Busy Autumn Schedule for VU!

After a fantastic first half of the year, playing a series of sell-out theatre shows, the VU guys are gearing up for a busy Autumn / Winter.

Next in the diary is the Worcester Music Festival – a fantastic weekend which has become an important part of the annual Worcester Festival fortnight. Our part in this year’s festivities comprises a morning workshop at St. Swithun’s Institute (scene of last year’s epic Les Mis workshop!) when our Musical Director, Ria Keen, will be teaching some vocal tricks of the trade. If you’re interested in singing – even if you think you’re not very good at it! – come along and join in the fun. You’ll be AMAZED at what you can learn in one morning! The date for the workshop is Sunday, August 21st, 10.30am – 12pm,  and you can reserve your place (free admission) by clicking here.

Later that same day, from 6.30pm – 7.30pm at the same venue, there will be a mini-concert from The VU Sound, where you’ll be able to preview some of the new material that we’re working on for the big gig in Worcester Cathedral in October, as well as enjoying some of the more familiar VU favourites!

In September, there’s a concert at our rehearsal venue, St. Peter’s Baptist church (please note, VU has no religious affiliation) where we’ll be giving a full-length fund-raiser concert for both our chosen charity (M.E. Research) and charities chosen by the church.

October brings the huge theatrical event that will be VU rocking the Cathedral! The concert features West End leading man Mark Pincher, along with Ria, and is shaping up to be an occasion not to be missed! We think it’s just possible that the Cathedral may not have quite seen the like of it before………… We can’t wait!

Later in the year we’ll be doing the now-traditional Christmas gig in the freezing cold (usually!) outdoors at the Christmas Fayre. Always GREAT fun and we’ve developed something of a reputation of drawing a large crowd and blocking the street. Oops………

As usual, huge thanks to the amazing people who support VU – we look forward to seeing you at these events!

 

 

The new-look VU!

Voices Unlimited has just undergone a major overhaul!

Up until now we have been known as Voices Unlimited Contemporary Choir, but have now changed the name to The VU Sound, for the simple reason that we’re not a choir, or anything like one!

Why are we not a choir? Well, we don’t do ‘choral’ arrangements, we don’t look or sound like a choir, we don’t carry folders, we don’t work to SATB…. you name it!

Everyone who sees us comments on ‘the VU sound’, so what better name could there be? We are of course still Voices Unlimited – check out our new website at http://voices-unlimited.co.uk

We look forward to continuing to enjoy what we do under our new ‘colours’ – which really do reflect the vibrancy of our amazing group of 120 singers! Thanks to everyone who continues to support us.

Hell Yeah!

In the words of our mighty VU leaders and also all 104 other members of Voices Unlimited who were strutting their stuff on the stage of The Swan Theatre, Worcester on Friday and Saturday night . . . . “Hell, Yeah!”

We rocked!  We grooved!  We sang and performed our little hearts out and the packed theatre audience just loved it!  “There is nothing better than singing,” as Ria, our amazing Musical Director, frequently shows us.  If you’d like to be part of this enormous vocal group which meets every Tuesday evening to rehearse in preparation for our many shows then come on down and join us!  We are a very friendly bunch, and you’ll see for yourself the dedication, commitment, and joy we all feel as part of this magnificent group.  We just can’t keep away.

Tempted?  Well be warned . . . it’s addictive!

Singing does you good!

I always assume that, having sung to myself for the best part of my entire life, that everyone knows that singing does you good; makes you feel better.  But even better than singing alone in the kitchen, the loo or the shower – singing with other people connects you to them in an indefinable way during those “shared” singing moments.  Something inside us must resonate to some primal instinct or genetic memory of chanting in a group, moving and swaying to the sounds – we feel a bond which we would never feel during a normal conversation.

When you add the great and enormous sound VU makes when all of us are together into the equation, then my word we must all be on a high from the endorphins we produce as we sing, and from the shared experience!

This week has not been a colourful week for me; usually a bouncy Tigger-like person, I have felt distinctly discoloured or uncoloured (if there is a such a word!).  But tonight – singing with the lovely men of the VU lifted me out of the greyness of the week and filled me with a rainbow of colours!

No medicine on earth; no drugs can do what this experience does.  When we lose ourselves in the music with other voices, not experiencing any of the embarrassment or vulnerability that most of us feel when our lone voices are heard, the heart body and mind are given a turbo charge of wellbeing!

Keep singing!  And if you don’t sing, then listen to the Mighty VU – our joy and energy can turbo charge you just by hearing us!!

June concerts approaching fast!

