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www.tvchorus.co.uk FEBRUARY 2011
Registered Charity number 1125742
See the photographs in full colour on the web issue of Tag Rag at
< http://www.tvchorus.co.uk/tagrag.html>.
Left - The Lottery +Four
!quartet" (Ray Wright, Ian
McDonald, Syd Boyd, Clive
Pugh and Peter Leverett) is
shown in action on the special
promotion day in Broad Street
Reading. (see Editorial)
Below -The Cancer Research
UK representative and Vickie
Randall from Daisy"s Dream on
Tuesday 15th February after
receiving donations to their
causes from Chairman Sean.
READING BARBERSHOP HARMONY CLUB
Page 2
Please update your diaries to include the list of Club commitments above.
A LOOK AHEAD TO MARCH 2011 SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY
FEBRUARY
2011
1
Rehearsal
2 Daytimers
Douglas Bader
Court
3 4 5
6 7 8
Rehearsal
9 10 11 12
‘AWAY’
Day
13
A cappella
Spring Fest
Didcot
14 15
Rehearsal TAG RAG
COPY DEADLINE
16 17 18 19
20 21 22
Rehearsal TAG RAG
DISTRIBUTION
23
24 25 26
27
28 29
Rehearsal
30 31 FEBRUARY
2011
Calendars showing the remaining days of February 2011 and the month of April 2011
are at the back of TAG RAG
MORE DATES FOR YOUR DIARY * indicates an addition or update to last month’s Tag Rag
* FEB 24 Thu Daytimers Meeting & Rehearsal Parkside Int. Hotel RG30 2BE
FEB 27 Sun BABS meeting to discuss Training rpt Birmingham
* MAR 2 Wed Daytimers Douglas Bader Court Woodley RG5 3AF
* MAR 12 Sat Full Chorus ‘Away’ Day at St John’s Hall Woodley
MAR 13 Sun A cappella Spring Fest - Didcot
* APR 9/10 Sat/Sun Full Chorus ‘Away’ Weekend at St John’s Hall Woodley
APR 29 Fri Royal Wedding
* MAY 7/8 Sat/Sun Full Chorus ‘Away’ Weekend at St John’s Hall Woodley
* MAY 13 Fri Daytimers ‘Eurovision for the elderly’ at Shawfield Day Centre
Ash nr Guildford GU12 6QX 12.30 for a 1.30pm sing.
MAY 27-30 Fri-Mon BABS Convention Llandudno
JUN 11 Sat Full Chorus Reading Borough’s Music Month Concert Old Town
Concert Hall
AUG 26-28 Fri-Sun BABS 33rd Harmony College Nottingham
* SEP 20 Tue Daytimers Maidenhead Blind Club WAMSDAD SL6 1BN
* SEP 26 Mon Daytimers Datchet Monday Club WI Hall SL3 9EH
* OCT 12 Wed Daytimers Bray Senior Citizens Bray Village Hall SL6 2AA
BABS Convention 2012 Southport May 25-27
All these dates are listed in the calendar on the club website, with singout briefs, where available.
READING BARBERSHOP HARMONY CLUB
Page 3
Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same, but you leave 'em
all over everything you do. - Elvis Presley
TAG RAG FEBRUARY 2011
CONTENTS LIST
Page 2 A LOOK AHEAD TO MARCH 2011
2 MORE DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
3 FROM THE CHAIRMAN O’SHEA
4 EDITORIAL STARKIE
4 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE DECISIONS RIDLEY
5 TEST YOU NOTATION KNOWLEDGE STARKIE
6 ASSOCIATE MEMBER NEWS RIDLEY
7 BARBERSHOP BABES
7 SELECTED WEEKLY NOTICES
9 HISTORICAL NOTES HAYDN ADAMS
10 SUPPORTERS IRENE STARKIE
11 STEVEN SONDHEIM FEATURE
16 DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
NEXT COPY DEADLINE: 15TH MARCH FOR 22ND DISTRIBUTION
FROM THE CHAIRMAN
Firstly in response to the many phone calls I have
had I also share your disappointment in the
decision NOT to go the the OMF on Feb 5th to
defend our title which we won last year with a
much smaller chorus than had signed up for this
years event. You are aware however that Mark was
not happy with the "Balance " of those who had
signed up. I would like to thank Bob Ridley who
had to cancel the taking of the risers to the
event(yes it was our turn to provide them this year)
and also thank all members of the chorus who had
put their names down to sing
I am still looking for members to volunteer to
"SHADOW" members of the exec preferably from
the younger people in our chorus.
