Christmas 2011

Two Bays Choir at Mt Martha Carols by Candlelight

This Christmas Simply Irresistible had a great time singing at the Karingal House Market in Frankston, while Two Bays Choir took to the streets of Mornington for the Twilight Christmas Market and Carols by Candlelight at Mount Martha.

Working Bee at Pat and Helens 10th December

Some of us got together to do a spot of gardening for Pat and Helen, long time members of the choir.

Afterwards there was still some energy left to have a good sing.

Mornington Peninsula Festival of Voice Oct 16th 2011

Two Bays Choir, Simply Irresistible and a combined Making Waves and Indigo Singers choir all performed magnificently at the first Morn Pen Festival of Voice hosted by the Australian Welsh Male Choir. What a great afternoon of wonderful singing. Well done to everybody who took part.

Two Bays Choir

Making Waves and Indigo Singers

Two Bays Choir

Mornington Festival of Voice 16th October 2011

Making Waves / Indigo Singers

Two Bays Choir

Two Bays Choir

Two Bays Choir

Outstanding performances by Two Bays Choir, Simply Irresistible and Making Waves /Indigo Singers at this inaugural event hosted by the Australian Welsh Male Voice choir.

Freedom Road - Final Sunday Afternoon Rehearsal

The final rehearsal before the weekend of the Freedom Road concert was last Sunday, 31th July. As many people as possible came from regional choirs – Bendigo, Ballarat, Wodonga, Stratford to name just a few. Some came in buses, others car-pooled and many came in their own donks.

Peeping over the drum kit, we see people finding their places




Two Bays Choir members were everywhere, and enjoying the whole thing of course. We have shared the driving, the tea and carrot cake, and the music. 

Simply Irresistible, we are   ;-)

Most of the musicians, most of the guest performers and the narrators were present to take us through the substance of the program. It was a longer rehearsal than usual and we all worked hard with Stella and Dani moving the whole thing along with energy, precision and laughter.
 

Dani calls for hush, Stella draws breath, Barry is pensive

It made all the difference to hear the narrators doing their thing – it all feels connected now. Barry and the other narrators read their scripts which create an understanding of the tragedy of slavery, bringing to life the gospel music that spelled hope for the people caught in this desperate trap. Geoffrey Williams sang, Archer sang, and Mark Grunden beefed up the rhythm with his fabulous drumming. 

Geoffrey Williams singing, Stella's right there!

Afternoon tea break was welcome as we were to continue until 5.30 this time. It was sunny and time for stories and catching up.



Tea break in the afternoon sunshine



Thank goodness Harry was present, the world’s best sound engineer (for MMC performances). The work song stomps and the happy clapping from over 300 people would overwhelm the recording so we made adjustments accordingly. The Illuminators sang their piece and described their costumes - can't wait both to see them and hear them at the performance.



The Illuminators with great harmony, exciting energy



Next weekend we are issued with our t-shirts on Saturday at the full rehearsal at the Collins Street Baptist Church, followed by the dress rehearsal on Sunday morning in the Town Hall. The performance is at 2 in the afternoon. Your friends can still get tickets on-line although quite a few hundred are already sold. The Town Hall is so big!

Roll on the weekend, it’s very exciting.

Cheers until the next post.
Ros and Sue.

Let's Hear it for Singing

Did you notice Kate Sadler's short letter to the Editor of The Age this morning? You'll recall that she led the workshop at the Mornington Peninsula Choral Festival this year. Here is her letter for your interest...

I am just letting the parents of pageant toddlers know that all the goodies they think their kids gain from parading can be obtained by belonging to one of Melbourne's many fabulous children's choirs. And there's no downside.
Kathryn Sadler, Northcote. 

Fine sentiment for the future generation.

New Term Arrangements

The new term starts this week. The plan is to continue choir activities right throught these school holidays and I have given us all a break at the half way mark after the MMC.  There won't be choir practice on 8th or 9th of August (unless something comes up).

Fees are 11 weeks @ $12 / $10 conc. or $ 110 / $88 conc per term. Don't forget you can pay by half term if you would rather.

