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Newsletter #15
Newsletter for the Christchurch Liedertafel Male Voice Choir. Issue 15 October 2025 Editorial Nice to see the return of the sunny warm weather. We have had a busy time as a choir, and it is great to have your support with these performances. The aim is to promote the choir and get our presence out there, hopefully encourage new membership. At the moment membership seems to be one forward and two back so not the best for building numbers. We are reaching a critical mass stage where we can’t commit to things as we can’t be sure of numbers attending. When I joined the choir in 2008 there were 60 singing members. I was in awe of the sound when I first sang. It wasn’t quite the Welsh Tabernacle Choir but not far off it. The Christmas concert in the Cathedral that year was a standout for me as our guest artists were none other than Rodney Macann and Patrick Power. Rodney sang a beautiful rendition of O come O Come Emmanuel and then led us with Once in Royal Davids City. Later in the programme Rodney and Patrick sang, In the Depths of the Temple from the “Pearl Fishers. “Just before the Interval we were treated to three songs by the Christchurch Boys Choir, music arranged and conducted by none other than our own Thomas Woodfield. We also had Halswell School Vocal group and the Cecilian Singers performing. A very full and varied programme. It would be great to be able to bring some guest artists of this calibre back again to sing with us. It is amazing how much it lifts your own performance when singing with such talent. Something to aim for I feel. Please keep looking for singers to join us. This is getting to the desperate stage so please give it your best shot. MM. Dates for your Diary
Bill Olds, I have really enjoyed choral singing since primary school [Lumsden school with Brian Bailey] and then secondary school [St Andrews with Clifton Cook]. I love the sound of Choral Harmony. I like having picked up singing again over the past 20 years with Liedertafel. I am not a good sight reader but the mentoring really good. Bill has sung in several smaller groups within Liedertafel the most memorable being “Quicksilver.” Notes from the Podium One of the things that makes the biggest difference throughout the rehearsal process—especially now, as we enter the final half-dozen rehearsals for our last concert of 2025—is how we prepare between rehearsals, not just what we do together on a Monday night. With a programme like Season of Light, where atmosphere, clarity, and pacing matter so much, the small things really add up. Knowing your part is essential—but so is knowing what comes before your entry, what the other voice parts are doing beside you, and how the texture shifts within a verse. The more we engage with the score outside of rehearsal—even just marking breaths, dynamics, or revisiting tricky corners—the more rehearsal time can be spent shaping the music, rather than finding our way through it. Marking your score is also a way of honouring the rehearsal process. It helps us remember what we've discovered together. Those scribbled reminders—watch here, hold this note, softer here, breathe early in the shape of the vowel—are what turn a group of singers into a unified voice. And when we all take ownership of the music like that, the result is something more polished, more confident, and ultimately more meaningful—for us, and for the audience. Regards Thomas On a side note
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