Yesterday was a Wednesday and as is deemed by the Gods of singing and music we were engaging in Zoomtastic singing with our choir master Andy Jackson and a group of 17 amazing Scratch choir members.
The date has to be recorded as this was indeed a special day, it was 31st March 2021 - the sun came up it was blue and gold.
The plan was to sing the entire red book, 27 songs in all; in an hour and a half - was it possible (it had been tried before), we had to try again. It had never fully been accomplished in 17 years.
Bang on 19:30 the choir assembled, a quiet hush descended (everyone had muted) and the singing began with the first song in everyone's singing bible (THE RED BOOK).
It was the 13th century hymn - ALLE PSALLITE.
And to follow were epics including: DONNA NOBIS PACEM and FACTORY GIRLS.
The beautiful Hebridean folk hymn MORNING HAS BROKEN quickly followed and the momentum was maintained by a herculean effort from everyone to not interrupt our choir master as he switched between Guitar/YouTube/Bandlab to accompany our singing challenge. It must be said that Andy has performed amazing miracles putting together so many Bandlab ensembles to heighten the Zoom experience and make our meetings so enjoyable.
The Spanish hymn SANTO was touching, SIAHAMBA was uplifting with intros and finales from the amazing Liz Coppock; TULA the South African lullaby nearly finished us all but there were four songs to go. And with gusto and a final push through WAIT FOR ME, WATERS OF BABYLON we arrived at the final song WE ARE GOING.
We had done it, unmuted we congratulated Andy on his direction and enthusiasm through the whole meeting but not only that, for his dedication, perseverance and education with the technology over our past Zoom gatherings. It was a great experience to finally complete a goal that had been set so many years ago and to finally achieve this was a milestone for everyone who was there.
A screen shot was taken of the zoom attendees holding up their Red Book's in celebration of our achievement but due to IT issues the photo wasn't saved and for that I am truly sorry.
Below is a list of the songs we sung on what was a special day.
