Gig Report: Pipes V Mics – the view from the stalls

The Pop-Up Choir performing with Shlomo at Pipes V Mics at the Royal Festival Hall
The view from the Gods!

With an early start,short notice and Mothering Sunday to boot, not everyone who wanted to could take part in Sunday’s Pipes V Mics concert, in which Pop-Up joined Shlomo in his Rumble piece for voices and organ. So some Poppers got to see the choir from a different angle – the audience!

Here’s Emily Falconer (sops) on what it was like from the seats.

Rumbling with Pride: Watching Pop-Up perform with Shlomo at the Royal Festival Hall

My brow was sweating, my arms were aching, my wee lungs were puffing away and I looked like a bedraggled commuter as I bolted up and down the tube escalators between Euston, Oxford Circus and Waterloo, lugging behind my weekend luggage, spare coats and plastic bags of Sunday lunch leftovers.

I was on my way back from a relaxing weekend up north. I’m a soprano in Pop-Up, but was unable to commit to the ungodly rehearsal hour of 8am on Sunday morning to prepare – in fact, learn completely from scratch – the  Rumble arrangement for the choir’s performance. I reckoned the next best thing was to be a supportive audience member. And besides, I was curious; how on earth was this collaboration going to play out? An organ, a beat-boxer and the Pop-Up choir walk into a pub…….what is the punch line?Continue reading “Gig Report: Pipes V Mics – the view from the stalls”

Pipes vs Mics! A Pop-Up Rumble with Shlomo

1625734_617892634959361_745155440_n Um, so Pop-Up had a pretty sweet weekend because a bunch of us sang with Shlomo again!

As part of his massive Pipes vs Mics show at the Southbank Centre, he  composed a piece for the Royal Festival Hall organ called Rumble. It brought beatboxers and pipe organ together as nature intended, and Pop-Up joined forces with Chaps Choir to provide additional vocal colour.

You can listen to a download of the show on BBC Radio 3: skip ahead to 2:10:00 for the interview with Shlomo, and to 2:14:00 for Rumble!

Continue reading “Pipes vs Mics! A Pop-Up Rumble with Shlomo”

Newbie blog! An Unseasoned Popper

thepopupchoir_mastersofpop

Following on from Andrew’s piece, we decided to get view from a relative newcomer. Someone who hasn’t yet been completely sucked in to the choir, or Boozy Tuesday. (Andrew’s been in Pop-Up since 2010 and is now thoroughly brainwashed by beer and reindeer songs.) Annabel, pictured with Pop-Up at our wedding gig this weekend, holding the sign and wearing the snazzy hat, joined the Alto 1 ranks in September 2013. Take it away Annabel!

Some may be hoping this post is about the latest tasty, high-fat, low-nutrition offering from Perfect Fried Chicken (other South London chicken shops are available). It’s not. Rather, it is the tale of a newbie’s experience of the world of Pop-Up.

Perhaps I should start with a confession. This is not my first choir. It’s not even my first South London choir (raised eyebrow!). In fact, I first came across Pop-Up while singing with my old choir at a concert where we both performed. Later, I found myself auditioning at a rather jovial Pop-Up rehearsal.

This may sound like defection to some. I prefer to think of it as circumstance, geography (well I did move a number of miles down the road) and the gentle sway of those Pop-Up folk.

That was back in autumn, which feels both like an eternity and five minutes ago. My brain is beginning to heave with the sheer weight of the tunes I’ve been shoving in it since then. 15, yes 15! at the last count. I have my suspicions that they’re beginning to push other useful information out, but hey-ho.

It’s been really good fun and a great challenge catching up with the long-serving members, both at the non-Dom and con-Dom (he he!) rehearsals*. The first few weeks were spent learning a new song (Common People – BRILLIANT) and getting up to speed with the sunshiny Sweetest Feeling and Wouldn’t It Be Nice – alongside the delicate and warm Sigh No More. With a good few newbies joining Alto 1s in the intake we relied, and still do, rather a lot on the patience and grace of our more seasoned fellow Alt 1s (thanks ladies).

Within about six rehearsals it was in at the deep end with a performance at the Lambeth fireworks display at Brockwell Park, pre-warmed by Lisa’s lovely mulled wine. I think I speak on behalf of the other newcomers when I say: slightly scary and definitely some mumbling and mouthing going on. The seal was broken.

Christmas rolled around with speed and we were on to pub gigs. Funnilly enough, pubs aren’t the quietest of places on the planet and some rather cringe-worthy “Shhing” went on. But we went down pretty darn well, and nothing beats the feeling of performing confidently to people who enjoy it. Common People was a real winner, particularly with our Jarvis glasses and Mike’s suave impersonation of the Pulp frontman.

The New Year has kicked off with a couple of gorgeous spirituals and the universally approved (at least in our group) Hey Ya/Get Lucky combo. Can’t wait to try them out on our unsuspecting public.

