NVPN NEWSLETTER
Number 23
May 2012
Hello lovely singers,
Earlier in the year, a fascinating conversation was started on the Natural Voice Dialogue (more on that later)
about how to help those participants in our groups who have difficulty singing in tune, remembering tunes,
or simply singing the same note as everyone else. I decided to use this precious material to make an article
for the newsletter so that the whole membership could enjoy these insights.
This and the overall editing of the newsletter have turned into a bit of a marathon due to practical problems
with my computer and internet connection and my own personal issues which caused me to make heavy
weather of the job. So I humbly apologise for the delay, but I think/hope you'll find this issue was worth the
wait.
Once again we have some brilliant and heart-felt writing from our ever-growing membership: Laura
Plummer writes about her journey from librarian to singer/songwriter/workshop leader; Chris Samuel, of
“Spooky Men”, writes about brotherhood and singing and dressing up! There are some good ideas for song
sharing between us from Gitika Partington and Betsy Sansby, how music has changed the course of history,
from Simon Heather, as well as news and notices from network members.
I would like to say thank you to Sarah Pennington for her brilliant proof-reading, sound advice and unfailing
support.
On the next page is an article about the Natural Voice Dialogue. This is a Yahoo Group – you can join by
going to http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/, searching for “naturalvoicedialogue” and asking to join. It is worth
mentioning that the group is open to people who are not members of the Network.
It is a lovely example of the information and support we give each other. I have used a few posts here to give
a flavour and because they are so informative, but there is much more there to look at if the topic interests
you. I have edited the posts and been given permission to use them here. If you want to look for more, try
searching for “songs” and “pitching” and “confidence building” and you should find most of what’s there on
this topic. These extracts are really the very tip of a huge body of information and thinking about voice work.
A browse of the Natural Voice Dialogue is always likely to throw up a new idea which will be useful in your
work.
I feel it is worth drawing your attention to the importance of labelling our posts to the dialogue accurately. I
found that many posts were labelled as something they were not and this made them hard to find in the
huge body of messages which is accumulated in the Natural Voice Dialogue.
Editor: Natalie O’Sullivan. Please contact me regarding any aspect of the newsletter:
[email protected] ; 07956 609450; Shrub Farm Cottage, Larling, Norwich, NR16 2QT.
The next copy deadline will be Friday 15th June 2012. I welcome your feedback.
Pitching in
It all started with questions (of course) from Fil Campbell:
This is just a fabulous group with so much expertise - I'm really enjoying reading the posts and looking
through the files.
Has anyone any tips for dealing with someone who is completely atonal in their group? Personally it
doesn't really bother me as I'm not trying to have a pitch-perfect choir - I just want people to exercise
their singing muscles and have a bit of fun. But I see some of the other members squirming a bit when
sitting beside this member who just cannot hold a tune or anything even close to the tune. I'd love to
be able to help this guy too. I've been working a lot with adults in recent years and have had two or
three people who would consider themselves tone-deaf but we have made progress on a one-to-one
basis. And if I ask them to sing a song that they learned when they were very small, say 3 or 4 years
old, then that song will be perfectly in tune. So some crisis has frightened them so badly that their
hearing ability has been impaired.
I'd be interested to hear some of your experiences.
Fil
[email protected]
Roz Walker answered, saying she also has a couple of singers in her singing for health group who cannot
tell if they are in tune. She gave this exercise she calls “tuning up the orchestra” which she does at the
beginning and suggested it is helpful to have these singers near you if you can manage it.
We all sing one note that I give and I literally go round and help them get in tune... by getting them to
slide up/down to the note. Even if they can’t tell the difference now, I am trusting that eventually they
will get more “in tune”.
I think it helps the morale of the group to see that the leader is concerned with getting a good group
sound, as it does affect the others when one person continues misplacing their melody.
Roz Walker
[email protected]
Candy Verney, who has done a lot of one-to-one work, offered this perspective:
I have only come across one person, in 10 years of doing one-to-one work, that still could not hear
whether she was in tune or not. And that was the problem – I think it may be called Amusia – her ears,
which worked perfectly well in all other respects, could not hear when she was in/out of tune, therefore
she has no way of improving. Her voice did improve 100% from her starting point, but never got so
that others in the group felt she was singing in tune.
I always felt I was working with the voice and its own particular intelligence, NOT the brain – that got
in the way. I think it needs a map to know where to go. So I did a lot of walking up and down the
carpet, always starting on the same note (one that they chose as comfortable) gradually adding more
notes. I find Sol-fa excellent, as a way of naming the notes, and therefore giving the student a
relationship between one note and the next which is always the same (e.g. ‘do’ to ‘fa’ is always a 4th).
My theory is that if a person's voice has learnt to sing 3 notes in tune, and you always come back to
those pitches, it gradually can add further notes, as it now knows the starting point of the map.
