When you sing together

from w
Peceli is often singing around the house and in the car, either hymns or old folk songs, but how much better the sound is when there are twenty Fijians singing together! Sometimes I play the piano for a group of people singing, such as last week at a gated community where older people have their own little cottages but there is a central function dining-room etc.. Only a few people turned up in the community room, but the elderly men and women enjoyed singing the old songs. I played a grand piano which was nice. I wonder though when I'm older and greyer will they still be singing those songs of the 20s? I hope they remember that our generation grew up with rock and roll, Simon and Garfunkel, Elvis....but not Michael J!

Singing together is such a joy and is universal - people in all cultures sing nd there's something bonding about harmonizing voices together - whether in a Welsh choir, the Choir of Hard Knocks, the Joys of the Women - an Italian choir, and others, formal or informal. Pity I can only sing up to E these days. Doh, Ray, Me, Fa, Soh, La, Te, Doh', Ray', Me', Me', Me'. The pitch just stays there!

Freaky Battle of the Choirs

from w
After occasionally watching shows like 'So you think you can dance' or 'Australia's got talent' I wondered just what would 'Battle of the Choirs' be like. Well, it is rather freaky, the sound quality on TV means we can hardly understand the words, and the silly swaying and ballistic gyrations of the singers upstages the poverty of the voices, often just singing in unison. I'd rather see choir members standing still and let the voices be the miracle, not the distraction of the choreography. Where are the good choirs in all of this?

I was listening to the radio this morning to 40 minutes of the Australian Boys Choir from the 1980s and they really could sing! What about the Pacific Islanders and their choirs? The sound quality and the harmonizing in a Fijian or Tongan choir is so much better than the choirs in the TV competition. Go to this site to find the links to listen to Fijian choirs. The sound reminds me of the Labasa choir when they were on tour to Australia.

The winning choir in the TV competition gets $100,000 I think, and a contract, but so far none of the groups are good enough in my opinion! The judges of course compete for attention - one wants good sound, another (the guy who established the wonderful Choir of Hard Knocks) wants bonding between the singers and that's a good point if it wasn't for the fact that the winners are going to make recordings.
Okay, okay - singing in a choir can be a great bonding experience.