| newsletter > Spring 2006 <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> LETTER FROM THE PRINCIPAL My Dear Friends I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and good New Year. The spring is my very favourite time of year, a time of new beginnings and sunshine! I must say that the sunshine is taking a long time to come this year. Never mind, I feel sure it will soon be lovely sunny days! We are well into rehearsals for our May Show “I did it my way”. I have chosen some of my very favourite songs for this production. I wonder why I am looking for 35 Zimmer frames. You must watch this space. I am also excited that we are producing our first Christmas CD this year called “The Christmas Collection”. A little bird has confirmed that my dear friend Dame Cleo Laine will be singing on the CD as well as the Aldbourne Band. I am also producing a show, performing at the Arts Centre, called “Two Sopranos and a Piano”. This features Gill May, Kathy Hughes and myself. Please put Saturday 10th June into your diaries. This is for the Prospect Foundation. As I write I am busy with the Swindon Music Festival. Several members of the Show Choir and the Junior Choir are competing in this *. We wish them all the luck in the world. Please remember to send positive thoughts to our poorly friends. Love to you all. Sheila * See list of Kentwood prize winners later is the Newsletter <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> WHAT A COINCIDENCE I have just returned from a family visit to South Wales - where my aunt and I talked about your concerts - she often stays with me in August in order to attend the Hilton concert. When I got home my post included your Winter Newsletter, which contained a report on your recent concert in Chepstow. These two things are the ‘coincidence’. My aunt told me about her daughter in law’s brother, who lives near Chepstow, and who was taken, kicking and screaming to a ‘ladies choir concert’ - and who came out completely converted having bought each of the available CDs, and he will be first in the queue if there is another concert. Need I say any more - it was your concert!! Naturally my aunt was not surprised by his reaction, and thought it a good tale to pass on - and I thought it might be of interest to you. Jill Greenaway <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> “ONLY THE RUBBISH” Except that it certainly wasn’t! One Sunday during February saw Kentwood spend a wonderful afternoon in the company of Vice-President Bob Chilcott. Although all of us have sung his music, and most of us have briefly met him on occasions, this was the first real contact with this truly inspirational man. We began with a physical warm-up and exercises that encouraged us to listen closely to each other – a technique that Bob said was of vital importance to the quality production of the overall sound of the choir. We tackled these with relish, determined to give a good impression. It worked! ‘The Irish Blessing’ was the first song we worked on. I’ve always liked this song and thought that the way in which we sing it is very effective. However, a short session with Bob added so much variation to the simple lyrics and the tune, and the overall effect of the song took on a different, dare I say it, better dimension. Being aware of the inspiration behind the song and taking on board Bob’s intentions when he composed the music, helped in our final interpretation of the piece. Bob was delighted with the result and I think that Sheila too appreciated the difference. I did not realise that the song ‘Look To This Day’ is a mélange of various texts. Bob said that the phrase “Look to this day, for today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness” was the starting point of the song for him. He felt that this should be a motto for living and he wanted to write a song with a tune that reflected this. I think that I am safe to say that Bob was absolutely bowled over with our performance of this song. He had written it for a children’s choir and as such the tone and production of Kentwood was totally different and added so much more to the song. He was delighted! Sitting on the front row of the choir has its disadvantages, but this Sunday I was in a prime position to gauge Sheila’s reactions. There was no doubt that Sheila was more than pleased too and very, very proud of her choir. I think that we too were all secretly thrilled to be complemented by a composer of such standing. The afternoon was punctuated by a tea break. Yes we had the unknown! So far, so very good, but then the real challenge began. Bob wanted to teach us a song by rote. Okay we thought, we can do that. “Are you used to learning by rote?” we were asked. Sheila replied “Only the rubbish!” This comment caused great amusement and even further amusement once Sheila had realised what she had said! However, after about 30 minutes we had learned a two-part harmony song in its entirety. Some of us found the words unusual and therefore difficult, some of us were unsure of the notation, but the overall effect was reasonable! Quite an achievement! For me though, what was more interesting was the thinking behind the song and the words. Bob explained that songs can often be interpreted in many different ways and on different levels. The song we learned had at least 4 possible interpretations. This brought to mind our performance of Karl Jenkins’ ‘The Armed Man’ at Guilford. We had learned it and interpreted it in one way, but the composer took it completely differently. We were well trained however, and we were able to adapt without too much difficulty! It certainly brought home the message that Sheila so often conveys to us, the words are important – they are what make the song. The final part of the afternoon was spent trying to make sense of a gospel arrangement of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’. I don’t think we disgraced ourselves, but our sight-reading was not of the highest standard! Our excuse was that we already sing an arrangement of this song and we were naturally singing what we knew! Whether this cut any ice I don’t know, but this was our excuse and we were sticking to it! The afternoon went by very quickly adding weight to the old adage that time flies when you’re having fun! Kentwood is very fortunate to be associated with Bob Chilcott who is, in my opinion, a gentleman in the true sense of the word. I am sure that we would all welcome the opportunity to work with him again and to learn more of his work, even if it is “only the rubbish!” Helen Dixon <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> TWO MORE BIOGRAPHIES FROM THE NEWER MEMBERS OF THE CHOIR As most of the choir members know, I have been very busy lately as I got married in January. I moved to Swindon in 2004 although I was only here for a couple of months before I returned to university to complete my degree. I am originally from Manchester, but I decided to move to Swindon in order to live with my husband. In Manchester I belonged to a small choir of about nine people, with which I entered a few local competitions. I love singing and was keen to get back into it. Unfortunately the need for a job took precedence (I now work for Nationwide) and so I didn’t join Kentwood until September 2005. The thing which struck me most about the Choir was how professional it was. Having never had a singing lesson in my life, it took me a while to get the hang of some of the technicalities but once I got over feeling a bit silly standing there laughing without making a noise, I found the exercises helped a lot. The other members of the choir have been so nice and really made me feel I fit in. I always look forwards to coming to choir and am enjoying every minute. Cathy Evans I have felt part of Kentwood’s ‘family’ all my life, as my parents have been in the choir since before I was born. Some of my first memories are of watching concerts and hearing rehearsals, so by the age of six I had joined the Junior Choir. Singing with the youth section was a great experience so when I was fifteen I started training in the Show Choir. With so many songs to learn it’s taking some time to learn everything! But it’s all worth it to get to sing in so many concerts for different people. I’m now seventeen and studying photography, French, English and drama at New College, Swindon. Abby Bean <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> RESULTS FROM THE SWINDON MUSIC FESTIVAL 2006 A number of Kentwood students took part in this year’s Swindon Music Festival and as promised I have listed below those who won and were placed in their respective classes. Well done to them all. Sacred Song
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