The other thing I found very helpful, in order to cut through the high tension which inevitably
accompanied singing for those who came, was: I sang a note, they breathed out and in a rhythm, then
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copied the note. I found a lot of frightened singers would sing almost before I had given them the note
– in panic mode. This rhythmic pattern stopped this. We would do this for a few minutes. Using the
feet and arms helps too – movement stops the brain from panicking.
In a group, if I can hear someone is singing randomly, I get everyone to keep singing on one note.
Gradually that person tunes up. It is a matter of the voice desperately trying to tune up, but it does not
have time before the group has gone onto another note.
Candy Verney
[email protected]
Teresa Verney added this little gem:
Yes, it is a huge subject, isn’t it. One brilliant thing I do is to start from the person giving me a note and
then I sing the same note as them..... This really gives them the idea of what “singing the same note”
should feel like – that is what the problem is mostly. Then you go from there by getting them to stay
on the same note whilst you change your note and then go back, so they feel what the difference is. I
have one new guy at the moment and I plan to get him to come in 10 mins early with two other guys to
do this.
But yes it is also to do with the whole life story isn’t it......
Teresa
[email protected]
These are parts of two different posts from Fodo Higginson: the first is in response to another question about
helping people sing lower:
If he's trying to access just a few notes lower then posture is key. Ensure that the back and top of spine
is as elongated as possible, to allow the larynx to lower. No tension, just well supported with back
muscles. A common thing for people to do when trying to reach lower notes is drop their chin too far
and physically drop their bodies. I always say you need to grow in order to get lower notes. Try some
simple runs down, such as minor third intervals from upper note to lower and back up: 'eeh ooh eeh
ooh eeh' – the eeh keeps the tongue high. Be gentle – might just be a semitone lower but keep
practising.
At the end of the day it's down to your physical make-up too and that's why we all have such
fantastically unique voices. Some great singers don't have amazing ranges but it's what they do with
them. And take a listen to how Kate Bush's voice has changed from early recordings to her recent
album. When she went over some older recordings for Director's Cut' she had to lower the key in order
to sing them again.
This second is about inhalation and exhalation techniques:
Exhalation (teach before inhalation unless you have very long lines). Give everyone a small piece of
paper and ask them to blow as gently as they can for as long as they can, to keep the paper against the
back of their hand. We basically need to get them using support muscles to keep the out-breath
smooth and not forced. Breathe in for 4 and then out for 3 and straight into a line from a song (it
amazes people how much breath they have to do this and it definitely stops them forcing out the air).
Observe and see how many people shallow breathe and immediately tense shoulders and neck. Get
them to sing loud and then soft still feeling support muscles.
Inhalation: release the stomach muscles and then take deep breaths. Feel the outward pressure by
placing hands on the back below the ribs.
Fodo
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[email protected]
David Burbidge writes about the fact that it can be hard for some people to find their pitch from the leader,
especially if they’re from a different gender and gives some ideas for working on that:
I also use an exercise, which I got from Frankie Armstrong, for singers to explore how you can make the
same note but have different timbres – where everyone sings the same song like an opera singer, and
then like a country and western singer and then with several other qualities – but always the same
notes; so that when they hear the same note from a man and woman it doesn't confuse them.
I find sometimes if I am teaching the alto line and we are singing alongside the sopranos, I might sing in
my upper register, but first I get them to sing their first note with me singing in the lower part of my
voice, and I ask them to hold it while I join them in the high part of my voice - and then we sing
together at the same pitch.
Frankie often said that it was one reason why many people thought they couldn't sing because as
children the timbre and pitch of the adult teacher's voice was so different from theirs that they got
confused.
David Burbidge
www.lakelandvoice.co.uk
This post from Hannah Rose Tristram is almost an article in itself and is a great way to sum up:
This is a very interesting subject, and something I come across a lot. Many people who have joined my
community group (particularly men – which may be partly to do with having to pitch from a female
voice) have arrived with trouble pitching, and I just help them find the notes each and every time, while
everyone joins in support – and often clap when they get it! When I start a voice part off, I make sure
they all feel the first note of the phrase in their bodies in agreement before we move on to the rest, and
do this again when reviewing the whole thing or adding in the parts. One of the men who joined had
trouble pitching, and a year on he is now confident, holds parts by himself, and performs alone,
practises every day too and loves it! Just from being given the chance to explore, and the support of
the group. There are times when some people don't get the pitch, and it is time to move on, and then I
just leave it. The next time we come to it, they have often found it after having had time for it to settle
in (or not being under pressure of getting it in the initial group context) or I just do a bit of extra work,
and the rest of the group wait patiently, understanding the ethos and anticipating the sonic rewards
when we are all on the same wavelength.
