And Finally ...

The Trials and Tribulations of a Photographer

How to Photograph the Committee

Watch the birdie, please...

I'm over here ...

No, this way ...

Eyes open, please ...

Now don't argue ...

Nearly ...

At Last!

Following our tour to Germany in the summer of 2006, the following appeared in the Birmingham Post under the heading of "Splendid Performance from Chandos Choir":

Dear Editor, I have just returned home from a fantastic musical experience, I would like to tell you about.

I attended a concert of the Solihull Chandos Choir at the Johannische Kirche in Blankensee, just about 30 miles south of Berlin. Within the concerto sequence of the "Blankensee Music Summer" the Solihull Chandos Choir gave a splendid performance with works of Haydn, Mozart, Handel, Mendelssohn, Rutter and David Bruce-Payne, who played the church organ. The soloist singer was Catherine Mason, who certainly has an angel's voice.

I was very impressed about the warm, clean sound the choir had, together with that very friendly charisma the singers put across. It certainly shows the breadth of very hard professional rehearsal work that goes in to the preparation of a concert tour like this.

This particular concert has been special for the Chandos Choir as it was the last performance of their long standing conductor Michael Savage.

For me it was a very nice concert evening with wonderful music and marvellous people. Also it was very interesting to talk to the singers at the end of the concert.

Thank you Solihull Chandos Choir for visiting us.

HORST LEYER Germany

Our Summer Miscellany concert in June 07 included some part-songs and madrigals which were sourced from public domain sites on the internet. They needed to be printed off, and we thought it might be a good idea to ask those members who were able to to print their own copies. This gave rise to the following email correspondence:

Dear All

Thank you for your email address. We are experimenting with distributing, via email, music that needs copying.

Our music for partsongs and for madrigals is in the attachment to this email. Could you please try to print it out and bring it along on Tuesday. Printing on both sides may be a challenge too far but it does save paper.

Ray

Subj: Re: Chandos Partsongs and Madrigals Date: 07/05/2007 20:33:52 GMT Daylight Time

To: Ray from Dennis

Ray, You cheerfully say that printing on both sides saves paper, but the mistakes made deciding which is even, which odd, which is print side, which is not, will the paper feed truly and which way round to feed the paper in, are LEGION!! The resulting Torrent in Summer of wasted paper fills my waste paper basket. Save paper indeed - you must be joking !

However, I have persisted: no it was not a challenge too far for the Tenorus Intelligentus. “Waste not, learn not” is my motto, even though my task is twice as laborious as most others, there being the needs of two voices to meet [Joan & me]. My stony way was out of Macbeth: “Double double toil and trouble, paper churns and printer bubbles” requiring all the evil skills of the witches to succeed. Next time.... ah next time, thanks to this experience, thanks to the notes I have carefully made.... I will not pass that hair-tearing frustrating toilsome heart-breaking ink-consuming, paper-wasting confounded way again!

I have put my hand to the plough..., and the Lord has blessed me;

I have run and not wearied, I have walked and not fainted; for it is not the beginning, but the ending of the same that winneth the true glory;

The angels rejoice more over me, the ninetieth and nine, than all you clever clogging HP dancers that reel off part song after madrigals with hey nonny no abandon.

Amen, Oriana

Yours, Alan a Dale (Gone Fishin’)

Our Annual General Meetings are very civilized affairs. After the business is dispatched, we treat ourselves to an American supper, and then settle down for some home-grown entertainment. This year's meeting included the following "tribute" to our new Conductor from Jean Lewis, one of our sopranos:

NEW MD

Oh! We got ourselves a new MD at Chandos –

And we wondered what the Choir’s life would be,

But, as with most new brooms, we knew the only answer was

That we should all just simply, have to wait and see.

So we waited and we wondered – what’s this guy like?

Although some of us had met him times before,

And we knew that the new hand upon the baton, would

Serve, at least, as well as those who’d gone before.

Oh! We got ourselves a new MD at Chandos –

His parade-ground voice leaves none of us in doubt –

If we get it right his praises they are fulsome –

But if the notes are flat, he always seeks them out.

He will point up to the ceiling, to indicate with feeling

That you’d better ‘jack it up’ a tone or two –

The expression on his face is one of anguish and of someone

In excruciating pain –

And we try with one accord to do it better, and vow

We’ll never sing it flat again!

Oh! We got ourselves a new MD at Chandos –

With the Basses he seems to take a neutral line –

With the Altos, though he makes them oft repeat it,

He invariably says – ‘Yeees, it was fine (but we’ll come back to it later)’

And the Tenors, they are few and therefore precious,

And if there’s something that we really all must do –

It’s to go out in the highways and the bi-ways and

Press-gang a likely lad – just one or two.

I really ought to make this piece a little longer,

After all the things that I have writ before –

But I thought I’d better tread a little softly

’Cause with new MDs, you just don’t know the score.

So when our new MD’s been here a little longer,

I’ll know it’s safe to write a little more.

Oh! We’ve got ourselves a new MD at Chandos,

And in his first season he has done us proud,

And we’d like to say a most sincere thank-you,

Not pianissimo, or piano, but LOUD!

So – altogether now – no need to look at your copies –

with me – after three – one, two, three – THANK-YOU.