2014/15
Karen writes:
Better late than never, for the new session approaches and I began writing this in February! It has been completely rewritten today, and is longer than intended, but brings us right up to date.
We have enjoyed an eventful year since the start of our 2014–15 session and my last newsletter. Random encounters leading to interesting experiences and performance opportunities have been the order of the day, calling for much quick thinking and acting on the cuff. Last autumn a second invitation for local choirs to be “the chorus” at “A Play a Pie and a Pint” was eagerly taken up by several of us, and Mary Barbour herself would be proud of our efforts. Though we were only joining in the chorus to one song at the close of the play, it was great fun to tread the boards again. Voicebeat’s fame and talent for spontaneity is spreading. A chorus of five live took Voicebeat onto the airwaves at BBC Commonwealth Voices last August. A bigger contingent featured on Celtic Music Radio during Celtic Connections, singing and chattering live in a makeshift studio somewhere high up in the Royal Concert Hall. A select delegation was heard on Celtic Music Radio's Gaelic-language show Ceòl ’s Craic, and in the spring we narrowly missed appearing live on Radio Scotland with Kaye Adams – pipped at the post within two hours of being approached on a Friday afternoon. We soon had another invitation to grace the airwaves - a very unusual opportunity arose to sing at Pacific Quay on the first ever BBC Music Day, Friday 5 June 2015, and accompany Lulu with the chorus of two songs she would perform on The One Show. As is often the case it did not happen in the way one might think, but a valuable insight into the workings of the BBC was gleaned. Two choirs sang beautifully in the Choir Zone, a windy location by the Science Centre totally devoid of audience, but momentarily featured silently on TV with off-stage sound from an on-stage band. A slightly longer snatch of the two choirs singing appeared on-line. Incidentally our set featured a fine dance routine to “Hamba ka ncane” taught by Hannah. We were then invited to swell the audience for a special edition of The One Show, where hosts Chris Evans and Alex Jones were joined by Jamie Cullum and Lulu. Her rendering of “Thank you for the music” was accompanied UK wide, and when The One Show had departed, we sang along with “The man who sold the world”. Though we all sang our hearts out, it would be more accurate to say we appeared on television accompanying Lulu by waving aloft our musical notes, polystyrene quavers being the motif for the day. It turned out to be a beautiful evening, Lulu sang other songs, and we really enjoyed ourselves.
Our committee has met regularly since September’s AGM. Short, focused monthly meetings and longer planning meetings to kick off each session and term have mainly taken place at The Annexe. Many feedback exercises have been devised to keep us busy. A new Constitution drawn up last summer by retiring Chair Helen Urquhart was adopted at an EGM in October, when Tony Irwin succeeded Helen after a closely fought election with several hats in the ring. Keeping the founding principles of Voicebeat in mind we renewed our aim to welcome asylum seekers, and this commitment has been echoed in our fundraising. Our summer concert in Refugee Week 2014 raised £522.34 towards Positive Action in Housing, acknowledged by presentation of a framed certificate at PAiH’s AGM. A further £42 raised by Jackie’s weekly raffles was paid to the Glasgow Night Shelter for destitute asylum seekers, and our Christmas raffles at Folk Carols events raised £132.43 for the Refugee Survival Trust’s Glasgow winter bus pass scheme. Marie’s Christmas whip-round for the Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees’ toy and gift appeal raised £255, and Lilian collected over 88 kilos of groceries and toiletries for Glasgow City Mission’s food bank. (All these charities are in the Glasgow Destitution Network, which Maggie introduced us to back in 2011.) Our summer concert during the Scottish Refugee Festival 2015 raised £536.30 for Positive Action in Housing.
