A recent series from Sky Arts – Anyone Can Sing - follows the now familiar reality TV format of taking enthusiastic amateurs/beginners (think baking, dancing, sewing…) on a ‘journey’ – it seems we all have to be on a journey these days…
Tenor James Boyle shares music that brings back vivid memories at different stages of his life.
60’s
As a boy I sang in the local parish church choir and with a boys group of about 20 called the Elysians. We performed on stage across the county singing. The one I chose is Sisters by the Beverley Sisters which I performed wearing a dress. The audience loved it. I smile thinking about it. My voice broke and I took up chess and rugby instead.
What is your earliest memory of music in your life?
When the water boards were being privatised in the 1980s, I remember Handel’s Water Music being used in their adverts. I liked it so much that it cemented my preference for classical music.
What was your first 'public performance' of music/ drama/ or both?
The song I remember most from my childhood was Benny Hill’s Ernie who of course, 'drove the fastest milk cart in the west'! It’s a shame that silly kids songs don’t seem to have such clever lyrics these days! It was a favourite on the Saturday morning radio show Junior Choice and surely one of the first video songs.
Musical mirth – jokes, quotes and sayings that amuse the choir.
With apologies to all conductors out there.....
From Richard Place, former tenor:
Mozart comes to Heaven. God welcomes him and says: “You are going to be the conductor of my celestial orchestra.”
Mozart says: “Thank you God, that’s a great honour. But what about Bach?
God responds: “I am Bach.”
From Alan Bateman, tenor:
An orchestra was hit by lightning. Only the conductor died.
18th – 22nd May – Ashwell Music Festival
What is the earliest memory of music in your life? It's almost impossible to isolate one memory but here are a few of the first. At my lovely primary school in Harrow we of course sang hymns at our daily assemblies and I only have to hear Hills of the North Rejoice and I'm back on that stage at Roxbourne Primary School. I was also lucky enough to be one of those children taken to the Ernest Read concerts for children at the Royal Festival Hall on Saturday mornings - how fabulous was that.
In September 2021 we were able to return to rehearsals after an enforced break of 18 months and, in November 2021 and March 2022, we mounted two successful performances. Both were enjoyed by choir and audience alike, but the concerts don’t just happen!
In a recent post we highlighted the number of people behind each performance. In this post, Royston Choral Society Treasurer and soprano Caroline Franks looks at the cost of putting on our March concert in Ashwell.
Most of us are touched by music – whether as listeners, performers, or both – and many of us in the Royston Choral Society can relate how music helped keep our spirits up through the lockdowns.
A new publication uses this post-lockdown phase in the pandemic to reflect on the value of music for our individual and collective wellbeing, suggesting ways in which it might be more integrated into health care provision.
Although primarily an instrumentalist, singing has always been a part of my life. One of my earlier recollections is as a nervous 11 year old preparing to sing the opening verse of Once in Royal David’s City for the annual school carol concert in St Johns Church, Digswell, Hertfordshire.
