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This note (!) from Viv who, with her friend, Rosie, had a mad idea to play out in the wilds on Ipstones Edge, Staffordshire Moorlands. She said: "I envy my sister playing the Uke!
Hoped to charm the adders but only managed to attract this little beauty!"

We welcomed two extra visitors to this Zoom night, Rob Howard from the Stockport club with his wife Marge. (Another benefit of Zoom – they could just zoom down to Stoke travelling on their settee!) Rob had brought his accordion and played I Will Wait for You and Windmills of Your Mind.  John Jones then returned to play Who’s Sorry Now, Lipstick on Your Collar and Roses are Red.

MY MUSic
-or something close to it!    by Barry Tunnicliffe

Chairman Steve asked how we set about trying to choose/arrange music for our male voice choir.

Good point. First let me say I have sung male voice for about 50 years. I always had an interest in singing back from the earliest days as my mum always sang at home, we went to church each Sunday and she came from a musical family.  My granddad was a flautist and bandleader and all his family played piano/violin/accordion/sang. I would, when young, frequently sing with friends and harmonise in sheds, entries, kitchens, anywhere we could find, until someone’s mum told us to clear off.

I still had an interest in my early teens and would seek out ‘gospel’ meetings which often had ‘quality singers’. They would let young people in free but you had to listen to a preacher first. Later, when moving around the country in my career I always joined the local operatic/musical group to socialise with my wife. The number of times they were doing Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe, and the number of rehearsals for it was unbelievable – I reckon I knew everyone’s lines.

Moving to Stone to establish our printing business, I joined the newly founded Stone Male Voice Choir. The musical director was a police superintendent with good musical knowledge, piano skills, and the ability to mould a group of men who had no musical training into a choir, was fantastic.  Great times. Great experiences. Great friendships and memories.

We had a number of MD’s following the superintendent’s death and I became chairman of the choir. Music selection was very much the prerogative of the MD. He chose what was suitable and within the members’ scope from the material available for male voice choirs. Before subs were introduced the music had to be purchased by members themselves as all concerts were for local charities.

MDs regard the choice of music is theirs or they will not take it on. They often have concerns when joining massed choir concerts which means taking on pieces not of their, or the choir’s, choice, especially when it has to be purchased.

I am now with the City of Stoke on Trent Male Voice Choir (below). We have a music committee and do offer suggestions, but still the MD has the main say.  Changing MD is a major disruption and once we had a younger, very musically qualified conductor but his style did not suite the majority of the established choristers, many of whom had years of experience but not a great deal of reading ability. He thus ‘left’ and the prior MD stepped back in to refill the role. I am sure that a new MD with a ‘new style’ will cause many retirements in an aging choir, a dilemma for future progress of the choir.

As a member of the choir music committee I owe a great debt to North Staffs Accordion Club for my music development, and particularly the use of MuseScore. This has enabled me to produce choir pieces with 4-part sound files for learning by the more ‘progressive’ choristers.

All our music has been purchased or licensed and therefore legal – rightly so.

I have started conversation/mailing the Music Publishers Association about how to approach music production/arrangements of published pieces and when agreement/payment should be established. I have had some very helpful ‘guidance’ from them, quoting the law and how it applies, and the best way to tackle what we are trying to do without contravening the law. Basically, one should purchase a copy, arrange/make your software copy/mp3, present this to your committee, and then approach the publishers for a licence. Some will oblige, some may not.  Recently our choir acquired a lovely Welsh piece, with Welsh lyrics. I made a translation into English and changed the music in MuseScore to inject more harmony in places, to show to the committee prior to purchase. We agreed to a fee of £70 for the licence with the publisher and, as a printer, I could get the music printed for £75 – about £1 per copy.  Try to get past the ‘agency type’ publishers, who act on behalf of the original publishers.  You would more than likely have to cover the cost as if they sold you their version in quantity, and may be asked that they take over your arranged script for their own distribution.  You may have to print on the version ‘supplied strictly for the use of……..’ which often happens when they supply it free. Whatever happens talk to them. Establish that you are not a commercial profit-making organisation and raise monies for charities, but have regard to the fact that they are in the business of supplying sheet music for profit.

In conclusion I have, particularly during this lockdown period, found great interest in ‘arranging’ possible new pieces for the choir. In that I am not a qualified musician I work by ear and logic and the experiences of the many years ago when I used to sing in harmony with my friends.

Thanks to the accordion club I have this new ability to write and print music using MuseScore, all this happening at the right time now my voice and breathing are on the wane and I need to be at home, caring for my wife. Living in an apartment one has to be aware of noise so I have a Roland reedless accordion with headphones. I now usually arise about 6am and have a squeeze before getting breakfast at 8ish. I can play as loud as I like and they all sleep on!  Mike Richard’s backing tracks have been great for a new approach and I play the melody to the harmony track but I must say, with my limited talent I find some of the pieces ‘a bit tricky’. To overcome this, I have downloaded a free app called ‘WavePad’ which allows me to reduce the speed. It’s great. My lovely wife sometimes finds me asleep with my head on the accordion (must put a pad on it). But I enjoy it.

 

On an evening with thunder and downpours for some and blazing sunshine for others we had a good turnout to our June virtual Club Night with 24 of our members turning ‘out’ on Zoom. The themes for the evening – English and American music. 

To end the evening all the club members present joined in to play Apple Blossom Time, If I knew you were coming
 

 

I’d have baked a cake (if I could buy the flour) and Obla de Obla da.     Paul Hobbs once more, did the ‘live’ playing and all the others joining in muted with any unlikely (?) mistakes going unheeded.

I wish to thank everyone who contributed in make the evening a success within Zoom audio parameters.  Every report I have received suggests  that it was thoroughly enjoyed especially with Stefan’s brilliant playing as guest.
The following day I had an email from (Lichfield) Paul:
During the last 10 minutes of the club night, we had a massive thunderstorm and Chris said that the front door was actually rattling and moving.    You may have noticed how the room “lit up” from the lightning several times  -   the only reason the noise didn’t disrupt was due to the mic being muted.
The storm went on till after 11.00pm.