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Listening between the notes
Monday Night, Croydon Folk Club, Coope Boyes & Simpson gig. I know I spend a lot of time writing about music, but there is method in it. In the right circumstances, and these were they, being in the front row, singing along with professional musicians who encourage joining in, not only do the spirits lift,…
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Water Aid Day singing
Vocal Chords are singing in St Pancras Station, London, opposite the National Ticket Office at 6pm this Friday, 22nd March. We are raising money for Water Aid by singing our favourite Sing For Water songs. If you are on your way home from work, get a later train and stay and enjoy, and give generously!…
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Celebrating Benjamin Britten
So, it’s still LGBT History month, and it’s also Benjamin Britten’s centenary so what better way to celebrate the magnificence of BB’s unapologetic gayness and talent than to sing in Noye’s Fludd? A. has had an ambition to sing some Britten for many the long year so we were thrilled when we heard that our…
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Festive Spirits
Christmas is all about singing for me, either performing, or in the audience. This year was no exception, starting with a superb workshop of traditional folk carols with Lester Simpson on the 1st December. We learnt Adam Lay ybounden (15th Century), Dunstan Lullaby (very simple, very effective) and a couple of variants of While Shepherds…
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Gearing up for Yule
I don’t care how many shopping days, what matters now is, how many singing days are there til the Solstice? And how many reading days? My evenings are split roughly equally between singing and promoting the books between now and Christmas. Rehearsals every Monday for Vivaldi Gloria at Blackheath Halls Christmas Concert Tuesdays at the…
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Blackheath Mini Prom – better late than never
As someone should probably have told me when I was a nipper, don’t promise what you can’t deliver. So here, very late, is my review of the Mini Prom at Blackheath Halls way back on the 5th October. In my defence I’ve been busy promoting Arachne Press, and I carried the programme around with me…
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The Singing Season
Not that the singing season ever went away, it’s a bit like football, the break gets shorter all the time; but we didn’t do Sing for Water this year because of A’s broken leg, so larynx and lungs feeling a bit under used. So the good news is that Raise the Roof is back next…
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Blackheath Cendrillon: A slipper and a ring
L.C. here. This is my last post on behalf of Cherry. She says I’ve behaved very irresponsibly and I am lucky not to have been had up in front of the Leveson Enquiry. Anyway, I’m feeling a bit crest-fallen because I didn’t find out who the mystery woman was first after all. But I was…
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Blackheath Cendrillon: A Post from the Court Poet, Grand Duchess Elizabette
‘CENDRILLON’ – A TRIBUTE The skies above were leaden, the clouds loomed dark and grey, but, at the Halls, the mood was light, all musical and gay. Forget the Jubilympics, forget the Torch Relay, ‘Cinderella, the Opera’ is the order of the day. Nick Jenkins was regaling us with tales of Gay Paree, La Belle…
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Blackheath Cendrillon: Prince Charming’s Dilema
L.C. Spinetti here again, I got in a bit of trouble with that recording earlier, Harriet says she’s going to sue me, but only when she needs the publicity. However the head honchos at REALly?! really liked it, and I got a pay rise and a commission to take pictures of all the eligible Gels…
Cherry Potts, Writer 