Hello Julie
I need to let you know just how much I am enjoying being a new member of The Hamilton Chorale. I have wanted to join for some while, but due to other commitments have been unable to do so until this year. I can't wait to get there each week, then I am so 'high' when I get home I can't sleep. You are teaching me so much & that I am hugely grateful for, as I can then pass on this knowledge to a small group that I help out with at a retirement village. I have enjoyed singing for many years but felt that I was stuck and really not going anywhere, so you can imagine my joy at the wonderful things I am learning at each practice. I just feel thanks to your efforts that my voice is improving. Thank you so much.
Kind regards
Pat Simpson
Monday, April 19, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Singing for Continuing Education over 60's group
On Tuesday March 30th I went and took a 1-hr singing session with nearly 300 people in this group. I thought it went well, but asked for some formal feedback from the co-ordinator of the group. This is what Fiona Griffith sent to me:
Amazing ! Thought provoking! Interactive! Stimulating ! Entertaining! These are just a few of the words that spring to mind when reviewing the session “Singing keeps you healthy” lead by Julie Jackson- Gough.
The research was fascinating and with just sufficient background and balance necessary to inform the group of the experts' findings.
There are few sessions that we run where achieve 100% audience participation- however this was one. Julie’s sense of humour and the selection of a few well loved songs ensured that the group left the venue in noticeably high spirits.
The responses, feedback and words of praise to Julie are evidence of how well the lecture was received.
Learning in this session was fun and invigorating especially for the over 60’s group. And not one person fell asleep!
Amazing ! Thought provoking! Interactive! Stimulating ! Entertaining! These are just a few of the words that spring to mind when reviewing the session “Singing keeps you healthy” lead by Julie Jackson- Gough.
The research was fascinating and with just sufficient background and balance necessary to inform the group of the experts' findings.
There are few sessions that we run where achieve 100% audience participation- however this was one. Julie’s sense of humour and the selection of a few well loved songs ensured that the group left the venue in noticeably high spirits.
The responses, feedback and words of praise to Julie are evidence of how well the lecture was received.
Learning in this session was fun and invigorating especially for the over 60’s group. And not one person fell asleep!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Project 2
The project that involves setting a choir up at the Ryman Healthcare Edmund Hillary Complex in Auckland is still waiting on an Auckland tutor. The advertisement that I sent for the graduate students at Auckland University to consider got stuck with a faculty member who was on leave. It has now been posted to the graduate student email list and they have until March 20th to respond to me.
In the meantime I am able to put more head-space into project three, which is my Hamilton Chorale, and sort out the May 2nd/3rd concerts in Raglan and Hamilton. They are on a Celtic theme, and we are having a lot of fun working out what some of colloquial words are in the songs. Having resident Scots and Irish helps, also those who go away to find out.
I have an article due on April 1st about the 8 - 80 concert project, so that will keep me busy until March 20th at least. It has made it easier that the writing up is not overlapping with the setting up of project 2.
In the meantime I am able to put more head-space into project three, which is my Hamilton Chorale, and sort out the May 2nd/3rd concerts in Raglan and Hamilton. They are on a Celtic theme, and we are having a lot of fun working out what some of colloquial words are in the songs. Having resident Scots and Irish helps, also those who go away to find out.
I have an article due on April 1st about the 8 - 80 concert project, so that will keep me busy until March 20th at least. It has made it easier that the writing up is not overlapping with the setting up of project 2.
The Choirs report on the amazing experience of the 8 - 80 Concert
I have held the two focus groups and the children and the Glee Club have all reported positively about the whole experience, including unanimously wanting to do it all again next year.
When I asked the girls, as a final question, if there was anything that they didn't like, it was the heat. Nothing to do with their buddies in the Glee Club:
here are some responses from the Rotokauri Tuis
"I enjoyed getting to know just one person in particular which made me feel comfortable any time I saw them.
“ They made me feel really comfortable, I enjoyed their kindness, and they were basically complimenting our singing every minute.”
"I enjoyed going to see where they lived, getting to know about them and about their lives"
when I asked the Tuis if they thought differently about older people now that the project is completed, they said:
“ They don’t sing like old people” “ I like how they were being kind”
“They’re really talented” “ I liked talking to my buddy and answering her questions”
“They sounded great singing” “ I liked hearing about their life and stuff, and about their place”
“ I Liked hearing the songs that they sang”
S0 what did the Glee Club think?
“Talking about the relationship between the children and us, it was the most wonderful experience, I enjoyed it immensely.”
“I think there was a remarkable rapport between the children and us, it was a most memorable experience for all concerned, the Tuis and us.”
“I thought that it would be chaotic, but in the end I found it to be quite something, to be matching our older voices with the young voices. I liked it”
“I thought it was a very profitable experience. I enjoyed seeing their conditions and them seeing us. I like the way the children adopted us and looked after us. One of them after the concert brought her mother to meet me.”
