Veg Plotting

Our part of the score, with my annotations above the score line on how it should be performed on the day.  My head is still stuffed with the most wonderful music today, so it's time to take a break from my usual bloggage. On Sunday I sang the chorales in Bach's St John Passion at the Wiltshire Music Centre  in Bradford on Avon, as part of a project put together by English Touring Opera (ETO). Our performance was reviewed in The Guardian yesterday, which has kept the music in my head and the good feelings going well into today. I must admit I was a bit daunted at first. I can't read music, it's a challenging piece, and it's not the kind of thing I usually perform or listen to. However, the WMC Choir component was a scratch choir, so there would be plenty of people like me there. It was too good an opportunity to miss. Can a scratch choir perform to the standards expected by ETO with just four rehearsals? It seems we can, as long as you do your homework. ...

Solstice dawn 2015 - from our bedroom window A winter day, the summer grass turned hay Frost in the field 'til the dawn of May A summer's light never shone as great or as bright So dance in the shadows of a winter's night ~ Halsway Carol - Music by Nigel Eaton, words by Ian Frisk * We've been learning a wonderful new carol at choir and it's great to have one which is about the turning of the year at the time of the winter solstice. I took the above photo to match the words. However, the scene I found at Crewkerne , Somerset on Saturday was quite unexpected - and it looked wrong when I matched the words to it. What a topsy turvy December we're having. Coincidentally,   Halsway Manor is also found in Somerset and is the only residential folk centre in the UK. If you thought the solstice was the 21st (which I did), this year it's today at 4.49am instead. Apparently the date can vary between 20th and 23rd December, though the 21st is the...

Last night amidst all the Christmas carols and mince pies, our choir sang Senzeni Na? to honour Nelson Mandela. We've performed this before as South African songs are a rich seam which we exploit with great passion and enjoyment. The title's translation is What Have We Done? It's traditionally sung at funerals and is a protest song, so it's a fitting tribute. The picture is from the opening ceremony at the Special Olympics in Dublin in 2003 which were opened by Nelson Mandela. He's a tiny dot because I was perched right at the top of the stadium. It was emotional to be in the presence of such a great man. You can read my account of that time here .

... Carols I've missed my last two choir sessions, so tonight I'll be singing Christmas carols for the first time this year. I particularly look forward to these, because they were the first thing I tackled when I joined up 6 years ago. They also mark my transition from "Bah humbug Christmas always starts too early" to "Awwww, peace and goodwill, everyone" ;) To help celebrate the season we're embarking on our traditional tour of local hostelries in Corsham and Bradford on Avon (BOA) this week, starting with the Christmas lights switch on in Corsham. Here are the details: Friday 6th Dec, 6.20pm singing outside the Town Hall in Corsham Sunday 8th Dec, 3pm carols in Dandy Lion BOA Monday 9th Dec, 7.30 - 8.30pm in Pound Arts Centre, then to the Flemish Weaver pub for singing, beer & mince pies! Sunday 15th Dec, 3pm carols in George BOA Monday 16th Dec, 7.30 - 9.30pm singing, mulled cider & mince pies in the Pound Arts Centre (to be ...

Why ideal? I planted these Iris reticulata 'Katharine Hodgkin ' in the gravel at the side of the house when I bought them at the RHS London Show sell-off 4 years ago and they've come up every year since. I have quite a few of the purple sort elsewhere in the garden, but I love the more unusual pale blue and yellow of these. Elsewhere I've been replanting the snowdrops which some pesky squirrels or birds dug up recently, plus some self-sown crocus I found in the back garden's gravel path. These gave me the opportunity to fill some of the gaps in the guerrilla garden at the front of the house. Whilst there, I've been admiring the first flowering of the hellebores J from choir gave me last year :) The winter aconites have just started to appear, and the daffodils are showing much promise for the weeks to come. Indoors, the paperwhites which I potted up when disregarding the rules are doing rather well. The floral year most definitely has begun :) Gar...

Previously on Veg Plotting , I told you about Everything in the Garden is Lovely . Everyone at choir fell in love with this set of wirework bee 'formations'. Like them, I initially thought they represented the bees' ' waggle dance ' or other messages they communicate to each other. But I then looked closer (click on the pics to enlarge if needed) and found... ... that even in art, there's an opportunity to be a tad subversive and get the viewer thinking just that little bit more :) I've been trying to decide which one is my favourite... ... this one has resonance because I was in a similar situation when I left university in 1980 - though at least I was lucky enough to have a university grant during my studies - and I had to take a job I didn't really want (civil service) instead of one related to what I'd actually studied (Agricultural and Environmental Science). This is a slightly different post for Garden Bloggers' ...

