Thursdays from 14th September at 7.15pm

🎵     🎵

Singing is good for you – and it’s great fun to sing with other people.  Everyone can sing – even if they think they can’t.  You may have some previous singing experience or you may be a novice.  In either case, this five week course will give you the basic singing skills to sing in four-part harmony. No-one will be asked to sing alone.
 
We want you to enjoy the course.  You will have an experienced ‘buddy’ from the Shannon Express chorus to help you along (and you won’t be asked to sing on your own).  Each week will start at 7.15pm with a vocal and physical warm-up.  The rest of the time (up to about 9.30pm) will be a mixture of instruction and practise – using two course songs as the focus.  We prefer to do all this standing up but let us know if you have any mobility issues so that we can make it easy for you.   🎵

 

You don’t need to be able to read music.  To help you learn the two songs, you will have ‘teach tracks’ on mp3 or CD.  We’ll tell you how to do this.  There is quite a bit to get through each week, so you will have some practice to do at home.  Your buddy is there to help as well.  🎵

The Course participants will learn two songs:
I’m A Believer  and  I Can’t Help Falling In Love 

Week 1 - (14th September)
After some introductions, we’ll get you singing quickly.  We’ll also need to find out which voice part will suit you best (high, low or in-between) and allocate the right buddy.  We’ll show you how to stand properly for singing and also how to breathe well.  You will sing a short ‘tag’ in four-part harmony before you go home.  We’ll give you a copy of Song 1 to start learning and some notes to read and practise at home.

 
Week 2 - (21st September)
We’ll do some more work on breathing and then give you techniques for singing with freedom and confidence.  The rest of the time will focus on the first of the two course songs – both separately, with all the men in your voice part, and then as a chorus.  You will go away with a copy of Song 2 – more homework.  Don’t worry, it’s more straightforward than it sounds and you’ll learn the songs easily if you practise.

 
Week 3 - (28th September)
Using the skills you’ve learned so far, we’ll work on making your voice ‘big’ – what we call ‘resonant’.  We’ll do more work on Song 1 and make a start on Song 2.  You will then need to put some work in at home to learn the songs.  If you need help from your buddy, just ask him.

 
Week 4 - (5th October)
It’s important that we have good unity of notes and words, so we’ll look at the way we shape the sound to get a good blend of voices.  We’ll then concentrate on the two songs and use them to consolidate what we’ve learned.  We’ll also look at how to perform them to best effect.  There will be final homework again…

 
Week 5 - (12th October)
This is concert week!  You will need to know the two songs well enough to sing them without holding the sheet music.

We’ll use this week to consolidate all we’ve learned on the course. We’ll polish the two songs and make some recordings.
Grand Concert - (13th October) 
This is concert night in St. Neots! 
This is a Charity Concert by the Shannon Express chorus and guests.
It will include the two course songs and we’d like you to be part of the public performance as a chorus member with your friends and family in the audience.

Week 6 (19th October) and beyond 😁
This evening is not part of the course but, if you have enjoyed it so far and want to find out more about singing regularly with Shannon Express, come along and see us again, same time, same place.  We can then explain what’s involved. 
The chorus will be carrying on with its normal rehearsal which ends at 10pm. Some men go for a drink afterwards at a local pub.

By the end of week 5 we hope that  your experiences have given some of you the desire to sing in harmony more often and that you'd like to do that singing with Shannon Express.

If so come along to our weekly rehearsals where you will be given the opportunity to continue to learn and to experience the wonderful world of barbershop singing.

Our sister chorus, PHOENIX, meets on Tuesday evenings in the same Stratton School venue. 
www.phoenixladies.co.uk

Barbershop choruses and quartets generally belong to BABS, The British Association of Barbershop Singers. www.singbarbershop.com