Author Archives: vhk10

In the can

Posted on November 27, 2020 by vhk10

I’ve now submitted all my carol tracks for our competition. I’d got practised at co-ordinating with the clicks and was able to ‘go with the pro’ singing my line, but one thing I couldn’t do was look at the waveform … Continue reading →

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keeping with the clicks

Posted on November 14, 2020 by vhk10

We have moved our carol competition online, which means recording our own contributions and sending them in to be edited. For this one we have no video of a conductor to guide us, just an audio track. Or rather tracks, … Continue reading →

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choirs go away again

Posted on November 8, 2020 by vhk10

Just getting into a routine with various choirs when there is a second lockdown and they all go away again. I managed to fit in a second visit to Gloucester just in time, in the process becoming aware of some … Continue reading →

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Choir returns: (3) Gloucester

Posted on October 26, 2020 by vhk10

The last to return of the three choirs I sing with that are currently functioning was Gloucester Choral Society. It looks as if auditioning for this choir was one of my best decisions of 2020 (not, admittedly, a year in … Continue reading →

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how to return

Posted on October 20, 2020 by vhk10

Before I post an account of my third return to choral singing, I’m going to reflect on some of the difficulties that have had to be faced and the questions to be answered. Firstly is there a place where rehearsals … Continue reading →

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singing in the mask

Posted on October 9, 2020 by vhk10

This expression is no longer just a way of describing good vocal projection. We are now wearing face coverings to sing in church choir, to forestall any objections that we might not be protecting our congregation sufficiently. I haven’t heard … Continue reading →

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Portsmouth to the rescue

Posted on October 3, 2020 by vhk10

We are now beginning to see which Cathedrals have been hit hardest by the loss of revenue in 2020. I’d made a booking for a choir to sing for a week in Salisbury in 2021, and this week got a … Continue reading →

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Choir returns (2): Bristol

Posted on September 28, 2020 by vhk10

Bristol Choral Society has in one sense had less of a break than in many years. Very often we’d do nothing after the concert in June until the AGM at the beginning of September, but this year we carried on … Continue reading →

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Choir returns (1): church

Posted on September 24, 2020 by vhk10

A few weeks after our church services resumed, we have a live choir again. Not only that, but our new choir furniture arrived on the day of our first rehearsal, to join the altar, lectern etc. which appeared earlier in … Continue reading →

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crowdsourcing a music list

Posted on September 19, 2020 by vhk10

I’ve never been involved before in a project to crowdsource transcriptions. But I’ve long thought that Cathedral music lists would be a potentially valuable one. I even at one time tried to devise a TEI schema for them. So I … Continue reading →

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tentative returns

Posted on August 28, 2020 by vhk10

September approaches and with it the normal start of the choral season. Three choirs I sing in have indicated that they are making moves to resume rehearsing around the middle of the month. In each case, it’s not clear yet … Continue reading →

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a choir returns in Milan

Posted on August 16, 2020 by vhk10

We managed to escape the UK for a short break in Italy and I was able to get to Sunday Mass in the Duomo in Milan (which has featured before here). They are keen to make you pay to see … Continue reading →

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