I do a lot of pitching work with one-to-one clients, and I find that practice is really the best way to
develop the skill of hearing, understanding, translating to the instrument of one's own voice, and then
continuing to tune and finesse one's own voice as one hears it. One of my one-to-one clients, who
initially had trouble with pitching, can now hold a bass line whilst I sing other things over the top. It is a
skill which can be acquired by anyone. One of my other clients is more difficult, his sense of hearing is
different in some way. However, when I do call and response (like haymaking), and he is totally
relaxed, he often pitches quite accurately, so I know there is hope, and just keep finding ways in.
It sounds like your 'complete beginners' group is attracting people who need just that - and it is great
that they have come to you! Personally, I think you should persist with them and focus on the effect
you are having on their lives. You could start up another group which is not a complete beginners
group as well, for your own musical satisfaction - or even a little barbershop quartet! But if you've put
it out there as a beginners' group, in my opinion I think it is worthwhile sticking to it over a long period
of time, and then longer still, for the rewards that will be reaped by all. Don't be afraid to help the
individuals match a pitch in session - you can do this in subtle ways. Say, for example, only Bob is
pitching off, say to Bob and the few people around him "okay, just this section", or "okay, just the men"
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or "just this half of the men", and help them find the pitch. If you sing it, and Bob is singing off the
desired pitch, you can point up or down as to which direction Bob needs to go. Then, when Bob gets it,
work from there on each note of the phrase, so that he can find it in his body before it has to go up to
speed. If Bob doesn't get it in that instance after a bit of trying, move on, or you may make him
stressed. Avoid pointing at or calling people out by name, as this can make people feel picked on.
But, if you have a section of the group addressed, you can then communicate in a friendly manner to
the person who needs help to find the pitch in question, through gestures and body language and facial
expression, and your own singing.
Bottom line, I really think that as an NVPN practitioner running a 'complete beginners' group, you are
best to make everybody feel really welcome, and embrace the challenges that people bring to you, and
how they can help you grow as a voice teacher, and expand as a human being (patience, compassion).
The rewards for doing so, for you, the slower beginners, and the singers who find it easier, will be
mighty on every level.
Setting up an extra help group might be a good idea - but you probably couldn't say 'you and you and
you' should do this, without upsetting someone and the people you are hoping to help might not come.
Keeping up your totally open group, and also setting up something smaller for more experienced
singers might be helpful to you, as an idea.
Also, you could try incorporating some 'free' vocal improvisation structures into your sessions, where
the pitch in question is not important, so that everyone can feel and enjoy the expressive qualities of
their own voices. And also, incorporate some pitching and tuning exercises into your warm-ups.
Stick by those people (and get help with it so it's not all your task), and you'll be doing everyone a
favour, and practising the deepest held values of the network.
Hope these thoughts are helpful.
Love,
Hannah Rose xx
[email protected]
♥♥♥
If you can talk…
by Laura Plummer
Originally my background was in the public library service. I was in a senior management post and my 50th
birthday was on the horizon. I had a good salary and job security and enjoyed music mostly as a hobby,
playing piano (classical), guitar and singing (folk). I had also started to learn concertina – just because I loved
the sound and feel of the instrument. I had sung in the school choir and had studied music and music
appreciation as far as O level (GCSE). Music A level was not an option at my grammar school back in the 70s
so I took a degree in English literature and language (which I loved) – hence the career in libraries. But
behind the bun and glasses (only joking!) there was a musician struggling to get out. Music is an essential
part of the core of me – the thing which turns me on in life, in particular harmony.
So I decided to celebrate my half century by taking a late gap year (career break) and doing what I really
wanted to do for a change. With a couple of music buddies I knew from years back at our local folk club, I
started a fortnightly Singers Session in our local pub which really took off and through which I met lots of
other singers and musicians. A few months later I approached our local Arts Centre to see if they would be
interested in running a Singers Circle – I was very lucky that the Arts Officer at the time was interested in
expanding their programme of night classes and liked the idea of an informal weekly session for people who
would like to try singing as part of a group. I knew absolutely nothing about how to go about this – what
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format it would take, how to source songs and teach them – it sounds incredible at this stage. All I had was a
conviction that I wanted to do it – to get people together and sing! I had a few contacts from the Singers
Session at the pub and initially it was word of mouth, friends of friends who belonged to church choirs etc.
And of course it was advertised in the Arts Centre arts guide.
We had 14 people on our first Wednesday night and I came up with a sort of shape to the class, which is
pretty much the same seven years later. Initially I drew on folk and traditional songs already in my own
repertoire and taught the group these with little bits of harmonies, usually just in the choruses. By the
second term we had 18 and each term the numbers grew, some were brought along by friends and some just
saw it advertised in the arts guides. As time went on, we were asked to sing at community events like carols
at Christmas, but we were a collective rather than a choir and it was all very informal and loose. However, by
the end of the second year I was starting to think about taking things up a notch….. So I took soundings
among the class which had grown to over 30 singers and there was interest in forming a community choir. I
got help through a friend who was working for Voluntary Arts Ireland at the time who put me in contact with
a chap who helped voluntary groups to draw up constitutions and apply for charitable status. We had our
inaugural meeting after the class one night in May 2007 and ‘Voices of Lecale’ was born! We set up a bank
account so that we were able to accept payment and donations in return for performances, all of which
would go to a nominated charity chosen at our AGM each year.
