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This year has been a strange one! Hopefully everyone is safe and well and following all the government guidelines and social distancing instructions. Here in Spain I think we have had a sensible approach to the 'lockdown' and we all feel safe thanks to the governments measures albeit they may have seemed harsh. But as we are now leaving lockdown, we can see some light at the end of the tunnel. Choirs and singing have been effected in a big way and it is not sure as and when we can officially get back together. But in the hope it will soon be sorted our return to rehearsal date is Friday 4th Sept at 18:00 at our usual rehearsal venue of Hostal Rosaleda - all being well. Granted groups of up to 20 (at the time of writing) can now meet it is still not certain of wise to think singing is a good option. The choir has 32 members so we cannot fully return as yet. Sectional practice in private with social distancing could resume, however I can image a lot are still cautious about getting together in groups. If and when we are back, there are a few outstanding / postponed concerts that we could revive fairly quickly and hopefully all feel a bit better for doing so, but we will have to take it on advisement and follow the guidelines issued by the Junta de Andalucia. In the meantime, there are always the backing tracks available to help you rehearse and have a sing along at home on your own - I know not the same as singing in a choir is it? Stay safe and hope to see you all soon. D
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The following dates and times are the joint rehearsal dates and times for the Concert of Peace on the 26th Jan 2020 at Vera Auditorio.
Both choirs are welcome to each others rehearsals throughout January to sing the joint pieces.
Note about concert publicity: It is the responsibility of the orchestra and both choirs to promote this concert, therefore please share the details as widely as possible. 
You will be pleased (or not) to know that all but two Christmas songs are ready and available for download, oh, and rehearsal! OK you may get some strange looks while on the beach humming along to your Christmas backing tracks! Just think though, now the Christmas music is available our MD is working on 2020 music, so if you have any suggestions let's have them before the end of August. Gerry (Bass/Baritone) is the winner up to now with great suggestions on a regular 'bass-is', sorry couldn't resist the pun! Just to let you know our Publicity Co-ordinator is also hard at work, rearranging concert dates for December and working on concert dates for 2020 also. Anyway do enjoy the summer holiday, the return and season dates are on our Rehearsal page. Also, if you have any News items to share with the choir or folks (not on Facebook) send an email to our web admin.
The choir has a new star! I'm pleased to announce that the choir has a new amplifier. The new one (left) is similar to the old one (right), only newer, lighter and cheaper.  The old amp, didn't do too badly, as it has been to every rehearsal since April 2015, plus each performance and had a few knocks and bruises. It needed a wheel change(!) plus a few repairs every now and then, so has served us well. The MD is delighted that the new amp is lighter, especially as he has to carry it and man handle it everywhere. The old amp if it will retain its battery charge, might be used as a back-up or sold on. However, our shining star is Gail who only came along to a rehearsal for the first time, but leapt into action by going and buying a new amplifier, while the MD struggled on with the rehearsal. Sadly we found out there was a fault on the new amp too - how unlucky is that? But Gail patiently sat there holding the volume rotary switch to enable it to work and we limped thought the rehearsal. Today though, Gail (our new alto and button pusher expert) and David went to purchase yet another new amp. It has been tested and all is working, so no excuses now, the music will go on!
We are taking part and all the arrangements are finished now, hopefully says Sally... she has been coordinating all the bookings, transfers, flights etc. I think she needs a medal. The choir have been learning the songs and just to make sure we are on the right track and as costs were prohibitive for us to attend a UK regional rehearsal, Mr William Relton kindly came to us in Spain, along with the organiser Syd. We had a good rehearsal and evening, but we must say a special thank you to Sue for playing the piano for us that night and a big thank you to Spikey for taking the great photos. We have a gallery of a selection of the photos from the rehearsal. So as the big day looms I think we are fairly well prepared. Just remember no more copies.... so it's all from memory. So my advice is "just smile at it".
