On a wet and windy February evening, BF was poised, ready to welcome our new cohort of Love-to-Sing singers. Looking excited, some a little nervous, they took their first steps into our rehearsal space.
BF, being our usual friendly selves, welcomed them with open arms, name labels and of course lots of encouragement! For some, this was their first foray into a cappella singing, others were seasoned professionals- all however, there to share the joy of singing.
The chosen song for LTS’24 was born out of a BF trip to see the film Wonka, during which, our MD, Craig was nudged multiple times, hearing the same remark; “Can we sing this?” Craig, being the multi-faceted director that he is, spent his Christmas holidays then arranging “Pure Imagination” for our upcoming course.
The MPT made the decision that the chorus shouldn’t learn their parts beforehand, which went down really well with the attendees some commenting that this approach was really reassuring and less intimidating as everyone was starting at the same point.
 
Each of the 5 weeks had a theme, the first being an introduction to poly harmony singing.
Week 2 was alignment (get those knees soft, and don’t stick your head out like a turkey!) The 3rd week was resonance, cups and bubbling at the ready whilst week 4 concentrated on performance - understanding the importance of singing with believability to a unified story.
Our attendees, showed such stamina as they were put through their paces for 1.5 hours and afterwards, were invited to stay and take in the last hour of a typical BF rehearsal where we polished songs for an upcoming festival. Week by week more attendees stayed to listen. (BF does love an audience!)
Each session, the attendees were introduced to physical and vocal warm-ups, led by Caroline, Debbie and Craig - there really was much amusement as we learnt the Riverboat song and choreo, sang in rounds and created some brilliant overtones with 4 part harmony warm-ups.
The final week concluded in a Love-to-sing showcase.(Link here).Nerves were high as we filled the risers but BF were on hand to offer support and words of encouragement. Despite the initial anxiety, everyone put in a stellar performance! You can see the perfromance by following this link.
https://youtu.be/v4N1BbE9lZ4?si=GpOdsmevyr1t_6nr
The showcase gave us an opportunity to
perform some of our current repertoire,
including a public first of Craig's arrangement
of Underneath The Stars by Kate Rusby!
Sonic quartet also jumped on stage too,
they were brilliant!
The audience were enthralled and we received such positive feedback from our L2S attendees, their friends and families! Over half of the 13 attendees have expressed interest to audition - how lucky we are!
We cannot wait to welcome them into our BF family.
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