There's often a debate raging on whether 'gardens are art'. With the latest exhibition at Pound Arts in Corsham we now have 'art as gardens'. The photographs I took on Monday night don't really do this exhibition justice. Judging by the excited reaction from my fellow choir members, I'd say it's a must see. Catch it if you can from now until February 23rd. There'll be more from the bees in the next Muse Day :) Update: Here's the promised closer look at those Subversive Bees :)

I've been trialling a new water bottle over the past few weeks courtesy of Purekit and Fuel My Blog . I've been getting really cross with the plastic one I use for choir and the allotment as it leaks absolutely everywhere, so the offer of a 1 litre Sigg bottle came just at the right time. The upside It's as light as a plastic bottle It doesn't leak - hurray! I was given the 1 litre size, which is plenty for a 2 hour singing session or an afternoon at the allotment - I get very thirsty in that time It's easy to drink from They're usually very stylish - though I was a little disappointed with my streaky aluminium version. I'm not complaining seeing I got mine for free ;) Drinks stay cooler for longer It can be washed in the dishwasher Anyone like my friend C who's concerned about plastics residues and health will be reassured that Sigg claims the liner used in these bottles doesn't have those problems I'm sure it's very long lasting too, I j...

Wassail! wassail! all over the town, Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown; Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree; With the wassailing bowl, we'll drink to thee. Gloucester Wassail - believed to date back to the middle ages and also sung at traditional wassailing times in North Wiltshire. Tonight is the old Twelfth Night**, one of the traditional times to hold a wassailing ceremony. Wassails are sung from around Christmas time until today's date and are centuries old. The purpose of a wassailing ceremony - apart from a good excuse to cheer up the winter blues - is to awaken the apple trees from their slumbers, give thanks for the apple harvest and to drive away evil spirits to ensure the next is a good one. Our choirmaster is very keen on wassail songs, which we've always sung as a 'Happy New Year' welcome to the January term, but Saturday was the first time we'd been invited to perform at a proper Wassailing ceremony. This was held at...

Snowy evidence of a visitor yesterday, but alas no signs of a cheerful choir yet... Awake and join the cheerful choir Upon this blessed morn And glad hosannas loudly sing For joy a saviour’s born. Let all the choirs on earth below Their voices loudly raise And sweetly join the cheerful band With angels in the skies To tell this news the heavenly host Appeared in the air And humble shepherds in the field Those joyful songs did hear Wise men from far beheld the star Which was their faithful guide And when it pointed forth a way, Then God they glorified From Britford , Wiltshire ( notated by Geoffrey Hill ) Our choirmaster has found a local Christmas carol for us to sing this year. This snippet is very similar to what we'll be singing :) Garden Bloggers'Muse Day is hosted by Carolyn Choi at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago .

... I was up to secret things at Cabot Circus ;) If there's a problem with loading the above video, try this link instead. After about 1 minute 35 seconds you'll see me going down the escalator to join the rest of the group. I'm in the red and blue checked fleece wearing pink sparkly horns. We'd gone up the escalator alongside first pretending to be shoppers and listening to the surprised reaction of the real ones. This flash mob was the fun finale to Bristol's first song festival: over a week of various song raids, workshops and concerts as it's aiming to be the UK's first choir city.

I'm on holiday at the moment, but thought you'd like to see a little something from my previous one in the Czech Republic. I was on a singing holiday and the video is of our tutors performing as The Barefooters in the Monastery Gardens in Litomysl. I'll be telling you much more about this garden when I get back. In the meantime, have fun and note that I'm still taking any contributions you may have for Out on the Streets . I'll be doing a wrap up post on my return.

It's another first for our choir tonight as we're performing in the Corsham Arts Festival Fringe at 7.30 pm in the Town Hall. We'll be reviving the successful rendition of 'a traditional Welsh folk song', as seen in Stratford earlier this year and currently available above via YouTube in our Wiltshire Wailers incarnation. Tonight we're the Pound Sound i.e. just those of us who rehearse at the Pound Arts Centre in Corsham. We're flying solo without our Bradford on Avon and Hullavington buddies. Our set tonight is a crowd pleaser* and includes (not necessarily in this order): Breaking up is hard to do - how on earth did this song get such a cheerful tune? Courage my soul Forever young Haul away Joe - a fantastic sea shanty with lyrics which make me giggle all the time Siyahamba - a South African marching song which is featuring in the World Cup at the moment, whenever the vuvuzelas let it get a look in Under the moon of love Why do fools fall in love ...

Saturday saw a very early start for the latest Wiltshire Wailers venture: a trip to the Community Choir Festival at Stratford upon Avon . The venue was where William Shakespeare is believed to have attended school , though we were in the more modern buildings a couple of hundred yards down the road rather than the 'Old School' more familiar to him and today's tourists. 650 singers gathered for a day workshop learning 4 new songs, followed by a quick rehearsal during afternoon tea for the end of day concert where each choir (all 21 of them) was given an opportunity to really show their stuff. Our piece was Delilah , but sung in the style of Welsh rugby fans gathered at the Millennium stadium in Cardiff prior to a game. We'd found it almost impossible to stop giggling during rehearsals as this version calls for lots of drama. Our choirmaster Chris also added some Tom Jones style audience participation as he distributed a number of comedy pants and other underwear to...