 Rehearsals recommence Friday 7th September, 18:00 at Hostal Rosaleda. See our rehearsal page for more details. New members are always welcome to come along to a rehearsal to see if you would like to sing with us. We have a wide selection of music from popular song, ballads, loves songs, songs from the shows and light classical. Something for everyone. This term we are running split rehearsals, the first hour focusing on new music and our repertoire. The second hour focusing on the music we have to prepare for the Cancer Research Festival of Brass and Voice at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Sometimes you just have to sit down and learn them! All the songs for the Royal Albert Hall performance have to be committed to memory! That's no mean feat. Plus our MD has threatened us to learn all our future music too so that we don't rely on copies. Eeek! So what are the tricks to learning lyrics. Our MD outlines his approach:
Don't worry we've all been here and have to do it. How do you think our MD manages to keep his head up, mouth the words and bring each part in accordingly? He has to learn the music and words too and for more than one part! When you first perform a piece without copies you feel naked and then become conscious about your hands and how you stand but that's a topic for another day. As for writing out lyrics our MD uses the following method:
The following extract from the Hallelujah Chorus might give you an idea. This is for Bass 1, therefore the other singers lyrics are greyed out and in brackets as he will not be singing them. Ignore the red squiggly underline, that is the word processor objecting to the word being spelt wrong with the hyphen. But the hyphen is there to remind him to sing the word longer or separated.  And finally with a piece like the Hallelujah Chorus you just have to work out how many 'Hallelujahs' to sing, especially in the end phrase. Have fun learning lyrics!
Our MD will be having a break from rehearsals at some point over the summer, but when? Up to now our MD is definitely not available for rehearsals on 27th July or 3rd August. There is some doubt over availability in August also. He is mindful of our commitment to the Cancer Research Concert in November, as we have a lot of music still to learn and commit to memory - we cannot use copies at the Royal Albert Hall. So there may be some rehearsals in August. Unless you hear any different rehearsals will finish on Friday 20th July and recommence on Friday 7th September. Obviously if you are away or cannot make any rehearsal please inform our MD directly via the choir email address.
The Phantom comes to Albox. As part of this seasons new music, we are starting rehearsals soon on a medley from Phantom of the Opera. It just goes to show we listen to our audience, as some said they thought the choir would do a medley of Phantom music proud. I hope we do!
We have a new piece of music to rehearse. Always on the lookout for new music and something a bit different from the other choirs. We have a new piece in our 'practice' pile. It's called 'A Thousand Years' by Christina Perry, but this is a great four part choir arrangement. If you want to get an idea of what the song is about, then check out the YouTube video, however members can log in and download our sheet music and backing tracks to practice before next rehearsal.
The Incognito Singers have completed another succesful year in 2017 We raised over €3,000 for charities through our performances. Our rehearsals for 2018 recommence on Friday 12th January at 18:00. Check out our Rehearsals page for dates, times and location. The new year and new season will concentrate on the music schedule for Royal Albert Hall. Choir members can log in to the Practice page for sheet music and rehearsal tracks. We have a few vacancies particularly for men and specifically basses. However all potential new members are welcome to come along to a rehearsal and see if we are what you are looking for, We may have to operate a waiting list as we maintain a balance of voices and sections. If your charity would like us to perform a concert to raise funds, get in touch. We would like to say a special thank you to our sponsors for supporting and helping us throughout the year. Happy New Year everyone.
Yes another tongue twister.... Following the success of the Ukranian Christmas Carol - Sleigh Ride, which has a few tongue twisting lyrics, such as "ting-a-ling-a-ling-ring-a-ting-ling", then our MD thought it might be fun(!) to have something similar as a secular piece. He has found such a piece by Aaron Copland called. Ching-a-ring Chaw. And yes there are a few lyrical challenges in this piece too, but not quite as difficult as the Christmas one. Let's hope the audience like this one just as much? Singers can access the music online via the Log In > Members > Music > Practice page and download the sheet music PDF and rehearsal tracks.
Some new music has started appearing online.... For choir members only, you will be pleased to know that some of next years music is starting to appear online in the Members > Music > Practice page. It is the start of the music being used for the Royal Albert Hall Programme, which as you remember has to be learnt by heart. So no copies on the night, or at the rehearsal the day before! In fact we will have no copies from October 2018 onwards. Music so far (04/06/17).
... and a few more titles added (14/06/17):
Watch this page and news feed for updates!
We already have a few good men in the choir! But we can always do with a few more... Why not bring along a man, or encourage your mate to join us and sing! We have vacancies for a few Tenors (high male voice) and a few Basses (low male voice) to join our ranks. Simply come along with a friend to a rehearsal or contact us for more details.
Choir rehearsals are going really well! Yet another good rehearsal last night and all the extra homework that choir members are putting in, is really paying off. We are getting through the practice list very quickly. We have a real mix of music this season, some show music, ballads, anthems and light classical. The spring concerts will undoubtedly have music to suit most peoples taste and hopefully we will have a full house at each of the venues. See our events page for more details.
