Sunday, December 5, 2010

Let It Snow. We Sang Anyway.

Service is our middle name.  No we don't fix cars but we sing in service to others.
Cambrocourt is a lovely seniors' apartment complex in Embro and we went over to sing some Christmas music for them.
Now let me tell you that this winter so far has had more than its share of snow even though by the calendar it isn't even winter yet.  So here we are, 16 days before winter and off to make music to bring some Christmas cheer.  The flakes (snow that is) were coming down but didn't look too dangerous as we parked at residence.  However, as we sang, the picture outside the windows got very white and thick.
We sang our few known songs and then did a Christmas sing along, but quick glances to the windows showed that the snow was ever heavier.
Although there was some lovely cider and cookies to be had, those of us who had to drive opted to get out to our cars.  Everyone helped get each car on the road because as soon as you had one part cleared it filled in again.  It was at least a 2 person job.
We all got home safely and hope we get asked back next year.  We will be checking the weather forecasts carefully if we do.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Hope for Haiti

ETS is growing and living up to its philosophy of service to the community.  We volunteered to participate in the second of the Hope for Haiti concerts to raise money for the rehabilitation of Haiti after the recent hurricane.

Joining with other community groups at St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Ingersoll was a treat and wonder of wonders, no one of us sang the same songs.  Thanks to Dave McDonald who made a DVD of our performance, we were able to see our performance afterwards.  However, the singers decided we needed improvement before we made it public.  That will be soon I am certain.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Embro Fair Talent Contest

We could earn our first money!!  One of our tenors, Doug, is on the Embro Fair Board and asked if we would consider entering the Embro Fair Talent Contest.  Well, of course we would.
The theme is Down Home on the Farm so we chose a couple of fun songs to sing.  We have an SAB arrangement of Oh What a Beautiful Morning and an SATB arrangement of Grandma's Feather Bed.  Now this is a fun song to sing.  Check out the lyrics and you will see what we mean.
But wait - 'cause that is what we had to do before we could sing and look as cute as we are above.  Kristi, our accompanist, had a championship ball game to play and they were later than they expected to be.  We had to be put last on the list and our audience and organizers were ever so patient.  In ran Kristi in her ball uniform, sat at the piano and away we went.
And - WE WON!!  We got the $100 prize for first place.  Mind you we had all ready spent $15 to enter so we netted $85.  That went a long way to paying for the music we had all ready purchased.  Yahoo.  Way to go ETS.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Our First Concert

The Embro Thistle Singers began with our first practice, Sunday, February 28, 2010.  It turned out to be a very balanced SATB sound and we had much fun experimenting with sound.
Because we started with no budget never mind money we borrowed our music.  We were given permission by the amazing, Ron McNutt to use some of his arrangements and thus one of our first pieces to perform is Memory from the musical Cats.
We were asked by the Knox United Church, an active and vibrant congregation meeting in an historic building,  Knox United Church to sing at a talent night and what fun it was.
Our modus operandi is to sing without using our sheet music and WE DID IT!!
We got rave reviews on our Memory, and Hallelujah (yes indeed the Leonard Cohen gem).
We know that Embro is full of talented people and we got to share the stage with many of them including a senior who is now taking piano lessons and played oh so well.
We enjoyed Scottish dancing and original song sung by the young composer while she played her own guitar accompaniment.
And so it begins----!