Now I am back performing a bit more often - I have been benefitting from some voice coaching in various settings. But I thought I would take this a bit further and actually work on my singing voice too. So I have joined a traditional song workshop with Scott Murray the folk singer.
This is great for a number of reasons.
O Willie brew'd a peck o' maut,
And Rob and Allen cam to see;
Three blyther hearts, that lee-lang night,
Ye wadna found in Christendie.
We are na fou, we're nae that fou,
But just a drappie in our ee;
The cock may craw, the day may daw
And aye we'll taste the barley bree.
(extract from Robert Burns Willie brew'd a peck o' maut)
More about some of the songs we are singing here http://www.riddellfiddles.co.uk/singing.htm and about Scott Murray here http://www.scottmurraysongs.co.uk/current/current-news-and-events/ and Robbie Coltrane reads Burns' poem here http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/robertburns/works/willie_brewd_a_peck_o_maut/
This is great for a number of reasons.
- First I love singing. I like singing all the parts from tenor - and I do mean tenor - up to soprano - when did that happen? I never used to be able to sing high but now everyone around me has got lower in voice apparently!
- Secondly we are allowed to improvise. Like in a folk club, the singers I am working with join in and harmonise as soon as they get the tune - often after the first few bars. So I am developing harmonies too - I found myself adding parts to the power ballads CD I had in the car. A first. The Scorpions never sounded so good!
- Thirdly we stand in a circle and eventually we are doing a concert. So, Eye contact. Body Language. Standing up straight. All valuable.
- But finally and best of all the songs are fab, rude and sad, pretty and intricate and powerful, and very often in wonderful rich Scots.
O Willie brew'd a peck o' maut,
And Rob and Allen cam to see;
Three blyther hearts, that lee-lang night,
Ye wadna found in Christendie.
We are na fou, we're nae that fou,
But just a drappie in our ee;
The cock may craw, the day may daw
And aye we'll taste the barley bree.
(extract from Robert Burns Willie brew'd a peck o' maut)
More about some of the songs we are singing here http://www.riddellfiddles.co.uk/singing.htm and about Scott Murray here http://www.scottmurraysongs.co.uk/current/current-news-and-events/ and Robbie Coltrane reads Burns' poem here http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/robertburns/works/willie_brewd_a_peck_o_maut/
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