The Wonders of Zoom and the frosty mornings.

I've just had the most wonderful Weekend at a Conference for community singing leaders - all done on Zoom - for 215 delegates!!  

I am in awe of the technology and the wonderful organising skills of the team behind the Natural Voice Network.*   And there's a second weekend to come - woohoo!  

On Sunday afternoon alone I attended an Alexander Technique session followed by vocal improvisation lead by a leader in Oregon and finishing the afternoon with a Feldenkrais relaxation session.   On Saturday we had a wonderful singing session lead by a Colombian singer, another gathering where we learned songs from Palestine, Africa and Finland and joined in the AGM as well.   They had even arranged a pub and a chill out space :   Brilliant.   It finished last night with a gathering for well being and I was quite shocked at the loss that is being felt by leaders in some of the big urban areas across England.   It made me appreciate how blessed I am here living in this musical community out of the city.   In fact I'e decided to take a 3 month (at least) break from leading the choir to take a further step back into finding my own creative voice.  However this weekend has really helped.  

Back in March when we first had the mad panic of the pandemic and the 'what on earth are we going to do now', I dived straight in to zoom with a very thinly veiled affection and joy for the wonders of technology which was allowing us to stay connected mixed with an even more thinly veiled anger at having to learn something else new.   The stress of running sessions every week and one to one classes and preparing for exams and and and .... while friends were talking about having lovely family quizzes and coffee mornings left me quietly seething .   But work's work and I felt a real sense of obligation to my group.  

Now that I'm back again to the wonders of technology - we're both tech nerds in this house  - my creativity is finally starting to come up to the surface again - painting, playing with paper, knitting and playing both the marimba and guitar which has been sadly neglected for months.  

We have an online gig coming up at the start of February so the voice and guitar both need dusting off and the fingers need to be hardened up again ... ouch. 

* * * * * * * * * *

Everything was frozen the other morning when we went for a walk around the seafront at Warrenpoint - 

the low tide and frozen sand making gorgeous patterns .

Lots of painted stones lined the wall  - a very cheerful sight.  I particularly love the top one.  

And the heron must've been finding lots of fish in the low tide.  

Take care and have a good quiet and safe week.

*I'm sure I've written about Natural Voice here before - that it's everyone's birthright to sing, and should not just be kept to the confines of the trained singing world - our definitions of good singers combined with the awful critics on tv talent competitions have stopped people singing to themselves, to their babies, while they're working, even in the shower, for fear of being heard.  The constant cry of I can't sing really shocks me as without doubt everyone can sing - you may not sing like Pavarotti or Barbara Streisand or whomever you rate as being brilliant, but you can sing like you.   With not a lot of practice everyone can sing in tune and the joy of singing in a group, while not available through lockdown, is one of the most uplifting experiences anyone can have.   By not singing, people are missing out on the health benefits of this simple self help practice.   

The natural voice approach encourages and helps everyone to find their voice and dovetails very well with folk music which comes from the storytelling oral tradition - the story being more important than the voice .   We use short songs from all around the world, many written by our own song leaders, all with, uplifting heartfelt lyrics, simple melodies and often glorious harmonies.   England is the centre of the Natural Voice Network but there are people leading singing groups this way all over the world.     

Singing calms the nerves

Hi all, 

Just a wee tip - if you're getting anxious in the midst of all this crisis, turn on the radio or a CD and sing at the top of your lungs - don't worry about who hears you.... It will really help calm you down.  

I was in Tesco earlier today and got really freaked at how close people were standing to me... So, into the car and turn on some voice exercises and it really worked.  

If you're interested I'm posting a song a day on my choir Singmarra's Facebook Page to sing along with .... I'll add a link for the lyrics too.

Two for Joy

Photo by Adrian Pingstone

You know the old rhyme about magpies

"One for sorrow, two for joy
Three for a girl and four for a boy
Five for silver, six for gold
And seven for a secret never to be told."

I'm not very superstitious and yet I always look for the second magpie.   At this time of the year they're usually alone because one of them is on the nest, but if you hang around for a minute or two another will appear.   My mother tells a story of one day when she was cycling to work as a young woman - they had to go about 4 or 5 miles.   The guy who was cycling with her spotted one magpie and being really superstitious went off the road in search of the second one.   As a result they were both an hour late for work!   I always thought that was hilarious - I'm sure it wasn't at the time but she laughs at it now.

Well I'm wondering would she laugh if she knew we have a pair of magpies nesting in our garden.     Most people I know hate magpies.  

But I love the idea that we'll always have joy.

There has been too much sorrow around in recent days and weeks and I need as much joy as I can find.

While the world reeled from the loss of life in Nepal and from all the horrors of life in the wars and riots around the world, we were mourning the loss of another member of our little choir. A relatively young man recovering from a minor operation on his knee - he died very suddenly four days later.  Everyone's assuming it was a clot.   I sang yesterday at his funeral and it was such a sad day.   He was a fireman and had two young children and a beautiful wife.   He was 51.   You will be very much missed  Larry.

