it's a cultural thing and that French people have no self-discipline when it comes to chatting but it has direct consequences on efficiency.
The following day, however, some colleagues who have joined us said that they had had a good time! That is, of course, the main thing.

A little parenthetical information : I have been accepted to sing in Rejoice - the gospel choir led by Taïa and Erwan of the Gospel Aujourd'hui association. It is quite a privelege as there are some fantastic voices in the choir. I am sure this will have an influence on how I hear Akwa-Gospel : I hope for the better. Of course, the styles are not comparable. Rejoice sings with a four-piece band and Akwa-Gospel sings a-cappella; Rejoice has professional musicians to lead it and Akwa-Gospel only has me! We'll make do. At least now we really exist :-D

Gospella