Hello! If you thought January and February were cold and dormant months, then you’ve obviously never been in the office at MfE!
We’ve already had a busy and exciting Blow the Dust day and the youth groups fantastic New Year Concert, whilst our daytime groups have been up and running in full swing for two weeks. This week in particular is a special one for us, as it sees the culmination of the massive hard-work and effort that goes into the Nottingham Festival Chorus weekend. Part of the unique selling point of MfE is that we are able to give people the chance to be part of a large-scale musical event, accompanied by our fabulous full orchestra, without asking for vast time commitment in the run-up. Singers have been busily learning their notes from our carefully curated ‘CD practise tracks’, whilst some came along in person to our friendly sectional rehearsals in deepest darkest January. This past weekend saw the massed chorus meeting at NTU Clifton to look at their notes in detail with Angela Kay and Rachel Parkes, and we can tell you that the results were stunning. Much fun was had, and many different muscles – singing, brain and body (!) were stimulated. There were also many biscuits consumed!
We thought they sounded magnificent, and if you’d like to hear the results for yourself, make sure you book your ticket for Saturday 4th Feb 7.30pm at the Albert Hall this week. **10% discount available for MfE members and all singers on the course.**
https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/nfc-concert/
We hope to see you there!
As part of our varied programme of musical delights on Saturday, the choir and orchestra will be performing some of the spirituals from Michael Tippett’s Child of Our Time. These immensely moving works take their origins from African-American songs dating from the slave-trade. As we near Oscar season, we thought we’d leave you with some incredible examples of how these tunes have been used over the decades in movies on the big screen… perhaps you have some more examples for us, we always love hearing them!
- O Brother Where Art Thou (2000) — “Down to the River to Pray”
- The Apostle (1998) — “I’m a Soldier in the Army of the Lord,” “Nearer My God to Thee,” “There Is a River,” “In the Garden,” “I Love to Tell the Story,” “Victory Is Mine,” “There Is Power in the Blood”, “I’ll Fly Away”
- Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993) — “Oh Happy Day,” “His Eye Is on the Sparrow”.
- 12 Years a Slave (2013)
- Selma (2014) ‘Take my hand precious lord’
- Harriet (2019)
- Our next VOCALS workshop and concert for young singers is now open for booking! We’ll be celebrating songs from ‘around the world’ – take a look on our website for all the details: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/vocals-apr-2023/
Have a great week!
Your friends at MfE.
30/01/2023
www.music-for-everyone.org | 0115 9589312
10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF
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#MfEMondays are Music for Everyone’s weekly emails designed to keep you up to date with MfE events & to circulate interesting finds, special features, and motivational moments for your Mondays! We are aiming to send out something new each week.