Today was a great day! We were invited to observe the BBC Singers in their natural habitat. :) We went to the BBC studio and were given a tour of the entire place. We were given name tags and were treated like royalty. It was amazing to realize that they really do only practice one or two times per piece before they record it. They are phenomenal sight readers. I really wish I could do that! They worked on some American pieces that were very interesting. They worked on “The Monk and His Cat”. I remember that piece because there was a girl in my masterclass who attempted that piece and it was extremely difficult for her to perform. It’s extremely difficult to count out and sing all the jumps. It’s a crazy difficult piece. They sight read it perfectly. Astounding. Truly astounding.
After the rehearsal, Heather and I went shopping. :) It was wonderful. I feel like there are some British styles that are gems... but you have to search hard to find them. I found a few shirts and some fun earrings. It was really fun to have girls’ time with Heather and just relax for some time.
We went to the London Philharmonic Choir (LPC) rehearsal after shopping. These singers were not as pleasing to my ears as were the BBC Singers. It’s hard to beat the Tallis Scholars, The Sixteen, and the BBC Singers. The LPC is like a normal American choir. They don’t sight read amazingly well. They did all right, but it wasn’t earth-shattering like most of the other choirs I’ve seen. They were extremely friendly. We had 4 or 5 members of the choir come up to us after the rehearsal so we could ask them any questions we had. They told us about the history of the choir and what they loved about singing in it. During the second half, we hummed along with the music a little bit. I got a little bit frustrated because there were some in our group who were not as quiet as I felt they should be so I got up and left to listen outside the rehearsal. It’s interesting to me how sometimes people don’t think about how loud they are being during a rehearsal. Anyway, it was a nice experience. I’m glad I went. I was even more glad that I saw the BBC Singers rehearse this morning.
1 comment:
Hiya! I came across your blog and I'm glad you liked the singing experience with BBC Singers and the London Philharmonic Choir. The BBC singers are amazing aren't they?
I sing with the LPC so it was interesting to hear the feedback. It was actually quite a surprise for us as we didn't know you were coming until the conductor announced it to us that evening!
What you say is correct on all counts and I guess you already worked out that the choir is made of amateurs. Most of the singers you see there work in the City and do this as their hobby and social outlet.
The other fundamental difference between the London Philharmonic Choir and the professional choirs you mentioned like The Sixteen, Tallis Scholars, BBC Singers and the like is the number of members. We have over 200 on the books, while the pro choirs go up to about 40 members at most. Rehearsing a larger group of people is a whole different ball game as the conductor has to compensate for singers at a different levels of music competency.
Earth shattering it ain't, bumpy ride, definitely, but we get to our destination in the end. :)
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