World Championship for mixed barbershop quartets in Munich.

Our Tenor Section Leader Ali and her partner Pete, plus ex-FR member Donna and her partner Keefe teamed up a couple of years ago to become JIGSAW mixed quartet, winning 2 consecutive silver medals against some stiff opposition at our national yearly convention.
Having decided to take part in BinG! Jigsaw felt they needed to get more stage time and actually sing to a live audience rather than just singing to the picture on the wall at home, so a plan was put in place to visit all their local choruses.  Five chorus directors were contacted to seek approval to ‘Barber-bomb’ their rehearsal night.  Permission granted, the quartet made all five venues one Thursday and entertained their (captive!) audiences with the two songs they were competing with.  The whole evening was a great success and Jigsaw would like to thank all the choruses – Black Sheep Harmony, Bristol Fashion, Avon Harmony, Great Western Chorus and Fascinating Rhythm for their fantastic warm support.
The quartet arrived in Munich on the following Thursday evening but as the competition wasn’t until Sunday made the most of their free time sightseeing around Munich, relaxing in the sun, enjoying the ambiance of the beer garden and watching the world go by!
Jigsaw’s goal for the competition this year was to improve their placing and to come in the top five – which they achieved – and were over the moon to come fifth in the world, especially as the competition set a very high standard.

Stop Press!  Jigsaw were nominated for the 2016 A Cappella Recording Awards in the best barbershop song category with their song ‘The Way You Look Tonight’.  Update April 2016 – very pleased to announce they came 2nd.  Awesome!

Thursday 10th March saw Junior FR competing again in the U14 Choirs class in St.Mary’s Church, Thornbury.  After a fantastic warm up session at the Turnberries Community Centre led by MD Wendy Howse and assisted by Sarah Winter, we gathered in the rather chilly church atrium before being allowed into the only slightly less chilly church!
Heidi introduced the choir for our first song, ‘Midnight Tango’, which was part of our  recent successful production of Roald Dahl’s Cinderella.  It involves two verse melodies, each with interactions from the other part and then a two-part harmony chorus, arranged by JFR helper Kitty Davies. The final verse then mixes the two melodies together as a finale. The girls managed all of this with some fantastically evocative Latin moves which were executed with great style and syncronisation, providing a most entertaining and energetic performance.   A big thank you goes to Jo Luddington for her wonderful piano accompaniment.  The adjudicator comments were “Such neat actions.  Good sound and musically shaped.  Good balance and communication. Very promising work”.
Our second piece, introduced by Meg, was a four-part harmony arrangement of ‘The Teddy Bears Picnic’, arranged especially for us and paid for by a very generous benefactor.  It was a challenge, and one which we only had a short time to learn after Cinderella.  The girls were up for the challenge, coping really well with the level of difficulty and bringing out the humour in the lyrics (“Have a banana!” and “yummy yummy yummy!”).  Again the adjudicator appreciated how ambitious the piece was, especially with our age range being 5-14!  The girls did lose the tuning a little but with a  cappella pieces of this nature it is often very difficult not to.
JFR scored a fantastic 85 but were just pipped to first place by Tockington who scored 86.  This choir of older children sang with a lovely blended sound and great dynamics (but JFR were definitely more entertaining!).

The adjudicator finished with a plea to all parents who appreciate the value of music and art in their children’s lives.  There is a move by Government to enforce the English Baccalaureate in secondary schools meaning that 7 GCSE subjects will be compulsory (none of them being of the Arts), leaving the children little choice of these particular subjects which they enjoy or encourages their creativity so they may achieve their highest potential.  There is a petition on the Festival website (http://www.baccforthefuture.com/) to counter this move and appeal to the Government to either continue to allow choice in schools, or to reformulate the EBacc to give more flexibility.  We would encourage you to take a look and sign up if you agree.

We had a really good evening at our joint concert with the Mendip Male Voice Choir, raising well over £800 for FR’s charity for 2016 – the Riding for the Disabled Association (Gloucester West, Patchwork Group).  The MMVC were formed in 1919, and the 70-strong members of today’s choir are still very much involved in raising money for various charities.  Under the baton of their MD, Jamie Knights – who also doubled up as their MC – and accompanied by Phil Evry on the piano, they sang a varied programme which went well with the more (seemingly) relaxed performance from Fascinating Rhythm.  It was a treat for us at the end when we were all together on stage to sing the very aptly named song ‘Harmony’; lots of lovely Bass!
We’re looking forward to meeting up with the chaps next year for a joint concert for their 2017 chosen charity.

Cinderella – full write up and pictures on JFR’s own webpage.

After all the hustle and bustle of December – then the ‘no man’s land’ gap in between Christmas and New Year … it was just great to get back to the singing on Thursday 7th January, when almost a full Chorus turned up – and three prospective new members as well!  After a quick voice test with our MD, they were shepherded into their new sections and, albeit a little bewildered, fitted in really well and did a grand job.

We’re just gearing up for our Harmony Workshop on 23rd January – a great fun day we all hugely enjoy.  Really pleased that quite a few singers from one of our sister choruses, Cardiff Style, are crossing the Severn Bridge to join us, as well as many past delegates returning for their annual A Cappella fix!  The FR catering team are gearing up for action so there’ll be plenty of … Cake!  Singing and Cake – bliss.