We are now on a Christmas Break. Rehearsals will resume on Wednesday 11th January 2017, starting 18:30 until 20:30. The new season of music is available to members in the Log In > Music > Practice page of our website. Rehearsal dates and how to find us are in the About > Rehearsals page on our website. Potential new members are welcome to come along to a rehearsal to see and hear us in operation, however we do currently have a waiting list and we maintain a balance of voices and sections. For more information send us a message via our Contact form. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Rehearsals resume on Wednesday 2nd Sept. 2015 at Hostal Rosaleda from 18:30 until 20:30. For more details about the group, rehearsal dates, music etc., simply browse our website which is packed with lots of details and information about The Incognito Singers. See you then?
For anyone learning the lyrics to this piece of music from Les Miserables, you soon realise that one part of a verse doesn't rhyme! This has always been a great debate by singers and perhaps audience alike, as to whether the transcribed lyrics have been transcribed incorrectly, or was the original meant to be like that? I can say from experience of singing the choral arrangement for years and seeing the stage musical, it never entered my head as they all seemed to agree. But it is interesting to check out whether there is a typo somewhere. After all I have discovered a recent lyric typo in two different versions of 'The Prayer', so it always pays to check. Thanks to one of our keen eyed Tenors who came across the following extract from an interview with the lyricist Herbet Kretzmer, this probably puts the debate firmly to bed for us - for now: SHEAHEN: In the hauntingly beautiful “Castle On A Cloud” a natural rhyme seems to be avoided. “There is a room that’s full of toys; there are a hundred boys and girls.” Shouldn’t that be “girls and boys” to make it rhyme ?
KRETZMER: Yes, of course, that’s how I wrote it. Trevor Nunn and/or John Caird suggested the switch because the ‘boys-toys’ rhyme telegraphed itself and lacked surprise and, secondly, the song is sung by the untutored little urchin Cosette who is not expected to be facile of speech. Still, there must be some in the audience at every performance who conclude that the little girl simply fluffed her lines. Incidentally, speaking of “Castle On A Cloud”, Alain’s original French lyric took an altogether different line on Cosette’s plight. It had the unhappy child fantasizing about being rescued by a prince. I felt, however, that little girls of that age do not dream of men, even if they are princes. I also felt that the saviour/prince idea had been rather too famously done in the old Disney song “Someday My Prince Will Come.” So I took Cosette’s little song in another direction, and made it a plea for love and comfort in a safe place. Since moving to Spain 3 years ago, my singing aspirations and skills honed over many years, have been diminishing slowly through the seeming necessity to concentrate on other things! This has been in the main fairly reasonable but there has always been a continuing ‘niggle’ in my head, along with perceived deterioration in my vocal ability, to cause me some frustration! We received the following testimonial from one of our new members and checked we could post it on our website. I joined The Incognito Singers just 2 weeks ago. Here are some of the unwritten rules of music to observe at rehearsals.
And if that didn't whet your appetite, here are a few classic jokes about musicians and singers. Q - How many Sopranos does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A - One, but all she has to do is stand on a chair, hold the bulb and expects the world to revolve around her! Q - How many Altos does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A - Two, one to screw it in and the other to say "Isn't that a little high for you?" Q - How many Tenors does it take to change a lightbulb? A - Four, one to change it while the other three moan that they could have got that high too! Q - How many Basses does it take to change a lightbulb? A - None, they can't get that high! And finally just in case you thought the Conductor had got away with it: Q - How long does it take for the conductor to change a lightbulb?
A - No one knows, as they weren't watching! The Incognito Singers rehearse each week on a Wednesday evening 18:30 - 20:30 at Hostal Rosaleda (on the Arboleas/Albox Rd. opposite the Belgium Beer Bar). If you would like to be part of a new dynamic quality singing group, simply call into a rehearsal or contact David for more information. You can follow our progress on our website, news page, gallery and Facebook page.  Can you believe it we have had a second mention in another local paper; Euro Weekly News. This time I received a lovely email from Elle to let me know an article had been written and placed in the latest newspaper. Wow more free advertising. The copy in the newspaper was spot on and probably a directly lift from our own web page, but hey I'm not complaining. How thoughtful of Euro Weekly News to include us. So hope you all managed to catch this article too? Once again as a thank you, this is our plug for the local news.  Euro Weekly News (Cost de Almeria) The Incognito Singers have had a mention in the Sol Times. We were contacted by Vivienne in sales recently to see if we would like some free advertising. Well who could refuse that? So a brief explanation of the group and copy of the Open Rehearsal poster were duly sent. As it was free advertising we were grateful for any mention and whatever the Sol Times were going to kindly include in print. Hope you all managed to catch the article? And finally as a thank you, this is our plug for the local news. 
The Sol Times (Costa Almeria)
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Publicity: Peter +34 671 433 363
Conductor: David +34 629 977 822 |