A girl singing her heart out into a microphone is this week's Sepia Saturday prompt photograph. None of my family had any pretensions to be solo singers, but we had our musical moments, as I take a nostalgic look back here,
"I am in an all singing/dancing chorus, swirling my skirts, in a London West End show - such as Carousel, Oklahoma, West Side Story or 42nd Street .......
But It Was All One of My Wildest Dreams!
Back to reality!
One of my earliest memories was taking part in
a my primary school (girls only) nativity play, singing solo the first
verse of "We Three Kings of Orient Are" and wearing a cardboard crown with jewels made from fancy sweetie papers. I have never wanted to sing solo since.
My next stage performance was at a Brownie's concert when, clutching our teddies, we sang "The Teddy Bear's Picnic".
In my
primary school days, every Wednesday afternoon we gathered in the hall
for community singing and I learnt such patriotic songs as The British Grenadiers, Hearts of Oak, The Bonnie Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond, Bluebells of Scotland and my favourite Men of Harlech, sung with much gusto. Sea shanties were also popular as we swung from side to side to sing What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor? Are these now all forgotten, as I doubt that children are familiar with them today?
We
weren't a particularly musical family, in terms of playing instruments, but wherever we lived , my mother, a lovely alto voice, joined a local,choir, and my father, a rare tenor, sang in church choirs from the age of seven.
Mum, Dad, brother Chris and myself c.1954
Am amusing musical tale.
One Christmas family get-together, after
the meal, we children did our party pieces, with mine on the piano. My
young brother Chris decided to plough his way through all 12 verses of "The
Twelve Days of Christmas". He developed hiccups and his long socks kept
falling down - this was the days of lads in short trousers, despite the
weather. But he was determined to finish singing the carol, kept
pulling his socks up and by the end, we were all falling about laughing
and we never allowed him to forget this occasion. He did sing in the junior school choir at the Blackpool Music Festival - but that was the end of his singing interest.
Singing
in a choir (school, church, community) has been a key activity
throughout my life from primary school days onwards, whether it was folk
songs from round the world, spirituals, carols, sacred music, opera and
operetta choruses, or songs from the shows - musical tastes that
still mean a lot to me today. I was a member of Edinburgh Choral Union and then in the Scottish Borders, where I now live, a member of the Roxburgh Singers for over 30 years. I was very happy to be a chorus girl - I knew my limitations! I
was once in a group called "Melody Makers". We joined High School
musical productions sitting at the side of the stage as an additional
chorus and we dressed the part i.e. men in checked shirts, jeans &
cowboy hats, women in flouncy skirts for " Calamity
Jane". One year I took part in a "Come and Sing" event for "My Fair
Lady" where there was a prize for the Best "Ascot" stye hat - but sadly I
have no photographs of these occasions.
High
school introduced me to Gilbert & Sullivan (another of my mother's favourites) and I was hooked,
singing in most of the operas over the years. At University, I joined
the Savoy Opera Group and the
annual G & S performances were the highlight of my years there - I
loved taking part, the dressing up (the girls made their own
costumes) - plus of course the singing.
Hi
Here I am in a school performance of "Patience" which is a skit on Oscar Wilde and the aesthetic movement. I am one of the "Twenty lovesick maidens we" - second standing figure on the right, plucking my cardboard lyre.
Hi Here I am in a school performance of "Patience" which is a skit on Oscar Wilde and the aesthetic movement. I am one of the "Twenty lovesick maidens we" - second standing figure on the right, plucking my cardboard lyre.
In the public gallery in "Trial By Jury"
In "HMS PInafore" - I am second on the right, twirling my pink parasol.
In Yeoman of the Gusrd.
My
other musical highlight was when I was one of over a
1000 singers, plus orchestra and organ in a "Come and Sing" performance
of "The Messiah" in the iconic Royal Albert Hall in London - an
exhilarating, moving and unforgettable experience in front of a packed
4000 audience. I was on a high, walking back to our hotel.
I have now decided to "retire" my voice, but music still
plays an important part in my life. Joining a choir is a marvellous form of music
making, whatever your age, a great creator of the "feel good factor",
and there is nothing to beat singing with the full blooded
accompaniment of an orchestra or organ - I recommended it !
A posts adapted from earlier posts first written in 2012.
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Sepia Saturday gives an opportunity for genealogy bloggers
to share their family history through photographs.
Click HERE to read other bloggers' take on this week's prompt.
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A wonderful post with a host of great pictures showing off your love of music and performing, There's just something about the love of music and sharing it that makes the heart sing!!! :)
ReplyDeleteI have never sung publicly, although I do enjoy singing. I think I would have enjoyed being in a choir but I never did it. It sounds like you have had many opportunities to enjoy singing.
ReplyDeleteI was never a very good singer, but I was in a youth gospel choir for a while in my early twenties - a time from which I have a lot of good memories :)
ReplyDeleteOh, you made me remember singing in the chorus in a middle school (7/8 grades) production of Oklahoma ! Then when a young mother in a choir at church...and again as a senior until my voice gave out around 70!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing a wonderful memory of music. Until I came to London back in 1982, I did not know of the British tradition of choral singing. When I first encountered the phrase "Choral Union" I thought it was a labor organization for professional singers!
ReplyDeleteFortunately my wife, then girl friend, was a singer too and a member of a small chamber choir. She introduced me to beautiful choral music that I had never heard before, often by composers whose music I only knew from their orchestral output. I've been to the Royal Albert Hall many times often sitting in the choir seats for the best view of the conductor and orchestra. I never heard Handel there but I do have some vintage photos of giant concerts at the Crystal Palace with 1000+ singers and orchestra.
Thank you all for sharing your love of singing. It creates such a “feel good “ factor. Mike - I am delighted that you experienced the joy of choral singing (by singers and audience) at the Royal Albert Hall. That was high on my bucket list and certainly lived up to expectations.
ReplyDeleteSt you first