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)