Joining In!

So, alongside what's turned into the usual slog of looking for work, this week was the start of the new term and time to try out a raft of different choirs!

For those who've known me for a long time, you'll know my childhood was spent singing sacred choral music in Cathedrals across the UK.  I haven't done any of this sort of singing for 20 years, but it's something I've hankered after doing for a couple of years now.  So, my first choir on Monday night was St Mary's Singers who sing a service in the magnificent cathedral on the second Saturday each month.  Despite getting stuck in rush hour gridlock down George Street trying to get into town for 6pm, I did manage to make it to the rehearsal with time to spare and met a really friendly bunch of people.  Katie is another British music graduate, over here travelling and working and joined the choir just a week before the end of term.  Cynthia is an Australian Chartered Surveyor who also joined that week, then there's Jenny, Lydia, Teneal and a whole host of others who came over and introduced themselves.  It's a far cry from the rather aloof reception you get as a newbie joining a choir in the UK!

Feeling a little apprehensive about how my voice would match up to everyone else's, I quickly felt right at home as we were joined by our British musical director, Oliver, who turned out to be a younger incarnation of the inimitable David Spencer (my director of music at school), with exacting standards and a dry sense of humour!  Nowhere in the UK do I believe you'd find a non-auditioned choir with such a high standard... maybe the Aussies don't believer they should do something if they can't do it well, so none of the tone deaf people even try to join?!  We started with "God is Gone Up" by Finzi, which I vaguely remember performing once in the dim and distant past, but it was like the past 20 years just disappeared and I felt like I was back where I belonged!  I've often said to anyone that wants to listen that doing a music degree is the best way of turning you off music for life.  It was certainly the case for me and it's only now that I feel I'm finding my way back from the wilderness to appreciating my ability to make and enjoy music again.

So, my first choir was a resounding success and I'll definitely be back again next week and joining up!  The next choir was the Espresso Chorus on Tuesday evening... chosen not only because of its location (just 10 mins walk from my apartment), but because I loved the name!  This is run by a live wire of a lady, Michelle, who seems to have boundless energy and who commissions composers to write pieces for the choir.  Each concert (usually 3 per year) is designed around a theme, the music is commissioned and then other aspects (theatre, readings, etc) are woven around the pieces to create the finished performance. I have always enjoyed singing new works, but in this case it seems the compositions continue to change right up until the performance date as Michelle feeds back to the composers about what is and what isn't working.  Again the standard was high despite the fact that auditions aren't required, but although there were some interesting pieces of music, I didn't find I really gelled with the group and their way of working.  Coupled with the fact that they charge $160 per term to participate in the choir (presumably paying all those composers!), this is a choir I won't be returning to.

On Wednesday evening I took a break from singing and headed up to North Manly to join the Hash House Harriettes!  For anyone who's not come across the Hash House Harriers, this is a global movement, popularly known as "a drinking group with a running problem"!  There are a number of groups in cities all over the world and I chose to join this one because it's (mainly) a women's group, so I thought I might be able to manage the pace!!  They meet weekly and members take it in turns to set a trail (marked out using chalked arrows on pavements or flour on rough ground).  The rest of the group has to try and follow the route, which includes some false trails and junctions where the trail might lead in any direction.  I've never been a huge running fan, but the fact that you are concentrating on following the trail rather than just putting one foot in front of the other really makes a difference.  I loved it and couldn't believe that I kept up the running all the way along the trail... normally I'm the world's worst for giving up and walking within 5 minutes of the start!!  I shall certainly be going back and enjoyed meeting yet another group of very friendly people.

Thursday night was my final choir try-out... this time with Alchemy ACappella.  As my youth was spent singing in an ACappella choir, I thought it would be quite good to see if I was still up to singing unaccompanied.  This is well out of my comfort zone at the moment, although singing with St Mary's Singers on Monday had certainly improved my confidence levels.  I was quite surprised when I arrived to find a group of about 10 singers, including myself and a German girl called Selina who were just trying it out!  This really is getting into territory where you have to be 100% confident in your vocal abilities... there's no hiding with that few voices, especially when parts split leaving you with just 2 people to a part!!  We sang a variety of popular music, most of which Ronelle (the MD) arranges and most of the performances the choir does is for weddings.  It's a great group with a collective sense of fun in between concentrating on getting the music right.  I loved doing the whole acappella thing again, so this will be my second choir, giving me a real range of music and vocal styles to get into.

I rounded off the week on Friday by meeting up with a new friend from last week's Manly Meet-up to go and see a free concert at the Conservatorium of Music.  It was a performance by a group called Ironwood of 2 Bach Cantatas and a world premier of a newly composed work for harpsichord and viola de gamba.  It was a great concert in the fabulous Verbrugghen Hall at the "Con" (as it's of course known in Aussie abbreviation speak!) and featured the beautiful voice of German-born mezzo-soprano Charlotte Betts-Dean.  There is quite a big programme of free concerts at the Con, both lunchtime and evening ones, so I shall no doubt be checking out some more over the coming weeks.

Well I can thoroughly recommend joining in with something, whatever your interest may be, as a great way of settling into a new city or country.  I'm starting to feel well and truly settled now and just need to get something sorted on the job front so I can stay in Sydney for the long term!