And if you’re reading this, Fascinating Rhythm send you every good wish for an excellent 2016.

What a lovely way to start off Christmas week – our joint show with the A-Maz-Ing and hugely entertaining Great Western Chorus on Saturday, 19th December. Both choruses came together for the opening and closing numbers – over 90 mixed voices giving it wellie – to a full house of a really appreciative audience.  GWC’s in-house  group H Club and FR’s RhythmMix added something a little different to the programme; mince pies in the interval, lots of tinsel and sparkle in the second half and a special guest … Elvis Presley singing ‘Blue Christmas’!  Worth missing the Strictly Finals for.

Saturday 5th December saw us return again to M & S, Cribbs Causeway for some festive season singing.  Last year we had a space in Ladies Lingerie – this year we were in very close proximity to Gents boxers!  Right by the entrance onto the Mall, our carols were embellished by a very nicely toned security alarm sounding at intervals, and further enhanced by the tooting of the Mall’s ‘weary shopper’ train doing it’s circuit (see the MD’s frozen smile).  Very complimentary and generous shoppers filled our bucket which raised over £100 for M & S’s Breast Cancer and our own Home Start Stroud charities.  We were exceptionally well looked after by the store’s staff – and tickled pink to be asked back for next year.  Wonder which department ….

We had the most fantastic time at our Annual Convention in Bournemouth over the Halloween weekend and are so, so pleased to have jumped two places up the rankings with improved scores (they maybe tiny, but they count) with consistency across all three judging categories.  All choruses have to work harder and harder each year to cling on – there are currently 8 choruses scoring between 70.1 and our 74.1, so we know we’ve got our work cut out for next year.  The dazzling scores of our top chorus, the fabulous White Rosettes at 83.4, gives some idea of just how good they are and the gap we’re trying to bridge.  And biting their ankles with 82.2 is Amersham A Cappella – so nobody will be resting on their laurels.

This, our 20th Anniversary year, has been full on – first with our very successful show in June which really stretched us; we learned so much from it (apart from 6 new songs in as many months!), and then working with such commitment to achieve a decent convention result.  We are truly indebted to our excellent and awesome Coach, Sally McLean, who encourages us to believe in ourselves yet still maintain a sense of humour.

We’re now looking forward to a joint Christmas Show with the Great Western Chorus – 2015 Gold Medal Champions.  What a cracking way to finish off 2015!

Fascinating Rhythm was formed 20 years ago in 1995, and we felt had to ‘push the boat out’ to mark the occasion with a Celebration Show.  In collaboration with Rachel Bosomworth and her team from Love’s Bet

MD Jo Dean thanking a fantastic audience.

Productions amateur dramatic group and Junior FR we set about working our socks off to present a high quality musical show in just 6 months. We learned 6 new songs to add to our repertoire together with some exciting new skills that included acting, dancing and comedy (!).  All the hard work and commitment paid off with sell-out performances for both the matinee and evening show, exceeding expectations for both us and, we hope, the audience!  

Themed on ‘Songs from Stage & Screen’ we opened the show with a 10-part arrangement of ‘Mr Blue Sky’, then offered up songs from, amongst others, Oliver, Chess, Chicago, Les Miserables, and Lady and the Tramp … nineteen in all – phew, still recovering, especially with the number of costume changes.   Love’s Bet Productions provided comedy with their version of ‘The Song That Goes Like This’

Whooo hooo – sing AND dance!

(Spamalot) as did FR’s rendition of ‘Anything You Can Do’ (Annie Get Your Gun) that started with a no-holds-barred tap dance-off from our twinkle toed Jane Sawyer and Julie Bath. ‘The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy’ (Nutcracker Ballet) went well with a very unusual in-house comedy dance team involving black and white tights, accompanied by an excellent (and very camp) male ballet dancer … absolutely hilarious. Good job we’d seen it in rehearsals or we’d not have been able to sing.

As ever, Junior FR stole the show when they joined us for Oliver, complete with Victorian costume. They had their own spot for a medley of songs by Queen and then did an inspiring percussion accompaniment to the ‘Cup Song’.  They are an awesome team who do Wendy Howse (MD), and FR Senior proud.

MD Jo Dean actually got a chance to sing with a ‘goose-bump’ version of ‘I Know Him So Well’ duet with Ali Jack – founder member of FR from inception in 1995 when it was known as ‘Rainbow’. Ali received a very special award for her dedication and commitment to Fascinating Rhythm, holding numerous titles during her time with us. Our youngest member, Georgia Radcliffe, has been with the Chorus for 10 years, joining when she was just 12; when she sang her solo ‘On My Own’ (Les Mis) – definitely not a dry eye in the house.

We were honoured to have current LABBS Chairman Brenda Rothwell in the audience along with Jean Olman, who has been our LABBS representative since the beginning and from whom we have always had great support and encouragement, along with past Directors and members, who have all been very much a part of our journey.  It’s all been very different from the usual concert-type performance we’re used to and at times we’ve been waaay out of our comfort zone but it’s been so well worth it – we’ve learned much along the way.