Thoughts of your Chairman......

First a preamble about the BLOG:

I thought I might start an occasional blog about singing in the SMVC.  My personal views on different aspects of singing in our wonderful Choir.  Hopefully, nothing controversial and none of it aimed at any one person or section of the Choir in particular. Just my thoughts on what is happening, or what could be happening.

At the end of the BLOG you too can share your thoughts, publicly, with anyone else who reads this. My only request is that you think carefuly about who will read what you are writing.  Anyone can read this blog. I will not hesitate to remove anything that I think is to the detriment of the Choir.

So here we go, Singing in Welsh

Hopefully you will all agree are we are a “traditional” Male Voice Choir and there are certain songs, or types of songs, that traditional male voice choirs sing. Some of those traditional pieces are in the Welsh language. They might not all be in our current repertoire but we, as a Choir, if asked, could probably make a good job of singing them.

Added to this we have the advantage of having a Welsh Musical Director who is encouraging, helpful and patient with us “Englishmen”, also many of the Choir members have Welsh connections. So, I believe, we should be able to make fairly good job of singing in Welsh. And we do! Gwahoddiad, for just one instance. We love singung it. Myfannwy could quickly be revised and sung as beautifully as it deserves. Men of Harlech and Cwm Rhonda we sing in English. And now Huw has introduced the magnificent, rollicking hymn I Bob Un Syd Ffyddlon, also known by it’s tune name Rachie. Written for the Salvation Army it’s a cracker with a good chorus, Hallelujas and Amens. It is know as the Welsh “Onward Christian Soldiers” (although that is not it literal translation). What more could a popular Welsh Hymn need to be a hit with an audience?

But how can we be expected to learn this strange language with double consonants, very few vowels and w in strange places.?

My answer is b repetition and this can only be done at home, and not on a Tuesday practice. Tuesday night is for learning the notes and the dynamics. Learing how to sing a piece, not what to sing.  We all have to study the words at home, or on the bus, or on the train. Or record yourself speaking or singing them on your phone, and listen off your mobile device whilst walking the dog, doing the shopping, commuting to the office.

With Rachie we are lucky. The first three lines of the first verse are also the chorus so you get to sing that three times.  So just the verses to learn. My advice to learn it as if it were English, from the phonetics. Whatever our pronunciation it will be good enough. Let’s face it we don’t agree on the pronunciation of “dance” in The Rose but no one notices. And the Welsh cannot agree on pronunciation from one valley to the next so who is going to complain?

Rachie is a fun hymn that needs to be sung with confidence. We need to know it well enough to sing, without scores, for our concert at the Waterlooville Music Festival in June as, I suspect Huw will have a Welsh set in that programme.

So get studying. Make the most of your membership by singing confidently at practice nights. We can and will sing in Welsh and enjoy ourselves.

Are you up for it?