Carols Warm Up .......

November's hottest day didn't deter Simon Harvey and 13 players from rehearsing for the "Carols at the Substation". After a few jubes and snakes to keep up the sugar, the orchestra got straight in practice, having worked through all 12 carols to finish before 9pm.  All sounding good - the next and final rehearsal next Thursday will include the soloists Simon Leverton and Hayley Edwards and then the program will be right to go.  Thanks Kathryn for the pics. 

Carols at the Substation Program

CAROLS AT THE SUBSTATION

Sunday December 9, 2012

MC (Nola Wilson) to Welcome and Encourage All to Sing

All Sing                                   Deck the Halls   1

                                                We Three Kings 2

Newport Lakes Senior Choir  Celebrate the World

                                                Jingle Bell Rock

                                                Away in a Manager 3

                                         

Simon Leverton                      Somerset Wassail

                                                Sans Day Carol

                                                The First Noel  4

Newport Lakes Vocal  Group Good Time

                                                Amazing Grace

            All Join In                   Joy to The World (Separate Sheets – 3 verses)  5

Newport Community Choir    In Dulci Jubilo

                                                Carols of the Birds

            All Join In                   God Rest Ye Merry Men    6

                                                Good King Wenceslas  7

AJ and Zymone Abatayo        3^rd Movement, Bach Double Violin Concerto

            All Join In                   Once in Royal David’s City -             G            8

Hayley Edwards                      L'ho perduta, me meschina', Mozart from Marriage of Figaro

            All Join In                   Silent Night 9

          

MC (Nola Wilson) Seasons Greetings and a Word of Thanks

To Conclude                           We Wish You a Merry Christmas    10

Carols Music and Rehearsal

All of the Carols music is now available at this link - select by instrument.

PICS AND BIOS!

The Festival Committee will shortly be looking for applications to perform at the next Newport Folk Festival.  One of the key requirements on application (apart from being able to perform) is to have a great pic and bio for use in publicity.  Here is an example from Gail and Rick's band  Mysterious Mose (50 words is about spot on).  They are performing Live @Newport early next year. 

A colourful, quirky band drawn from all over Victoria, playing the toe-tapping, good-time music of the 1920's and 30's. 

Jug, blues, jazz, hokum and swing numbers feature classic jug band instrumentation of strings, washboard, kazoo, jug and singing saw with multiple vocals, harmonies and cheeky repartie, all wrapped up in dapper, flapper costumerie. 

So why not dust off your dancing shoes and Mosy on over?!

Carols at the Substation (2)

 Preparations for the Carols at the Substation are well underway.  This year the program will include a  Mozart aria "l'ho perduta, me meschina"  from the 'Marriage of Figaro' sung by Hayley Edwards (pictured).  Hayley is a young local singer who took the role of Jane in the recent Melbourne production of Mary Poppins.  It will be lovely to hear her perform at the Substation as part of the Carols Program.     

Photos from Farm Day: NBO at Sunbury

Here is the Newport Bush Orchestra in full swing on assigment in Sunbury.  This is the second year they have been invited to play for the fun day for Families of children with disabilities.  It was a lovely sunny day, the NBO was well fed, and they played for a good 2 hours to entertain the children and their families.  Just out of shot is a group of kids who got up to dance to the music.  It was a lovely day - and perfect setting for the Bush Orchestra to strut their stuff.  Well done Greg and the gang.

Carols at the Substation - Music Available

Rehearsals for the Carols at the Substation will be on this Thursday (29th Nov) at the Newport Bowls Club - ready to start playing at 7.30pm.  All are welcome - it is a great opportunity to play the old favourites with an orchestra.  All of the music is now available at this link if you would like to practice beforehand.
Merry Christmas

Newport Community Choir hits the recording studio

Last Wednesday the Newport Community Choir made the most of an opportunity to record some of their songs.  One of our members, Kerry Saxby, as well as being a reliable tenor, is the Technical Manager for the Melbourne Theatre Company.

Kerry kindly arranged for the choir to visit the Theatre Company’s rehearsal and construction space where there is a large recording studio fitted with state-of-the art equipment.

Of course we all turned up with bells on. No one was going to miss out on this wonderful choir opportunity. 

Our leader, Alan Davies, led us through three of our songs while Kerry arranged microphones and played with the levels as well as taking his spot beside his fellow choristers.

And guess what? The result wasn’t half bad. Our confidence grew as the session wore on. And most importantly we learned a lot about our sound and ways we can improve.

Following the recording, Kerry took us for a tour of the building, the props store, costume and millinery room, set building and design. Fabulous!

 

Big thank you to Alan for all his work and patience through out the year.

And a hearty applause, a bouquet and cheers for Kerry for arranging a very special choir experience. And lastly … happy birthday Kerry!

FYI

Melbourne Theatre Company is the oldest professional theatre company in Australia (founded in 1953) and one of the largest theatre companies in the English-speaking world. It is also the model for all the State theatre companies that followed. 

The Newport Community Choir grew out of a workshop that Alan Davies ran as part of the inaugural Newport Folk Festival.

Requiring no audition to join, just a willingness to learn, we have grown from a small group of a dozen to the point where we could now field and Australian Rules football team with reserves.

Under the guidance of our director, Alan Davies, we gather in Newport every Wednesday evening (during school terms) and over the past couple of years we have built a strong repertoire.

In a perfect world, we would all turn up for rehearsals every time and learn at the same rate but Alan recognises this is not the case and so uploads our songs onto the NFFC website so we can practice at home. You can check out our repertoire and resources.

Through out the year, Alan invites guest musicians and teachers to help us advance out skills and at the close of every term we celebrate either at the local pub or in one of our houses.

New members always welcome.

JK (soprano)

Our Jackie!

Congratulations to Jackie Kerin on the publication of her new children's book, Lyrebird! A True Story.   This has been a labour of love for a number of years which has produced a video (with music by fellow NCCF'ers Greg O'Leary and Michael Stewart), Read all about it in today's Age and watch out for the official launch of the book coming to Newport soon. 
Great work Jackie - we are very proud of your achievements.

A great night with Mike Compton and Fat Chance

About 100 people filled the Newport Bowls Club on Melbourne Cup Day for a wonderful night of music with Mike Compton. Support act Fat Chance got the night off to a great start with a set of lively songs. These guys' enjoyment of their music is infectious and the audience loved it. Fat Chance is Andrew Barcham (banjo), Don Gula (guitar) and Michael de Valle (double bass).

Then after a short break Mike Compton took the stage and showed why he's in demand as a performer right across the USA and worldwide. He can play up a storm on that mandolin, but he can also be meditative and lyrical. The music ranged from bluegrass to slow blues and folk songs, with Mike's simple, authentic singing style complementing the mandolin on some numbers. Much of the time however he just let the mandolin take centre stage, and in his hands that small instrument is plenty. Actually he swapped around between two mandolins and a mandola (a slightly bigger version, as the viola is to the violin). All the instruments were made by Australian luthier Paul Duff. Mike brought Bruce Williams and Don Gula up for a couple of numbers too, including Bruce's classic song Too Much Fun.

The audience didn't want it to end but Mike has a busy touring schedule so after an encore the night was over. The buzz continued late into the night however; this concert will be remembered for a long time!

Michael deValle, Andrew Barcham, Mike Compton and Don Gula

prepare for the big night with a few laughs and a couple of tunes.