The Big Sing, Bristol 2009 from Dee Jarlett on Vimeo . A look back to the summer of 2009: 1 choir, 630 singers, 7 songs All gathered together at Bristol Harbourside Over £37,000 raised for WaterAid Blink and you'll miss me! Update: If the embedded video doesn't come up for you or the logo continues whirling around, you can click on the The Big Sing, Bristol 2009 link below it to see and hear what we were up to.

Some suitably festive decorations in my garden Seasons Greetings to you all and here's to a cracking 2010. Like many of you, I'm taking a break until the New Year, though ABC Wednesday will pop-up on the allotted day and hour next week to see what's what for the letter X. To send you good cheer, here's the Gower Wassail from me and the rest of the Wiltshire Wailers at Stourhead last Sunday. Update: sadly this video is no longer available :( In the meantime until I return, you might also like to have a look at everyone's contribution for this month's festive edition of Out on the Streets . Do also follow the link if you're ready to add your own contribution to the list :) Since September's OOTS , Leamington Spa station's garden has been voted Britain's best, Ken Livingstone has had a go at Boris Johnson over London's public spaces , Jakarta is giving its petrol stations a green makeover , Karen over at Greenwalks has been lookin...

Regular readers of this blog know that one of the reasons I've got such a bee in my bonnet about public planting is because the roundabouts in Chippenham are very uninspiring. All too often they're a motley collection of the same dreary shrubs with the odd tree, plus grassed areas mown to within an inch of their lives. I've seen some really good examples in Taunton and Poole, but have yet to have been there on days conducive to taking pictures so I can show them off to you. So I was taken by surprise last Saturday when I visited St. Laurence School in nearby Bradford on Avon for the first time. We had an extra choir rehearsal arranged there for the morning as our choirmaster felt we needed it ready for Tuesday's Christmas Cabaret*. The road leading up to the school entrance has a large roundabout with the pictured planting. There were a couple of off-centre columnar conifers to give some height to the arrangement, surrounded by lavender and rosemary to give flowers, ...

This year is the 250th anniversary of Handel's death and to celebrate his life, the BBC declared yesterday as Sing Hallelujah day. Various events were held up and down the country for singers and choirs of various standards to get together to sing the famous Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah . I've always wanted to get involved with this work in some way ever since I was a student: I was grounded in the university sick bay late one Christmas term and whilst there I heard my grandad's cousin singing one of the solo parts on the radio. Our local BBC region had decided to mark the event with the gathering of a massive scratch choir to open their BBC South West Sports Personality of the Year awards ceremony held at the University of Bath yesterday. A rather strange mix in my view, but an opportunity not to be missed. So I duly sent off my email application and promptly forgot about it. 2 weeks ago I finally got a reply back to tell me I was in :) Team Bath at Bath univer...

Frosty Chippenham Station at Sunset - January 2009 The trees all are bare not a leaf to be seen And the meadows their beauty have lost. Now winter has come and 'tis cold for man and beast, And the streams they are, And the streams they are all fast bound down with frost. 'Twas down in the farmyard where the oxen feed on straw, They send forth their breath like the steam. Sweet Betsy the milkmaid now quickly she must go, For flakes of ice she finds, For flakes of ice she finds a-floating on her cream. 'Tis now all the small birds to the barn-door fly for food And gently they rest on the spray. A-down the plantation the hares do search for food, And lift their footsteps sure, Lift their footsteps sure for fear they do betray. Now Christmas is come and our song is almost done For we soon shall have the turn of the year. So fill up your glasses and let your health go round, For I wish you all, For I wish you all a joyful New Year. Source: Tune and text from the singing of th...

Saturday was one of those days which ends in a cloud of happiness. Firstly I attended a Forgotten Carols workshop led by Ali Burns - a descendant of Robert Burns - who has found and researched a wealth of traditional seasonal songs. She's also set many of the texts she's found to her own music, including one of our choir's favourites, The Field Mice's Carol . We were based at Holy Trinity Church in Trowbridge for the day. It had just been painted and had a cosy, welcoming feel owing to the unusual choice of shades of reds and pinks for the decor . We learnt five new songs, all very different: from our merry start with Sing Nowell ! through to the oldest, Christ Has My Hart, Ay dating from 1567 which was an amalgamation of two Scottish texts. Ali wove tales of how she found the songs and their origins into our day and I was surprised to learn there are very few Christmas songs originating from Scotland. We also sang a completely different version - words and tune - of...