The London Kodály Choir, New venture! Options

[barry-clari]

Hi smd (I'm afraid every time I see your name, my thinking voice goes, 'so-mi-do' (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) ).

Glad to hear of your interest!

I think the only way for you to find out is to come along - suck it and see! You probably will find the whole solfa thing a tad overwhelming to begin with, but so did I when I first started singing in a (solfa) choir - a lot of it went over my head and I just clung on by my fingertips...but now, 'x' number of years later, I'm totally at home...so give it a try!

There will be copies of the music with all the solfa names written in, so that will be helpful - also there are quite a lot of experienced people that you can sit next to and who will help. There were a few people at the first meeting who had never sung in a choir before, or who were new to solfa - and none of them looked too traumatised by the end of the session!!

If you do come, PM me beforehand so that we can introduce ourselves.

And Maggie's right in what she says...

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If you do decide to come to the May rehearsal smd, I'll have a go at helping you out : I can't profess to being terribly brilliant at it, but I get by... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[PianoNotes]

Now that I know I am not the only one who will need help, 23/5 is in my diary. If I survive that, 4th July is also a possibility. I will remember the pencil and the £10 but might leave the voice at home. Even if all I end up doing is listening and not singing, I am sure it will still be enjoyable.

[barry-clari]

Now that I know I am not the only one who will need help, 23/5 is in my diary. If I survive that, 4th July is also a possibility. I will remember the pencil and the £10 but might leave the voice at home. Even if all I end up doing is listening and not singing, I am sure it will still be enjoyable.

The three of us (you/me/smd) can stand at the back and hide (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[Maizie]

Oooh, this sounds all very interesting, especially if it's open to people who'll happily tell you they 'can't sing' (i.e. me. I can sing, I just can't sing very well. Or when anyone else is in the house/car/office/etc)

Can't make the May date but the June and July might be possible...

[barry-clari]

Can't make the May date but the June and July might be possible...

Aw, I can't make either June or July (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) but I think they're planning to go beyond July... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Cyrilla]

We are indeed!

Anyone who is thinking of (nervously) trying it - please come and introduce yourself to me! And I will make sure you're sitting next to someone more experienced (if you could tell me if you'll be singing soprano/alto/tenor/bass it would help).

I think PianoNotes has the right idea - even if you just sit and listen and follow the music and do a bit in your thinking voice as well as a bit in your singing voice whenever you think you can, you will still get a lot out of it - and hopefully the solfa will start to make a bit of sense, too.

One reason we set this up was to give people who have been on Kodály courses an opportunity to practise their solfa singing in a choral setting (courses are often a bit few and far between - I would often just do a summer school and then nothing throughout the year, which doesn't make for very rapid progress!).

But we also want to encourage people who have done little or no solfa before to give it a whirl, too! Considering we were a motley group of 30 people who had never sung together before we made a pretty good sound and it was a really enjoyable and uplifting occasion (well, it was for me!!).

The forums' muffinmonster and zolly's dude were there (singing soprano), as was occasional poster Willard (tenor). Baz and I can help people out on the alto line..

Of course you may find it's not for you - but do come along and try it! As I said, when I first started going on Kodály courses, I had NEVER sung in a choir and was a real beginner at solfa, so almost everything went WHOOSH over my head. But I found the whole thing fascinating and I stuck at it...(and the rest, as they say, is history (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) ).

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[barry-clari]

The forums' muffinmonster and zolly's dude were there (singing soprano), as was occasional poster Willard (tenor). Baz and I can help people out on the alto line..

A Cyrilla endorsement! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

No pressure then... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[muffinmonster]

The forums' muffinmonster and zolly's dude were there (singing soprano), as was occasional poster Willard (tenor). Baz and I can help people out on the alto line..

Forumite Onion was also there, singing alto.

[barry-clari]

The forums' muffinmonster and zolly's dude were there (singing soprano), as was occasional poster Willard (tenor). Baz and I can help people out on the alto line..

Forumite Onion was also there, singing alto.

Ah, that's good - plenty of forum representation (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Cyrilla]

Argh! Sorry, onion! I knew there was another forumite there and for the life of me couldn't remember who it was!

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[PianoNotes]

I'll be in a separate choir with barry and smd.

[Willard]

Here's an occasional post:

If anyone (not being male) has any male friends or acquaintances or meets anyone on the way there who looks like they can sing, do bring them along. As with many choirs, we could do with a few more male voices to balance the sound - although I think the sound was quite good for a first meeting. I think that is a tribute to the way using solfa helps with sight-reading and accuracy and once that clicks, means you can concentrate more on producing a better sound.

There should be help in all the voice parts for those who are less experienced.

And tea and biscuits in the interval ! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[barry-clari]

I'll be in a separate choir with barry and smd.

I hope the conductor is prepared for such a thing... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[Cyrilla]

I'll be in a separate choir with barry and smd.

I hope the conductor is prepared for such a thing... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

I'll warn him (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

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[onion]

Forumite Onion was also there, singing alto.

Not convinced what I was doing would be classified as singing!

Argh! Sorry, onion! I knew there was another forumite there and for the life of me couldn't remember who it was!

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That's ok Cyrilla, it was a very busy afternoon. I was very pleasantly surprised to see how many people were there. I really enjoyed the music and even I could keep up, mostly, with what we were doing. It was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I liked the fact that you had even arranged the weather to be nice enough so we could sit out in the garden - terribly civilised.

I'm looking forward to the next session.

Lís