We have put Piece in the Valley (plus the other three songs) on the back burner, and we now have two new songs to learn.
Although they are fairly simple songs and very different in tempo, we are learning both similarly. We start by getting the notes in the right order, and then, piece by piece, we will build the jigsaw as the notes are replicated (well, nearly) for the remainder of the songs.
Walking on Sunshine is a song for British rock band Katrina and the Waves 1983 written by Kimberley Rew (the band’s guitarist)
Kimberley Rew told The Guardian in 2015, “I'd love to say Walking on Sunshine relates to a significant event in my life, like walking out of my front door, seeing a comet, and being inspired. But it's just a simple, fun, and optimistic song, despite us not being outstandingly cheery people. We were a typical young band, insecure and pessimistic. We didn't have big hair and didn't look anything like a Motown-influenced group. We lacked credibility or a fanbase in awe of our mystique. We were a second-on-the-bill-at-a-festival-in-Germany pop band. But we had this song."
The rest of the band did not like the song at first. Lead singer Katrina Leskanich thought "it wasn't really us", while bassist Vince de la Cruz found it irritating.
This song has a relentless riff running underneath all the time. Feel the pulse and keep the bounce going.
Sops and Altos start us off remembering that ‘sure’ and ‘door’ are short on ‘..baby I’m sure’ and …’knock on my door’
Tenors join in on the tune until their last notes where ‘..hold myself down’ goes up giving a slight clash with Sops and Altos, so keep it bright!
Basses now enter on ‘Cause I just can’t wait ….’
Tenors and Basses sing the tune for the chorus, ‘I’m walking on sunshine, Whoa oh’ while the Sops and Altos sing ‘Aah’s’ over the top.
Make it an open sounding ‘Aaah’ with an American twang!
And listen for the ‘Whoa – oh’ when your Aah note comes down.
This is repeated twice, and the third time, a triplet is sung together on ‘Whoa oh oh’ with a short ‘good’ before the ‘Hey’.
The ‘Hey’ should sound loud and jubilant
Tenors and Basses remember that only the word ’walk’ is on the beat in, ‘I’m walking on sunshine’ the rest of the phrase is OFF THE BEAT to give it that ‘rock’ sound’
This is the first piece of the jigsaw, so practice the timing. Then, next week, we can move on through the song, and it will be repeated with maybe a few adjustments along the way. A simple fun song, so lets have lots of fun, fun, fun singing it.
And So it Goes has a different feel and aims to sing this acapella. If possible, learn the words, or at least familiarise yourselves with them so you can look up to watch for Elliot/Eamonn to direct.
And So It Goes is a song written by Billy Joel in 1983, though it was not released until six years later.
Billy Joel wrote the song about a doomed relationship with model Elle Macpherson. Due to their 15-year age difference, their relationship was dramatic. In 1983, Macpherson was about 19 years old while Joel was around 34. Joel dated Macpherson for only a brief time and shortly after became involved with model Christie Brinkley. She ultimately became his second wife in 1985.
The song was inspired by the Scottish ballad Barbara Allen, and is unique for Joel as it is written in iambic tetrameter. In the original demo version of And So It Goes, Billy Joel sings the melody simply, accompanied by a simple piano backdrop, in a style reminiscent of a hymn.
Many subsequent artists have covered it. The King’s Singers and others have developed several vocal harmony arrangements of the song, which are often performed by high school and college choirs.
In our version, the Sop 1's and the Basses join forces. The Tenors are on the tune for the most part, and only a few notes at the end are harmonised.
The verses soar upwards
The altos have the most challenging part, with just note changes by semitones, but their jigsaw piece brings us together and makes us all sound wonderful.
Come in quickly after ‘…a sanctuary safe and strong’ into ‘To heal the wounds …’
When singing ‘past’ place the ‘t’ carefully on the end of the word. We don’t want any hissing!
In verse 2, the Sop 2s have a clashing ‘feel’, which should have a yearning sound.
Practice these two verses and in bed them in, and next week, we will be able to continue and then build the ebb and flow to give the song some shape and meaning.
Please bring all your music to date, including anything new, to Dropbox, as we will refresh some of the older songs so we don’t forget them!
And remember, let's have fun
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