From a Plant to a Gardner

Robert Plant’s Electric Prom was televised last Saturday night, and my nose managed to sneak into a shot all by itself. I was most impressed by its blatant move to grab stardom and embark on a solo career. I guess the rest of my face has been holding it back all this time. There was quite a lot of angst flying around on Facebook during the day about who would look the silliest on TV. Well, I can reveal that the “biggest numpty” award goes to ... no-one. Everyone looked surprisingly good and confident. We should definitely step out from behind our choir folders and sing from memory more often, as it makes us look much more at one with the music. As to who looked best, well, that’s a hard one to call. Lots of people were jiving around their mikes like seasoned professionals. But Tom in the basses managed to go that extra step, with his relaxed confidence when Robert Plant introduced the choir. Everyone else looked a bit sheepish, but Tom accepted the plaudits of his adoring public as though born into royalty. Tom, you win the “Face of Oriana” award for your ability to soundlessly enunciate the word “Thank you”. Great diction.

Right, that really is it for the Electric Prom now, and we're well into rehearsing our Christmas music now. The Gardning leave that I so optimistically predicted a couple of weeks back is already at an end, as John Gardner’s “Tomorrow shall be our Dancing Day” has somehow sneaked on to the programme for our Christmas concert. I’m going to get all my bitching in early, as I’m secretly certain I’m going to end up loving this piece. But at the moment I am once again outraged by Gardner’s inability to pick a time signature and stick to it. And seriously, what is that phrasing all about?? It’s as though he thinks “what would a singer do naturally?” and then does exactly the opposite. You spend hours trying to drum the unnatural phrasing into your head, only for a hollow sense of futility to hit when you actually manage to get it right. It’s the musical equivalent of a Rubix Cube. Or at least I assume so, I’ve never actually managed to finish one of those. To make matters worse, Louise in the First Sops has decided she wants the choir to sing this piece at her wedding in December, so we’re obliged by the bonds of friendship to put the work in. I’m tempted to say we’ll only sing it if she has it for her entrance music. It’d be fun watching her oscillate wildly between a waltz and a two-step all the way up the aisle.