SOCIAL
We will be letting you all know in the near future
of the social events we are thinking of planning for
the coming year, we hope to provide something for
everyone but does not mean that everyone has to
attend every event, we will be happy to arrange
events for 8/10 members upward.
Sligo Music Fest 10th to 13th Nov We will let you all know pretty soon about this event, i.e. cost of hotels, travel etc. If it is the wish of the chorus to take part in this festival I can promise everyone that you have a great "CRAIC" in my home country. DAYTIMERS We will be having a meeting on Feb 24th at the PARKSIDE HOTEL in order that we can outline our position for the coming year. I'm sure you will join with me in supporting the "Daytimers" who are an important part of our club, we bring in a considerable amount of money every year, as well as being good ambassadors for TVC every time we perform
SEAN O’SHEA
Chairman
CRAIC is a Gaelic word with no exact English
translation. The closest you get is “fun.” It is
pronounced “crack”. Source - web Ed.
*****************************************
READING BARBERSHOP HARMONY CLUB
Page 4
Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same, but you leave 'em
all over everything you do. - Elvis Presley
EDITORIAL
Again my postbag is definitely ‘thin’ this month
but Haydn Adams has done his stuff with his
records of previous years. I am grateful to Bob
Ridley for providing the list of decisions that were
made at the Club’s Executive meeting of January
17th.
I’ve had a quick look at the current status of Green
Dots for the Convention song That’s Life and note
that things are moving in the right direction. The
totals have increased by Bass+43%, Bari+22%,
Lead+12% and Tenor+63%. It is important to note
that the Bass section is now at 100%.
It was saddening to hear that jazz pianist George
Shearing passed away this last week. Now aged 91
and blind from birth he was a true genius of his art.
George was the subject of a brief item on Radio 4s
Last Word on Friday when I learned that he is
credited with making the style of playing known as
Locked-hands popular. The technique was to play a
chord on every melody note which mirrors the
homophonic style we enjoy so much in Barbershop
singing. You can catch the item on BBCs iPlayer
(Last Word 4pm 18/2/2011) - well worth a listen;
the item is covered in the first eight-minutes.
At the time of writing the Lottery +FIVE job is
now history and I’ll have a full report on the
exercise next month. There’s a photograph on the
front cover to whet your appetite if you didn’t get
involved with the singing.
GRAHAM STARKIE
Editor
*****************************************
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE DECISIONS
The following are decisions made by the Executive Committee at their meeting on 17 January and distributed to members for information. 1. Bearwood Concert It was agreed to donate £400 from the Christmas Concert to Cancer at Christmas. Together with envelope collection the total will be £768. The balance of profit to the club from the concert is £1689. 2. Christmas Greetings
The cash donated for the Daisy’s Dream charity is £340 plus gift aid. Presentations of the donations will take place soon. 3. Uniform
(a) Grey Suits Heather has ordered 20 grey suits at the same discounted price from M and S. (b) Green jackets The green jackets are in use for Daytimer events. The Executive Committee has decided to defer any decision to sell any green jackets for one year. (c) Walkout While no formal walkout will be defined the Executive Committee recommends green shirts with chinos. Heather is obtaining estimates to embroider the logo onto the shirts. 4. Oxford Music Festival It was agreed that TVC will supply the risers this year. More names are needed. 5. 11 June 2011 Reading Town Hall Concert. Richard has booked Ascot Brass and is investigating another act. A big effort will be required from members to sell tickets. 6. Shadows
Sean is continuing to seek volunteers as ‘shadows’ of Committee members. 7. Yearbook 2010-2011 The 2010-2011 Yearbook has been issued. 8. Convention The payment of deposits for the hotels in Llandudno (2011) and Southport (2012) was authorised. The feasibility of taking risers to the hotel in Llandudno is being considered.
READING BARBERSHOP HARMONY CLUB
Page 5
Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same, but you leave 'em
all over everything you do. - Elvis Presley
9. Associate Members
The Associate Members numbers were 34 in mid-2008. Since then 5 have joined but 13 have resigned leaving a total of 26 now. It was decided not to increase the £12 subscription. BOB RIDLEY
*****************************************
TEST YOUR NOTATION KNOWLEDGE
My thanks to Haydn Adams for pointing out that I
had the answers for questions eight and nine
juxtaposed in the answers’ list. I’ve reproduced the
offending text below in the corrected order. How
did you get on?
