It’s pretty amazing how we pigeon-hole people’s talents and skills. All of us do it, most of the time unknowingly. Our new temporary musical Director, for the adults Choir I play piano for, has some amazing warm ups and he loves takin...
This post was orginally published on Embro Thistle Singers blog. When I was 15, I took singing lessons from the nuns at "The Pines". These ladies were well respected for the results they achieved in musical training. Our performance group o...
[this is a version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir] We’ve all seen it: a timid, slouched, nervous person approaches the microphone. We expect disaster. They open their mouth and the most amazing, beauti...
[this is a version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir] I was running a one-day workshop a while back and it seemed to me that the whole thing wasn’t gelling. People seemed uninspired, energy was low, and i...
[this is a version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir] A few years ago I spent two weeks travelling through the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. I was really looking forward to hearing plenty of tr...
[A version of this article first appeared as a post on my blog From the Front of the Choir] I get regular emails from people asking questions about songs and copyright. I’m certainly no expert, but I have written a few articles that you migh...
[A version of this article first appeared as a post on my blog From the Front of the Choir] I teach a song by ear in less than an hour at a workshop. Everyone picks it up really quickly and then they sing it brilliantly. We’ve been working ...
[A version of this article first appeared as a post on my blog From the Front of the Choir]The world can be a scary and upsetting place. When I wrote this back in 2016, here in the UK we were witnessing political infighting, uncertain futures, auster...
[A version of this article first appeared as a post on my blog From the Front of the Choir]Just because a song is in a foreign language, you still need to respect its origins. Sami family by Morten Oddvik There is a huge amount of misinformation ...
Reading Phoenix Choir perform Bogoroditse Devo, a setting of text taken from the Russian Orthodox All-Night vigil ceremony. The words are a prayer to Mary, Theotokos Virgin, rejoice, (or: Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos) Mary full of grace, The Lord is ... more
