Forgotten carols with Ali Burns
Saturday was spent enjoying a day-long singing workshop - “Forgotten Carols”, lead by the inspiring and hugely talented Ali Burns. Many of my fellow singers were there, but it was quite different to our usual Thursday evening sessions.
Ali worked us very hard. We were learning our parts by ear, with Ali singing them briefly before getting us started with a barked: “Go!” By the time we’d learned one song, we’d mostly forgotten the previous one.
We peaked early, before lunch. We were still full-voiced and able to absorb new information. After a break and some sandwiches and endless gallons of tea, we all started to under-perform; the basses lost their way with one particularly complicated song, and our final sing-through felt laboured compared to the gusto we’d managed in the morning.
None of that made it a bad thing. We had a fabulous time, and Ali is a genuine person, someone who loves the music more than anything. You can tell; when she’s leading the singers, and we’re doing well (as we were in the morning session), her eyes close and she dances on the spot, joyfully smiling.
Labels: singing