I’ve not had time this month to prepare the next
knowledge quiz but I hope to include it for next
month.
CORRECTED SEQUENCE:
Q8 - The hash or pound (USA) signs are musical
sharps. They indicate that any notes that are
placed on these lines or spaces are to be
played one semitone higher than if the
symbol wasn’t there. This grouping in this
particular position indicates the tonal centre
of the music known as the key (A Major) but
that’s an explanation for another time!
Q9 - This is a Bass Clef or F Clef; a bass clef
because it sits on the horizontal lines of the
bass stave and an F Clef because that’s its
role in life - it identifies where the musical
note F is. You can be forgiven for not
guessing that this is a stylized ’F’! The
symbol is written starting with your pen
resting on the second line down which is
where the ‘F’ is on this group of stave lines.
The two dots either side of the F highlight it
as well so it’s a bit of overkill really. The
shape of the swirl is no more than a
flamboyant finish!
*****************************************
QED (UK) Limited Plumbing & Electrical Services,
CCTV and advisory/management services for Renewables.
Dimplex Accredited Heat Pump Specifier &
Qualified Installer.
QED is a Member of the Electrical Contractors’ Association, ICO Registered [CCTV] &
“Trust Marked”.
As a service to Chorus Members, advice related to the above Services are available with no
obligation and no charge - especially on matters that may concern Safety in the home/business. [With apologies, but travel costs may apply!]
Contact Reg Clifton, e-mail: [email protected]
07867-780055 day, or 0118 - 979 – 0664 evenings/weekend.
READING BARBERSHOP HARMONY CLUB
Page 6
Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same, but you leave 'em
all over everything you do. - Elvis Presley
ASSOCIATE MEMBER NEWS
BOB RIDLEY Associate Member Coordinator
Thanks to Phil Griffiths for his note. I should
explain that in my letter to him I said that the
reason I missed seeing all my AM friends at
convention last year was that the son of Jan’s
friends in Washington DC was getting married.
The bride is from a strong Orthodox Greek
community in Falls Church, so the ceremony and
the reception was traditional Greek. Since Jan’s
friend’s family is stanchly Catholic with a
background originally from Ireland and Italy, there
was an international flavour! I am not so sure about
Phil’s suggestion of a Convention Package …
Good to hear that Dave Heighway is still singing.
We would welcome him back with us. And yes, we
do want Alan Rogers back on the risers. Phil
Hadfield completes a bumper crop of
correspondence this month and it would be great to
sing with him again and extend our overlapping
repertoire beyond Mary Lou.
www.tvchorus.co.uk Our website is constantly
improving thanks to the efforts of Pat Perridge.
Thank you to all the Associate Members for your
continuing support. Please send letters to me at
Langton Lodge, Icknield Road, Goring on Thames,
RG8 0DG or emails to [email protected]
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS LETTERS
Phil and Maureen Griffiths
First I must apologise for being late and causing
you to write to us but it was nice to get your news.
I agree with you that Ron will be greatly missed.
The Greek wedding that you attended sounds a
very colourful affair and could very well be the
theme for a Convention Package. I’m sure that if a
typical Greek type song could be found, with a
suitable arrangement, TVC would make a pretty
good fist of it. Maybe Emma could be persuaded
back to help things along.
Enough of that. Yes, we are very pleased to keep in
touch with the hectic life of TVC.
Yours sincerely
*******************
Dave Heighway
Thanks for your email. I am still enjoying my
singing with the Wessex Chordsmen. We have
been quite busy over the Christmas period singing
in old folks homes.
Mary and I send all our best wishes for a happy
and healthy 2011 to all those in the Club who
know us.
Regards
*******************
Alan Rogers
I appreciate your comment in the reminder about
how Ron Collis is missed. For years he patiently
wrote to me (how many people still write letters
rather than send electronic ones?) with a chatty
reminder that the Club would value my continued
support. He rarely lost an opportunity to say he
thought support would be best in person (on the
risers), but sadly I have never managed that.
The new electronic Tag Rag continues to impress
as well as inform – the quality of production is
very professional and I always enjoy scrolling
through the pages where so many still familiar
faces gaze out at the reader. I especially like
reading about success and that seems to be a
regular feature lately – congratulations to all
concerned.
