The Big Sing! Chester
The Big Sing! Chester Saturday 3rd July 2010 by Beryl
Choir members met in the Raven car park at 10am, unfortunately the mini bus booked had broken down the night before, but there were enough of us with cars to take everyone into Chester. We all met up at the town hall at for a briefing and we were provided with bottled water for the day.
At 12noon we gathered outside the Town Hall, with some of the other participating choirs; together with members of the general public, to take part in The Big Warm-up! After some cajoling, we mastered the song Radio Gaga, with the help of the children’s’ choirs. Those of us that had taken sandwiches sat in front of the Town Hall enjoying the buzz of the city and the sunshine, while others slipped into town to grab a bite to eat, before we embarked on our programme for the afternoon. We had four venues to cover; The Cathedral Bell Tower, The Cross, The Town Hall and outside Debenhams. Ruth Evans our talented leader put us through our paces, singing seven or eight songs at each venue, our multilingual repertoire enabling us to sing in Welsh, English and Latin.
Participating in the day were about five primary schools and one high school. There were 14 adult choirs covering a wide range of talent and expertise. From well-established choirs such as the Chester Male Voice Choir to the musically adept Duo Decimo and our own community choir Côr Dewi Sant. What we lacked in technical ability, we more than compensated with abundant enthusiasm. Our contribution was very well received by the public at all our performances especially on the main stage outside the Town Hall, We were informed at the briefing, that the Big Sing only started three years ago with three choirs. We all hope to be there next year, because the day was such fun.
After a little free time, we met up again at the Cathedral to join in a rehearsal for the evening’s concert. It was quite a daunting experience for most of us and we felt quite out of our depth in the company of the Chester Festival choir and the Cathedral choir. We did our best to take part, but it was a feat in itself to keep up with the music. But just letting the music drift over you was an uplifting experience. We at least could fully participate in the final item, belting out the familiar ‘Jerusalem’. Travelling home the comments made were unanimous, in that it had been a day well spent.