Author Archives: Fiona Funnell

Vintage Tea Party and Concert Prep

Rehearsals are going well for our vintage tea party and concert on Sunday 23rd July at Peartree Church Hall,  raising funds for WaterAid. We’ll be dressing up in posh frocks (not obligatory!) and hats. Other entertainment will be provided by Southampton Brass Ensemble. I’m really enjoying having the time to work on blending the choir voices as well as having some fun with a couple of old tunes’ I Got Rhythm and Tuxedo Junction.

Workshop with Brendan Taaffe

Wednesday 15th March, 2017 – 7.30 to 9.30pm Join acclaimed American song leader and composer Brendan Taaffe in Winchester for a lovely evening of singing.  Brendan teaches a variety of music: American bluegrass, gospel, Appalachian ballads, shape note, songs learned during trips in Africa, and his own wonderful compositions and arrangements.  Brendan will give you the chance to sing songs with compelling rhythms and evocative harmonies that come from community-based traditions that draw people together around the world. He has led vocal workshops in many Continue reading →

Delicious Sounds to sing at Music Fayre

Delicious Sounds will be singing some of the songs from their current repertoire at The Music Fayre at Central Hall on St Mary’s St (SO14 1NF) on Saturday 28th January at about 12.30 followed by a free workshop led by Fiona. Come along at any time between 11.30 – 3.30 to hear other performances and spend your pennies at the stalls. The Music Fayre is organised by Southampton Music Hub. southamptonmusichub.org

First rehearsal of Spring term

Fantastic start at choir to 2017! Really uplifting and happy. I hope the 4 new members enjoyed it and will feel they can make a real contribution to choir and that they will get a lot out of it. During the physical and vocal warm up session as the hall was cold we greeted friends, old and new with a chant in a circle which spiralled around the hall. After that we learnt a Syrian greeting song and an old traditional Swedish song plus a Continue reading →

Wow……an encore!

Singing in God’s House Tower was an amazing experience. The acoustics were fantastic and the atmosphere in the room, which was packed, was electric. The fairy lights and torches added to an excellent ambience. We got lots of cheers and applause and at the end were asked to sing Gaudete again. Next time we need to prepare an encore….just in case!  Some people felt it was our best concert ever. We just hope we will be able to sing in there again sometime in the Continue reading →

Final session of this term in God’s House Tower

Fiona announced this week that we would be singing our final session in the historic God’s House Tower on Town Quay. God’s House Tower is a late 13th century gatehouse into the old town of Southampton, England. It stands at the south-east corner of the town walls and permitted access to the town from the Platform and Town Quay. It has served as the town gaol and housed the Museum of Archaeology. The building is Grade II listed and a scheduled ancient monument. The acoustics Continue reading →

New term starts soon

Summer is almost over, although this week is fantastic, and it’s time to think about keeping ourselves occupied in the long haul up to Christmas so what better than to join a choir and get all the health benefits of singing. No doubt our first session on Monday September 12th will be a noisy affair with everyone trying to catch up on all the news after the summer (we are worse than school students!) Fiona will then try to restore some order to begin the Continue reading →

Sing for Water 2016

An excited choir rehearsed in the afternoon of Sunday 3rd July ready for the 15th Mini festival in aid of WaterAid. Some of us were a little confused as most of the songs were about water and boats, but we managed to distinguish them in the end. ‘Boat on the River’ became ‘Boat on the River Volga’ to the sopranos as our introductory section sounded very Russian! We enjoyed our two African songs as we usually do and we were joined by Dan Ahuma-Akboto of Continue reading →

Under 3 weeks to go!!

We have 2 rehearsals left before our big event of the year to raise money for WaterAid at Turner Sims on Sunday 3rd July. We are now polishing all the songs and thinking about our performance. Southampton Gay Men’s Chorus will join us next rehearsal as we are singing ‘I am a River’ together. It should be a great sound. The women will be outnumbered for once. So sing up girls!! We will be very happy to perform again with One Root Drummers. Their energy Continue reading →