Two milestones were passed in 2015. In February Harry became our longest serving leader by a mile. Officially taking the reins early in 2010, he had stepped into the breach the previous autumn when we were struggling with low numbers, no funds and no leader. From then on the only direction has been upwards. The second milestone, completing ten consecutive years of weekly rehearsals at our lovely Annexe, where we returned in April 2005 after a fairly sporadic year in other premises. It is true to say that no place has suited us so well. Voicebeat has many long-standing traditions and one of these is our low subscription. In order to meet our commitments to the Annexe and keep this meeting place on a Monday evening, we made our first increase in weekly subscriptions since 2006, up by 50 pence to £4 for those able to pay. Discretionary rates are available, and anyone paying subs by the term enjoys a discount of two free evenings. Our termly registration remains at £2. We have absorbed many costs through increased membership numbers and run a very tight ship. Registration means being on the Yahoo Mailing to regular attenders, and access to online resources. No charges are made to asylum seekers and refugees.
Last September some of us experienced the first Nonstuff Festival at Wiston Lodge, enjoying a variety of workshops and performances and a range of accommodation. Some joined us for the day and our own performance. Over the session Voicebeat has been treated to some excellent workshops, with Spooky Man Stephen Taberner in October, Muldoon’s Picnic in December for Folk Carols, a Lithuanian singing duo in March and a fine Georgian workshop with Irene Railley in June. Other notable events and gigs included Partick Housing Association’s Community Festival at Partick Burgh Hall, the very strange Buchanan Street Christmas Carnival on a November Sunday (no audience and a noisy demo off-stage), and in December being warmly welcomed as the guest act to Shona Brown and her Soundroutes Concert in a very cosy Renfield St Stephen’s Church. It is good to note also that remunerated engagements are now becoming the norm. “Celebrating Summer", our summer concert, took place in the Kibble Palace on Saturday 13 June, another very enjoyable evening at the iconic venue in the presence of some well-travelled kelpies. The concert was free, and featured in the programmes of both the West End Festival and Scottish Refugee Festival. Proceeds from the tombola, refreshments and donations at the door amounted to £536.30 as previously mentioned, and this was given to Positive Action in Housing. This was a stunning effort by all, and a cracking concert. It was good to see many friends old and new in the audience, and make many new contacts. In a varied programme we sang some new material, Canción Mixteca a joyous swansong for Samantha from Mexico. Towards the end of April some of us had the unique opportunity to perform at the close of our Weekend Away to Millport. We were joined by members of Harry’s Largs Community Choir in singing to an appreciative audience in the very beautiful venue of the Cathedral of the Isles, renowned for its music, and bidding farewell to David Todd the outgoing Warden, who made our two visits to the College so comfortable. Our final performance for the session and another first, on Thursday 30 July was on the Emerging Talent Stage at the Merchant City Festival, where we sang in Merchant Square.
Now the icing on the cake! For some time rumours of a return to the Kelvingrove Bandstand were in the air. In the spirit of Glasgow 2014 we were invited by Glasgow Life and the Glasgow Building Preservation Trust to take part in a songwriting project with Live Music Now, celebrating the restoration of the bandstand and launching a summer programme of events and entertainment there. At the close of term a goodly number of Voicebeat members met a very talented group of musicians, folk singers Claire Hastings and Robyn Stapleton and pianist Alistair Iain Paterson. A site visit with Godsal from the Glasgow Building Preservation Trust stirred memories of the bandstand in its heyday and long dereliction. During July at several sessions in the Wellington Church we embarked on creative writing exercises, whereupon our excellent facilitators drew out collective stories, ideas, themes, phrases and melodies. Dividing into groups taking different themes, a variety of songs and poems gradually took shape – some still getting there like the Kelvin ever flowing! By common assent, four ballads were selected and the entire company was there in the editing to agree metre, word and music in a way which managed to include the essence of our original themes. These were set admirably to music by Claire, Robyn and Alistair, our concurrence sought throughout. All this while, photographer Bash interviewed and recorded a short documentary to accompany the project. Friday 24 July we assembled at The Bandstand on a promising evening for an early sound check, and true to form the heavens opened and we were drenched! A troupe of young people in waterproof ponchos danced to our tune as we premiered the specially commissioned songs at the opening of the Fox Star Community Arts Festival. Voicebeat performed the next set, followed by Claire, Robyn and Alistair. Eventually the rain ceased, the sky cleared and we enjoyed three other Glasgow choirs. At the close of the evening the songwriting team reprised the new songs to a delighted audience with dancing and whoops of joy. A night to remember crowned a magical summer of dreams: altogether an unusual venture for Voicebeat, unveiling many hidden talents. Photos and song lyrics here, film by Basharat Khan here.
