newbies

Sing!

Newbie soprano Sunny, takes us on her journey from frightened to (almost) fearless and describes what her first – ‘cherry popping’ – performance with the Pinkies was like following our recent concert at Cadogan Hall, ‘Sing!’.

Last year, I realised I was frightened. What a sorry state of affairs! Frightened of everything (except the things that scare normal people, like perilous heights, jumping into roaring oceans, spiders, and letting people down by being late). Frightened mostly of life and whether it was stuck rotating like a scratched record of Edith Piaf growling a lowish note to a sad song.

Today, I’m feeling mildly (but not very) self-congratulatory, because Frightened isn’t my word any more. I don’t know what is. Blank-page? Expectant? (not in a mother-type way, mind), Wondering? Bumbling? Silly? Fun-loving‘s back on the menu. But not on its own. I feel lifey again though.

I bloody did it. I stood on a big stage with my lovely big gay choir, and sung the heck out of some big gay songs. And it didn’t even feel monumental, it just felt like performing’s what I do, and this was a lovely new community to be part of, and here I was and it was good.

My Pinkies journey began a few years ago when I sat in a lovely comfy seat in the beautiful Cadogan Hall, and watched my friend Alex sing with them. At the time I was struck by the quality of the performance, and also keenly aware that I was not yet comfortable with labelling myself as LGBT+ by joining.

But, my journey continued, and the time became right, and I auditioned. It was still a big step for me, and I was really nervous and pretending really hard that I wasn’t overwhelmed. In many ways, I was on familiar ground – I’m used to joining musical groups and getting on with new people and learning songs. But I was stepping out into new territory from a cultural perspective, and learning as I went.

I have been really impressed by many things, but I’ll mention two in particular. Firstly, the concerted effort that the choir and committee made to welcome new members – clearly thought had gone into it, and we were made to feel a valued part of the community so quickly. (It helps that there’s a big crew that go to the pub after rehearsal too.) We were given bits and pieces to do in the songs, stood in prominent positions, and welcomed warmly. Secondly, the number of people that volunteer their time and talents to make the Pinkies function so well, in so many different ways. This really is a community.

The build up to the concert was massively exciting, but the day itself was amazing. And long! I was hosting a lovely French chanteuse called Martine who was part of our guest choir Equivox, and somehow we arrived at The Cadogan on time, in spite of my propensity for being late, and eating Pain au Chocolat for breakfast (just trying to make her feel at home…. ).

This season’s crop of newbies, about to ‘pop their cherries’ and walk on stage for the first time as a Pinkie!

Then there was a very smooth tech run – I’m used to the theatre where people always end up shouting at each other, but there was no hint of that here. And then about 90 minutes of crazy mayhem with about 60 Sopranos and Altos from two choirs squidged into a dressing room, and much flailing of hair-curling tongs and requests to borrow the liquid eye-liner, and “where’s my flower?” yelled across the morass. Then some bizarre ceremony for us newbies involving cherries and photographs and we were off!

The concert itself. I didn’t think I was nervous as I’m used to going on stage. But then I forgot the words in the second song for a few seconds and realised I was. Unsurprising – I think I was internalising what the occasion was. I had my parents in the audience, many friends who’ve held my hand on my journey, and my church group, yelling and waving like the crazy loons that they are. And I just went for it – hit the moves, hold your head up high, concentrate on Murray and let rip! It was brilliant – the audience reaction at the end like nothing I’ve experienced before. Woohooooo!

On stage at Cadogan Hall, Jan 2017. [Photo credit: Jess Rowbottom]

Then there was a very sedate after show party….. Oh ok, perhaps the truth is that at one point I accidently twirled an Equivox choir member violently onto the floor in a dance-off to Hairspray’s You Can’t Stop The Beat. Oops. Je suis desolee.

We start rehearsals for the next Pinkies season in two weeks. I can’t wait to get back. I’ve found this brilliant group of people, remembered how much joy singing brings, and I’m excited to be a part of it. To quote a Christian song I like: The sun comes up it’s a new day dawning, it’s time to sing your song again.

To see more photos from our concert, please click here. 🙂

Timeline datestamp: 14 January 2017

Why do we sing?

