All Good things for 2008

There are still two major reports to file before the end of 2007 (in just a few hours now!).

AKWA-GOSPEL
The first is our final rehearsal of the year which I exerienced with mixed feelings...

Our objective was to rehearse with a view to the concert in February. There were not so many people present and, as usual, latecomers ate into the rehearsal time. A couple had said they'd be unavailable, Ben was stuck in Parisian traffic again. Mary arrived after working late and in a foul mood.
After our initial stretching and vocal warm-up I decided to get everyone moving and put on a track from the WOW 2006 CD. In a semi-circle we started stepping in time and dancing a bit freestyle. The instructions were to be aware of those around you and try to get something structured going. There are a couple of dancers in our group who put the rest of us to shame but we had a lot of fun. There was always someone out of step with the rest which caused much hilarity. The goal wasn't to invent a choreography but rather to feel at ease moving about in time to the music and to create a feeling of how we look as a group. It's an exercise which was quite fun and I'm going to have them do it again.

We ran over "It's Me" as we're keeping this song in our repertoire for this year. Then we went on to "This Train". The words of this song absolutely panic the singers! They knew they'd fluffed a few words at the concert and tried to mutiny and get rid of it! I repeated my Dad's compliments for those who hadn't read their e-mail and we went through the words again : first speaking fragmented sentences, then singing them fragmented, complete but slow, and then up to speed. The progress was good but they'll need to practise those words. I'm full of hints on how to cheat the pronunciaton (I do that for a living!) and showed them which syllables to aim for if they couldn't get their tongues round them all. That seemed to calm them down a bit.

Then we went over our intro for "Little Cabin". It was a bit of a disaster. Even when I give each group their note they can't always hear it! There is one chord in particular which I love and has a dissonant quality which we may have to put under wraps for a bit! I'm rather concerned that this won't be ready for February. Basically we need to keep singing it over and over for them to get the right notes but we only have one rehearsal scheduled before the concert!

To get everyone feeling positive and leaving in a good mood I finished off by playing the WOW version of Kurt Carr's "God Great God" for those who knew it to sing along to. They did a pretty good job considering we haven't sung it for over six months. The point I was trying to make is that their memories do work and that they can achieve something complicated in English if they just make a bit of effort. It surprised some to know we'd learned it last year. Everyone was in good spirits : but they were kind of dashed to the ground by a bout of complaining from Mary about the burden of organisation of Akwaba-a events. The good humour disappeared and I went home wondering if it was worth continuing if all the singers get out of it is to complain.
Subsequently I have asked one or two of them individually if they think it's worth continuing and they say yes. I feel, however, it's going to be a long hard slog.

REJOICE
The second report doesn't concern this group but the other gospel choir I'm singing with this year as we had our first concert of the season.
It was a Christmas concert mainly for the members of the association and took place in the Protestant Church in town. The large choir (80+ singers) the Kids' choir, an a-cappella set-up and Rejoice were performing one after the other and then together. A few of Akwa-Gospel's members came along to listen and seemed to enjoy the evening.

It was minus 4°C outside and not much above in the church where we arrived at 5pm for a sound-check with the band. It's really quite strange but the sound levels are never what they are supposed to be when the concert gets going! (Audience members have commented on this several times to me.)

Anyway, there was no vocal warm-up (I had anticipated this and done mine in the car!) and the run-through of two of the songs was disastrous as no-one was directing us! Also, I was on my own in the soprano department a few times as one hadn't arrived, another had pulled out and two were singing a duo! Me and my inflamed vocal folds were left to their own devices! HELP!
When it came to the Real Thing there was absolutely no fold-back on our mikes and we were singing at the top of our lungs with no idea if we were on key or not. Obviously you unconsciously yell when you can't hear yourself and this led to a 'breakdown' for my voice in the middle of 'Total praise' where I decided it was best to mime than to sound like a cracked bell!
(I've listened to one of my friend's recording of the evening and it isn't obvious thank goodness!)

Apart from that, the evening was a good one. The atmosphere was very intimate and friendly. Technically there's progress to be made but it was an encouraging start for me, I think. Let's see what 2008 brings...

WEDDING BELLS
A final development over the Christmas Holidays has been a meeting with a young couple who want Akwa-Gospel to sing at their wedding. They wanted gospel music but didn't really know what. They said "Amazing Grace" and "Happy Day"! (A bit too trad for my taste and not in our repertoire at all.) I managed to do some hard-sell thanks to video and MP3 files on my PC of us singing "Bless The Lord" which they loved and "Because of Who You Are" for a meditative moment in the ceremony. They love the idea. I think the choir will be relieved because most of them know these two songs, although they'll need some work between now and July.
There is a little post scriptum : we're also to sing "All You Need is Love" at the exit of the church during the photos! Need to buy the music and learn that one!

