Phew!

Well, that's You Can't Stop The Beat completed.

Regular viewers won't be surprised to note that it started in my head as a nice simple one! However, I hope you'll agree that more often than not, those that take a bit more work to get to grips with end up being more satisfying to sing.

We scratched the surface of The Sound Of Silence of course and I'm looking forward to continuing with it this week. As I mentioned, some little flourishes aside, the melody line is pretty well the same throughout the whole arrangement. So with a bit of luck, it'll be a nice easy one to learn.

Bury St Edmunds will be our test-subjects and we'll work out together how far we'll get with it on Monday. Hopefully, come Thursday at Thetford, I'll be all over it.

On that note, do remember that as member of Pop Club Choir you're welcome to come to any session at any location. No need to book in. Just rock up and sing!

Earlsham Hall

Thank you to Bungay member Lyn for inviting us to come and sing at Earlsham Hall last Sunday. Well done to Bungay for completing our first local gig with such aplomb. And thank you to everyone who came to support from Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds and Thetford. I know our Bungay members appreciate it – as do I. Our Bungay choir is the newest one and it always takes a bit of time to get a new choir up to a good strength.

We're back in the area in two weeks' time when we're very much hoping to raise our profile further, attract some new members and of course, have a great time singing.

If you've not yet signed up for Saturday 24th May at the Beccles Food Festival then please scroll down to the Calendar section below and let me know you're coming! Aside from being a great day out, it's another opportunity to put our Bungay choir on the map!

Mini-Tour

Many of you are coming down to sing for the St Elizabeth Hospice Midnight Walk this evening and lots of you are coming Sunday too, to Sproughton Beer Festival. We've done both of this gigs before and I for one am looking forward to a busy but fun weekend.

Tonight at the Midnight Walk, the first walkers should start coming through at around 10.10pm so please aim to be there for around 9.40pm. There's no parking at the hospice itself but the surrounding streets should be fine. If anyone has any mobility issues then please give me a shout and we'll get you a bit closer.

If you're using your lyrics pad then a torch (or even a head-touch if you possess such a thing) might not be a bad idea. I'm going to try to get some lights up behind us to give you a fighting chance. Alternatively, keep your eyes on me and I'll mouth the lyrics as best I can.

Half Term

Next week is Week 5 of our ten week term so the following week (week starting Monday 19th May) is half term so there'll be no regular rehearsals. I'm off to Italy for a couple of days with eldest daughter where I'm meeting up with a few Italian choir leaders to swap notes, or condividere appuniti, if you prefer. Non vedo l'ora.

Once back I'll be cracking on with preparing the remaining songs for the term. Very much hoping to do two more in this term, plus The Sounds Of Silence which we've already started, of course.

No video recap this week as I covered what I taught this week for You Can't Stop The Beat in last week's epic production. Do please spend a bit of time with the recaps and the rest of the downloads if you're able to. However, before I whizz off, I'm hoping to do a recap video for The Sound Of Silence to cover this week's teaching and next week's too.

Merchandise

Apologies to anyone who's not been able to buy merch recently, or at least, merch of the correct size. I have had some problems with our supplier but have finally got some more samples from the same people who produce our hoodies so will be getting a new order in on Monday.

I've been investigating whether getting you to order directly from the manufacturers would be viable – there are few companies who offer this service. However, it means we'd only get 'one-off' prices which would make things substantially more expensive for you folks. So, a house full of cardboard boxes and a few hours of folding and bagging seems like a more agreeable option!

Put A Face To A Name

Finally, just a quick reminder to upload a photo to the website (scroll down a little to the section called Upload Your Picture). No one else can see it so no need to worry about getting the perfect portrait. It's really useful for me but it's also nice to be able to help you out when you need to know the name of the person you've been sitting next to for the last six months.

If you have any problems then you can always send me a picture by email or whatsapp and I'll upload it for you. You can email me at ed@popclubchoir.uk, or WhatsApp on 07973 110075.

Ed X