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Concerts & Events in 2011 to 2013
Concerts & Events in 2014 to 2015
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Concerts & Events in 2016 to 2017
Concerts & Events in 2017
Christmas Concert at Stamford Arts Centre, Friday 8th December 2017
UK Choir Festival 2017 St Albans, 21st - 22nd October 2017
Report by Debbie Rimmer and Ivy Moore
A small but enthusiastic group of us attended the above event accompanied by our director Emmanuel. The Festival's aim is to bring together choirs from all over the UK in a pleasing setting where people can learn, thrive and develop through singing.
Day 1
The ten or so choirs, some from as far afield as Ireland, were treated to a busy, stimulating and challenging Saturday, involving a series of workshops before giving a performance. Always entertaining, the talented workshop leaders encouraged us to develop such skills as pitching correctly and listening to others around us to improve the blend and balance of the choir.
A vocal health session focussed our minds on what food and drink we should allow and refrain from in order to keep our voices in top condition. Some of us (myself included!) then had to eat our cheese sandwiches on the sly to avoid the accusing gaze of any passing leader !!!!
A highlight for me was the Gospel workshop, when the wonderful Karen Gibson taught us how to create a real gospel sound. As we learnt to sing a gospel song or two, Karen worked on our rhythm, tone, articulation, blend, energy and movement. Individual singers had the chance to come up do ‘the call’, including Emmanuel! Personally I think the amassed two hundred voices or so sounded amazing by the time Karen had finished with us. Inspiring and tremendous fun.
The final part of the day gave all the choirs a chance to perform something from their own repertoire.
It was lovely to sit and listen to the great variety of songs being performed, some accompanied, some not.
Outstanding in my view was the delightful Mundo Afrika choir from Formby High School who sung three African songs
with fabulous energy and zest.
Check them out on YouTube !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95JTVtXiuE0
Woven Chords sang Akalamandla and, for all that we were a small group and lacking our men, our performance
seemed well received.
Well done to our ladies who cheerfully took on the bass part and thanks to Emmanuel for rehearsing us, providing some extra bass and keeping us all together! We are awaiting some feedback from the professionals listening !
Day 2
The warm up from inspirational choir leader Ula Weber didn't really feel like one! which goes to show you can warm up the body and the voice while having fun and feeling a bit/ a bit more/ or very silly. I think this is a big draw for voice coaches choir leaders et al as they get satisfaction from seeing their pupils look totally daft but hey why not?
Following on from this there was a session entitled 'Conquering the mysteries of vocal technique' and the word 'classical' was used somewhere, and personally I thought 'oh no' but David Lowe was brilliant and one of the real highlights for me with his John Major, the local vicar, and tortoise impersonations.
He stressed that singing is a natural progression from breathing and we have all been doing it from birth so we are all really good at it! and just need a few techniques and pointers.
The importance of a good warm up and stretch to expand the chest 'north south east and west', exercises to loosen the jaw, a vocal chord warm up- they are muscles and need warming up too. And posture, avoid looking down the nose (vicar) holding the tongue too far back in the mouth (John Major) and extending the neck forward (tortoise). Think about breathing in as you sing-it prevents you from going flat and it really worked.
'Connect to effect' with Mark de Lisser some good points here but for me he concentrated on sad emotions and not the joyful, which left some people unable to sing. He pointed out that the best performances are not always the technically perfect, but the ones that have meaning for the choir and connect with the audience, 'connect with the truth' 'sing your truth' and 'sing from the heart'
'Leading by Ear' with Pete Churchill was a blast! He taught us a Duke Ellington song. You would have loved this Emanuel! He got us swaying to 6/8 timing, 'you are your own metronome', 'manufacture endings' such as t's and s's especially at the end of lines so you don't get the 'stutters',
The last session was from Ula Weber - 'Don't be afraid of Polish' frankly I was a bit smug because Polish holds no fears for Wovies! it was joyful and we waltzed in the aisles, it was great seeing nearly everyone else glued to their song sheets while ours were not needed! We didn't stay to hear the choirs sing as on the first day I'm sure they would have been great, learned a lot, but not least that I wholeheartedly love singing a cappella and world music songs and with a great bunch!
Concerts & Events in 2016
Friday 16th December 2016
Christmas Concert at Stamford Arts Centre
Stamford Arts Centre hosted the latest festive celebration from Woven Chords, the local natural voice choir who have gathered a loyal following and a strong reputation for close, tight harmony work.
This was Abi Moore's last concert as choir leader and her work with the choir has seen them move from strength to strength. Friday night's concert was another example of the professionalism and sense of real enjoyment that she has fostered within the group and how this is transmitted to the audience.
