Red Is The Colour!!!

So, we decided that for our performance at the Bath Music Festival on Friday evening, GGCC would wear red tops and black trousers/skirts. When the GGCC members arrived at the venue it we saw a mass of red and black...from another choir!!! So, red is obviously the choir to wear this season!!! I was slightly concerned that as the other red and black wearing choir was singing first, late GGCC arrivals would see the red on stage and rush to the front and join in!

However, we did look great, all in our red and what's more we sounded...BRILLIANT!!! From the moment we started warming up in the crypt (what is about us and rehearsing in crypts!), we were on the button. Tight harmonies, great diction, high energy levels and big smiles. What more could a choir director want?!!

I think starting with the 'flash mob' style Great is He was really different to the other choirs and set the tone perfectly for our half hour slot. Hold On acapella...wow, goosebumps are us! I could go on about all the different songs but really I just need to say I was so proud to be leading such a wonderful choir. I know Heather was too (loved the trumpet solo!). Beautiful solos too and of course big shout out to Winston for accompanying us so well, we love working with you!

It was wonderful to hear three other great choirs too, Bath Community Gospel Choir, Youthful Spirit and Renewal. Altogether an inspiring, uplifting and fun evening. Thank you to the organisers for inviting us and hosting a fab event.

So the big question left is...what colour shall we wear next?!!

Pause and Reflect

So, here we are in April 2014, about to start the first ever GGCC Summer term of rehearsals!!! Yes, after a fantastic series of concerts before Easter we don't have to wait until September to see each other again. All three choirs are going to continue to meet but fortnightly instead of weekly and will take a break over the school Summer holidays.

Before we start to look forward to what the future has, I just want to reflect on the amazing term we just had! It was a term that started in the middle of a wet, windy winter. For many of us the thought of going out into the miserable weather each Tues, Wed or Thurs wasn't a pleasant one! But I know every time I turned up to lead, from the moment we started our warm ups I knew it was gonna be good, everyone was ready to learn and brought energy and smily faces with them. 

We revisited some songs we have done in GGCC before. 'Bless the Lord with me', 'Here is love vast as the ocean' and 'Shackles'. We had some new ones too 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty' which created led really to the other 'Holy, holy, holy'. We sang an original arrangement of 'Turn your eyes upon Jesus' and added 'Make you feel my love/everybody needs love' to our ever expanding repertoire. It was great to have some new soloists volunteer too. LaShauna did a great job of 'Shackles', despite being incredibly nervous and it being the first time she's ever done anything like that! Mair sang a verse of 'Here is love' in welsh for us which was beautiful and we discovered a few other welsh speakers along the way who joined her! 

We had a bit of fun with some exercises to help us focus on our performance too. I think the singing in a big group while keeping balloons up was a great tool and really helped people to begin to not just focus on the notes but also what was going on around them. It was also a lot of fun! We discovered together how powerful singing 'Hold On' was in a big circle and then felt it would be great to surround our audience and sing it to them. 

About to sing 'Hold On' around our Shirehampton audience

We had fun playing people bingo at our socials and have discovered that we have many Brussel Sprout lovers and people who speak Spanish!

We were brilliantly accompanied by Winston Edwards for a few rehearsals and he put together a top band for us again for the concerts.

The wonderful Winston!

The GGCC leadership team were a top bunch again. Heather with her fab directing and Ruth & Rob with their beautiful duet and general all round support. I love working with these guys, we have a lot of laughs together!

The list of things to reflect on could go on and on but I'll finish with a summary of concerts and then leave you with some pics from the Shirehampton one. 

I was blown away by the very first concert this time. I usually expect there to be nerves and still a few mistakes which get ironed out over the next concerts. Not this time! The choir proved this theory wrong! They sang with such enthusiasm and accuracy I was so, so proud. And they did it to a packed audience at Shirehampton Baptist. The levels of energy that were coming from the choir from the very first song 'Bless the Lord with me' were at record highs and the audience really responded to that. It was the perfect way to start a concert series. From then on we were flying and our evenings in Easton at House of Praise and Thornbury at Thornbury Baptist provided further opportunities to show what a great choir GGCC are...but we knew that already!

Our first GGCC concert in the newly refurbished Shirehampton Baptist Church, lovely venue.

The GGCC team with Rachel sing 'You Never Let Go'

Our wonderful audience. The church was packed out.

Some of our lovely GGCC members

We were also able to capture a few of the songs on film. Here are some links to our You Tube channel. GGCC sing 'You are mighty & Shackles' & Make you feel my love featuring Ruth & Rob

So, we now start a Summer of fun! We are singing out and about at the Noise Fun afternoon at Rawnsley Park, Easton on 3rd May, singing at Gospel evening in Bath Music Festival on Fri 16th May then taking part in the Easton Arts Trail in June. Check out our website Check out our website for more up to date news

Concerts are booked!!!