Well, this brings you up to date on the end of the year and now let's look forward to more adventures in 2008.

I wish all you readers Peace and the Lord's Blessings for all you encounter in this coming year.

Gospella

The sound system!

Well, Akwa-Gospel did its 2007 'coming out'! We have our first 'gig' of the season under our belts and it was pretty OK despite appalling conditions for performance!

Last Sunday we were invited to sing along with Akwaba-a at a gathering of 360 people belonging to an association called "Hospitalité de Touraine" who organise trips to Lourdes for handicapped people. They have a day together : mass, lunch and then entertainment, of which we were a part.

We were told the schedule was tight and we had to be on stage performing at 2pm sharp and off 45 minutes later for the next singer to start. It was agreed that we'd arrive at 1pm to set up the stage as we had many instruments and a sound system to install (there are abour fifty performers in our set-up). There were also costume changes planned etc.

We arrived at 1pm as planned, on a day only ducks want to be outside (torrential rain!) only to find that the venue was chock-a-bloc with people, there was nowhere for us to leave our belongings or even stand (we spent half an hour in the toilet to keep out of the way) and particularly ... there were people having lunch on the stage! No chance of setting up the sound system then as they were still on their main course and as anyone who knows the French will see, cheese, dessert and coffee were still to come!
So we just hung out in the toilet until 2 o'clock when we made a frantic dash to set up the stage (the plinths and daïs, the speakers, the mikes, the instruments, costumes...) in ten minutes flat. Congrats to Ben for the sweat of his brow!

I spent most of my time with Akwaba-a miming, as I have very little voice. The bronchitis I had a month ago has never really gone away and my vocal folds are at least twice their normal size.
I tried to save them for the two solos I had to do.
Needless to say my solo on "Were You There" was disappointing as I couldn't get much subtlety into my voice. The choir did a pretty good job putting nuance into theirs but unfortunately it was totally lost in a place where people were chatting over coffee, walking around to go to the toilet after lunch etc.!! We followed up with "It's Me" and "This Train". These are quite lively and were appreciated (I was sweating buckets by the time I'd finished jumping about at the front as the hall was stifling!). The choir cocked up the phrases "cigarette puffers" and "hootchie cootch shakers and Charleston prancers" but the overall effect was good. The whole of Akwaba-a plus gospel singers on "I'm Gonna Wait" had great impact too.

We had to rush through our last number in which I do a jazz impro, which meant I had to come in white-hot without any build-up which is a bit rough (like my tonsils!).

Anyway, the event was appreciated by the audience who have asked us back next year (??!!?)
As Terry (who is one of our tenors and also a volunteer with this organisation) said, we brought some colour into the lives of people who really need it. In that respect it was a very successful day!

My father was in the audience as he happened to be here for the weekend. It was the first time he had seen me sing since my teens! Not a perfect performance by any means, but it gave him an idea of the service we provide for our community. He was impressed by the gospel choir and said he had no trouble understanding their English. I have passed on the compliment.
The previous evening he and I had been to see New Gospel family perform in the city. Here are a few thoughts on them.

There were 26 performers in total forming a giant semi-circle around the director who leapt around between them like a crazy thing! They were from many nations : France, Switzerland, Haïti, Guadeloupe, some African countries... The sound was a good strong one with some amazing voices. There were several different people singing the solos and they sang a mixture of Urban gospel, Traditional gospel both in English and in French. They had a lot of conviction and indeed, when it came time to bear witness, the director said they were all there from spiritual conviction too. I was particlarly impressed by one tenor who sang a couple of solos as he was technically perfect. He never missed a single beat or note! Some of the other soloists were not always on pitch, which offended my ears at first but then I got to thinking. We are too used to studio perfection these days and it would do us good to be more tuned in to the emotion behind a singer's voice rather than technical prowess! As far as emotion goes : they scored ten out of ten!

One thing that was a little disappointing was that there were no live musicians. Everything was sung to a pre-recorded backing tape, which made the whole concert rather formatted as it didn't give room for any kind of improvisation.
Despite this they did a rather long set (with interval) and kept up the energy for the whole time. They had simple but effective choreography going too. All raising a hand at the same time, or clasping each other's shoulders, or a step in the same direction. I must work on the visual effect with Akwa-Gospel. We meet on Thursday : I think I'll try to get some 'dancing' going to the WOW 2006 CD my Dad brought me back from the States!

A nice touch at the end of the New Gospel family concert was that they were all lined up to say goodbye in the foyer as the audience left. That gave a really warm feeling.

I shall spend the next few days resting my voice and then it's off for our next rehearsal. Let you know how we get on.

God bless.
Gospella