Sing Happy in Harmony Workshop

By Kitty Davies

The return after Christmas this year began with an exciting venture for Fascinating Rhythm that we haven’t taken on since 2008.  Instead of our annual one-day singing workshop, we ran a five-week evening course on our usual Thursday rehearsal night.  We hoped this would give delegates more time to learn the music collaboratively with our members and get to know us (and each other) over the weeks. We also hoped they would gain an appreciation of our style of music and craft and experience the friendly and supportive atmosphere.

Thanks to Labbs‘ generous support, the course was free, and we were delighted to have 30 delegates arrive on January 9th. Thanks to Anne-marie Collier and the PR team for all their work preparing and advertising the course.

The song chosen for the event was “A Little Help from My Friends” by The Beatles, whose theme we felt fit not only with the ethos of our chorus but also the aims and title of the workshop! Our incredible section leaders very ably led us and, of course, our excellent MD, Jo Thorn, who threw herself into her last few weeks with us with enthusiasm and inspired our new singers, sharing the joy of harmony singing.

On Feb 6th, the chorus and delegates performed to a receptive audience of friends, family, and previous FR members. The delegates absolutely WOWED everyone by fully committing themselves to the performance both vocally and visually. The extra time gained over a one-day event allowed us to include more craft, more awareness of blend, and an analysis of lyrics and a performance plan. Again, huge thanks to all those in FR who helped make the course run smoothly, from admin to refreshments, from music folders to WhatsApp!

We have been overwhelmed by our delegates’ enthusiasm and are absolutely delighted that at least ten have returned to us with a view to joining the chorus going forward. We can’t wait to share the next part of FR’s journey with them as they become part of our very special family.