It’s already been so lovely being part of this choir for so many reasons. The singing is wonderful – a great mix of upbeat and heartfelt tunes – all beautifully crafted and honed by Dom and the rest of the choir. The improv too is as real joy – the chance to play and, bit by bit, let go of mundane concerns with your fellow singers.

Beyond the experience of the music there is of course the group. A fun, welcoming and conscientious crowd. It’s lovely to see so many pitching in and working together to make Pop-Up work – now and in the future. I look forward to getting to know everyone a little better.

I still have a little way to go – I need a bit more study time – not only on the tunes and lyrics (Lump is peculiar) but also, I admit, on peoples’ names! There are quite a few of us and about half the group seems to be called Kate, Katherine or a derivative thereof. I’m looking forward to pushing myself a bit more technically too.

All in all, I think 2014 is going to be a brilliant year for Pop-Up and I’m delighted I get to be part of it.

* We split our rehearsals between the Dogstar in Brixton, where Dom leads us, and the Black Prince in Kennington, for “non-Dom” rehearsals. They’ve been named non-Dom and “con-Dom” because we are terrible.

Andrew’s Top 5 Things About Pop-Up

thepopupchoir
Andrew (right) and the cake we bought to celebrate soprano Beth’s wedding – unfortunately she wasn’t at rehearsal so we, um, had to dispose of the cake. Um.

Today we’ve got a post from Andrew, one of Our Men. That’s basically the catch-all term for our tenors, basses and baritones, as the Alto 2s sing what’s classically a tenor part. Take it away Andrew!

A new year and a time for reflection, so what’s good about being in the Pop-Up Choir in 2014 I hear you ask? Well how long have you got? I’ve been in the choir for 3 and a half years (where did that go?) and my top 5 best things about Pop-Up changes most weeks according to my mood and what we’ve been doing.  This week’s are:

  1. “Accidentally” staying behind after rehearsal for an extra couple of pints – impromptu Boozy Tuesday.
  2. Singing Sledgehammer again after a long hiatus, and it wasn’t too bad considering.
  3. Lots of good things agreed at the Pow Wow with no fallings out – or is that no falling outs?
  4. Agreeing that being in Australia was an acceptable excuse for not attending a rehearsal.
  5. Somebody (who shall remain nameless) going to the wrong venue, then eating the pizza and necking the glass of wine they’d already ordered after realising their mistake and still arriving well before 8pm! Respect.

Who knows what next week will bring?

Thanks for the anonymity re 5 Andrew. Ahem. 

New Year, new songs and Pop-Up’s fifth birthday!

The Pop-Up Choir's mash-up of Hey Ya and Get Lucky
New tune(s)!

What do we call this term? It’s DEFINITELY not spring. Let’s go with winter: we haven’t had any snow yet, for one thing, and that’s definitely going to come before our next term in April.

We’ve kicked off the Winter Term with two new songs: Dom has written us a fantastic mash-up of Hey Ya and Get Lucky that fills the soul void in our repertoire (seriously, wait til you hear it. It’s amazing.) and as an extra bonus, we’re now doing AS I Went Down To The River To Pray, which I brought to rehearsal as an improv exercise, and which will now be done in full-on proper gospel glory. Amen! Etc.

photo 1
Emily with some correspondence from a Pop-Up listener. Snail mail FTW!
photo 2
Concentration – aided by wine

 

Oh hey pow wow!

This week we had our termly pow wow. This is usually a meeting of ‘Choir Parents’ (people with roles in the choir, or long-standing members) but this time it swelled to whoever wanted to come which is all for the better. The choir has been getting far more committed over the last year and it shows, both in front and behind the scenes.

Even more excitingly, it’s Pop-Up’s fifth birthday this year. I know, we look far too young to be five. Even those of us in our 30s. The actual birthday is in June and we will be having a special gig and party to celebrate. But before then we’ve got new songs to master, old songs to polish,  and gigs to play.

New singers!

If you want to join Pop-Up, brilliant. We are looking for confident singers who have some sight reading ability and are happy picking up songs quickly. If you like a drink at the end of a session, so much the better. Thank you to everyone who has emailed over Christmas. We’ve got a rather long waiting list for prospective members, but please don’t be disheartened! We go over our sections each term – sops, alto 1s, alto 2s and men- and see any gaps that need filling. In the meantime, come and see us soon and have a brilliant winter/New Year/nearly-spring.

Non-Dom rehearsals with Common People

Alto 2's channeling their Britpop side. Bit mardy.

Autumn term’s a couple of dates down and we’re getting into our new arrangement – Pulp! Cheers Dom. We didn’t have enough Britpop in the set.

Something we introduced earlier in the year was the idea of “non-Dom” rehearsals, which give us the chance to work a bit harder as a group without letting Dom do all the work. Plus Dom gets a bonus Tuesday to go off and look at kittens or whatever it is musical directors like to do these days.