I gladly enclose a cheque for another year of the
opportunity to read news of Club events, and
promise to drop in and see (or rather hear and see)
for myself what the club is up to these days. I’m
sure someone will take up Ron’s mantra that
support is best in person on the risers when I do!
Best regards
*******************
Phil and Pat Hadfield
I’m still heavily into golf with the seniors at Calcot
Park and as the match secretary for the Berkshire
Golf Captains Association. I’m also now the
secretary of Dexodus, which is the association of
ex Digital (DEC) employees. The latter kept me
busy during last year organising pension seminars
across the UK.
READING BARBERSHOP HARMONY CLUB
Page 7
Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same, but you leave 'em
all over everything you do. - Elvis Presley
Apart from the joy of bumping into TVC members
around Reading and on the bus, this year was
notable because of Ian McDonald’s bullying.
When I played against Ian in our Seniors match he
mentioned that some of the chorus would be
performing at the Samaritan’s charity day at
Bearwood Lakes again. He then insisted that I sing
one song with them and tasked me with brushing
up Mary Lou. I must say I enjoyed the experience
and then sharing memories with the boys
afterwards. Thank you Ian but you’ve now
exhausted our overlapping repertoire!
Our family continue to give us much joy and we
expect to have another grandchild in March.
Please pass on our best wishes to the Chorus for
the coming year.
Yours sincerely
*****************************************
BARBERSHOP BABES
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR
FEBRUARY QUINTET
JULIAN CHARMAN
DAVE ELSON
RICHARD KIRSOP
ANDY RZYSKO
PHILLIP WARD
*****************************************
SELECTED WEEKLY NOTICES
DAYTIMERS' UPDATE (25 Jan)
A new 'Button' labelled Daytimers is now on the
members' home page of the Club website. It will
take you to a spreadsheet with all the names of the
currently active members of our group where all
the engagements we have in the diary including the
Daytimer rehearsals. If the singout bookings
remain a rare commodity the rehearsals will
become a regular feature. Please add your Y's or
N’s to indicate your intention to attend these
events. The spreadsheet has been initialised with
the availability data that I have but please check it
for accuracy and also complete any empty boxes.
On the singout front I have had three inquiries two
of which are now firm bookings (13 May & 26
Sep!) and I'm pretty sure that the other will be soon
since it's a repeat visit to the Bray Disabled Club.
I'm confident that we can get real value for our
money out of the daytime rehearsals; if we only
ensure that we retain a viable repertoire to meet our
customers' needs that will be possible. In addition
we are looking at reviving some of the repertoire
songs that served us well in the past to create an
additional interest. Currently we have our eye on
Dream A Little Dream of Me, Sloop John B and
Love Letters (Straight From The Heart) as the
front-runners. I've not had any suggestions yet on
an alternative venue to Charvil Village Hall so
unless I do I have to assume that everyone is happy
with it. Graham Starkie
DAYTIMERS REHEARSALS (1 Feb)
Two consecutive days of rehearsal have been held
at Charvil Village hall. The time was spent talking
about the Daytimer issues including singout
repertoire. We have decided to try to reintroduce
some older chorus repertoire songs. The two songs
Love Letters (Straight from your Heart) and Sloop
John B are our current choices. Another rehearsal
at the end of February will allow us to prepare for
the first singout of the year early in March. We are
also using the rehearsal time to discuss some of
those Barbershop things that we don't have time for
on Tuesday nights. The NEXT REHEARSAL
DATE is Thursday 24 February at the Parkside
International Hotel on the Bath Road in Reading.
READING BARBERSHOP HARMONY CLUB
Page 8
Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same, but you leave 'em
all over everything you do. - Elvis Presley
We'll be there from 2pm until 4pm. We will revisit
a selection of songs from our singout repertoire
that we've not sung since October last year. That
song list will include: Give Me a Barbershop Song,
Can You Feel the Love Tonight, BOTB, How
Deep is the Ocean, Do You Hear the People Sing,
Sweet Georgia Brown, Everybody Step Medley
and New Ashmolean Marching Society'.
Graham Starkie
CAPITAL CHORUS EGGHEADS (7 Feb)
A team from Capital Chorus was invited to take
part in the peak-time BBC quiz show “Eggheads”.