Owing to some additional commitments for me, Indigo Singers have offered to change their night from Friday to Tuesday. So Indigo and Making Waves will combine this term on a Tuesday night. We are pretty much doing the same songs at the moment so it will be quite easy to make this arrangement work.

Regards to all,
Sue.

Melbourne Festival of Choirs, 2011

The Festival of Choirs was held over Queens Birthday weekend again this year, and Two Bays Choir was twenty-five strong this time.  The Festival is the brain child of Jonathon Welch and The Choir which he leads was the 'Choir in Residence'.

We stayed in various hotels near Federation Square, since this was the hub of the organisation for the Festival. Of course, it's also the centre for lots of community activities which were a bonus for us as we went between venues.

On Friday and Saturday nights, Jonathon Welch and members of The Choir lead songs around the Campfire which burned on a bed of red sand for the entire weekend at Fed Square as part of the Light in Winter Festival. That was a great start to the proceedings and afterwards, some went on to dinner, others retired to modest but companionable take-home meals and an early night.

Each morning for the three days (Saturday to Monday), there were three workshops in which we worked with three different conductors to learn songs for the massed choirs concert in the Edge on Monday afternoon. Clearly, the magic number is three.

A workshop with George Torbay

Lunches were our own choice and that was easy with so many places nearby at Fed Square, Southbank and the Gallery. One little group chose to eat at the National Gallery cafe with the Exhibition of Choirs to follow nearby in the Great Hall.

A few of us had lunch at the NGV Cafe

What a lovely experience, singing in the Great Hall beneath that ceiling of beautiful colours. There were Master Classes, another Campfire Singalong, and then a special performance of "Moon" for Festival participants. "Moon" was written and conducted by Gordon Hamilton, and performed by The Australian Voices who are so talented and skilled in their performance of this extraordinary and complex work. The public performance followed in the evening.

Master Classes cover particular topics and were conducted by some of the special people present - Jonathon Welch, George Torbay, Gordon Hamilton, and Lucinda Sharp.

Master Class in the Elizabeth Murdoch Hall with Lucinda and Jonathon.

Later we were in a concert at the Recital Centre Elizabeth Murdoch Hall which was quite splendiferous!! We could have whispered the songs and still been heard, such are the acoustic qualities of this fascinating performance space. It was very exciting to be back stage, and all our rehearsals at home in the Senior Cits Club paid handsomely for entry, positioning and exit.

Back stage, we watched the following acts on CCTV

Jonathon and George catch up over a cuppa at the Recital Centre

A little glass of champagne was pleasant at interval, and then the concert continued. A group went to dinner at Bok Choi that evening - great service, wonderful food, good company.

At Bok Choi, Fed Square - cop that pork bun!

On Monday, the morning workshops put the finishing touches to our selection of songs for the afternoon performance. After lunch we gathered in the BMW Edge for rehearsal, getting the logistics right for our large numbers and freshly learned songs.



Jonathon Welch discusses the concert with David Kram.


Davis Kram conducted us in a mighty rendition of the Anvil Chorus complete with frying pans instead of anvils. We sang "Ice Blue" written by Gordon Hamilton for this occasion, and another song called "Lux Auruque" which is very beautiful, especially under the direction of George Torbay. This song is also remarkable in its conception; written by Eric Whittaker for a virtual choir. You can see and hear it on YouTube by following this link   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7o7BrlbaDs&feature=related  It's quite haunting, this 'Light and Gold' so do have a listen.

Massed choirs in rehearsal at the Edge.

Of course, there were a great many thank you speeches, and plenty of high jinks. A glorious moment was when the Sunbury Divas arranged all our conductors and Adam (our consummate accompanist) for a photo wearing their tiaras!

Adam, David, Jonathon, George, Gordon in borrowed finery

The Concert went well and we managed our workshop songs and completed the concert with one song from each of the participating choirs. It was indeed a Long Weekend, and very happy one.

Yours as ever,
Ros.