VU are appearing in concert on June 24th and 25th, at The Swan theatre in Worcester.  People who’ve seen us in concert before can expect some new material, and two exciting guest singers in the form of Steve Maitland and Givvi Flyyn – both exciting singers and well-seasoned professionals who will bring their own unique stamp to the shows!

Choir members have been rehearsing like mad, both collectively (every Tuesday night, if you fancy joining us!) and on their own in cars, kitchens, offices and parks all over Worcestershire! If you see people with ipod speakers firmly in ears, singing at the tops of their voices notes which don’t seem to bear any relevance to any known tune…. don’t laugh and point! (Well Ok, do laugh and point, but then realise………) they’re just rehearsing their line through one of the 20-odd enormous tunes that are coming your way in the shows.

We’ve got everything from Glenn Miller and The Andrews Sisters to The Beatles, Elvis, Bon Jovi, The Kinks and even Prince Charming himself, Adam Ant!

VU isn’t a choir – make no mistake – it’s a GIANT vocal group with heart, soul, and more chutzpah per square inch than anything you’ve ever seen. Don’t miss out on these wonderful shows – they sold out in October, they sold out in January and they’re going to sell out again this month – RUN! Buy your tickets RIGHT NOW!

Music and memories

Today one of our cats died.  Holly – a burmese cat aged 12.  I will never forget that as I drove to her on her last journey to the vets, I sang Memory from Cats – and she purred in her cage.  That song will always remind me of Holly, and when I sing it I shall sing it for her.

When my daughter Lydia’s old cat Theo had to be put to sleep at the grand old age of 16 – he had throat cancer –  Lydia was learning the song “Weekend in New England” by Barry Manilow for her singing lessons and sang it as we drove to the vets.  She never sang that song again.

Elton John “Yellow Brick Road” always reminds me of my son learning to walk – he loved that song, and Diana Ross “When we Hold on Together” will forever bring back memories of waltzing around the room holding a very young Lydia and singing the song to her.

The hymn “Abide with me” reminds me of my father who died when I was quite young – he sang so low that it was just a low rumble – I think he must have sung at least two octaves below everyone else!

Music…. singing…. different songs, all hold memories for us.  I know that when the Might VU sings “I hope you Dance” – some of us have shed a tear, and certainly”Wild Horses” does something emotional to many of us.  We all have particular songs, and pieces of music that connect to something in our emotional memory.

Music and singing are not only ways of helping us release emotion, but can also be used to harness emotions and by doing so add a different dimension to the sound we make as individuals and therefore as a whole.

Tonight the Mighty VU rehearsed Ria Keen’s wonderful arrangement of Hallelujah.  I closed my eyes, and I listened to all those voices around me, and I thought of a small, once round, very purry cat, who was relatively insignificant to the world around her, but not to those of us who had been head-butted by her, lying cold and still and gone from the world we know, and somehow that song will forever be coloured by her.

And I write these words because in singing together, and in the weaving of harmonies and sound, there is not only healing, but forging of memories, and the linking of music to emotion.

We must never underestimate the power of music and sound.

Growing as a Singer with VU!

I sing because I can’t help it. I’ve sung in the shower, in auditions, in church, in the car, on the stage, in restaurants, on telly and in my mirror. I sing every day but I look forward to Tuesdays the most. On Tuesdays I get to test my voice, my listening skills, and my sight reading, and all in the company of the friendliest bunch of people I know.

There are all sorts in singers in VU – terrified, exuberant, shy (not for long!), powerful, professional and passionate. Everyone’s on a learning curve – and everyone gets better. As a semi-professional singer, I consider the choir invaluable practice and another string to my musical bow. I love the challenge of receiving new repertoire. I stuck to the songs I knew I could really perform before VU – now I know I can also rock, funk, groove, and mosh with style. I’m as scared and nervous as anyone when we get something outside my comfort zone, but we really do sing the most fantastic stuff. Thank you VU, and thank you Ria. I’m twice the singer I was before I met you.

So, if you’re scared, intrigued, a pro, a muso, think you are always flat, or just think you want to hear more. Come and see us. Come and join us. You’ll never look back.

Behind the Scenes in MD Corner

Being the MD of a choir, especially one with a reputation to keep up (!) involves lots of thinking ahead. So it is that while VU is currently rehearsing for concerts that will take place in June and July, I am already starting to map out and write arrangements for our upcoming concert in Worcester Cathedral, on October 29th.

This can make for a somewhat fried brain! A good MD (or theatre director, or choreographer, or whovever it might be) is always having to split the brain into two, with the MD part of the brain focusing on the arrangements which have already been written and are currently being rehearsed in all their detail, and the ‘Creative / Production’ part of the brain, coming up with a vision and a direction for the next concert along.