A full house showed its appreciation as the choir performed Basque and Catalan Christmas songs, as well as Swedish, Polish and Ukranian carols, all sung in the original language, as were the Italian protest song and the Hawaiian Earth blessing. Alongside the seasonal songs were others from their extensive repertoire, including Barbara Ann and Blowin' in the Wind.
All songs were sung unaccompanied and great credit goes to all concerned for the mastery of the material displayed and the light and shade created during the performance.
The audience were left feeling that Christmas was now upon us and the Woven Chords Annual concert is now the unofficial launch of the festive season for many people in Stamford and the surrounding area.
Friday 22nd - Sunday 24th July 2016
Woven Chords Residential Weekend
Report by Brenda SmithFor the second year running members of Woven Chords took to the hills of Derbyshire for a weekend of singing and great merriment. The Nightingale Centre in Great Hucklow near Buxton played host to 35 members of the Woven Chords choir, who wasted no time in getting down to some serious eating, drinking and bonding!
The main focus for the weekend was the singing and we were led by Beth de Lange, an accomplished world music practitioner, who introduced us to some challenging Georgian songs on Saturday morning and uplifting African material on Sunday. On Saturday afternoon we were free to enjoy the great outdoors, some striding out into the hills to explore the village of Eyam, others enjoyed a nearby well-dressing celebration, while others stayed at the centre to enjoy the peace and quiet of the grounds......and, of course, in the evening there was some more singing, of the home grown variety, a trip through the Woven Chords catalogue of favourites and some well known folk songs thrown in for good measure!
This was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend which hopefully will be repeated next year....the date has been booked provisionally with the Nightingale Centre and will be confirmed to choir members in the near future.
African workshop with Beth de Lange
Friday 24th - Sunday 26th June 2016
Street Choirs Festival 2016
Report by Ivy MooreAbout a dozen members of Woven Chords attended the Street Choirs Festival over the weekend of 24-26 June 2016, hosted this year by Red Leicester Choir in that wonderful city. The Street Choirs Festival has been going for about two decades now and I can see why: the whole festival was a joy, wonderfully organised by Red Leicester and the whole thing ran like clockwork.
The festival ‘kicked off’ (hey, Leicester did win the premiership!) on Friday evening with professional entertainment and a party to follow at the Curve Theatre and included comedy, dance, and drumming.
Saturday saw us back at the Curve to rehearse several songs which we then sang at the ‘Mass Sing’ at Jubilee Square and the rain held off! Following this we had three busking sessions around the city centre, where we teamed up with Raised in Song and Syncapella (Abi’s other choirs). We sang four songs in these slots but you know what singers are like - we could have sung forty!
The evening was spent back at the Curve listening to a fabulous selection of choirs from all over the UK, ranging from Brighton to Edinburgh and Cardiff. It was great to experience the different approaches, styles (and outfits!) to a capella singing. It was great to sing in such a wonderful theatre and to such an appreciative audience.
Some of us stayed overnight, and on Sunday had the opportunity to join some workshops at De Montfort University. These included belly dancing, drumming, and singing workshops from leaders such as Chris Samuels and Faith Watson. We all came out singing and dancing.
We enjoyed the whole of the above at a ridiculously small fee (not including our own hotel and food and the odd glass of lemonade of course).
Next year’s festival will take place in Kendal and I certainly want to be there.
Abi leads the combined choirs in Leicester city centre
Friday 10th June 2016
Summer Concert at All Saints Church in Stamford
Report by Debbie Rimmer
Our summer concert took place this year at the beautiful All Saints church in Red Lion Square, right in the centre of Stamford. This was a new venue for us and it was declared a successful choice. (Thanks to Julie, Brenda and Abi for spending time visiting and checking out this option earlier in the summer.) We were lent some excellent staging by All Saints and church members were really helpful in terms of helping us to set up and take down at the end.
Our two sets for the concert this year consisted of a wide range of a capella songs from traditions as varied as English and Scottish Folk, African and European numbers. The harmonies resonated beautifully in the church and, judging by the warm applause from our audience, the concert was much appreciated. Indeed, one person was overheard to say that they felt tears flowing as we sang ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’! Another person commented that they had already put our Christmas Concert date into their diary as they wouldn't miss it for the world!
There was torrential rain on the evening of the concert and we had worried about numbers attending; however, we need not have done so as the church appeared full! Refreshments in the interval and a raffle to raise funds for the choir added to a really good atmosphere and overall we felt very pleased with the way the event went. An additional bonus was that we were able to donate £140 to the Music Fund at All Saints church.
We owe many thanks to our leader, Abi, for her patience and professionalism in rehearsing us over the preceding months and helping us to achieve such a well-received concert performance.
Saturday 9th January 2016
Wassailing at Stamford Community Orchard
Booking the choir
We are always looking for performance opportunities (the more unusual the better!). We have already performed in a prison, and done our first wedding. For more information check out the Booking the Choir page.