August saw the usual four summer rehearsals, which have brought in many new faces, and some old acquaintances too. This year we were able to hold our summer rehearsals in The Annexe. In August 2015 some of us played host to the Spooky Men’s Chorale during their tour of the UK, and many enjoyed their concert in Cottiers and a workshop at the Pearce Institute in Govan. From their CDs it is evident that we share some repertoire.
Over the past year we have had the pleasure of singing with folks from Australia, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Congo, Egypt, England, Estonia, France, Germany, Iceland, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Scotland, Singapore, the U.S.A., Wales and Shetland! This does include our workshop leaders and other singers who have met and shared with us through rehearsals. We notched up a total of 72 individual members paying the £2 registration, many of whom attended over three terms, 57 in the autumn, 57 in the spring, and 49 in the summer term. A further 20 left contact details but did not stay on, 2 in the autumn, 15 in the spring and 3 in the summer. We have sung in French, Georgian, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Latin, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Czech, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian, Welsh, Xhosa and Zulu, to name but a few. We have sung songs from Cameroon, hymns from Southern Africa, and words from the Sami people. We have even been known to sing in that obscure and little known language, English, as found in various traditions around the world. We are adept at following the highly unusual peregrinations of one Mary and her Babe through little known carols, recreating polyphony in Orthodox, Corsican and Southern Baptist traditions, and a genre of traditional cattle calling, goat counting and reindeer herding songs. Who knows what songs and adventures the new session will bring!
Karen Ewing Secretary
August 2015
We have enjoyed an eventful year since the start of our 2014–15 session and my last newsletter. Random encounters leading to interesting experiences and performance opportunities have been the order of the day, calling for much quick thinking and acting on the cuff. Last autumn a second invitation for local choirs to be “the chorus” at “A Play a Pie and a Pint” was eagerly taken up by several of us, and Mary Barbour herself would be proud of our efforts. Though we were only joining in the chorus to one song at the close of the play, it was great fun to tread the boards again. Voicebeat’s fame and talent for spontaneity is spreading. A chorus of five live took Voicebeat onto the airwaves at BBC Commonwealth Voices last August. A bigger contingent featured on Celtic Music Radio during Celtic Connections, singing and chattering live in a makeshift studio somewhere high up in the Royal Concert Hall. A select delegation was heard on Celtic Music Radio's Gaelic-language show Ceòl ’s Craic, and in the spring we narrowly missed appearing live on Radio Scotland with Kaye Adams – pipped at the post within two hours of being approached on a Friday afternoon. We soon had another invitation to grace the airwaves - a very unusual opportunity arose to sing at Pacific Quay on the first ever BBC Music Day, Friday 5 June 2015, and accompany Lulu with the chorus of two songs she would perform on The One Show. As is often the case it did not happen in the way one might think, but a valuable insight into the workings of the BBC was gleaned. Two choirs sang beautifully in the Choir Zone, a windy location by the Science Centre totally devoid of audience, but momentarily featured silently on TV with off-stage sound from an on-stage band. A slightly longer snatch of the two choirs singing appeared on-line. Incidentally our set featured a fine dance routine to “Hamba ka ncane” taught by Hannah. We were then invited to swell the audience for a special edition of The One Show, where hosts Chris Evans and Alex Jones were joined by Jamie Cullum and Lulu. Her rendering of “Thank you for the music” was accompanied UK wide, and when The One Show had departed, we sang along with “The man who sold the world”. Though we all sang our hearts out, it would be more accurate to say we appeared on television accompanying Lulu by waving aloft our musical notes, polystyrene quavers being the motif for the day. It turned out to be a beautiful evening, Lulu sang other songs, and we really enjoyed ourselves.