What do songs evoke in you? Why do we sing? Ahead of our next concert, ‘SING!’, we asked 10 Pinkies to describe what singing means to them:

It is easier for me to express my feelings in song than in speech. Singing lets me go through all the emotions; from joy to sadness. Singing with a choir (especially an LGBT one) is very special as you share those feelings with the rest of the choir and hopefully inspire and move our audiences. Philip Rescorla (tenor).

When Emelda and I got married the music we had chosen for the ceremony wouldn’t play, but luckily there were so many of the choir there that they sang us up the aisle with L.O.V.E. so it is lovely to sing it again this season! Kate Nicholroy (alto).

Apparently, before I could speak I was singing. A Police song was my first. Singing has been a major part of my life since. It’s brought my family together, made me forget bad things and remember good things, made me cry and laugh. On the whole, it makes me very happy! Charly (soprano).
I wouldn’t last without music; a restorative bathe in sound for me, restorative but also uplifting. Massive Attack’s ‘Protection’ came out in 1994. Since then its laconic spirit has seen me through love, loss, pain and growth. It’s about being strong and unique: two things I always strive to be. Jezza Donovan (alto).

Singing makes me feel better when I’m low and it’s firmly entrenched in my identity. I was sung to when I was little and, in turn, I’ve been singing all my life. I’ve always liked performing with other people as well, it’s a deep and unique form of connecting. I’m hooked. Jessica Cheeseman (soprano).

My work as a choral enabler is important to me because singing is physically, emotionally and socially therapeutic. It decreases stress levels, releases endorphins, benefits heart, lungs, posture, self-esteem, concentration and memory, brings people together, encourages a sense of purpose, touches souls, stirs emotions, broadens creativity and communication, crosses generations and cultures, helps to pay my mortgage and sounds quite nice when done properly. Murray Hipkin (Musical Director).

Singing has been something that’s always been there for me. It’s personal, emotive, and in the hardest times it makes me feel like I’m not alone. With music we can express so much, and I find singing helps me to tell the stories I’d otherwise be too scared to let out. Sophie Partridge (soprano).

When I think about music it’s the songs that evoke a memory that stand out for me. My favourite song is ‘Killing Me Softly’ by the Fugees; I heard it for the first time in 1999, in Covent Garden market. It was very early and people were just setting up their stalls. A musician began playing on the corner of the street, and as they did, it began to snow. It was absolutely magical for a South African like me who had never seen snow before! Even now, every time I hear those first few beats, my heart goes back to that day. Another song that’s engrained in my heart is McFly’s ‘All About You’. It was our wedding song and every time I hear it, my mind travels back to Thailand to our honeymoon. Music truly is the dance track to your soul. Ben Roets (tenor).
I love ‘Aquarius’. This song was around when I was a child and became an unofficial anthem of the USA Apollo mission. It was a number 1 hit for 3 months before Apollo 11 made the first moon landing in July 1969. The first part – with the open jazz chords and unusual melody – evokes feelings of tentative optimism. We know love will steer the stars with harmony and understanding. I think this captures the mood of the USA in the 60’s. To me, the song captures the promise of progress. I do wonder if progress is really just another myth among the many myths we believe, but if it is, this is one of its best hymns. Cilla (alto).
Early in my career I was dubbed by my colleagues ‘the singing nurse’. It stems from a day when I was working in the neonatal unit and was caring for a tiny premature baby who wouldn’t go to sleep. I was singing ‘His eye is on the Sparrow’ from Sister Act 2 to the little mite. Little did I know, most of the ward staff had gathered behind me in the bay. A rather embarrassing moment but one which very much defines my relationship with music and singing.

Come and see us all ‘Sing!’ on 14 January at Cadogan Hall! Click here to book.

Why I love to sing

Our next concert, Sing!, is only six weeks away! In it, we’ll be exploring the significance of singing and how we often use song to both express and contain our deepest feelings. In this blog, soprano Sunny talks about the importance of song in her life, which is complemented by her own delightful illustrations!

Hi, this is Sunny – ‘newbie Pinkie’ for this season. This is the first time I’ve been in a choir and I’m loving it.