Capital’s team – comprising Mike Cook, Paul
Gordon (erstwhile TVC member), Dave Lewis,
Erol McKenzie, Phil Leiwy, plus reserve Ian
Yardley – faced some of the world’s top quiz
champions. You can find out how they got on by
tuning in to BBC2 on Wednesday 9th February at
6pm (that’s tomorrow!). Simon Laight
REHEARSAL PROGRAMME (15 Feb)
Some of you were commenting on the lack of a
rehearsal plan last week and were sorry to have
missed Ian James. Well, sometimes one has busy
weeks. I'll be away for a week at the end of Feb, so
if anyone wants to volunteer to put the week's plan
together then please get in touch. Similarly, Craig
was on holiday. If anyone wants to support Craig
with weekly notices I'm sure he'll be happy for the
offer.
Amarillo's 4 week learning spot is up. Tonight is
it's debut.
If you miss a week, Pat Perridge often puts the
highlights of a rehearsal onto the web at
http://www.tvchorus.co.uk/members/toolbag.html
7;45 Section Warm up
8:00 Craft work with Mark
8:15 Reminder on the work with Ian. Also read
your emotion sheets provided by Mark
9:10 Notices
9:30 Amarillo
10:00 Can you feel the Love tonight
10:25 LGTA
Brian Milbank
LAST WEEK (8th Feb) REHEARSAL (15 Feb)
I did record the excellent rehearsal and coaching
session we had with Ian James last week, and you
can download the recordings from the Toolbag
page of the website. Ian was great and the sessions
are well worth a listen if you missed them.
Additionally, Mark asked me to remind you, or to
let you know if you weren't there last week, that
next week he will be doing some work on the new
That's Life key change, and asks us all to have
learned it for next week. There are new teach
tracks and sheet music for the That's Life Key
Change and the Song Plans for Raining, all on the
Songs page of our website.
Pat Perridge
THAT’S LIFE KEY CHANGE RECORDING (15
Feb)
Since the original teach tracks were produced for
That's Life there have been a number of alterations
and tweaks, culminating with a new key change.
The way we now sing it has moved sufficiently
from the original teach tracks that, in response to
requests from some members, we have produced a
new set of teach tracks to be as close as possible to
how we now sing it. This will enable you to
confidently use these tracks for
learning/consolidation.
These are now available on the web site in place of
the originals. There is also a sheet of music for the
new key change and the existing sheet music has
been annotated to draw your attention to the
change. We hope eventually to produce a
complete new score for the whole song, but did not
want producing this to delay getting out the new
teach tracks and key change.
Note that the starting key for the song has reverted
back down a semitone to the original D minor,
READING BARBERSHOP HARMONY CLUB
Page 9
Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same, but you leave 'em
all over everything you do. - Elvis Presley
which means that we end up in the same key we
have got used to (and the final hanger for the tenors
is still top C# and not D - result!). James Porter
http://www.youbarbershop.com/ (15 Feb)
Why not subscribe to the new International online
barbershop magazine. (We are an affiliate
organisation if you wonder when you come to tick
that box). Richard Leathem (Marketing)
*****************************************
HISTORICAL NOTES
5 Years Ago February 2006
14th Daytimers at Hungerford Tuesday Club
20th An ad-hoc quartet of Geraint Lewis, Julian
Charman, Colin Thatcher & Jim Downing sang a
whole performance of ‘Hello Mary Lou’ on the
Andrew Peach show on Radio Berkshire
advertising the “Learn To Sing “ course.
21st Last night of the “Learn To Sing” course that
has run with success for seven weeks
25th There was a photograph of the full “Learn To
Sing” chorus and a report of the club’s success in
the Twyford Advertiser.
The show on Radio Berkshire and the report in the
Advertiser were there thanks to our Marketing
Manager & PRO Lawrence McNulty.
10Years Ago February 2001
10/11th Chorus away week-end, Dudley Hotel,
Brighton.
With Bill Rashleigh (SPEBSQSA), Lynda Wood,
Steve & Rhiannon Hall.
During the month Gerry Jenkins joined the
Executive Committee as Finance Director filling
the vacancy since the AGM last October.
15 Years Ago February 1996
10th Small Chorus at Holyport for the Women’s
Institute 40th Anniversary
17th ‘Love Is A Barbershop Song’ at the Hexagon,
Reading. RBHC show featuring:
Thames Valley Chorus
Flying High - (Pat Deeble, Graham Frampton,
Ed Dolan, Jim Downing)
Fever Pitch - LABBS quartet Gold medalists.
Otis B Driftwood - comedy jazz group.
