For the Joy of Singing!

Joy of Singing Workshop

with Amy Bebbington

Saturday 20th June

Last Saturday we were delighted to welcome Amy Bebbington to lead us in a choral workshop.  She had suggested the title, Joy of Singing, and it was certainly that, totally joyful from start to finish.  Amy is a very well known and respected musician, conductor and composer.  She has the gift of making singing great fun whilst learning new and sometimes challenging works.

We were joined by some members of other choirs from Horsham, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking and Leatherhead, as well as some who were completely new to singing with a choir, and w

e enjoyed a varied repertoire of music from living composers.

The day started with Amy’s own composition, An Echo of the Spheres, which perfectly captured the music in the world around us and the importance of nature in our lives.

After the coffee break we learnt How Lovely are Thy Dwellings Fair by Russell Hepplewhite, another very talented British composer.  The words are taken from Psalm 84 and many people will be familiar with the version by Brahms.  It is a delightful piece of contrasting tempo and moods, and certainly a piece that I hope we will be able to perform in the future.

After our lunch break, when several of our visitors enjoyed watching the cricket, we sang Wide Open Spaces by Sarah Quartel which is about not only the wide open spaces around us in the world but also within ourselves.  It is a lively song, full of meaning and emotion.

The final piece of the day was The Gift to Sing by Mark Jordan, another well known British composer who writes about the way in which singing can lift the spirits and fill the singer with joy and positivity.  That was definitely a sentiment that we all felt throughout the day as we shared the singing and socializing during the breaks.

We will be resuming our rehearsals on September 14^th, in Capel village hall at 7.30pm.  If you would like the opportunity to enjoy music making with us, you will be very welcome.  There is absolutely no doubt that singing together in a choir is good for your health and soul, so why not come and have a go!