23rd June 2009 - As promised, you can now listen to the first ever
recording of Alvechurch Community Choir. Our grateful thanks to Simon for putting together both the
videos for us. Splendid job!
16th June 2009 - Yesterday and today saw the whole show back on the road
again, with a visit to Batchley First School and Alvechurch Middle School. Did we
have fun????????????? Sure we did!
Yesterday also saw our first
attempt to record Alvechurch Community Choir in full swing. After a lengthy
battle with the Zoom H2, Blue finally won the day and managed to capture areally
nice track. Watch this space for a YouTube clip which will be up and
running shortly.
And now a short video of
our children singing with the now famous duo "Mr G and
BB". The images were taken in March 2009 on one of Lillian Boutté's
earlier visits.
Just in case you feel
like singing along... here are the words:
Out on the street, there
is sunshine
When two friends meet,
there is sunshine
When life is sweet, there
is sunshine
sunshine in my heart
Sunshine, sunshine,
sunshine in my heart
Sunshine, sunshine,
sunshine in my heart
4th June 2009 - Is it really June already? We are happy to report
our planned 'on tour' workshops with Lillian have been rescheduled and
will now take place in October. We have also booked a celebratory event in
Alvechurch. The venue will allow us to take approximately 60 children from
each of our partner schools!
ACC had its first public
meeting on 1st June. The agenda included news of forthcoming bookings!!!
Wow... aren't we doing well? Thank you to everyone who attended and
contributed to the lively discussion.
In time ACC will break off
from ELS and 'stand alone' as a community project within itself. Part of
the meeting agenda included how that might be achieved. In preparation for
the break, a choir website and logo are to be designed and, a new
treasurer and administrator are to be appointed.
Anyone wishing to receive
regular choir updates by email should write to
blue@lets-sing.co.uk with
the words 'Add me to ACC' in the subject line. It is equally simple to
remove your name by sending a mail which says 'Remove me from ACC'.
17th May 2009 -
Our first tour date went ahead without Lillian at the helm. Due to a very
last minute hiccup (literally the night before the 'off') she was unable
to join us for our scheduled visit to Astwood Bank First School on
Wednesday 13th May. Undaunted by the mishap, Mike and the rest of the band
kicked off the tour with their usual enthusiasm and everyone agreed what an
amazing time it was!
A reminder for all you
budding singers: ACC meet again on May 18th. If you would like a list of
all the forthcoming dates, you can
download and print off our .pdf file for future reference. Everyone is
welcome, so come along and have some fun!
7th May 2009 -
Things are moving on apace! The music workshop calendar has been finalized
for the Spring / Summer term and plans are underway for the Autumn /
Winter term. Thinking of which: we are looking for a big enough venue to
hold groups of children from six partner schools, members of Alvechurch
Community Choir and other guests for a huge celebratory singing event in
the Autumn. Any ideas would be greatly welcomed. For more information
speak with Blue, or email her at
info@lets-sing.co.uk
In the meantime... back to
the present: Lillian
Boutté and her band will be joining us next week for three consecutive
days. Each day promises to be filled with music, fun and laughter. We will
see if we can persuade Mr G to record some for us.
Each of the planned days
will be hosted by a different local school, which means: we
(Pitcheroak, Lillian and the band) are officially 'on tour' for
this next leg of workshops. Yaaayyyyyyyyyy!! We'll be putting up some new
photos soon, so keep this page bookmarked and keep your eyes peeled.
2nd April 2009 - Our
promotional DVD has been pressed and printed. If you would like a copy for
yourself, send a request via our contacts page or speak with Blue on choir
night. The DVDs are £2 each, which covers the cost of production. However,
if you would like to use it to help us do some fundraising, then it is
free of charge. Don't forget we are happy to help you launch a fundraising
activity - or to come along and offer some support. We would also be happy
to deliver a talk to any group or organisation who would like to know more
about our work in schools.
On a slightly different
note: There was an interesting article published in the SAGA Magazine
(March 2009 edition) entitled 'With a Song in our Hearts'. Professor
Stephen Clift, co-director of the Sidney De Haan Centre for Arts and
Health at Canterbury Christ Church University, is quoted as saying singing
is "... a very uplifting activity and generates a great deal of pleasure.
It's like having a little injection of happiness." And we couldn't agree
more! If you want to find out for yourself, come along to the next choir
practice... oh, and don't forget to bring your mug!
If you live further afield
and are eager to join in the fun, check out these links:
And finally... The Sidney De
Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health has a special interest in
documenting the positive effects of music on older people, find out more
here:
24th March 2009 - Our
first ACC choir meeting was nothing short of amazing! Around 65 people
came along to the 'party' and the roof was well and truly raised.
Katie Harris led the singing
with Dave Perryman on guitar. Hannah Genders manned the projector and Blue
messed around in the background. (I heard she was ballet dancing at one
stage... hmmm, an interesting concept, but I don't believe it!)
15th March 2009 - Didn't you do well? We were all incredibly impressed at the turn out for
our launch workshops. Forty-three of you came along in the morning and in
excess of that in the afternoon.
And wwwwwwow! You sounded
terrific! Well done!
We had some special
appearances: Denise Gordon came from Northampton to sing with Lillian and assist
with 'tuning in' the choir. Here's a clip of the proceedings:
Jessica Hines showed up to
help out with percussion and admirably managed to sort
out the honourable Mr Barnaby Hines as he wrestled with a variety of
instruments. Finally, to finish the day off nicely, an
unnamed local superstar gave us a wonderful rendition of 'When the
Saints Come Marching in'.
For those of you who were
not able to attend, come along and join us at our first practice session:
Date: Monday, March 23rd
2009
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Alvechurch School
Cost: £2 per person
You can be guaranteed a warm
welcome and, before you know it, you will be singing like a lark too!
11th March 2009 - March is
rocking!! We have so many plans and so much to do. But first things first:
an update on ACC (Alvechurch Community Choir). The big launch is Saturday,
14th March, with two workshops followed by an evening performance. Timings
are as follows:
Morning workshop: 10:00am -
12:00 midday
Afternoon workshop: 2:00pm -
4pm
Evening performance: 7:30pm
All with
Lillian Boutté at
the helm.
Venue: Alvechurch Baptist
Church Hall.
Cost per person per
workshop: £2 (yesssss.... just £2!!)
Evening performance: FREE
You don't need to be able to
sing - we'll show you how! And if you can't make the workshops, then come
along to the performance, you absolutely will not be sorry. See you there!
February 2009 - A
very interesting programme was broadcast on Radio 4 at 7:45am on Wednesday
4th February. An interview with
Howard Goodall
focussed on a
report issued by Ofsted which detailed their evaluation of music in
schools. We thought you might like to hear what he had to say:
January 2009 -
Some hot news on the Alvechurch Community Choir! Lillian Boutté has agreed
to launch this part of our project with a full day of workshops. More
details will be emerging, so keep watching this space.
The choir will be open to
adults and children (aged 11 and over) who live in the local area and Mike
Genders & Kate Harris will be the Musical Directors.
We thoroughly enjoyed
watching this clip of Sir Ken Robinson on YouTube. He explores the
question: "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" We hope you enjoy it too.