Last night was a bit different. Dom had asked us to come up with an arrangement ourselves, so I had my first go at leading the gang with Alison Krauss’s wonderful As I Went Down To The River To Pray, which you might remember from the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack. You should, it’s amazing.

It was great fun to do – the lyrics are basically the same all the way through the song which gives you the freedom to think about what you’re doing vocally. After we all sang through, with a couple of times of everyone do whatever they wanted  – nailed it – I got a soloist from each part to lead with the rest of their part to blend with them. The idea was to get everyone listening: to themselves, their voice part and the choir as a whole, while I sang the theme as an anchor.

I also made them do it with the lights down and their eyes closed, because I could. MEANINGFUL!

I was thrilled with the result, not least because it’s a stunning song, but also because people came up with harmonies I’d never heard in this song before and it was gorgeous. The basses went super low, the sops flew around like butterflies, my Alto 2 sisters blended like cream, and Rebecca, our sole representative from the Alto 1s, held it together beautifully.

After this we got out Common People which we blitzed last week with Dom. And how could you resist singing it differently when the cat’s away? Someone had suggested we do it proper common sarf London, and then we did it in our most fluting public school voices.  Sorry Jarvis, sorry Dom.

Once we’d all sung as silly as we possibly could, we got some old numbers out and went through Crazy and Who’s That Girl by the Eurhthmics, and Rollin’ in the Deep and Sweetest Feeling for good measure. A lovely rehearsal, great fun and good prep for when Dom comes back – at least the silliness will be out of our systems. Well, for the first half an hour anyway.

We will likely be holding auditions for new members in coming weeks, so if you’re interested, email us with a bit about yourself and your voice part at thepopupchoir @ gmail.com.

Bowie, Brixton and Beth’s wedding cake

Bowie! by the amazing Jimmy C
Bowie! by the amazing Jimmy C

We had a lovely write-up in the Brixton Buzz about our Bowie gig last night – thanks chaps!

Hot, sunny, gorgeous weather: the perfect time for an outdoor show, right? We trooped down to the beautiful Bowie mural opposite Brixton Tube to do just that, and to dust down our version of Space Oddity (actually not that dusty after a couple of rehearsals this term!).

Lovely pic by @linniekin - thank you!
Lovely pic by @linniekin 

I’ve been in the choir since January, but missed our last proper pop-up gig on the South Bank, so was actually incredibly nervous before getting started in Brixton! Even though it’s a mile from my front door and I’d been round the corner at Book Jam the night before, something about not having the security blanket of an arranged gig gave me an attack of the screaming heebs. But that’s what Pop-Up’s all about, and after the obligatory pavement warm-up, we arranged ourselves by the mural and cracked on with Sweetest Feeling.

It was AMAZING fun. Any worries fled after about, ooh, seven seconds, and it was lovely to see people watching and enjoying it, and as ever, Dom’s bouncing around at the front was absolutely infectious.

We got some surprise beatbox help when a rather chatty bloke on his bike took exception to the singing, but Kate’s Rollin’ in the Deep more than answered him!

Beth, our female soloist in Heartbeats, is getting married at the weekend so we’d arranged some cake and goodies, but she didn’t make the gig due to last minute plans so we, um, looked after the cake for her. Definitely.

pop up choir wedding cake

Have a fantastic wedding Beth, and we’ll be back to Brixton soon. Here’s a great video the Brixton Buzz took of Space Oddity, and that gorgeous mural – the whole reason we were there in the first place.

Honouring his royal Boss-ness in Kilburn

 

Is there a better way to celebrate the 4th of July than channeling Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce? I think not.

The Pop Uppers ventured to Kilburn yet again for another covers night at the Good Ship. This time the chosen album was Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA – the classic album cover shot of Bruce’s Bum with a hanky served as a rather lovely backdrop projected to the back of the stage. Due to lack of air conditioning and sunny weather (shock!) it did feel like being in the USA, i.e. deepest swamp-land Georgia – with added Star-Spangled bunting and roughly every other person wearing jeans and checked shirt although best outfit award goes to Harry in jeans, white T-shirt and bandana!

The night kicked off with Born in the U.S.A. – not as pro-American as you might think! (google the lyrics kids!). A wide array of cover styles made for an interesting listen, quite a few bands did their own “take” on the songs rather than producing just a straightforward version. One band did a very Nick Cave like cover ,another decided that Glory Days needed to be slowed down and lots of feedback / grunge / distortion added.

The song we covered was I’m on Fire (don’t google the lyrics kids!). Lucy the organiser did a great introduction and got the entire pub to be very quiet for us. Not an easy task but everyone hushed and was listening very intently – we even had a few peeps swaying their mobiles (great tip Anthony!) and one old school lighter sway – result!

Last song of the evening was Dancing in the Dark – another great cover and despite the stifling heat most people were dancing and I even spotted two members of our bass section headbanging!

The next covers night will be Kate Bush – Hounds of Love…. ooooooooh yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!

– written by Heike