So, all our Spring 2014 concerts are booked and the posters have been done! We start with a concert on Sunday 30th March at Shirehampton Baptist Church which brilliantly coincides with being at the end of a weekend celebrating the opening of their newly refurbished building! Then we travel to Easton on Wed 2nd April and will perform at the House of Praise Church, 2 Tudor Rd, BS5 6BW at 7.30pm and from there we go to Thornbury on Friday 4th April. We'll sing at Thornbury Baptist Church, Gillingstool at 7.30pm.

It's all very exciting and the songs we have chosen are going to be brilliant...not that I'm biased of course!!!

See you there!

Sing to Live...the series!

So, I've been a bit slow getting the blog updated I'm afraid, have been pretty busy running three choirs!!!

But, it is now the end of week two rehearsals, I've just come home after the Easton one, had my lunch and feel it's time to reflect!

All three choirs have done a great job these past two weeks, positively eating up the songs. We've actually finished teaching the parts for three songs already...ok they may need a bit more practice and tweaking but the foundations are there! Heather did a sterling job teaching in week one at Thornbury with a decidedly dodgy throat, the Shire gang shivered their way through two rehearsals without heating and Em featured in a new series on You Tube all about people in the choir called 'Sing to Live'! If you haven't seen it yet, click here . Em's hubbie Var has been doing the filming and he's just filmed the second instalment which will be live tomorrow...who will it be about though? You'll have to wait and see!

Em taking the Easton GGCC gang through their warm ups

Em teaching the Thornbury GGCC crew how not to dance!!!

So, next week the Thornbury and Shire choirs have their socials...a cuppa and cake after rehearsal. Not great for Em's waistline as she will be going to both!!! Not sure what we will do for Easton, maybe a spot of lunch together one week after rehearsal.

Well that's it for now...take care!

Amazing Concerts!

So, I am sitting in my office, trying to stay warm, reflecting on what has been an amazing term for GGCC. So many things to be thankful for. Not least the three brilliant performances the choir gave for our end of term concerts!

First up was St Peters in Lawrence Weston on 28th November. The first concert is always the hardest and also happened to be the only one we did acapella. But cheering us on big style from the back was the lovely Geraldine (for those of you who don't know, she started GGCC and left Bristol earlier this year!) who travelled all the way from London just to see us. The church was shall I say 'on the cool side' but the choir's energetic singing soon warmed the place and the audience which was shall I say 'on the small side' gave us a big hand and really joined in well when they had the opportunity. We had lovely refreshments…in abundance, thanks to the Shirehampton GGCC choir. Heather and Emma felt really proud of the choir and all those who sang in small groups, they did a top job.

Next, was House of Praise Church in Easton on Sunday 1st December. Right from the warm ups at the start, we could tell the choir had picked up more confidence as a result of Thursday's concert. We knew it was going to be a good night and we were right!!!

In position just before the start

The church was shall I say 'on the warm side' so we were all soon guzzling our water! We were accompanied by our amazing band, Winston on keys,  John (JT) on bass,  Larry on lead guitar and Richard on drums. The Flash Mob start to the concert was brilliant, the audience joined in with lots of energy and the choir looked like they were having so much fun. From that point on we had a great time, all those weeks of rehearsals really paid off and I think it's safe to say we left on a high.

Emma introducing the choir

Then there was just our Thornbury concert left. That was on Wednesday 4th December at Thornbury Baptist Church. The church was packed out was which really encouraging, especially as this was the first time GGCC had performed there. Again we were accompanied by our wonderful band, so grateful to them they complimented the choir perfectly. You could sense that the choir really knew what they were doing in this concert as they had already pulled off two great performances. We were able to have some fun and smiles were in abundance. Heather and Emma both had a blast leading the choirs and by the end of the evening had a real sense of achievement, both for the choir and for themselves personally.

Ending the concert with 'He reigns' aka 'Sing praises'!!!

Thank you to everyone in GGCC for all your hard work, you are amazing! We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year and we look forward to seeing you when rehearsals start on 15, 16 & 17th Jan 2014!

Last Rehearsal…Big Success!!!

Last night saw all three GGCC choirs come together for our last rehearsal at Thornbury Baptist Church. We were joined by our band who will be accompanying us at Easton and Thornbury concerts. Right from the start there was a sense of excitement in the air and once we got singing it was amazing!

Big thanks to all in GGCC who came, it was a way to travel for lots so we really appreciated the fact that so many made a big effort to come. Also big thanks to all the small groups/duets…well done, we know it's a bit nerve wracking but you all did a great job. Big thanks to Ruth for serving us all lovely cups of tea as we arrived and to our lovely PA guy, Will. Oh and of course not forgetting the band, Winston, John, Larry & Richard…you guys were great!

So, we're now ready for our first concert…on Thursday! 7.30pm @ St Peters, Ridingleaze, Lawrence Weston, BS11 0NN…see you there!!!

Concerts are a-coming!!!

So, next week on Thursday, we have our first GGCC Autumn concert!!! Amazing!!! Here is poster:

We are really looking forward to sharing what we have learned together with our lovely audiences. All concerts are free to get in…and out! So do come along.