There are many ways in which I love to sing. Laaaaaaaaaaaaa! I love pretending to be a rock star and singing Here I go again on my own in my best gravelly stadium voice. I love singing along with my vinyl records and wondering if I’ll ever sing in a low-lit smoky jazz bar, with a double-bass, trombone and accordion playing along. I love Eva Cassidy’s Tennessee Waltz and wish I could sing it more beautifully, and I wish I could reach both the low notes and the high notes in the same key of All The Things You Are. My colleague from years ago at work still reminds me that I used to sing out loud with my headphones on all the flipping time, in our oh-so-silent office. I’m sure it was endearing.

Most of all, I like to sing with other people. 50 Yorkshire lads and lasses crammed into a tiny pub, drinking ale and bellowing out Sheffield Carols is one of my most precious experiences ever. I lose it laughing at that excruciating thing at weddings where everyone feels too awkward to sing properly, and we all fail to meet the high notes and fall down an octave at various points. I’m a firm believer that you should sing with gusto in such situations even if you are tone deaf.

There is something about harmony which is just magic to me – I have always adored it. Learning to sing a harmony and clashing all over the place until it comes together and sounds perfect – amazing. Listening live to close harmony singers sends me into a dream – I just love it. That’s one reason why I’m finding the Pinkies choir such a treat.

At rehearsals, when we have some bars rest and the tenors and basses sing, I often just want to stop and listen for the rest of the song. There’s a part in Eric Whitacre’s exquisite Seal Lullaby – a song featuring in our upcoming concert, Sing! – where the basses sing “Where billow meets billow, there soft be thy pillow”, which makes me melt every single time.

I don’t have a great voice. It’s ok, but I’m never going to be wowing the crowds with my haunting solos. Somehow I got into the Soprano section of the Pinkies despite my high notes in the audition sounding – to my ears – like a bat trying to play the oboe.

I’m naturally a fun singer, so I’ve totally fallen for our upbeat songs like Bonnie Tyler’s Holding out for a Hero and L-O-V-E. I guess in those I can act like someone else, so it feels like I can perform. I also like to laugh. A lot. So I enjoy the giggles as one person yet again sings in the unexpected rest, or we flail tryign to find the harmony for several bum notes. (It will be alright on the night, promise!). But I’m also finding some of the slower songs just gorgeous to be a part of – for example, Never Walk Alone I found hard to start with, but now I find it so poignant and beautiful.

And then there’s the emotion of singing. There is something in raising your voice in song that awakens and releases emotion in an incredible way. Often, it is emotion that I didn’t know was there, and then it becomes so powerful. The week my Grandad died, I was in the musical Singin’ in the Rain. I could hold it together and give a performance, but in the vocal warm up when I was just singing as me, my heart just fell out every night. And for six months afterwards, every week I went to church to sing, the words would fail me after a couple of phrases, and I would just cry. It wasn’t the words I was singing that did it, it was the act of sending your heart out in the form of music. There is healing in the emotion of singing, I’m sure of it. There is that magic in music – the magic that bonds people who sing together, the magic that envelops the listener too and makes them part of the whole. There’s something spiritual in it, there’s a lot of love in it; there’s a lot of recognising frailty and choosing beauty.

There is also a lot of fun. I’m so glad to have finally joined a beautiful choir so I get to be a part of this magic so often.

Come and see all 90 of us ‘Sing!’ – plus our guest choir Equivox – at Cadogan Hall on 14 January! Tickets available here.

Joining the Pinkies!

Our new season has started with a bang, and rehearsals are already in full swing. Radha has just joined our alto section and tells us a bit about what it’s like to be a ‘newbie’!
Being surrounded by individuals who are as passionate about music as you are is a refreshing experience. Interacting with like-minded people and really having them understand music as well as you do is an incredibly uplifting feeling.
Joining the Pink Singers gave me just that. The cohesive bond between all group members, regardless of age, gender, race, and religion really shone through.
Pinkies in rehearsal My journey began via word of mouth – I had heard of the Pink Singers from a friend and was intrigued to discover more. I need somewhere to reignite my fire for music and singing that I had lost about five years ago.
My research led me to an array of performances posted on YouTube – and the choir’s blog. I wanted to be one of the voices that soared the way The Pink Singers voices did and still do!
Newbie party_Sep 2016 And so my journey led me on to my audition. I fell so far flat on my first note that it would have been preferable for the ground to swallow me whole at that point! However Murray, our Musical Director, and the gang encouraged me to keep going and gave me the opportunity to shine. They didn’t try to catch me out or criticise me when they could see I was a bit out of practice – instead, they saw the potential I had and invited me to join The Pink Singers and continue onwards to rediscovering my passion for music.
The choir hosted a party for myself and other new members which included hair-raising renditions of Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody and SIA’s Chandelier.
Newbie party_Sep 2016 This week has been a whirlwind and we’re soon to be starting choreography to match these angelic voices. Watch out, world! You’re in for a ride!
Keep an eye on our website over the next few weeks for some very exciting updates, including details on our next concert – which will be on Saturday 14 January 2017! Save the date!