Rehearsing for Festival of Choirs

Queen's Birthday weekend is approaching and we had a final rehearsal for all the Two Bays people going to the Melbourne Festival of Choirs. It was great to have enough space at the Mornington Senior Citizens Club to move around. We have our positions clear, our order for getting onto the stage, and for leaving the stage which will be the opposite direction more than likely.

Rehearsing at home just before the Festival of Choirs.

Back stage, space is limited and noise travels so we are now well organised and looking forward to the event with Jonathon Welch and the many singers expected to participate.

Melbourne Millennium Chorus Rehearsals Start

Rehearsals have started for the 2011 Melbourne Millennium Chorus.

Oh wow! The choir will be 380 voices in a single concert at the Melbourne Town Hall. The energy is terrific with Stella Savy and Dani Fry at the helm. The preparation for this Winter event is fantastic.

"Freedom Road" is the name of this concert that follows the advent of slavery in the south of America, the development of gospel song, and the grievous trek to freedom for individual slaves. Gospel gives us insight into the misery, the faith that gave hope, and the battle for the abolition of slavery overall.

Dani and Stella and their team have prepared copious materials for all participants to be well prepared for this fantastic event. We have at our disposal MP3 files of all parts for all songs, music charts of all songs, lyrics, and twenty pages of historical notes which inform us of the background. The narration for the concert will also be taken from these notes.

Some of the Two Bays stalwarts outside Melbourne Girls College.

The rehearsals are held at Melbourne Girls College. There's a bit of a picnic atmosphere at the tea break - some queue for tea and cake whilst others bring food and hot drinks to share outside - if it's not raining. The rehearsals are a colourful mixture of fun and precision. Of course, this is a Victoria wide event so only half the chorus has been rehearsing in Melbourne. Other regional participants are practicing in Bairnsdale, Ballarat, Bendigo, and more.

If you're interested in getting tickets, we'd love to see you there. Here is the link to The Boite website where you can choose and purchase your seats. http://www.boite.com.au/bookings/

Do come. It'll be a rave.

A footnote from your Blog Master - it's so nice to return to 'normal' Melbourne weather when winter is Winter, but that's my view be it e'er so 'umble.

Mornington Peninsual Choral Festival, 2011

 Our annual Choral Festival on the Mornington Peninsula came around again on 28th May, 2011.  We gathered in Mary Herring Hall at Toorak College in Mt Eliza just before midday in anticipation of workshopping the Festival Song for this year.

Waiting for the balloon to go up.


 All four of our choirs - Two Bays, Simply Irresistible, Making Waves and Indigo Singers - were performing which requires our inestimable Director to juggle four repertoires, not to mention scarf management.

Lynette on Scarf Management

The special guest this year was Kathryn Sadler and it is her song "Synergy" that we are to present to the audience at the end of the day.

 

Kate is on stage and we start the "Synergy" workshop

It was inspiring to learn technique for voice and enunciation as we became familiar with the song, not to mention the inspiration for its creation. Kate conducted the choir, Vox Synergy in the Battle of the Choirs and wrote the song to lift the spirits when the choir looked as though they would not have the necessary resources to keep going.

Vox Synergy in Battle of the Choirs. Click here to see Kate and Singers at work.

We were interested to see the new Music Centre built at Toorak College since we were there last year. It's certainly a splendid facility for the students at the school. The usual concurrent choir sessions were presented during the afternoon, and it was possible for us to perform and then listen to a couple of other choirs.

Two Bays Choir singing in the Music Centre

Returning to the Hall, there were performances from each choir and we finished with a fine rendition of "Synergy" for which Kate stood in the balcony with the audience behind her. It's lovely to sing upwards to the audience...feels as though we send the sound up to the sky.

Then there was dinner afterwards at 'Spoons' in Mt Eliza.


Dinner at 'Spoons'



And a stirring photo of Sue and Lynette

 That was fun - always good to unwind and review the day's doings, have a glass of wine and a good laugh.

Yours as ever,
Ros.

Drum Beat

Suzy organised drumming sessions for a few of the choir members who were interested. We have been meeting in the community room near her. Pete is our teacher and we've been meeting on Thursday mornings to learn and practice some pieces.