“I felt, at first, that it was going to be a bit of a shambles with the children so excited, and they were going to be, you know, dashing around madly with great excitement, but when it came to the actual time, they just pulled themselves into line. And I think their exuberance, really. We took up their exuberance with our singing”
“My personal opinion about going out to the school and singing with them, on the day we made the concert was: It helped me as far as breathing goes. I learned to breathe a little faster and better with the children, to keep up with the children. I found I was dropping back a bit in the slow state, so those children gave me a little bit of extra ‘oomph’, and nothing but delight in having them with me anyway”
I am receiving email responses from the parents, so that will be a future post.
When I asked the girls, as a final question, if there was anything that they didn't like, it was the heat. Nothing to do with their buddies in the Glee Club:
here are some responses from the Rotokauri Tuis
"I enjoyed getting to know just one person in particular which made me feel comfortable any time I saw them.
“ They made me feel really comfortable, I enjoyed their kindness, and they were basically complimenting our singing every minute.”
"I enjoyed going to see where they lived, getting to know about them and about their lives"
when I asked the Tuis if they thought differently about older people now that the project is completed, they said:
“ They don’t sing like old people” “ I like how they were being kind”
“They’re really talented” “ I liked talking to my buddy and answering her questions”
“They sounded great singing” “ I liked hearing about their life and stuff, and about their place”
“ I Liked hearing the songs that they sang”
S0 what did the Glee Club think?
“Talking about the relationship between the children and us, it was the most wonderful experience, I enjoyed it immensely.”
“I think there was a remarkable rapport between the children and us, it was a most memorable experience for all concerned, the Tuis and us.”
“I thought that it would be chaotic, but in the end I found it to be quite something, to be matching our older voices with the young voices. I liked it”
“I thought it was a very profitable experience. I enjoyed seeing their conditions and them seeing us. I like the way the children adopted us and looked after us. One of them after the concert brought her mother to meet me.”
“I felt, at first, that it was going to be a bit of a shambles with the children so excited, and they were going to be, you know, dashing around madly with great excitement, but when it came to the actual time, they just pulled themselves into line. And I think their exuberance, really. We took up their exuberance with our singing”
“My personal opinion about going out to the school and singing with them, on the day we made the concert was: It helped me as far as breathing goes. I learned to breathe a little faster and better with the children, to keep up with the children. I found I was dropping back a bit in the slow state, so those children gave me a little bit of extra ‘oomph’, and nothing but delight in having them with me anyway”
I am receiving email responses from the parents, so that will be a future post.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
An amazing concert!!
Yesterday was the culmination of Project 1. The Hilda Ross Glee Club and the Rotokauri Tuis, performed together in the 8 - 80 concert as part of the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival. It was a very enjoyable event, as the audience swelled to nearly 500 people!! Given the venue, I am not sure how well the people at the back were able to hear the choirs, but the level of interest shown by the attendance is potentially indicative of people's interest in intergenerational activities.
Both choirs sang well, with one or two glitches, but they slid by with little notice. The technology worked on the whole, and we did manage to get them all together at the end of the concert. Our national anthem is sung in Maori and in English, and we used a backing track that had been prepared by our Ministry of Education for use in schools. Because there was about a 30-second haka in between the two versions of the anthem, the girls were able to come down off the stage and find their buddy and stand in front of them or on their chair, if the buddy was standing. The image above was taken during rehearsal. I was thrilled beyond words with the concert!!
So much to tell you.....
At the final combined rehearsal, it was hard to get to the singing. Just 13 of the Tuis arrived at the Hilda Ross complex, it is harder for them to get: transport, parents' permission, and time out of school. But the girls who were there made the most of it. They went and viewed one of the villas in the complex and one of the serviced apartments, to see how the Glee Club live. Then we rehearsed our combined pieces, to the delight of our fan club, which swelled for this practice. Manager of the complex, Wendy, came and saw what was happening with the combined group, and was instrumental in getting the head office to print us programmes, a total of 200, which I thought was optimistic :-)
I called in at the venue two days before the concert to see that the risers were there and where the power points were for the children's sound system, and for the keyboard for the Glee Club. To my dismay there was a flat stage, accessed by four steps at one side, which meant that having th Tuis move in with the Gee Club for some of their combined songs was no longer possible. In addition there was the problem of how they were to all be seen. It was one of those late-night light-bulb moments. I set up two rows of chairs on the stage area, and one row on the floor in front. The front row of girls on the floor stood on their chairs, the second row stood on the stage and the third row stood on their chairs. It all worked, except the back row was too far away from the middle row, so the chairs were turned around to back onto the middle row, the girls stood on these to sing, and then had to 'perch' when the Glee Club did their own items, They coped remarkably well!!
The Festival organiser Sarah Beattie, did a sterling job. Helping with setting up the staging for the two choirs and then setting out the audience chairs. I don't know how it happened, but as people arrived, more chairs arrived. The helpers at the Festival are mostly volunteers, and they were fantastic! Chairs set out, and then after the concert, the chairs were all stacked and put away again, probably within 30 minutes of the concert concluding.
This coming week I will hold three focus groups: with the Tuis, with the Glee Club, and with parents of the Tuis, to see what they have said at home about the experience. I have a sense of regret now that the performance has happened.
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