It’s my belief that everyone needs a good team around them and I certainly have that in the shape of Stuart Lee (Assistant MD), Anna Martin (Deputy MD), Britt Packer (Dance Captain) and Anne Bradshaw (Choir Manager), but I also believe that every team needs a strong leader, and that nothing good was ever created or designed by committee! Thus it is that the buck stops with me – decisions on repertoire, and the way in which that repertoire is arranged and performed, are mine and mine alone, which can be a good deal of pressure, especially when two big projects are running side by side, as they are now. The choir are naturally protected from this, as they will not start to rehearse the repertoire for the Cathedral until the summer concerts are over. That’s as it should be, but if you see a redhead wandering round Worcester looking dazed and confused, take pity!

Singing, and more singing…..

Nothing can make you feel more vulnerable, more exposed, than singing.  Our voices truly mirror what we are feeling; our voices shake when we are scared, become more high pitched when we are angry, lower when we are speaking to someone we love.  And for most of us who sing as a “hobby”, we lack confidence.  And any confidence we have can be shaken to the core by a chance comment.  I remember one lovely lady, who was a Voices Unlimited choir member for a while, bursting into tears when we told her after her audition that she had “passed”!  She had only ever sung in her kitchen, with her family laughing at her when they heard her.  Yet we rarely ridicule the speaking voice.  Singing for pleasure ultimately means that someone will hear you singing, as opposed to professional singers who sing to be heard.  And professional singers are criticised too – we all have our own opinions about what we think is a “listenable to” voice, for example I adore men who sing with a sort of gruff edge to their voices – such as Curtis Stigers, Jon Bon Jovi, Michael Bolton and others.  I can’t bear over-twangy nasally female voices.  We will all have different likes and dislikes.

And yet music – singing – movement – would have been part and parcel of our lives hundreds of years ago.  In other cultures there is no differentiation between singing and movement; it is one thing.  Our culture makes the act of singing somehow embarrassing - except perhaps at funerals and weddings, and even then the majority of people keep their heads down and sing quietly.

After our small group extra choir rehearsals, it was interesting to note a comment made by one of our male members – “once we had gotten over our initial embarrassment of singing in front of one another”.  Why do we feel so exposed when we sing?  It is almost as if we feel we are being judged when we sing, and yet it is just another form of communication, and according to some experts singing was probably the first form of communication!  Maybe we should take a tip from the research done in a school some years ago where the pupils and teachers had to sing instead of speak for a whole week; all pupils’ results in all subjects were much improved at the end of the week!

Singing makes you feel good, it increases endorphins, and it keeps the brain active – let’s keep doing it!

…and I’ve still got a mountain to climb; I’m only in the foothills!

Before I began my contemporary singing lessons at a fairly advanced age, I had only sung in Choral Societies, and school choirs.  I knew nothing about registers, resonance, twang, belt or left foot technology!  Just over 5 years ago I picked Ria Keen’s (www.riakeen.net; www.VIDLA.org) name out of a list of Vocal Coaches on the web, and began my journey into the world of contemporary singing.

There have been moments of sheer frustration at just not being able to do something; not being able to hit a note; months and months and months and months of trying to find my chest register; and then after my overthinking technicality drained any emotion from my singing, I had to find emotion.

It’s started to happen, and my voice is starting to sound a little richer, and not so much like a 5 year old’s voice!  Reaching the foothills of the mountain is a combination of many things:

• Sheer hard work.  I don’t give up.  I sing and I sing and I practice and I practice
• Ria’s brilliance at finding ways to make you “feel” what your voice needs to be doing
• Singing with the amazing Voices Unlimited Contemporary Choir (www.voices-unlimited.co.uk) every week for two hours, and learning the many and varied numbers.

The choir has such a variation of songs to perform, and each week Ria gives us simple techniques to help us sound different, so that there is tangible texture to each number, bringing to life Ria’s distinctive arrangements.  Within such a large group of people (120 in total), it is much easier to try out sounds and to listen to other voices and try to emulate what they are doing; it means that individuals  become more confident quite rapidly, and hearing others around making a big noise encourages those who would not have thought they could do this, to have a go!

Being a member of the choir has also meant that I have become braver with my sense of rhythm – which has never been very good – so I do now tap my feet and try to move with the music, but most of all I have learnt to listen to the overall sound of the entire choir around me, and to feel my voice as a part of all this like a stitch in a wonderful musical tapestry; small but significant, as are we all.