Our committee has met regularly since September’s AGM. Short, focused monthly meetings and longer planning meetings to kick off each session and term have mainly taken place at The Annexe. Many feedback exercises have been devised to keep us busy. A new Constitution drawn up last summer by retiring Chair Helen Urquhart was adopted at an EGM in October, when Tony Irwin succeeded Helen after a closely fought election with several hats in the ring. Keeping the founding principles of Voicebeat in mind we renewed our aim to welcome asylum seekers, and this commitment has been echoed in our fundraising. Our summer concert in Refugee Week 2014 raised £522.34 towards Positive Action in Housing, acknowledged by presentation of a framed certificate at PAiH’s AGM. A further £42 raised by Jackie’s weekly raffles was paid to the Glasgow Night Shelter for destitute asylum seekers, and our Christmas raffles at Folk Carols events raised £132.43 for the Refugee Survival Trust’s Glasgow winter bus pass scheme. Marie’s Christmas whip-round for the Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees’ toy and gift appeal raised £255, and Lilian collected over 88 kilos of groceries and toiletries for Glasgow City Mission’s food bank. (All these charities are in the Glasgow Destitution Network, which Maggie introduced us to back in 2011.) Our summer concert during the Scottish Refugee Festival 2015 raised £536.30 for Positive Action in Housing.
Two milestones were passed in 2015. In February Harry became our longest serving leader by a mile. Officially taking the reins early in 2010, he had stepped into the breach the previous autumn when we were struggling with low numbers, no funds and no leader. From then on the only direction has been upwards. The second milestone, completing ten consecutive years of weekly rehearsals at our lovely Annexe, where we returned in April 2005 after a fairly sporadic year in other premises. It is true to say that no place has suited us so well. Voicebeat has many long-standing traditions and one of these is our low subscription. In order to meet our commitments to the Annexe and keep this meeting place on a Monday evening, we made our first increase in weekly subscriptions since 2006, up by 50 pence to £4 for those able to pay. Discretionary rates are available, and anyone paying subs by the term enjoys a discount of two free evenings. Our termly registration remains at £2. We have absorbed many costs through increased membership numbers and run a very tight ship. Registration means being on the Yahoo Mailing to regular attenders, and access to online resources. No charges are made to asylum seekers and refugees.
Last September some of us experienced the first Nonstuff Festival at Wiston Lodge, enjoying a variety of workshops and performances and a range of accommodation. Some joined us for the day and our own performance. Over the session Voicebeat has been treated to some excellent workshops, with Spooky Man Stephen Taberner in October, Muldoon’s Picnic in December for Folk Carols, a Lithuanian singing duo in March and a fine Georgian workshop with Irene Railley in June. Other notable events and gigs included Partick Housing Association’s Community Festival at Partick Burgh Hall, the very strange Buchanan Street Christmas Carnival on a November Sunday (no audience and a noisy demo off-stage), and in December being warmly welcomed as the guest act to Shona Brown and her Soundroutes Concert in a very cosy Renfield St Stephen’s Church. It is good to note also that remunerated engagements are now becoming the norm. “Celebrating Summer", our summer concert, took place in the Kibble Palace on Saturday 13 June, another very enjoyable evening at the iconic venue in the presence of some well-travelled kelpies. The concert was free, and featured in the programmes of both the West End Festival and Scottish Refugee Festival. Proceeds from the tombola, refreshments and donations at the door amounted to £536.30 as previously mentioned, and this was given to Positive Action in Housing. This was a stunning effort by all, and a cracking concert. It was good to see many friends old and new in the audience, and make many new contacts. In a varied programme we sang some new material, Canción Mixteca a joyous swansong for Samantha from Mexico. Towards the end of April some of us had the unique opportunity to perform at the close of our Weekend Away to Millport. We were joined by members of Harry’s Largs Community Choir in singing to an appreciative audience in the very beautiful venue of the Cathedral of the Isles, renowned for its music, and bidding farewell to David Todd the outgoing Warden, who made our two visits to the College so comfortable. Our final performance for the session and another first, on Thursday 30 July was on the Emerging Talent Stage at the Merchant City Festival, where we sang in Merchant Square.
