Author: Tim

by

Spring 2023 Concert

Music for Penance and Passiontide

Byrd: Mass for 4 Voices
Stainer: The Crucifixion

Saturday 1 April 2023 at 7pm
St Peter’s Church, Frimley GU16 7AQ

Surrey Heath Singers gave a delightful concert on Saturday evening, April 1, 2023, at St Peter’s Church in Frimley.

The concert opened with a performance of William Byrd’s Ave Verum Corpus. This was followed by Byrd’s Mass for 4 Voices. This beautiful piece of Renaissance polyphony was composed in a time of religious turmoil in England.

The second half featured John Stainer’s The Crucifixion. This is a powerful and moving work, and the Surrey Heath Singers did a wonderful job of bringing it to life. The choir sang with precision and clarity, and the soloists were all excellent.

Here are some reviews from audience members:

  • “The Surrey Heath Singers were simply amazing! They sang with such passion and precision, and the music was beautiful. I highly recommend seeing them perform.”
  • “The Surrey Heath Singers gave a wonderful performance of The Crucifixion. The choir sang with such emotion, and the soloists were all excellent. It was a truly moving experience.”
by

Summer 2022 Concert

SHS staged their summer concert, 100 Years of American Musical Theatre, on Saturday, July 9th at High Cross, Camberley. The programme included compilations from My Fair Lady, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, West Side Story, Oklahoma and much more.   Ed Bonner conducted and Geoff Tuson accompanied. Geoff also played 3 solos, including the beautiful, Send in the Clowns, from A Little Night Music.

Below are some comments from audience members:

I was just about to say how much I enjoyed the concert. The whole choir looked good and sounded excellent. The 2 extra male singers were superb and added to the overall enjoyment. I really wanted to be up there with you as it was hard not to join in the singing. The combination of voices sounded lovely. I was so pleased to be there and it was lovely to see you all. The drink and chatter afterwards were the icing on the cake.

I had some interesting feedback from one of our members who was in the audience.  When I asked for his unvarnished opinion, he said that the timing and tempo of the pieces were excellent and enjoyable and set the atmosphere.  He said the basses and tenors were quite prominent and benefited from the contribution of Marcello Palazzo (Tenor) and Rob Jones (Bass).  The sopranos found hitting the perfect pitch challenging at times (I think that might have been because of the heat).  

Another audience member said the overall impact was joyful and the West Side Story arrangement was the highlight partly because it reminded her of the contemporary Spielberg film production which sticks to the original musical score.

I received many compliments from various members of the audience who all thought it was a wonderful, foot-tapping concert, evoking memories of the past.  Many loved knowing the words in their heads. 

Some friends of ours, who are members of another choir, said that the technical standard of our singing was high;  the quality seemed even better with smaller numbers.  Others commented on the programme itself, the content providing suitable variety and balance. Geoff’s solos went down a treat.

“…uplifting, just what the doctor ordered …”
“…wonderful programme, more please…”
“…the choir did so well in all that heat…”
“… I just wanted to sing along …”

by

Outreach 2022

After the Christmas Concert, some members of the choir went out in the freezing weather to support local charities.
On Monday we sang carols at the Meadows in support of Step by Step, a charity working to prevent homelessness for young people.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 20221213_175515.jpg
by

Frimhurst Festival 2022

Surrey Heath Singers supported the Frimhurst Enterprise Choir and Whole Notes Community Choir
at the Frimhurst Festival on June 25th, 2022. We were supported by The Caws Brothers.

The Platinum Jubilee celebration event at Frimhurst was fantastic and it was a privilege for us to sing Dig Deep and Power of Music with Frimhurst choir and Wholenotes, plus our concert music.   The jazz group was great and we enjoyed hearing the ukulele players too, plus separate items from Wholenotes and Frimhurst choirs. 

Here are some photographs of Surrey Heath Singers
Youtube Video
courtesy of Alan Meeks

by

Site Map

Pages

Posts by category

Events

Event Categories

by

Care and handling of scores

You may recall my ranting on about the marking up that has to be removed at ‘rubbing-out parties’. The problem is exacerbated by the number of old mark-ups that remain in scores from previous users. Unfortunately, SHS is responsible for the state of the scores when they are returned to the lenders.

Scores

The picture here is a real example of a returned score, admittedly an extreme one, but not the only such page found! I don’t know if this is ‘old’ or ‘new’ marking up; the point is that SHS, as the last borrower, could be charged to remove it!

There are a number of ways you can help:

  • Firstly when you get a new score rub out any and all ‘old’ mark-ups;
  • secondly try to be frugal with your own markups;
  • thirdly use a B pencil (or softer) – never use H or (heaven forbid) pen;
  • finally, if possible remove your markups before handing the score back.

Your help will save hours and hours of tedious work and Handling and Care of Scores will be greatly appreciated.  

SHS Librarian

by

How to fill PDF forms

It is quite easy to fill in PDF forms. In Windows, you can use Adobe’s Acrobat DC application. Mac users will find a Mac version of the Acrobat application. Other Fill & Sign applications are available.

  • Download a free version of Acrobat DC and install it.
  • Open the PDF file with Acrobat DC
  • Using the Tools menu, select Fill & Sign
  • You can select the various fields you wish to fill – move the cursor to the field
  • Fill the fields you wish to fill using the text tool from the toolbar (marked Ab)
  • To sign using the Sign Yourself from the toolbar
  • On completion, save and print the PDF form
  • E-mail the completed PDF form back to the sender, if required

Adobe has a Fill and Sign application for Android and Apple tablets and phones.