Ed Stewart - Presenter from BBC Radio 2
Extract from the Reading Chronicle:
The Thames Valley Chorus is more than a well-
rehearsed choir, they also move and act, and they
are entertainers. Their number ‘If they could see
me now’ climbed with the chorus moving forward
in a surging expanding wave almost spilling off the
stage, it was impressive.
Extract from the Reading Evening Post:
Since the concert is an annual event I strongly
advise you to reserve your seat for next year’s
extravaganza. You will enjoy every second, I
promise you.
20 Years Ago February 1991
9th Full Chorus at the Masonic Hall, Wokingham
for the Wokingham Townswomen’s Guild
This was the first occasion when Pete Powell
brought the chorus on stage one section at a time,
at the start of the second half, singing their
individual parts to Do-Wacka-Do.
16th Full Chorus at Wellington College,
Crowthorne for the friends of Broadmoor Hospital.
READING BARBERSHOP HARMONY CLUB
Page 10
Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same, but you leave 'em
all over everything you do. - Elvis Presley
23rd Full Chorus at High Cross Church,
Camberley. with the Thames Wind Band
25 Years Ago February 1986
8th Charity Concert, St.Mary’s Church, Winnersh
with the Barberettes. The combined choruses
outnumbered the audience by 6 to 1. Afterwards
we were thrown out of the Wheelwright Inn by the
landlord for singing… he had no music licence.
30 Years Ago February 1981
14th St.Valentine’s Day dance at Huntley &
Palmers Canteen, Reading
An evening of dancing to live music with a cabaret
by the Thames Valley Chorus.
The event was organized by Ray Piercey to raise
funds for RBHC.
22nd Full Chorus USAF Base, Greenham
Common.
A unique occasion as the organizer had mixed up
his dates and most of the personnel were away on
leave. The 25 on the risers fulfilled the engagement
by entertaining for an hour to a small band of their
own wives and children who had accompanied
them to the camp.
Cyril Duckworth asked if a regular feature could be
made in Tag Rag on ‘Where are they now’. A few
words of information about members who have
been absent for two or more weeks, are they ill?
dead?, on holiday?, resigned or drummed out?
Someone must know… or else we should find out.
Pete Powell resigned as Chorus Director of the
Barberettes due to his commitment to ‘Partners In
Time’ and The Thames Valley Chorus.
Les Hearn & Cyril Duckworth organized a
“Preservation Society” to sing cast off repertoire
songs. They meet at 7.15 on club night and sing
four songs per week in a pre-arranged order of
some 26 songs.
HAYDN ADAMS
*****************************************
SUPPORTERS.
Gosh, how cold we are having returned from
Barbados (and temperatures of 30 Celsius) last
Wednesday. We had a wonderful holiday and this
time hired a car and travelled round the island
visiting places of interest. I have to say that we
drove by some places more than once. It is quite a
challenge to follow any maps that exist and there
were at least two times when we ended up arriving
back where we had already visited. We had a
major hiccup on the second evening when we were
swimming in the lovely warm Caribbean sea.
Some “friends” have said that I would do anything
to be lifted by two burly lifeguards but believe you
me suffering a ripped hamstring muscle whilst
jumping a wave, and its consequent effects, is not
something I want to repeat.
To cut a very long story short the pain and badly
bruised and swollen leg (sob) didn’t hamper our
enjoyment of the holiday. Everything was done at a
much slower pace. Graham was an excellent carer
and we met some lovely people, both holiday
makers and locals. I saw my own doctor the day
we returned and was straight into physio and
strong pain killers and am getting around nicely
already.
On the third day there I noticed Gary Evans’
double sitting at breakfast; it was just amazing.
Needless to say we had to talk to him to find out
any connection. The only connection was that he
had worked for Air Canada but even that was
pretty spooky! Even some of his jokes were the
same …
Until next time,
Luv’n’hugs as always,
IRENE
*****************************************
READING BARBERSHOP HARMONY CLUB
Page 11
Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same, but you leave 'em
all over everything you do. - Elvis Presley
STEVEN SONDHEIM
To mark his 80th birthday year, musical theatre
legend Stephen Sondheim appraised his long career
and dissected his own lyrics from West Side Story
to Sweeney Todd on the BBC RADIO 4
programme Book of the Week recently. The
programme entitled Finishing the Hat took its
name from Sondheim’s autobiography. It provided
a fascinating glimpse into the musician’s mind.
