Sounding It Out raise their voices at Bath Christmas Market

Last Friday, we sang under the arches in Abbey Green in Bath, part of the Bath Christmas Market, next to the mulled cider, jewelry, Christmas wreaths and every sort of gift. Our gathering audience particularly liked the well known carols, but we had some compliments for the village carols as well- just like Maddy Prior, someone said. The highlight for me was when a very little boy heard me announce that our next carol would be Silent Night "I know Silent Night!" he called out, from the shoulders of his dad. Next thing, he was down, standing in front with the choir, and he sang 4 verses, one in german. His parents videoed the whole show. Well, we may have set a future musician on his road in life...

Singing with the very old

Over the last year and a half I have been invited into Mavern House Nursing Home in Melksham to develop a community choir- a choir that everyone connected to Mavern House can join. This includes residents, staff, and families. Also, several of my regular singers have generously given of their time to come along to swell the sound and spread confidence. It has been a very rewarding experience. We have heard from the families of some residents that they look forward all week to the sessions. There has been notable change in behaviour for some as well: more outgoing, lively and obviously really engaged. One of the regular members of Mavern Melodies (as they have named themselves), sadly passed away recently. The rest of us, 35 singers in all, came to sing Danny Boy at the service. We sang with heart and soul, and it touched us all. Singing is now embedding itself into the life at Mavern House. I have been told that some members of staff are now singing a special song to residents at their death bed. And the managers are investing in the sustainability of this work by sending 2 staff members on my Community Choirs Teachers Training in January.

Heard a fascinating fact last week: did you know that all bees' buzz at different frequencies? For instance, the buzz of the bumble bee resonates at 400 Kh, which has a particularly dramatic effect on the pollen sacks of plants from the Belladonna family - tomatoes, aubergines and the like. It tickles the fancy of the pollen sacks so much that they explode, resulting in pollen being scattered all over the bumblebee's body, a very effective way of fertilizing other plants. So with this in mind, what is happening when we sing together? Can we find particular resonances which can affect pollution for instance? If you are an expert on resonance, please let me know!

Flamenco and more

I've been staying with a friend in South West Spain, flamenco country. The landscape is uncompromisingly hot and arid . In some of the beautiful parks in the towns there grow date palms, aloe vera, washingtonias, as well as a vast, gangling giant of a tree, a Ficus from Australia. Its hollow sounding roots extend out at head height, shaded by its enormous asymmetric branches, a tree that shelters and hosts innumerable species, including us below. In David Abram’s new book 'Becoming Animal' he describes us human beings as part of the interconnected web of nature. Often scientists isolate one part in order to understand it, but ultimately everything is connected to everything else. And then I ponder the superb flamenco performance we heard and saw one night . We were enchanted within the dancer’s passionate performance: the speedy and earthy rhythms of her feet, contrasting with the elegance of her fingers and the swooping and bending of her body. I felt I was experiencing a whole ecosystem in one, it was not just one art form, it was a system of art forms, and they mirrored the wider surrounding. They directly related to the passionate and harsh landscape from which it has grown. Maybe, as well as our bodies, culture evolves out of landscape too?

Walking the Cornwall coast path last week, happened up on a plaque on a barn in Cadgwith that mentioned singing.This led me to visiting the pub on the Friday evening, and boy was it the highlight of my holiday. Suddenly the pub was singing, led by several men, fishermen mostly. We had stumbled upon the real thing- a community singing for their own pleasure. We were welcomed to join in- traditional songs, some well known, some specifically Cornish. It felt like the beautiful rich bass voices led the songs, people joined in with harmonies, and interestingly, no-one clapped at the end. This was being IN the singing, not performing, there was no audience.

Sustainable farming project in El Salvador- needs our support

If you care about supporting subsistence farmers in a developing country to help themselves, to build sustainable farming practices, to build resilience to the effects of climate change, please go to this site: http://www.indiegogo.com/viva-permacultura?a=772826 Check out the short video, and contribute to their Crowd Funding campaign. I know Karen personally. She has devoted 12 years of her life to building up this inspirational project. Please, give what you can: 2 weeks worth of cups of coffee from Costa/Starbucks would be £30. Candy

SKYE singing holiday April 2011

Well, we all got there, mostly on the world famous scenic train journey from Glasgow to Mallaig, to gather in Armadale, on the Sleat peninsula in the south of Skye. We booked the Ardvasar community Hall for the week, both to sing in, also to gather, eat and hang out each evening. We were staying in some well appointed lodges up on the hill on the Clan Donald estate, overlooking the sound of Sleat, across to Knoydart.

We were a group of 25, from ages 15 all the way up to late sixties. Some had lots of singing experience, some had none. Michael was our wonderful cook for the week, cooking us superb 3 course meals each evening. We sang our hearts out every morning, took off for walks or car journeys in the afternoon to explore the spectacular scenery, returning early evening to eat, sing, and entertain ourselves.

On our last evening, we had a excellent evening sharing our songs, and cabaret acts, enjoying the talents within the group: a hilarious skit by Ani and Amie, our teenage singers, some numbers by our newly formed band, Betsy's USA dances, and Lizzie, performer and wordsmith, wrote the poem below. And we were blessed with 2 impromptu guests from France and Algeria- a student couple were walking and camping on Skye, heard the music, and were invited in to spend the evening with us, eating haggis and neeps, and joining in the singing. They spent the evening grinning from ear to ear.

Candy bedecked in hues of heather,

Conducted our choir whatever the weather

With songs from distant lands and times

Some in gaelic and some with rhymes.

Enthusing our group with her skills and grace

Harmonies flooded each voice and face

Robin with his ‘rovin’’ watchful eye

Took care of us all the island of Skye.

Michael a wizard of bread and dinner

Made us a feast, each night a winner.

For everything that you’ve done for us

Accept our gift of a rousing chorus