As the choir gathered on Wednesday night I struggled to find songs to lift everyone's spirits.  We were all on the brink of tears and everyone was singing flat.  When one person left the room in tears I thought tea was needed, and gradually after lots of chat we managed a smile and even got a few laughs in the last few songs of the evening.

Singing gives great joy.  It releases hormones not dissimilar to chocolate :)  It's not always easy to sing when we're feeling fragile and broken and beaten by life or just by the stresses of the day.  But if you can manage even to sing along to the radio or yell out a bit of AC/DC at the top of your voice in the shower, or hum a lullaby to a child, or sing along with Dolly, your mood will lift and it will lift very very quickly.

The world is in serious need of joy at the moment.  Let's keep on singing.



I'm joining in today with Lisa for the 1 Word Blog Linkup.

Irish Songs in a Woman's Key: Teddy O'Neill

All the guitar books that I've come across, for folk or particularly for Irish songs, annotate the songs in keys that are suitable for men.   Women who are starting to play guitar and who haven't mastered the art of transposing yet ( a subject for another post) try to play the songs and give up really quickly because either the song is way too low or way too high.  

Several of my female students ask me for the chords of songs so I thought it'd be good to start a series here with particular focus on Irish songs, both traditional and contemporary.  These keys are the keys in which I play and sing the songs.   I play this one with the capo on the 3rd fret.   To move it higher, move the capo up another fret or two, or to sing it lower move it back a couple of frets.

Teddy O'Neill is one of my all time favourite songs - I'm sure it was written in America in the 1930s, maybe earlier; the words are really corny, but the sentiment and the melody are just perfect.   I first heard it sung by the wonderful Dolores Keane.   (Sometimes it is sung with Verse 2 sung first).

Teddy O’Neill

Capo Fret 3

  

      G                   Em                Am               D

I dreamt but last night, ah bad cess to my dreaming

        G          Em                  Am                D

I’d die if I thought it would e'er come to pass

        G                    Em                  Am                         D

I dreamt while the tears down my pale cheeks were streaming

            G             Em         Am      D    G

That Teddy was courting another fair lass

        D                                     C                  G

Ah didn’t I wake with such weeping and wailing

         Em                                          Am            D

The thought of that dream was too much to endure

          G                    Em            Am                 D

My mother cried, ‘Nora child, what has you ailing?’

       G               Em                Am  D    G

But all I could answer was Teddy O’Neill

I’ve seen the mud cabin he danced his wild jigs in

As neat a mud cabin as ever was seen

Considering ‘twas used to keep poultry and pigs in

I’m sure you’d allow ‘twas both tidy and clean

But now all around seems so sad and so weary

So sad and so silent, no piper, no reel,

Not even the sun through the casement shines cheerly

Since I lost my own darling boy, Teddy O’Neill

Shall I ever forget when the big ship was ready

And the moment had come for my love to depart

I cried like a spalpeen, ‘Goodbye to you Teddy’

With a tear in my eyes and a stone in my heart

He says ‘tis to better his fortune he’s leaving

But what would be gold to the joy I would feel

To see him come back to me, honest and loving

Still poor, but my own darling Teddy O’Neill.

This blog is Day 22 of Sarah Allen's 30 day blog challenge

Irish Songs in a Woman's Key: The Sally Gardens

All the guitar song books that I've come across, for folk music or particularly for Irish songs, annotate the songs in keys that are suitable for men.   Women who are starting to play guitar and who haven't mastered the art of transposing yet ( a subject for another post) try to play the songs and give up really quickly because either the song is way too low or way too high.  

Several of my female students ask me for the chords of songs so I thought it'd be good to start a series here with particular focus on Irish songs, both traditional and contemporary.  These keys are the keys in which I play and sing the songs.   If you need to go a little bit higher, add your capo to the first or second fret.

The Sally Gardens, 
written by W.B.Yeats in 1889 
The tune is traditional (The Maids of the Mountain Shore)

              G                 D      C     G

It was down by the Sally Gar-dens

         C         D          G

My love and I did meet.

G              D        C   G

She passed the Sally Gar-dens

            C     D                G

With little snow-white feet

        Em      Am          D

She bid me take love easy

             C                 D        G

As the leaves grow on the tree.

       G            D              C   G

But I being young and fool-ish

                 C          D    G

And with her did not agree.

G             D       C     G

In a field down by the ri - ver

         C         D          G

My love and I did stand

        G          D          C      G

And on my leaning shoulder

        C           D                 G

She laid her snow-white hand.

        Em      Am         D

She bid me take life easy,

             C               D            G

As the grass grows on the weirs,

       G         D             C      G

But I was young and fool-ish

        C             D        G

And now am full of tears.

Repeat Verse 1.

Here's a beautiful version of this song, sung by Maura O'Connell and Karen Mathieson on the wonderful TV show, the Transatlantic Sessions.   
The key above is the same as they're singing in here.

This blog is Day 8 of Sarah Allen's 30 day blog challenge