With all the energy that had been going into my old day job now set free, I was dabbling in song-writing and
learning DADGAD guitar. I had also teamed up with 2 other folk musicians (guitar/banjo/Scottish small pipes
and whistles plus my guitar and concertina) – we christened ourselves ‘The Pluckin’ Squeezers’ (most of the
instruments we played were plucked or squeezed!!). I had a little bit of recording experience on an allfemale singer-songwriter CD ‘Chicks with Picks’, which the other female singer in the Squeezers had
produced. This gave me an insight into what it was all about and in 2007 I recorded a CD with the Squeezers
of my own songs plus some traditional Irish and Scottish tunes. This was all self-financed, the money was
recouped through sales of the CD and gigs in pubs, clubs and arts venues.
Music-making was now a major part of the week. Voices of Lecale were making regular appearances in our
local heritage centre and other community venues. By last term there were 48 people enrolled for Singers
Circle, 38 of whom had also opted to become choir members. The remaining 12 singers just enjoy coming
along and singing on a Wednesday night, they don’t wish to perform in public or have the time in some cases
for additional practices or events.
As the choir grew in numbers and confidence I was introducing more harmony into our repertoire and pieces
in 3 and 4 parts. My son who was studying for a PhD in music was using Finale software and encouraged me
to buy a less sophisticated version of it. It was easy to learn and enabled me to do my own arrangements of
songs and I found it a great boost for song-writing and composing too.
I felt the choir needed something to work towards and suggested making a CD – everyone was very excited
at the idea (though some were a little daunted!). We decided to do a Christmas CD, as by now we had a
decent repertoire of carols and songs that we could use. The other 2 members of the Squeezers were
drafted in to help, adding some instrumental tracks, and a wonderful harpist who was recommended agreed
to play on the album too. We recorded the CD at Castleward, a National Trust property on the shores of
Strangford Lough, and all profits went to Cancer Research. We applied for a grant to our council’s Arts
Service and got about 70% of the total we needed so that was a great help. We were able to hand over
£3,200 to Cancer Research – our CD sold out (300 copies)!
During the last few years I have been very fortunate to have been helped by many people I’ve met along the
way – it’s hard not to feel that you are being guided. One of these was Kate Fletcher who introduced me to
the NVPN. I treated myself to a session of her ‘Change the world through song’ classes at Queen’s
University’s Open Learning programme. She continues to be a source of inspiration! Through Kate I heard
about Frankie Armstrong and Ali Burns and attended workshops they gave in Belfast, including Ali’s
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‘Forgotten Carols’ project – both tremendously creative women – awards should be handed out straight
away! I also came to know the late Marie O’Sullivan, a wonderful singing teacher and opera singer, whose
approach to singing would be quite different from NVPN but whom I also found inspirational. I think it is
good to remain open to all possibilities and learn from a wide range of teachers, sources and approaches –
from this you can distill your own elixir!
Over the past 4 years I have run lots of Saturday workshops including 2 BIGsings for Amnesty International (I
am a member of the Mid-Down group). The second of these was done as part of the Fiddlers Green
International Folk Festival in Rostrevor. We had 50 singers and put on a scratch performance the same
evening, joined by a couple of the professional singers taking part in the festival – it was one of those
amazing summer days with a great spirit of community and belonging.
The choir has raised over £8,000 for good causes such as cancer research and the RNLI. We put on a
‘Welcome, Yule!’ Christmas concert every year and give informal monthly recitals on Saturday mornings in
our local heritage centres for busloads of American and Canadian visitors on the St Patrick’s trail. We have
sung in various community centres and even the local Asda. Just last November we made our second CD
‘Journeys’, a collection of folk and traditional songs from Ireland, Scotland, Europe, Africa and New Zealand –
it includes 2 of my own compositions. This time our grant applications were unsuccessful so we had a year of
fundraising – everything from Easter hamper draws, Smarties tube collections, dog-walking, sponsored sings
– and pretty soon we had over the target £3,000 collected. The CD was launched in March this year.
The next stage is to improve the performance ability of the choir. I’d like to encourage the singers to do a bit
more solo and ensemble work and hopefully make a DVD; also, to continue to improve my skills as a teacher
and facilitator. It has been a wonderful 7 years since I took my ‘gap year’ and one of the best parts is when
people tell me how much they enjoy what we are doing with our voices – how the singing has enriched their
lives. I have got so much back from this - I never went back to my old job. I applied for and was granted
early retirement - sometimes you really do get what you ask for.
