Skylarkers...yay in Soul Journey

We get back together again tomorrow after a 2 month break and I cannot wait.
We are completely booked out for the year. Glen who does our bookings does such an amazing job. It is a big ask to ring around and set up performance dates and her attention to detail is quite extraordinary.

We have five rehearsals before our first show so that is plenty of time to get the show into shape. They already know what they are going to perform. We made a CD of the songs I have lined up. They have the lyrics also. It will be up to me to bring out the performers within them.

I am very keen to produce performers rather than fantastic singers. We have a couple of really good ones however the rest of them are not from a theatre background, so they have to be prodded and pushed a little.

When I first took over the group, they had only been used to standing stock still and singing. Boy if you could see them now, as the song goes. The dynamic in the group is wonderful. Once they were allowed to move everything changed. They became free and more spontaneous. No one had ever explained that all songs tell a story. It is up to the artist how to interpret that story to an audience.

I got rid of all the old stuff we were doing. Clumpers like, You are my Sunshine, Happy Wanderer, Barefoot days etc., and replaced them with things like an ’Abba Medley, Broadway show tunes such as Memory from Cats, America from West Side Story. A Seekers Medley, Rock around the clock, Songs from Oklahoma, The King and I’ and so on.

Most of our audiences are baby boomers, so they are into Rock n Roll and Pop tunes. The instance we open with ’Rock around the clock,’ you can see the audience come alive, it is quite magical.

I have just put together some breath exercises and vocal warmups to start us off tomorrow. I am hoping a new gal will show. I had an email from her over the break and she seems quite keen.

Jenny and I will meet tomorrow morning to look at some gorgeous tops I saw yesterday, that I think we can add to our wardrobe. I hope we can get the ones we want.

Thank you for all you lovely comments.