The title was borrowed from one of his most
autobiographical songs - Sondheim not only
collected his lyrics for the first time, but provides a
forensic account of the lyric-writing process.
As he discusses the lyrics for several of his major
musicals from 1954 to 1981- including West Side
Story, Gypsy, Company, A Little Night Music and
Sweeney Todd - Sondheim offers an illuminating
insight into the lyric-writer's art, as well as a
number of warm and witty anecdotes about the
remarkable figures with whom he has worked.
He discusses his relationship with his mentor,
Oscar Hammerstein II, and his collaborations with
extraordinary talents such as Leonard Bernstein,
Arthur Laurents, Jule Styne, Ethel Merman and
Harold Prince.
Penetrating and self-deprecating, thoughtful and
witty, Finishing the Hat is not only an informative
look at the art and craft of lyric writing, it is also a
window on musical theatre history since the 1950s.
If you’d like to hear the five fifteen-minute
broadcasts please speak to me. Alternatively your
interest may be sated by the following critical
review of his autobiography by Simon Callow in
The Guardian newspaper.
GRAHAM STARKIE
********
FINISHING THE HAT
"A printed collection [of lyrics]," says Stephen
Sondheim at the beginning of Finishing the Hat,
"is a dubious proposition." Indeed: like making a
musical out of the invasion of Japan by the west,
or the tortuous painting of a canvas, or the intimate
relationships of a group of New Yorkers, or the
assassination of American presidents. All dubious
propositions, all triumphantly carried off, as is this
book, one of the greatest books ever written about
craft in the theatre, which also happens to be a self-
portrait of one of the most striking and original
artists of our time. It is entirely typical of
Sondheim that in writing a book of such apparently
narrow focus, he should have produced a work of
vast breadth and scope. The surprise is how
moving, how deeply romantic the book is –
surprising, that is, to those who persist in thinking
of Sondheim as merely ingenious, a deviser of
musical crossword puzzles, instead of the
passionate explorer that he is, irrepressibly
searching for the new forms that will keep alive the
art to which he has devoted his life.
We student actors and directors who piled into Her
Majesty's Theatre in 1972 to see Company had no
doubt that we were present at a revolution in
musical theatre: all other musical shows we'd ever
seen suddenly seemed childish. Urban loneliness,
self-deceptions within relationships, the fear of
commitment – no one had ever expected to hear
about those sorts of things in a musical. "It's the
little things you share together / Swear together /
Wear together / That make perfect relationships. /
The concerts you enjoy together, / Neighbors you
annoy together / Children you destroy together, /
That make perfect relationships." The telephonic
pulse of the opening bars – a switchboard in music
– and the great underlying melodies surging up
through the orchestral texture with thrilling
metropolitan energy were to us the very sound of
READING BARBERSHOP HARMONY CLUB
Page 12
Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same, but you leave 'em
all over everything you do. - Elvis Presley
now, the characters' emotions identical to our own.
We laughed, we cried, but most of all we hugged
ourselves for having, as we felt, discovered this
genius, our contemporary. In fact he was 42 at the
time; I don't believe we even knew then that he
was the lyricist of West Side Story. But when, the
year after Company, Gypsy finally arrived in
London and he stood awkwardly on the stage with
the composer Jule Styne as the applause went on
and on at the triumphant first night, we realised
that he was no guerrilla waging war on the musical,
but someone deeply plugged in to its great
tradition.
Finishing the Hat is to a large extent an appraisal
of that tradition and his place within it. Thanks to
the happy chance of being the best friend of the son
of one of the giants of American musical theatre,
Oscar Hammerstein II, who all but adopted him,
Sondheim was superbly well placed to learn not
only his basic craft but the lofty principles of the
musical play from the horse's mouth. Now, of
course, Sondheim is himself the horse's mouth, and
he imparts what he has learned with playful rigour.
The book starts off bracingly, with a statement of
the three principles of lyric writing (Content
Dictates Form, Less is More and God is in the
Details) and a brisk outline of the ground rules, in
the sixth of which we learn that "Oscar
Hammerstein II is not my idol". We have already
learned that Sondheim "cordially but intensely"
dislikes the lyrics of Noël Coward (a statement
which earned him hisses at the Cheltenham literary
festival a couple of weeks ago), and will soon
discover that he has equally rebarbative things to
say about the work of some of the deities of lyric
writing – Alan Jay Lerner ("a chameleon of one
colour"), Lorenz Hart ("sloppy"), Ira Gershwin
(who, he believes, showed off shamelessly because
he knew that he was merely talented, whereas his
brother was a genius), even Hammerstein, whose
much-loved lyric for the great Jerome Kern
number "All the Things You Are" is thrashed to
within an inch of its life. He comes back to
Coward, who really gets it in the neck second time
around: "overstated, sentimental . . . 'written' rather
than experienced".