Now the icing on the cake! For some time rumours of a return to the Kelvingrove Bandstand were in the air. In the spirit of Glasgow 2014 we were invited by Glasgow Life and the Glasgow Building Preservation Trust to take part in a songwriting project with Live Music Now, celebrating the restoration of the bandstand and launching a summer programme of events and entertainment there. At the close of term a goodly number of Voicebeat members met a very talented group of musicians, folk singers Claire Hastings and Robyn Stapleton and pianist Alistair Iain Paterson. A site visit with Godsal from the Glasgow Building Preservation Trust stirred memories of the bandstand in its heyday and long dereliction. During July at several sessions in the Wellington Church we embarked on creative writing exercises, whereupon our excellent facilitators drew out collective stories, ideas, themes, phrases and melodies. Dividing into groups taking different themes, a variety of songs and poems gradually took shape – some still getting there like the Kelvin ever flowing! By common assent, four ballads were selected and the entire company was there in the editing to agree metre, word and music in a way which managed to include the essence of our original themes. These were set admirably to music by Claire, Robyn and Alistair, our concurrence sought throughout. All this while, photographer Bash interviewed and recorded a short documentary to accompany the project. Friday 24 July we assembled at The Bandstand on a promising evening for an early sound check, and true to form the heavens opened and we were drenched! A troupe of young people in waterproof ponchos danced to our tune as we premiered the specially commissioned songs at the opening of the Fox Star Community Arts Festival. Voicebeat performed the next set, followed by Claire, Robyn and Alistair. Eventually the rain ceased, the sky cleared and we enjoyed three other Glasgow choirs. At the close of the evening the songwriting team reprised the new songs to a delighted audience with dancing and whoops of joy. A night to remember crowned a magical summer of dreams: altogether an unusual venture for Voicebeat, unveiling many hidden talents. Photos and song lyrics here, film by Basharat Khan here.
August saw the usual four summer rehearsals, which have brought in many new faces, and some old acquaintances too. This year we were able to hold our summer rehearsals in The Annexe. In August 2015 some of us played host to the Spooky Men’s Chorale during their tour of the UK, and many enjoyed their concert in Cottiers and a workshop at the Pearce Institute in Govan. From their CDs it is evident that we share some repertoire.
Over the past year we have had the pleasure of singing with folks from Australia, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Congo, Egypt, England, Estonia, France, Germany, Iceland, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Scotland, Singapore, the U.S.A., Wales and Shetland! This does include our workshop leaders and other singers who have met and shared with us through rehearsals. We notched up a total of 72 individual members paying the £2 registration, many of whom attended over three terms, 57 in the autumn, 57 in the spring, and 49 in the summer term. A further 20 left contact details but did not stay on, 2 in the autumn, 15 in the spring and 3 in the summer. We have sung in French, Georgian, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Latin, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Czech, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian, Welsh, Xhosa and Zulu, to name but a few. We have sung songs from Cameroon, hymns from Southern Africa, and words from the Sami people. We have even been known to sing in that obscure and little known language, English, as found in various traditions around the world. We are adept at following the highly unusual peregrinations of one Mary and her Babe through little known carols, recreating polyphony in Orthodox, Corsican and Southern Baptist traditions, and a genre of traditional cattle calling, goat counting and reindeer herding songs. Who knows what songs and adventures the new session will bring!
Karen Ewing Secretary
August 2015
