Hi all, just a few things arising from Fridays new songs to tell you about.
I thought we made a great start on Teach Your Children and I am sure it will become a favourite. Barry was spot on, it really deserves some subtlety in the delivery and once we are all familiar with the song version I am sure we can do it justice.
To help us Barry has provided a link to Crosby and Nash performing it, try to take a look, this will help to get the meter of the words right and of course if you are not familiar with the song. The link takes you to a Youtube video, just click on the link to watch. (it is sung in a different key to our version so you can't play along but it will help with understanding the song.
Christmas songs I have put a learning version of the Christmas Medley on the site, this should help you learn the structure of the songs. In particular Felize Navidad which most are not familiar with. because the learning version is more detailed it is inevitably longer. Once we have learned it we can revert to a more user friendly layout.
I have put up a couple more medleys of Christmas songs for us to try out also, (again they are in a more detailed learning format) they are Let it Snow/Winter Wonderland and Mele Kalikimaka/Jingle Bells (Melekalikimaka is a Bing Crosby song, it is Hawaiian for Merry Christmas).
Christmas Song List, So that we don't spend a disproportionate time learning Christmas songs we may only play in public once or twice, I have put together a quick win list for us. I am sure when we play them they will be well received and will be comfortable for us to play.
In no particular order the list is; Deck the Halls, Santa Clause is Coming to Town, Frosty the Snowman, I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas, Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, Winter Wonderland/Let it Snow Medley, Jingle Bell Rock,
Rockin Christmas Medley (this is the medley that includes Felize Navidad), Melekalikimaka/Jingle Bells Medley. Some are in the Christmas Songs Assorted songbook on our website, others I have posted. Jingle Bell Rock I will add in the next few days. We will make a selection from them when we play a gig.
New Learners Group. I have been working on setting up the new group and will be getting them together in the next 2 weeks. I was taken by surprise by how many people expressed an interest in learning, I was expecting maybe up to 6 and ended up with 16.
Our first meeting will be about setting the scene and explain/agreeing when, where what we are going to do as a group. Should be fun!
Friday Meet Just a couple of things, we really are encouraging different people to get up and sing and it is great to see. I am sure there are some of you who would like to but haven't as yet. One thing to bear in mind you don't have to come up and play as you sing, I know this is a concern for some but really there are enough of us playing a particular song and it is better to just come up and sing if that helps to encourage you. You will never be alone (unless of course you want to sing solo!).
I would like to introduce a 15/20 minute slot to one of our Friday mornings when individuals or 2 or 3 or 4 people can do a spot featuring a favourite song that we don't perform currently, or even their own songs. We could hold this spot once a month, say the last Friday of each month.
We can discuss this further on Friday.
Gigs Thanks to those of you who have already put your names forward for our Gigs, it will be great to get as many as we can playing at each of them. It would seem that St James Christmas Fair gig can accommodate more of us than we first envisaged so that is good news. I will put the Gig sign up sheets out on Friday for you to sign up to.
See you all Friday
Dave
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