Voices in the Wilderness

VITW - Almost the Earliest Days: The Prospect Singers

The choir had not long been going when I joined in 2008. I had returned from some years overseas and was keen to sing again. Maggie and Robert suggested I give Friday morning a try at Prospect with someone called Jodie O’Regan. I fronted up a bit apprehensively to what had been (I think) the staff room of the former Nailsworth Primary School and now part of the Prospect public library. Maybe these choristers would have the kind of commitment I was interested in: doing things well and accurately, - decently and in order - as well as having fun. In fact, the harder the work the greater both the satisfaction and the fun.
Jodie impressed me, knocking a tuning fork on her head (a habit and skill that have persisted!) and deftly finding chords, just occasionally referring to a tiny keyboard called Rufus. Thank heavens, I thought; a leader who insists on a real attempt to listen, hear intervals and (Wonderful) sing in tune! And the work was all a cappella – just what I was interested in.
An early highlight (perhaps in 2008 or 2009) was singing for our supper to the Mayor and Councillors of Prospect who had invited us to council’s pre-meeting dinner, for reasons unknown – perhaps idle curiosity, perhaps as thanks for our occasional mini-concert on Friday mornings in the library. Sometimes we even had a small audience – usually mothers with little children.
Now, these several years later, we tend to rely a bit more on the piano for rehearsal and I sometimes yearn for the earlier days of heavy reliance on listening to the tuning fork and Jodie’s tuning wizardry. However, perhaps the piano must have its greater place; our repertoire is growing ever more demanding and that’s wonderful. So too is Jodie’s great sense of, “that was great; now if we could just do that phrase with shape and in tune…”