Such a lovely week. Mondays are always made good by The Bishopsgate Singers. I went and sang with a lovely bunch of vocal practitioners in Hampshire on Tuesday ( hence the very early start!) and yesterday my ( yes they are mine…all mine!) primary school choir ( 4 -8 year olds) which  started in May has just moved up a notch. I think the promise of singing in St Pancras station before Christmas, and a trip to sing at the  the Albert Hall in March has helped.

Last night I finished  running a  fabulously relaxed six week acapella singing course  funded by Camden School for Girls and Acland Burghley, which was free for the participants. We  did a little sharing sessions, for family and friends, of the 6 songs we had learned. Here is a video of one of the songs we shared, I got to sing in the back row, rather than wave my arms around at the front, as it is a lovely simple piece. I am  also running an all day singing workshop in Shropshire on Saturday, so am  really hoping the annoying little signs of flu  that have been plaguing ( !)  me for the last 3 days will not manifest themselves into full blown virus. A singer’s worst nightmare! Definitely a bit out of sorts. It always happens at this time of year and is probably not helped by the amount of small children who want to play my piano and hold my hand and big people who kiss me at the end of concerts……Not one to complain about being kissed though!

SONG OF THE DAY – Down in the River to Pray

Here is an interesting bit of history of the song. I heard a lovely version of this that my mate Polly Bolton had arranged that she found in a really old book of songs by the Fisk Jubilee Singers from the turn of the last century. This version is much like the version from  the movie”Oh Brother Where Art Thou” and as I said, this is a little group of non audition singers who before 5 weeks ago had never sung together did a cracking version of it. We are going to do another course at Acland Burghley starting 1st Feb, for friends of CSG and AB..so near to my house as well, which is always a plus.