Laura Plummer
www.webs.com/voicesoflecale
www.lauraplummer.com
♥♥♥
Men and Singing
by Chris Samuel
Blokefest – 22/23/24th June, Nr Cirencester. Glos
We all know the difficulties with getting men involved in singing. Equally, we know the huge enjoyment that
they get from it once the initial
barriers have been broken down.
I’m a fairly typical bloke. Career and
family pressures meant that, even
though I always knew I could sing - I
didn’t. For nearly 20 years. But
discovering singing when I relocated
back to my native Wiltshire in 2000
has not only enriched my life, but
changed it completely.
I’m also a very lucky bloke. I happened to end
up in a part of the world where there are more
The Magnificent AK47
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natural voice practitioners than you can shake a stick at. I was doubly lucky that I happened to hear about
auditions for Naked Voices in 2003; and trebly (!) lucky that I became the first UK Spookyman in 2007.
That first tentative step into a world of which I knew nothing set me on a path that now sees me running five
choirs, performing with a variety of talented singers and arrangers, hosting singing holidays and hopefully
inspiring others too.
I don’t need reminding of the transformative power of song!
The Spooky Men’s Chorale experience was my first of all-male singing. As well as the power and richness of
the sound we made, the extraordinary feeling of camaraderie it created beat anything I’d ever felt before –
apart from perhaps rugby tours in my 20s (with slightly less beer and bandages, but more manhugs and
better audiences). The fact the Spooks tend to only visit these shores every two years or so, meant a gaping
hole yawned in front of me at the end of my first tour. A hole that started to be filled when I ran a Spooky
inspired ‘Sing Like A Bloke’ workshop in Ashton Keynes, a village in North Wiltshire in 2008. The result is a
group of men now glorying under the moniker of ‘The Magnificent AK47’. And I began to witness, rather
than experience, the effect this had on other men too.
The group, usually around 15-20 (but 30 semi-regular attenders), meets in a pub on random Sunday
evenings, has a break for beer rather than a cup of tea and sings songs that are determinedly blokey (thank
you Mr Stephen Taberner – our inspiration and provider of much material). We sing work songs, drinking
songs, songs about duct tape and songs about being trapped inside a suit. We sing Georgian anthems and
sea shanties, construction songs and songs of urban aggressiveness. We like to dress up as pirates, we wear
hard hats, cowboy hats, foolish ties and have been known to wave fruit. It’s difficult to know who enjoys the
tomfoolery more – us, or our audiences (OK – it’s us).
And the men love it.
Unlike all my other choirs, they are the ones always coming up with ideas and suggestions: gig opportunities,
tie-ins with local brewers (they had two specially brewed ales made for the occasion of the Spooky Men’s
Chorale gig last summer). They’ve printed T-shirts, made TMAK47 trailers for the local village cinema,
constructed a website www.themagnificentak47.com, organised a calendar shoot (in the best possible taste)
and now are organising a men’s singing camp to spread the word. Luckily the TMAK47 action figures never
got off the ground.
The plans for ‘Blokefest’ are still coming together (hopefully lots will have been decided by the time you read
this), but our agenda is straightforward: camping in a pub field in Gloucestershire; lots of manly singing –
workshops and performances; beer drinking; roasting a pig; other testosterone-fuelled stuff – drumming,
axe-throwing, morris dancing (still highly contentious at this stage) and a walk to the nearby Sapperton
Tunnel to sing in a 2-mile-long resonant space.
We probably have to limit the whole thing to 100 blokes (yes, it’s men only) and as well as TMAK47 we have
some local men’s groups already very excited. But if you have men in your choirs who would enjoy this –
better still, blokes who don’t sing in your choirs who would enjoy this. Even better still, young blokes who
don’t sing in your choirs who might enjoy this, then get them to get in touch with me at:
[email protected] .
We don’t know how much it’ll cost yet, but we’re not doing it to make a profit. We are determined to
promote a different vision of men singing – a way which eschews the polar stereotypes of wimp or thug and
gives blokes the chance to experience that most rare of feelings in the 21st century – Brotherhood.
♥♥♥
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Introducing Committee Member - Gitika Partington
This is Gitika’s second time as an NVPN committee member, the first being around 2000 when she helped
organise the first NVPN fundraising event at the Round Chapel in Hackney.
Gitika is a singer, composer, vocal arranger and vocal educator (MA in choral education, Advanced Cert and
LGSM in Jazz, BA in Performing Arts, PGCE (secondary music) and Estill level III). Gitika currently lives in
North London.
She runs regular singing workshops and training sessions for both adults and children nationally. She has a
large non-auditioned acappella adult choir in the City of London – The Bishopsgate Singers.
Her acoustic album ‘Bittersweet’ is available on iTunes, Amazon and CDBaby. She has two books of acappella
arrangements ‘Sing Pop A Cappella’ – published by Novello (www.gitikapartington.com). During 2011 she
blogged every day and continues!