There is another lyric writer, though, to whom he
gives the hardest time of all: Stephen Sondheim,
many of whose most admired efforts are found to
be obtuse, inelegant, exhibitionistic. The sin of
sins, in his view, is when a lyric forces you to hear
the composer's voice rather than the character's, a
self-confessed failing of his. Reading his
deconstruction and damnation of the lyric of "The
Little Things You Do Together", the very words
we kids so adored in Company back in '72, is like
overhearing a devastating tutorial in which the
tutor and the tutee are the same person. In every
instance, one is forced to agree – if, that is, you
believe, as he does, that logic is the sine qua non of
a lyric, and that tortured syntax, strained rhymes,
"poetic" writing, are simply poor craftsmanship.
The severity of his judgments is underpinned by
his personal philosophy: "if you think of a theatre
lyric as a short story, as I do, then every line has
the weight of a paragraph." Very occasionally, he
is quietly boastful about his own lines – "The Ben
I'll never be, / Who remembers him?"
from Follies makes him glow with forgivable
pride.
But despite his brilliant facility, nothing is ever
easy, because on each new show he has set himself
a specific challenge – a challenge that always
finally resolves itself as technical: the doing of it is
all. Scattered throughout the book are observations
about his craft which are riveting, and rivetingly
expressed: of one of his songs, "Getting Married
Today", for example, he notes that "the patter
sections may seem difficult to sing in one breath as
they ought to be sung, but in fact they're calculated
to alternate vowel and consonant sounds in such a
way as to make them easy for the tongue, teeth and
breath to articulate . . . in the best patter songs, the
faster you sing the easier it is." If Finishing the
Hat is not the Bible of lyric writing, it is certainly
its New Testament, expounding an approach to the
work which provides the best hope for the future of
musical theatre, whose possibilities Sondheim has
done more than any other writer to open up.
Picasso and Stravinsky endlessly reinvented
themselves, but he has constantly reinvented the
form, and – true to his own principle – he has done
that by constantly seeking out new content.
He claims to believe that the musical theatre is
now, finally, in its death throes, but nothing in his
practice reflects this. He has been famously
generous to hopeful young composers, and, shy
though he is, has made himself easily accessible.
Early on he says that to him teaching is a sacred
READING BARBERSHOP HARMONY CLUB
Page 13
Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same, but you leave 'em
all over everything you do. - Elvis Presley
profession: he pays his debt to it over and over in
these pages – by some rather brilliant teaching, but
also by celebrating his own teachers, who have
been many and various. This is, ultimately, what
makes the book so moving: the creative
breakthroughs, the sudden understanding of what
one is up to, of what the craft requires, the things
that transform a show and make it live. It is
crammed full of brilliantly etched accounts of such
moments, and trenchant character sketches of some
of the great monstres sacrés of the theatre, but
above all, of course, it is a cornucopia of some of
the greatest lyrics of our – of all – time, some
familiar, some rescued from oblivion, all given
context and history. (Is there another writer who
could have rhymed Gielgud with feel good?) The
very best thing of all about the book (which takes
us up to Merrily We Roll Along) is its last word:
INTERMISSION. Act II is already on the stocks.
RRP £30 Available for £21 or less
***************************************** Thanks to Haydn Adams, Sean O’Shea, Bob Ridley
and Irene for supplying copy.
Editor
Graham Starkie
29 Kibblewhite Crescent, Twyford
READING RG10 9AX ENGLAND
Tel/Ans/Fax 0118 934 5214
Email [email protected]
20 February 2011
Copy deadlines: 15th Mar for 22nd distribution
12th Apr for 19th distribution
10th May for 17th distribution
14th Jun for 21st distribution
*****************************************
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Members, Associates and anyone else who is
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Contacts - The Club’s Thames Valley Chorus
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READING BARBERSHOP HARMONY CLUB
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Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same, but you leave 'em
all over everything you do. - Elvis Presley
RBHC's
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READING BARBERSHOP HARMONY CLUB
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Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same, but you leave 'em
all over everything you do. - Elvis Presley
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