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Singing Session 10 September 2016 Blog By Liz

Well, Autumn is here. Crossing the road to the church with its distinctive pyramid roof, the sun was as warm as summer but the colours of the nearby grass and trees were deep and rich, green and glowing. One last parade of youth before the leaves dried up and fell. I pushed away the thought that the same probably applied to me. The Shape of Things to Come.

Inside, the sun was making oblongs on the floor through the roof windows. It was warm standing there, cooler out of the rays. The Session Clerk has suggested to Karen and Sheena that we might want to look for other venues for over the winter as the room gets a bit chilly. One of the ladies said she was already wearing her Merino socks – if we continue to use the room we will surely need to wrap up like Michelin* men. We were all asked to see if we could come up with alternative venues. Room enough for all of us, reasonable acoustics, and not too expensive. Could be tricky.

Not so many of us today – a few away on holiday, a few not well, the lurgy is going round. One new lady. We all say hello and hope she enjoys the group. Wonder of wonders I’ve remembered my name badge this week, yey! Forgot my water bottle though. A helicopter is busying about overhead – there is either a march on, or it’s the Old Firm Game, or both. We spot it through one of the windows; I wave – not sure if they waved back.

Before we start there is an announcement – Dynamic Meladies have been offered a performance slot! We did one before, a charity gig, just a few weeks after the group started up. I remember at the time thinking, “Wow, how exciting, this will be great;” and then, come the day, thinking “What, the heck did I say I would do this for?” But it was brilliant being part of something where we were all scared, but pulled it off. So I’m all fired up with enthusiasm, but, oh no! the date is 8 October and I won’t be there, I’m away. I’m gutted.

We do our usual physical warm up – apparently you sing better if you are not all tense. We swing arms and legs, necks, hips, practise gliding from high to low notes (making a noise like you would if you were falling off a cliff) and back to high again, do breath control exercises; and of course the co-ordination exercise, – your one arm moves to four different positions in sequence, your other arm does the same, but one step behind. We have done this every week for the past six months and I still can’t do it. The new lady is better at it than me. I move a little into a square of sunlight. It doesn’t help, but it’s nicer than in the shade.

We will be singing a number of up-beat songs for the gig. Well, they will. I won’t be there. So we practise Caravan of Love (a la Pixie Lott, rather than the House Martins, but not quite Pixie either) Karen and Sheena work out the harmonies themselves. They are fabby. And then move on to revise a song we did at the first gig – Sing, by Pentatonix, an a cappella group. It’s a favourite and our enthusiasm bounds about the room like a puppy.

Which might be why something white floats down from the ceiling. “An Angel!” exclaims Karen, catching at it. We speculate that it might be dust, loosened by our singing, or a feather. Whatever it is, it’s made Karen happy, which is good, because earlier she noticed that her cats had been eating her cardigan. Those cats. They ate her hair-feathers once.

After the singing we have our cuppa and biscuits, and blethers; this week a joke about a frog, and a true story about RE lessons at school, teaching Buddhism in comparative religion, and the old question of “What would you come back as, if you had the choice?”

On the way home, I ponder whether Buddhism is another way of looking at the shape of things to come. I will miss singing with my pals at the gig, but hopefully there will be others. We will find somewhere new to sing, or be very cold in church. The only constant is change and all that.

Don’t know what Karen’s cats will come back as…

Portia and Pebbles looking angelic… and plotting…!

Portia and Pebbles looking angelic… and plotting…!

*Other brands of tyres are available. We are however unable to comment on the heat-preserving properties of individual brands!

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