Spring/Summer 2018

Well we’ve packed in an awful lot in this term, I know I seem to say that a lot, but it definitely is true this term. We kicked off with a social evening, which are always good fun and it’s nice to mix with some of the choir members you don’t usually get to speak to. Nicole our Musical Director talked us through the choice of sings for our Summer Concert and then we were treated to a 1930’s/40’s dance night from a couple of guest dancers. The dancers demonstrated how to really do it with some impressive dance routines and talked to us about the evolution of the dances. Then they showed us a few dances and got us all up and joining in. It was fantastic fun, we laughed our way through the night, especially when we got move wrong.

After that a few of the more nocturnal ladies had a night out at Lynroys – with Elvis! Being performers ourselves there was no shortage of vocal help for Elvis, which I am sure he appreciated! Plus, the odd leg kick or two thrown in for good measure.

We had a few weeks of rehearsing for the Summer Concert and then we celebrated our 6^th Birthday. Amazing to think that we’ve already reached 6 years and to look back at how far we have come in those 6 years, a great reason to celebrate.

Then we put in a lot of hard work, for what was another very challenging concert for us. There were a large number of brand-new songs plus a few we needed to learn by heart so we could add the movement too. Movement is something we still find difficult, but we are getting so much better at, and really adds to the visual aspect of the performance. Serenade at the Movies was the title and as the title suggested all the songs were from the movies. It was a very enjoyable concert to practice for with songs from across a wide span of years and genres. Plus it was really nice to see so many of our members putting themselves forward for solos or small group parts, in fact I think we gave Nicole quite a job to find parts for us all. Concert night was as nerve wracking as ever, but I think it was one of our best ever performances. We were joined by the Shepshed Ukelele Band, which was very enjoyable and they really got the crowd joining in, which was fantastic. There is so much hard work that goes into a concert and it goes by so quickly but this is one that I think will remain in our memories for a while.

The concert was quite early in the year, this year and so we had the opportunity to do some more interesting things after all the hype of the concert. We had a packed few weeks organised. First came the Lions First Responders, who gave us some basic life support skills; specifically how to use the defibrillators that are dotted about Shepshed, should the need ever arise. It was a really interesting, thought provoking and reassuring talk. This was held over a two-week period, to give all our members a chance to have a go, if they wanted. The other half had a music theory talk from Nicole, our Musical Director.

The next couple of weeks we had visitors of a different kind. Two singers, with two very different styles, both extremely interesting. First of these was Kieran Sutcliffe who was on Britain’s Got Talent. A Shepshed lad, he talked to us about how he got into signing and his practice regime. We have lots of fun with Kieran and I enjoyed singing with him and listening to him. The following week we had Jane Robinson who is a singing teacher and who trained at the Royal Academy of Music and performed in Cats at the Westend for many years. Jane was inspirational in her attitude and had some excellent theory to demonstrate to hopefully help make us better singers. So we were very lucky to have such amazing guests this term.

Our Serenadies then went on a fabulous night our to see Rock Choir and raise money for Rainbows, which was a great night out, with some amazing songs performed. Lastly, to end our term we had a social evening at the Shepshed Volunteer Centre garden. We had a quiz and a great natter and mingle with our friends. As I mentioned at the beginning it really has been a busy term. Phew! Let’s enjoy the Summer Holidays now.