Back to University …
When I left CSI:Halifax I had joined Louise’s ‘Singing for Fun’ group at Hope Bank, Honley and the ‘Awesome Choir of Rock’ at Ricky’s Rock School to keep singing and broaden my experience.
Louise Curtis and Laura Morrell are both talented and experienced music makers and so those aims were readily met. They were both constrained to some extent by the very nature of the groups that they were leading. Robert Arwyn’s Benedictus would have gone down a storm at The Awesome Choir of Rock for example! Still, I missed the slightly more diverse music and a more theory driven and traditional choral approach. Lynn Meredith at CSI had covered an enormous range of genres from Greenday to Rutter, Billy Joel to Karl Jenkins. I liked that mix and the ‘it’s a good sing’ approach.
When I saw mention of a new choir in the Creative Kirklees newsletter in Autumn 2019 it caught my attention. This was linked to the acclaimed Huddersfield Choral Society but didn’t require audition nor expectation of sight reading from score. The rehearsals didn’t clash with my other singing groups but would require ending my guitar development via Kirklees Musica. I decided to go for it, joined HCS Voices and a new adventure started.
The Autumn season was tremendous fun and ended with the choirs inaugural Christmas concert that was great to be part of and was well received. Our choral director, Abi Kitching, was a breath of fresh air, musically talented but totally grounded and people focused. The support team were equally friendly and I even reacquainted with former colleague Tim Wilkes who turned out to be the choir’s pianist. Roll on January!
2020 Season Begins …
In January we started working on Alexander LEstrange’s Jazz / Traditional African fusion Zimbe collection.
We we’re really looking forward to performing this, and linking up again with the Castle Hill Quintet that had so successfully supported that first concert.
Then of course the pandemic hit and our plans changed. As with Singing for Fun, rehearsals moved online using Zoom. We managed to cover an awful lot of styles during our online era and the sessions were a very welcome and at times hilarious distraction during the COVID19 lock-downs.
In person rehearsals and then in turn concerts resumed 18 months later in September 2021. Sadly, not for myself though as I was a carer and shielding an elderly vulnerable person recovering from cancer.
Return to group singing…
In Autumn 2023 I was finally able to rejoin HCS Voices and started rehearsals with the new choral director, Laura Bailie. It felt strange to be back in person but rewarding to again experience that feeling that only comes from group singing.
An early bonus experience of being back was attending the Vocal Workshop held at The Venue, Huddersfield with Laura and Huddersfield Choral Society vocal coach, Joyce Tindsley.
Then it was back into rehearsals for our two Christmas 2023 concerts. First up was a return to Moldgreen URC, venue for that first concert back in 2019. In my absence the choir had acquired colourful polo shirts with the HCS Voices logo embroidered upon them. I had to have what was left, and so began my appearances in a shocking pink polo! That’s me, hiding at the back 🙂
Huddersfield Town Hall
To be invited to participate in the HCS Christmas 2023 concert was quite thrilling, an and excellent return to those packed risers. Sharing that now familiar stage with HCS, HCS Youth and Black Dyke Band was another landmark experience.
Our three song set comprised:
- On this Silent Night(Sarah Quartel)
- Carol of The Bells (Mykola Leontvych)
- Ding Dong Merrily on High (arr, Wood)
Spring 2024
In the new year we launched into our new music and started preparing for our March Concert supported by another workshop day with Laura and HCS Voice Coach Joyce Tindsley.
Joyce was also collaborating with the choir with her set to feature as soloist at the concert. A good mix of songs were chosen for the fist half ranging from musicals to choral classics. A surprise inclusion was the comical ‘Dead Skunk’ by Loudon Wainright III. My favourite choice though was ‘From Now On’ from The Greatest Showman.
The second half of the concert was given over to the seven movements of John Rutter’s Jazz Spiritual ‘Feel The Spirit’ featuring Joyce Tinsdley in her Mezzo Soprano role. This also included songs like ‘Steal Away’ & ‘Joshua Fit The Battle of Jericho’ that I had encountered previously with CSI:Halifax Choir.
A very enjoyable concert with a broad selection of songs and some rewarding challenges that left me looking forward to the summer term with anticipation.
Summer 2024
The run up to the Summer Concert felt like a return to the choir’s roots, as we celebrated the choir’s 5th year.
Again a great mix of songs, featuring classic sacred choral works, e.g Mozart’s ‘Ave Verum Corpus’, Bruckner’s ‘Locus Iste’, world folk music like the South African ‘Shosholoza’ through a selection from the musical ‘Oliver’ and onward to pop songs ‘Bridge over Trouble Water and the Otis Redding soul classic ‘Sitting on the Dock of the Bay’. Little did I know at the time how that latter song, and its genre, foreshadowed events for me later in 2024.
When we joined HCS Voices in 2019, exploring the then new choir, we were greeted by the warm welcome from Angus Pogson, a long-standing member of the parent choir (The Huddersfield Choral Society) and fellow member Helen Martin. Sadly the summer 2024 concert also marked the end of Angus’s time with HCS Voices. I didn’t realise it at the time but that would be my final concert with HCS Voices choir too.
In Autumn 2024 the choir left the excellent rehearsal venue at the University of Huddersfield, St Paul’s Building and moved across town to the New North Road Baptist Church in Huddersfield.
The first rehearsal of the Autumn term arrived in September along with an unexpected set of Christmas songs and Carols! As I was singing ‘Ding Dong Merrily’ on that late summer evening I reflected upon the prospect of singing Christmas Carols over the next 4 calendar months. I decided then and there to take a break from HCS Voices and give Dan Price’s Soul Choir at Holmfirth a try.
This would be coupled with the already accepted challenge of undertaking Laura Morrell Music’s ‘Sing Pop’ workshops.
With the Soul Choir experience being so enjoyable, in January 2025 I decided to continue with that and bid HCS Voices farewell.
Overall it was a really good experience under two talented choral directors, Abi Kitching and Laura Bailie, and a good social and empowering activity.