Pete is on the right, leading us in the pieces we play.

Considering the number of African songs we have learned and performed, the drumming classes are much related to our world music interests. Perhaps we can incorporate the drumming into some aspects of our singing.

Singers Festival, Daylesford. 2011

This glorious Festival has been coming around for the last 20 years, and this year was the 21st. Yay!


About twenty of us from Two Bays went to Daylesford, some for the umpteenth time and others (yours truly) for the first time. Considering that there were rising waters all around Daylesford, many folk took rather circuitous and imaginative routes to get there. The early birds who were travelling from Woodend had only passable water over the road to contend with. The Daylesford Lake spillway was flowing very fast and the Blowhole close to Hepburn on the road to Newstead was B***** Spectacular. Even the viewing platform was inundated and the decking lodged on the bank some way down-stream.

The water spouts 20 metres into the river between viewing platforms

It's not so surprising that Sea Shanties were the topic of one workshop given by a favourite singer, Danny Spooner. In the end, we all arrived safely without needing flotation devices.

Sharing dinner, conversation and good wine on Friday night.

The accommodation bears some comment. Those in a cottage discovered a ghost. Those in a motel offered shelter to those with no home for a night. Those in a tent went to a cabin for fear the wind and the deluge would have trees fall on them in the darkness. Those in a van took it all in their stride. On Friday evening, we gathered at Suzy and Irena's cottage for rehearsal, a shared meal and good company. One of the delights of these events is getting to know our fellow singers a little more.

From Geoff: Friday night concert at the Town Hall. I'm enchanted by the cavernous interior, the wrap-around balcony, the vaulted ceiling and oh that sound! What a treat to sing in such a space.The various workshop presenters strut their stuff, and make my decisions on what to learn over the week-end even more difficult. So much talent, experience and enthusiasm to share.

Danny Spooner et al performing a Sea Shanty

The Festival was great fun, with wall to wall workshops, about four concerts, new and familiar music and musicians. Many of us from Two Bays look forward to the Melbourne Millenium Chorus this year after attending workshops by Dani Fry and Stella Savy who will be the Directors for MMC 2011. Bring it on!



  

Dani Fry and Stell Savy. Great Gospel and Soul workshops.

Our part in the Concert of Choirs went pretty well. All the songs are favourites and a couple were recently performed over the Christmas period - Amen Alleluia and One Morning Soon. Waka Nini Yana is a lovely indigenous lullaby written by Lou Bennett.

Geoff again: Saturday night and it's time for Two Bays to hoist its' colours at the Town Hall in front of a very giving audience of fellow Shower Sops and Bathroom Baritones. I think we nailed it...even Sue looked relaxed!

We are sitting together during the Concert of Choirs awaiting our turn.

The weather become finer on Saturday and moving from venue to venue was eaier as the rain receded. The finale was a concert of the songs learned in the workshops, including a great performance from the kids who attended the Kids' Program. What a great idea this is.

Fay White leads her workshoppers in the Finale

The Kids perform their music and special acts

 So ends another Singers Festival. If anyone has other photos that would add to our little blog-world, let me know, send me a copy, and please add comments to make this our place.

Geoff has the final word: I'm deeply moved by the closing ceremony. My sense of community and the power of music is reaffirmed.

Thanks for your lovely company.
Smiles,
Ros and Sue.

Australia Day Award to Paola Kavisha Mazella AM

"Singing the Songs of Compassion" is the headline in The Age announcing Kavisha Mazella's Member of the Order of Australia amongst the Australia Day Awards.

Those of us who frequent the many events where she is present, most recently the Daylesford Singers Festival, know well enough her bubbly personality and the depth of emotion in her singing. She sings and conducts the song she was commissioned to write for the Centenary of Women's Suffrage which you can visit here.

She is honoured for her "service to the performing arts as a singer and songwriter, and to the community , through the development of musical projects promoting awareness of multicultural, refugee and indigenous experiences".

Here is the link to the little article in The Age, however the lovely photo of her is not here. Pity!

All the best,
Ros.