At the moment her work on the committee includes looking at developing new training opportunities for
members.
♥♥♥
Introducing a new member of the Executive Committee
I’m Hanna Lawrence and I work in adult and community education. I run ‘Singing for Fun' groups in
Shrewsbury and Telford, I’m musical director of a small a cappella group, and I’ve just started a community
choir in Telford.
I’m passionate about singing and delighted that it’s taking up more and
more of my life.
Hannah Lawrence
I got into it through my family and at school – my father used to teach us
rounds to sing on long car journeys; when my grandmother came to visit
she and my mother would sing in harmony as they worked; in primary
school we learned songs by ear and at secondary school we had a
brilliant music teacher who encouraged us to sing in the choir, organise a
madrigal group, and join with the local boys’ school for big choral works.
At university I joined a choir and it feels like I’ve always belonged to
some sort of singing group.
I trained as a teacher of Modern Languages and gradually went parttime, finding other work as a Family Learning Tutor and singing
workshop leader. It’s taken a long time but now I’m doing more singing
than anything else and this is my main source of income.
The people I know in the NVPN have helped me tremendously with their
generous support and friendship, their advice and their repertoire.
I’m happy to be contributing to the work of the Network by serving on
the EC.
Best wishes,
Hanna
♥♥♥
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Music helped to end the Cold War!
Dave Brubeck and his band were invited to Moscow by Nancy Reagan to provide entertainment at her
husband’s arms reduction summit with Mikhail Gorbachev in 1988. The summit hadn’t been going well and
the Soviet and American top brass were sitting stiffly in the embassy ballroom when Brubeck and his band
began to play ‘Take the A Train’.
Suddenly feet were tapping; smiles broke out; Gorbachev was seen miming a drum solo with his hands; Bob
Dole was clapping; so was the solid Russian general next to him. “You get a good beat going and soon people
are enjoying it”, recalls Brubeck, “and that tune was known round the world.” Brubeck quipped to the press,
“I can’t understand Russian, but I can understand body language.”
“After the concert the mood lightened and the summit became a success.” (quotes from Times article)
For more information go to Simon’s website http://www.simonheather.co.uk
♥♥♥
Calling out for TRIED AND TESTED REPERTOIRE
One of the sessions at the NVPN Gathering this year saw about 25 NVPN members each sharing a piece of
repertoire they have used many times. A song they know that, wherever and whenever they use this piece
of repertoire, IT WORKS!
We thought it would be good to share these pieces and hoped we could have a new TRIED AND TESTED
corner in the newsletter.
If you would like to, send me the name of a piece, a song that you use which always works with any group.
Can you also let us know where you got the song from, maybe who shared it with you, if it is in a publication,
if there is someone we can contact who might be able to let us have an audio of it, or if it's on YouTube?
Here is the first list that we compiled on 14th January 2012. Any more information about any of the songs
here, your experiences with them, history and extra source would also be gratefully received.
Thanks,
Gitika Partington
[email protected]
1. Wade in the Water/Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child/I Wanna Die Easy – Three songs that can
be sung separately or together. Versions are found in Ysaye Barnwell’s ‘Singing in the African American
Tradition’ and the first VoiceWorks compilation (Oxford University Press).
2. Mafuzulu – From ‘Songs From South Africa’ collected and compiled by Colin Harrison, available from
www.nickomoandrasullah.com/books-cds/index.htm . Can be in 2 or 4 parts, has a lovely circle dance.
3. When I Walk Down the Street – a lively gospel song written by NVPN member Charlie Thomson, who runs
groups in and around Hitchin.
4. Crossing the Bar – text by Lord Tennyson, can be found on www.cmr-harmony.org.uk , books of folk songs
available on their website.
5. Kaki Lambe – Trad. Senegal - www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/Kaki-Lambe/5808764 - this link enables you
to listen too. Arranged by Brian Tate/Canada.
6. O Ley Ley Loyla - The reindeer calling song – a 3-part harmony round, we first heard a version transcribed
and shared by Sian Croose (Norwich - has been an NVPN member); later a version in ‘Developing Singing
Matters’ – compiled by Patrick Allen, published by Heinemann. He sources it as a Finnish dance song from
the Finno-Ugric people, popularized by the Finnish folk rock group Vartiina.
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7. Ama hee bo – Baka canon – Also in ’Developing Singing Matters’.
