2020/21
Karen writes:
A strange and unprecedented year when we met virtually, held more rehearsals than the norm, saw our carefully constructed and varied programme of events postponed, postponed again, eventually indefinitely though never cancelled, saw the committee continue in its committed fashion to meet virtually and often, and the choir live on through the dedication of our Musical Director, our committee, and our amazing members.
The year began with a celebration, not forgetting that early harbinger of spring, the wassailing of the apple orchards in Queens Park – jolly Morris dancing (and a broken ankle) to boot – and “Carry on Campbell” was a party to mark Harry’s decade. A tribute night for Harry, looking back to the lean years when he came on board to keep us afloat, and by February 2010 deciding to stay and to become our Musical Director. So began a period of growth from 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12 ad infinitum. The tail end of a foundering choir joined by a steady stream of new folk who brought stability, commitment and growth, and with Harry at the helm Voicebeat became a viable proposition once more, a choir of great achievement. Harry’s Decade Party featured tributes from members old and new. Hannah made him a cake decorated in the style of his signature cap, he was quizzed and failed on Voicebeat facts, stories were told and songs sung, and one Voicebeat family recalled a collective total of 40 years in the choir, impossible but for Harry.
In April a birthday tribute was paid to Maggie, coincidentally marking ten years since she joined Voicebeat. Better known by choice as an ordinary member, Maggie was our sometime Assistant Musical Director, who over the years has stepped up to assisting with rehearsals and leading us in gigs in Harry’s occasional absence.
In March an unusual gig took place in the theatre of the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), a collaboration with Barbara Morgenstern, a friend of Harry who is based in Berlin. She composed and arranged some pieces especially for Voicebeat to perform in Gaelic and Scots. It was to be our last live performance, and one of our best attended gigs for some time. Indeed, Barbara departed that night on the last flight to Berlin before lockdown in Germany.
On to March – our last live rehearsal was attended by 18, the lowest since around 2012, and the men outnumbered the women, and in lockdown Harry established weekly rehearsals via Zoom. He was keen to continue through the Easter break, running right through to the end of June and close of the 2019/20 session. This year he hosted summer meetings over all five Mondays in August, the new term and session following without a break at the beginning of September, when the AGM also took place on Zoom. A workshop for Folk Carols in the Pub took place on Thursday 10 December, and the first Folk Carols (not) in the Pub was staged via Zoom with tickets from Eventbrite on Saturday 12 December. It was Voicebeat’s twelfth FCitP, and the lucky thirteenth Muldoon’s Picnic FCitP overall. Notably, another of Harry’s community choirs took part this year, the Largs Community Choir joined Govanhill Voices, Voicemale, Voicebeat and Muldoon’s Picnic, each choir having prepared a carol from multiple parts recorded separately and expertly stitched together. It was hoped to live-stream the afternoon on YouTube.
Term and year ended with the usual informal “party” featuring a great variety and number of “turns”, it being impossible for us to sing together, and the usual presentation to Harry. Marie’s address sums up Harry’s amazing contribution to the Covid Year, and Harry’s response was fittingly a rhyme about the Covid months. Here for the record is what Marie recited. I don’t have Harry’s reply, but it was in the style of the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Thinking back over the Harry Decade, I have mentioned the growth of the choir during that time, indeed reaching our highest weekly attendance figures in 2019, and with many singers who are regularly involved besides we could double that figure. They would not all fit in the venue! People come and go, and move away, but Voicebeat has a way of keeping folk in the loop, but anyone who has attended for perhaps a total of three years has a commitment which is hard to break. And anyone who exceeds four or five years with the choir is “in with the bricks”, an integral part, and unlikely to leave! Several core members, indeed, very many now, have this longevity which has been a great asset and key to Voicebeat’s success. I can recite their names, and the year in which they joined.
Many of these long standing members have been stalwarts of the Zoom Era, which has shown a healthy core of between 12 and 18 singers. Not exclusively as there are among the group perhaps three regulars who joined in 2019, and some entirely new members have found us. In speaking of the Zoom Class, I would like to mention Salwa, who joined Voicebeat in 2011, and though she relocated to Kings Lynn after the AGM in September 2020, has been able to join in our rehearsals. Joanna, who relocated to the Netherlands in the summer of 2019 has also joined us via Zoom, even when working remotely in Brazil! We have also had the pleasure of singing with Maddalena, now living in Germany, and in October, we were thrilled to have a surprise guest in the shape of Barbara Morgenstern! I usually take account of the languages and countries represented by the choir and its repertoire, and have observed that we have lost a regular European contingent since 2017/18, attributable I think to Brexit. So it is lovely to have a few Anglophiles or New Scots among us, in particular Nic.
Talking of ten year stretches, we have one new member among us who thought about joining for at least ten years, and finally made it in January. I speak of Jonathan, who as David Stephenson’s neighbour, hosted the Voicebeat Summer Barbecue in 2009, on the day we formally bade farewell to our previous leader Frances. And with the arrival of Jane in 2020, we have a link to the earliest days of Voicebeat. She and her husband, the Reverend Roy Henderson, a long-time friend of Voicebeat, hosted the choir in its early days in Lansdowne Parish Church (now Websters Theatre), where our founder Jane Tomlinson played the organ.
