Sit Down, We're Rocking...!

  Rehearsals started in earnest last night. 
   Our meeting was at BCC's Hall rather than the usual school down the road; I had my last-minute doubts about whether I had correctly remembered this change but was heartened by the poster outside the school's car park with the relief-inducing words: BCOS at BCC Hall.  The Hall is quite a bit larger than the school's central room, unsurprisingly, and with just enough chairs for our rehearsal, there appeared to be a lot of extra space.  Did we fill it with sound?  Martin never said.
   It was a much prompter start than last week, being called to sit down at 7.35, and then Martin took over at the piano and made us do vocal warm-ups!  Perhaps we should have guessed something was up; the first exercise was a series of ay-ay-ay (as in Bart Simpson's expression of imminent disaster, ay-caramba!), followed by some me-me-me.  A definite warning.  But we got quite high and squeaky and so carried away with the warm-up that we never noticed that Martin had started back down the scale.  More Stockhausen. :)
   Then we went through Follow the Fold, the mission's hymn, gradually building up the different parts until we were able to sing them together, in harmony.  Sounding pretty good, we thought, totally failing to notice that the parts are not sung by the cast in general but by specific individuals.  More warm-up!  But Martin had his reasons, because then we started, as promised last week, on Sit Down, You're Rocking The Boat.
   This is tricky, not for the harmonies particularly, but for the rhythm.  Most of the song has a rest at the beginning of each phrase, but the final section, which is even faster, doesn't.  We tried saying it in rhythm as Martin beat time, then we tried saying it in rhythm as Martin clapped the beat.  Then we tried singing it, without the lengthy s that appeared at the beginning of the second line, as we all attempted not to be late and were consequently far too early.  Eventually, with Martin clapping at us (not in an applause way, apparently!) we got into the swing of it, worked through the other sections of the song and then - completely failed to get the rhythm right again for the final bit.  Well, the show's not until November.  We still have time...
  This was the point at which we took a break, in part because Ali had finished teaching a dance routine to all those who wanted to audition for the Hot Box Girls next week.  Ali had had quite a large group of girls/ladies for this rehearsal, which left the alto section at a rather depleted two.  Here's hoping this situation is improved in weeks to come! 
   Once everyone was sitting down again, we looked at the song Happy Ending, with added rhythms that it turns out Martin doesn't want.  It's also still coming through with a rather delightful North Oxfordshire accent, so unless we want to set the whole musical in Banbury, this will have to change.  (It seems that setting it in Banbury isn't really an option.  I feel for Banbury!)
    And then we had another go at Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat.  Oh dear.  And we really had worked quite hard at this.  The harmonies are mostly there, though, so it's a start.
   Most folks were able to go early now, so that anyone who is auditioning for a solo role could have a go with Martin at the song they need to learn.  A couple of Sue Me, then seven ladies having a go at If I Were A Bell, and then onto Adelaide's Lament, during which some male voices could be heard joining in!  Well, it is a fun song. 
   One of the problems with rehearsing at BCC is that they need us out by 9.30pm, so the men will have to wait until next week to rehearse their audition songs.  At least next week, we're back at the school.  And if anyone wants to take notes for me next week for this blog, that would be much appreciated, as unfortunately I have to be elsewhere.

A few photos of the principals involved:


This is our usual view of Joe, our amazing repetiteur.

Ali surveys her Hot Box Girls as they pack up their dancing shoes.

Martin, deep in thought: how else can he possibly encourage us to get the right rhythm for that final section?!

The Embedded Blogger begins...

    I thought it might be interesting to keep a record of this year's BCOS production, and motivating (for me) to share it with other people.  So that's what this is.
    I wasn't around for any discussions that were held about what the show should be this year, and I missed the trauma of discovering that our existing MD, Stuart Hubble, was moving on, but came to the show when most members of BCOS did...
    Just a minute, you say, hold your horses, what's BCOS? MD? Stop using acronyms! In case you've stumbled across this blog completely accidentally, then, a word of explanation (or two).
    BCOS is Bicester Choral and Operatic Society, a very diverse group of people who like singing.  We do three 'productions' a year, one of them choral (this year was Bach, St John's Passion), one of them a mix of lighter songs complete with ploughman's supper, and a more conventional 'show'.  Sometimes we do Gilbert and Sullivan, last year was Calamity Jane, and this year's choice is Guys and Dolls, with music by Frank Loesser.  If you don't know the show, you surely know some of the songs: Luck be a Lady Tonight, Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat, Adelaide's Lament - see what I mean? Your foot is probably tapping already. We do have a website: http://www.bcoswesing.org.uk/ which will keep you up to date.  We're also on Facebook and we tweet as BicesterChoral (follow us and then retweet the ticket details!).
    MD is Musical Director; choirs tend to need someone to help organise their singing and tell them when they've gone off-key.  Stuart has been our MD for a number of years, as well as holding down other jobs, and he's finally decided that it's time to move on. However, one of our former MDs, Martin Quinn, has agreed to return for the forthcoming show.
    So, this Wednesday, having done the supper show the previous Saturday and waved goodbye to Stuart, we turned up as usual at the school where we rehearse, full of buzz and chat.  A number of people only do *either* the musical *or* the choral piece, so although there is overlap, plenty of folks haven't seen each other since last November, give or take.
    Eventually, i.e. not at 7.30 on the dot, we settled down for Martin and Ali Marshall, our director, to tell us about the show.  Ali went through the story and occasionally handed over to Martin, who made us do singing.  Sight-singing. 
    For songs in unison, especially if you're half-familiar with the tune, that's not a problem.  Harmonies, that's another matter.  We were described as singing Stockhausen at one point, and the word 'ish' passed Martin's lips more than once!  But it was our first night back for a while (for some of us) so we have been let off.... for now.  Next week, we will be looking at the harmonies in 'Sit Down' by pulling them apart.  It's all right for the basses, there's lots of them and they were described as 'confident'.  Well, you would be in the middle of a group of quite a lot of you!
    Other info we needed to know: the show may be all the way off in November, but actually, when you take into account the summer holidays and the fact that for most of us rehearsal is just two and a half hours a week, that's not very much time.  So if we want to do the show, we have to be committed.  In essence, that means we need to avoid booking holidays except in August, until after the show.  Illness should also be avoided where possible.
    Ali also went through which songs people would need to sing for auditions, which will be (mostly) on 6th July.  Not everyone needs to audition, thank goodness, just those who are going for solo parts.  And for Sarah, Sky, Nathan and Adelaide, there are songs to learn and script to be familiar with for the audition!  So, a lot of learning and behind-the-scenes rehearsal going on in the next two weeks, to which your embedded blogger will probably not be privy.  But I'll do what I can.
     I took lots of notes.  Some of the time when I should have been singing, but mostly not.  I won't reproduce them all here, you'd get bored.  But suffice to say, when Ali and Martin say we'll be singing and acting in New York accents rather than Alabama or (God forbid!) Oxfordshire, they mean it.  The men had to try Luck Be A Lady a couple of times and were still told off for being too cowboy.    I also took some photos, but pretty rubbish ones, so I shall take more next week instead.  For now, I shall leave you to go and watch the DVD - which is apparently rather different from the stage show.  So you'll still need to buy tickets for our show in November.  Which will be awesome. :-)