8. Think of Me, Forget Me Not – Collected from the Diamond Choir in South Africa by Hilary Davis (NVPN
committee member), version on YouTube by Gitika’s choir: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdVvkri2_Wc
9. This Pretty Planet – (3 songs in one) from Victoria Sings ‘short stuff’ Australian community choir book.
www.soundthinkingaustralia.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=466&zenid=33
b0a918d082d5ac3461d3f05fa4601c
10. I am going deep down in my soul - www.vocalunion.com/sing.htm
11. Nick Prater’s humming round – from 'Heaven in my Heart' - www.nickprater.co.uk/orders.htm
12. Bele Mama – available on iTunes for 79p by Mounangue African Ensemble from the album ‘Africa: the
Voices and Drums of Africa’; also in 'Victoria Sings' Book 1.
13. Yo Nana – by Chrys Blanchard – in the NVPN book 'To Grace the Earth' www.naturalvoice.net/resources.asp
14. Hida – Israeli harvest song. There is a version in Victoria Sings.
15. Nick Prater’s Triad Warm-Up
16. Tue Tue (echo song/round) – in a book published by Kodaly:
www.britishkodalyacademy.org/resources.htm . Good video site:
www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=3174&c=36#multimediaBoxInternalLink
17. Alleluia – Nick Prater from ‘Come my Sisters, Come my Brothers’ - www.nickprater.co.uk/orders.htm
18. Alleluia from Nyne Sily Nebesnyia (from a Russian Orthodox mass) – Chris Rowbury’s choir sing it.
19. Humorous rounds – by Joanne Hammil, 'Rounds and Partner Songs' - www.joannehammil.com
20. Rose Rose – Old traditional round with new words by Jean Ritchie: ’What a goodly thing, if the children
of the world could dwell together in peace’.
21. Talk to Me – The chorus of a song by acappella trio Artisan, about a budgie.
22. Dona Nobis Pacem – another version by Ali Mills in a ‘Sing for Pleasure’ book.
23. One Morning Soon (I heard the angels singing) – shared by Nick Prater, from ‘Rehearsing for Heaven’ by
Tony Backhouse - www.tonybackhouse.com.au/songbooks_scores
24. Swing Down Chariot – from Ysaye Barnwell’s 'Singing in the African American Tradition' (there is now a
volume 2).
TRIED AND TESTED – just the beginning of a beautiful friendship. X x
♥♥♥
NVPN Song Sharing Site?
Would anyone like to create an NVPN song sharing site/service for members, where each week (or month) a
new song could be taught by a member and it would be posted as a downloadable MP3 via the site? It
would be similar to what Vocal Union does, but for NVPN members. It would be a fun way to build the NVPN
community – we can introduce ourselves, learn new songs, and get ideas for ways to collaborate with likeminded choir leaders on future workshops, projects, retreats, etc.
Feel free to post this. I’d love to help make it happen.
Betsy Sansby
[email protected]
http://dancinghands.com/collections/teaching-cds-for-community-choirs-multi-part-songs-from-around-theworld.
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♥♥♥
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to say that I think her work is fantastic. She has a great eye for the fine detail of a manuscript and always
manages to spot things that could be improved on. This means that I can feel confident that I’m sending off a
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[email protected]
♥♥♥
Virtual Assistant service for choir leaders and musical directors
by Brenda Pyne
Do you find that you are spending too much time on basic admin like updating membership lists or arranging
workshops and then find you don’t have enough time for the musical side of your business?
Why not let me help? You can outsource all those support and admin tasks to me and that will allow you to
use your valuable time more effectively.
“A virtual assistant – somewhere between a fairy godmother and a manager…”
Use me as often or as little as you like, a few hours a week or a few days per month, and because I am selfemployed, you don’t have to worry about all those niggling things like tax, holidays, sickness pay or
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“Brenda is highly organised, efficient and understands the needs of choir
leaders and choirs. She takes care of everything so I can just focus on the
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music.”
Siân Penlington, choir leader, Sing Alive Community Choir
♥♥♥
SKILLS TRAINING WEEKEND - TEACHING SONGS CLEARLY - WITH FAITH WATSON
6-8 JULY 2012 – MANCHESTER
With her years of experience and her popular approach, founder NVPN member Faith Watson has gained a
reputation as a trainer of singing workshop leaders and song arrangers.
This course focuses on methods and skills for teaching songs clearly and confidently. It includes: finding and
choosing songs, counting in, keeping the beat, working on rhythm and pitch, breaking songs down into
manageable chunks, beginnings and endings, memory aids, useful equipment, awareness of different
learning styles and developing your own teaching style.
Open to anyone who wants to pass on songs to others, whether it’s in an official workshop setting or a more
informal singing group with friends or colleagues, it is suitable for those just starting out on this road and also
for the more experienced who are looking for new ideas or support in their work. The programme is very
largely practical, with opportunities to try out and develop your skills as well as to share your experiences
and ideas with others who are on a similar quest.
For more information contact Faith on 0161 881 0855; [email protected] or book online at
www.singingforlarks.co.uk
♥♥♥
SPONSORED WALK FROM YORK TO ROME
by Angela Michel and Nick Warlow
Nick and Angela set off in March 2012 to walk all the way from York to Rome to raise funds for Médecins
Sans Frontières.