Karen Ewing (Archivist)
A strange and unprecedented year when we met virtually, held more rehearsals than the norm, saw our carefully constructed and varied programme of events postponed, postponed again, eventually indefinitely though never cancelled, saw the committee continue in its committed fashion to meet virtually and often, and the choir live on through the dedication of our Musical Director, our committee, and our amazing members.
The year began with a celebration, not forgetting that early harbinger of spring, the wassailing of the apple orchards in Queens Park – jolly Morris dancing (and a broken ankle) to boot – and “Carry on Campbell” was a party to mark Harry’s decade. A tribute night for Harry, looking back to the lean years when he came on board to keep us afloat, and by February 2010 deciding to stay and to become our Musical Director. So began a period of growth from 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12 ad infinitum. The tail end of a foundering choir joined by a steady stream of new folk who brought stability, commitment and growth, and with Harry at the helm Voicebeat became a viable proposition once more, a choir of great achievement. Harry’s Decade Party featured tributes from members old and new. Hannah made him a cake decorated in the style of his signature cap, he was quizzed and failed on Voicebeat facts, stories were told and songs sung, and one Voicebeat family recalled a collective total of 40 years in the choir, impossible but for Harry.
In April a birthday tribute was paid to Maggie, coincidentally marking ten years since she joined Voicebeat. Better known by choice as an ordinary member, Maggie was our sometime Assistant Musical Director, who over the years has stepped up to assisting with rehearsals and leading us in gigs in Harry’s occasional absence.
In March an unusual gig took place in the theatre of the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), a collaboration with Barbara Morgenstern, a friend of Harry who is based in Berlin. She composed and arranged some pieces especially for Voicebeat to perform in Gaelic and Scots. It was to be our last live performance, and one of our best attended gigs for some time. Indeed, Barbara departed that night on the last flight to Berlin before lockdown in Germany.
On to March – our last live rehearsal was attended by 18, the lowest since around 2012, and the men outnumbered the women, and in lockdown Harry established weekly rehearsals via Zoom. He was keen to continue through the Easter break, running right through to the end of June and close of the 2019/20 session. This year he hosted summer meetings over all five Mondays in August, the new term and session following without a break at the beginning of September, when the AGM also took place on Zoom. A workshop for Folk Carols in the Pub took place on Thursday 10 December, and the first Folk Carols (not) in the Pub was staged via Zoom with tickets from Eventbrite on Saturday 12 December. It was Voicebeat’s twelfth FCitP, and the lucky thirteenth Muldoon’s Picnic FCitP overall. Notably, another of Harry’s community choirs took part this year, the Largs Community Choir joined Govanhill Voices, Voicemale, Voicebeat and Muldoon’s Picnic, each choir having prepared a carol from multiple parts recorded separately and expertly stitched together. It was hoped to live-stream the afternoon on YouTube.
Term and year ended with the usual informal “party” featuring a great variety and number of “turns”, it being impossible for us to sing together, and the usual presentation to Harry. Marie’s address sums up Harry’s amazing contribution to the Covid Year, and Harry’s response was fittingly a rhyme about the Covid months. Here for the record is what Marie recited. I don’t have Harry’s reply, but it was in the style of the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Thinking back over the Harry Decade, I have mentioned the growth of the choir during that time, indeed reaching our highest weekly attendance figures in 2019, and with many singers who are regularly involved besides we could double that figure. They would not all fit in the venue! People come and go, and move away, but Voicebeat has a way of keeping folk in the loop, but anyone who has attended for perhaps a total of three years has a commitment which is hard to break. And anyone who exceeds four or five years with the choir is “in with the bricks”, an integral part, and unlikely to leave! Several core members, indeed, very many now, have this longevity which has been a great asset and key to Voicebeat’s success. I can recite their names, and the year in which they joined.
Many of these long standing members have been stalwarts of the Zoom Era, which has shown a healthy core of between 12 and 18 singers. Not exclusively as there are among the group perhaps three regulars who joined in 2019, and some entirely new members have found us. In speaking of the Zoom Class, I would like to mention Salwa, who joined Voicebeat in 2011, and though she relocated to Kings Lynn after the AGM in September 2020, has been able to join in our rehearsals. Joanna, who relocated to the Netherlands in the summer of 2019 has also joined us via Zoom, even when working remotely in Brazil! We have also had the pleasure of singing with Maddalena, now living in Germany, and in October, we were thrilled to have a surprise guest in the shape of Barbara Morgenstern! I usually take account of the languages and countries represented by the choir and its repertoire, and have observed that we have lost a regular European contingent since 2017/18, attributable I think to Brexit. So it is lovely to have a few Anglophiles or New Scots among us, in particular Nic.
Talking of ten year stretches, we have one new member among us who thought about joining for at least ten years, and finally made it in January. I speak of Jonathan, who as David Stephenson’s neighbour, hosted the Voicebeat Summer Barbecue in 2009, on the day we formally bade farewell to our previous leader Frances. And with the arrival of Jane in 2020, we have a link to the earliest days of Voicebeat. She and her husband, the Reverend Roy Henderson, a long-time friend of Voicebeat, hosted the choir in its early days in Lansdowne Parish Church (now Websters Theatre), where our founder Jane Tomlinson played the organ.
Karen Ewing (Archivist)