From piano playing to the Pinkies

‘One Night Only’ was alto Nicki’s first experience of performing with the Pinkies. Here she relives how she ‘popped her cherry’ and why she’ll be back for more!
Performing with the Pink Singers on 4^th June was my first concert in over 20 years and what a way to re-ignite my passion for music.
All those years ago I studied piano at the Royal College of Music but I wasn’t one of the stars and unfortunately the experience sapped my confidence and with it my love of music.
For the past couple of years I’d started to think about doing something musical and had thought about joining a choir, but I didn’t want anything too stuffy or serious. So soon after a friend of mine suggested that joining the Pink Singers would be a laugh, there I was auditioning.
Anyone who knows me knows that I love my cheesy music and never miss an opportunity for karaoke, and so I guess it was inevitable that I’d love the choir experience and performing in my first concert.

The day of the concert itself was long, but I wouldn’t have changed any of it. We started the rehearsal and sound check at 12.30 and with only about an hour’s break before the concert we were already shattered and I can’t imagine how those of the choir who had built the stage beforehand were feeling. It must have been pure adrenaline that kept us all going.
Just before the concert there was a ‘cherry-popping’ session where all of us newbies were given our pink rose – and we had the chance to get 1 of our 5 a day!
My first hurdle was getting onto the stage, which was alright on the night. Thankfully we had the rehearsal first and this was my opportunity to trip over the speaker without too many people seeing.

When we finished the opening number and I hadn’t messed up the choreography and the audience broke out into hearty applause, I knew it was going to be OK. Despite several things going wrong in the run through somehow it all came together and between us we remembered all the notes and the words. The soloists and compéres did an amazing job, and one of my friends even said that no-one got the dance moves wrong. I’m not sure that’s true, but if the audience didn’t notice we’re not saying anything….

Cherries — This season’s newbies, popping their Pinkie cherries!

I had persuaded my mum and stepfather to come along on the night. My mum is very supportive, but bearing in mind that she is definitely not into choirs and got 9% in her school music exam I was nervous to know what they would make of it. I needn’t have worried though because I’ve never seen them so enthusiastic, and it continued for a good 30 minutes on the phone the following day! They run an active retirement group, so maybe I’ll get them to book a coach load next time!

And it wasn’t only friends and family that were so positive – this testimonial came from someone who signed up via Meet Up and who presumably didn’t know any of us in the choir:

“The most professional, uplifting evening I’ve been to in years. And I’m a pro musician. Fabulous and more. I didn’t want it to end…”

So with the concert over and us all on a high and it was time for the after show party.

Although I’ve only been with the choir for a few months I’ve already been to a couple of the parties and I had an idea of what was to come. Like any classically trained musician the play list contained all my favourite tunes and I was able to continue my singing and silly dancing all night.

The play list had clearly been selected to include every choreographed song that the choir had ever done. At one point I found myself surrounded by about 50 people all swooping down around me as “Ain’t no mountain high enough” belted out of the speakers.

I escaped early – at about 2am – because I knew I had to be up for the Pinkies brunch the next day. There’s officially no rest for a Pinkie….

So with just one season in the bag I can see why the choir is so important to its members on so many levels. I can also see why I was told “We’re like a cult, once you join you can never leave”!

What do songs evoke in you? Why do we sing? Ahead of our next concert, ‘SING!’, we asked 10 Pinkies to describe what singing means to them:

When Emelda and I got married the music we had chosen for the ceremony wouldn’t play, but luckily there were so many of the choir there that they sang us up the aisle with L.O.V.E. so it is lovely to sing it again this season! Kate Nicholroy (alto).

Come and see us all ‘Sing!’ on 14 January at Cadogan Hall! Click here to book.

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