We have set aside six months for this and hope you will help make this a success by donating something to
this very worthy charity. (Please look at their website www.msf.org.uk for more information.)
Along the way we will sing and give some workshops and also keep you abreast of our progress on our
Facebook page (Sponsored-Walk-to-Rome-for-Medicins-Sans-Frontieres).
To donate you can either enter yourself onto the sponsor form, or you can go online to:
www.justgiving.com/angela-michel-and-nick-warlow
Thank you very very much!
♥♥♥
Arts project in West Dorset
Note from the editor: Although this project has already begun, I have chosen to include it because it is
ongoing until July, therefore it is still useful to publicise the performances and if you are interested in
participating it may still be worth contacting the organisers.
An exciting arts project is under way at Eggardon Hill, the Iron Age hill fort in West Dorset. It is working
towards spectacular large-scale contemporary dance performances on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th July.
Choreographer Anna Golding, composer Andrew Dickson, and director and visual artist Ella Huhne are
collaborating with participants to create a remarkable and memorable outdoor event.
You are invited to join Landance workshops in dance, singing, brass and saxophones, visual art and design.
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The project is open to all, with individuals, local dance groups and choirs taking part. If you would like to take
this unique opportunity to work with professional artists in your landscape contact Rose Hoskin at
[email protected] or leave her a message at 07874 248530.
Choir sessions are with Andrew Dickson on Wednesday evenings. They will initially be held in Litton Cheney
Village Hall then at Eggardon Hill. Please arrive early, we start on time. This project involves dancers 9 yrs +
so our combined rehearsals, from 20th June, need to start at 6.
Wednesday 18th April 7pm - 9pm Free session. Litton Cheney
Wednesday 2nd May 7pm - 9pm Litton Cheney
Wednesday 16th May 7pm - 9pm this session will be at Askerswell Village Hall
Wednesday 30th May 7pm - 9pm this session will be at Askerswell Village Hall
Half Term, no session on Wednesday 6th June
Wednesday 13th June 7pm - 9pm Litton Cheney
Wednesday 20th June 6pm - 8pm first session with dancers/visuals at Litton Cheney, please note earlier time
from now on.
Wednesday 27th June 6pm - 8pm at Eggardon with dancers/visuals
Wednesday 4th July 6pm - 8pm at Eggardon with dancers/visuals
Wednesday 11th July 6pm - 8pm Dress Rehearsal at Eggardon.
Sat 14th July 6pm Performance, arrive 3pm, TBC, we may need to rehearse that afternoon with a break
before the performance.
Sun 15th July 6pm Performance, arrive at 5pm.
Project Fee: First session is free, project participation fee of £40 (free concessions for unemployed/
unwaged), £20 partners, this can be paid in two instalments. This works out at £5.00 per workshop session.
For sessions at Eggardon please wear warm and windproof clothes and trainers or footwear with good
treads, bring a snack and drink/water.
Eggardon sessions will be held in the Litton Cheney hall if it’s raining hard.
♥♥♥
SINGING IN COMMUNITY – TRAINING WITH KATE O’CONNELL & BILL HENDERSON
13-19 October 2012
An experiential workshop on the principles of teaching voice and harmony, this training is for those who
want to develop their skills to lead a choir and offer singing sessions as part of their group work.
Kate and Bill collectively draw on over 50 years of practice and enthusiasm, with a vast repertoire of songs,
both sacred and secular. They are passionate to pass on their experience of working with natural voice and
song, knowing its beneficial effect and healing power on personal, community, and global levels.
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They advocate that making one’s own music holds a
valuable place in the creation of sustainable futures.
Topics explored in the training will include:
• Developing one’s natural voice
• Principles of natural voice singing
• How to teach a song
• Structuring of a session
• Group management
• Songs in a social/cultural context
• Repertoire
• Musical technique and rhythm
• Song and nature
• Improvisation and creating your own song
Cost:
Income related price: £495 / £645 / £775
Non residential: £255 without meals
For more information please contact us: [email protected] / 01309
690806
www.findhorncollege.org
Together Bill and Kate run the Forres Big choir, now in its 8th year, offer a
yearly week on the isle of Eigg and collaborate on community musical projects.
They are members of The Natural Voice Practitioners’ Network. They both have a vast repertoire of inspiring
songs from around the world, suitable for community choirs.
Kate O'Connell has worked as a community artist in and around the Findhorn Foundation since the mid1980s. She has a private practice and is artistic director of Too Many Kooks acappella performance group.
She also specialises in improvised harmonies and in the healing nature of the voice.
Bill Henderson is a self-employed musician and music teacher with a “past life” as a sustainable development
specialist. He has run community music workshops since before 1990. All of his varied musical activities
celebrate and emphasise the role of music in building community and creating harmony.
♥♥♥
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