From Shakespeare to Robert Plant

“I want to congratulate you on a fantastic concert last week” said David-the-conductor at rehearsal this week. “It was nice to do a concert where you all actually knew the music”. What can we say? It’s true. We do a lot of concerts, and it’s rare that we have enough rehearsal time to learn all the music to the same depth, so Oriana concerts are always an exciting mix of bliss and terror. Last week the bliss was firmly in charge, but really we were cheating because it was a repeat of a concert that we’d already sung in 2009. The terror is ready to get its own back though. In our heightened levels of confidence, we’ve decided to really challenge ourselves by learning all the pieces for our performance next week by heart. Oriana is going ELECTRIC, baby, and how could we possibly get in touch with our inner rock gods if we’re all clutching black ring-binders stuffed full of sheet music? So we’re dumping our folders – rock on! Next thing you know we’ll be drinking shandy and penning fake skull-and-crossbones tattoos on each others arms. Oriana – London’s most dangerous choir!

So it’s the Electric Proms next Friday and as I mentioned a couple of weeks back, we will be appearing on stage for a couple of numbers with the lovely Robert Plant and his Band of Joy. That’s their name, not just my description. I wonder how joyous they are in real life? I’m expecting big grins and happiness galore next week, or I’ll sue for false advertising. But even if they’re actually a bit dour, we’re still going to have loads of fun singing lustily away at the back. We had a go through two of the pieces we’re singing at rehearsal this week, and they’re both very interesting and completely different to each other in style. There are a couple of solo bits in one of the songs, and we had our usual moment of looking really hard at the floor when David-the-Conductor asked for volunteers. But it turns out David has a new strategy to manage this. Fiona-the-choir-chair foolishly smoothed back her hair, only to discover she’d inadvertently volunteered for a solo by raising her hand above shoulder level. Yikes. From now on I’m keeping my hands in my pockets at all times and turning pages with my nose.