2019 Soundtrack

It’s that time of year again – the time when I look back over the past year and decide what were the songs that mattered to me. Previous soundtracks are pre-2015, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. The first soundtrack post is also an exploration of how I engage with music.

Firstly, songs from AIV2019:

• Seal Lullaby by Eric Whitacre
  • despite being on the list last year, it gets another ‘honourable mention’, because we sang it in the concert as well as while floating in the sea at a social event.
• Magnificat by Kim Andre Anderson
  • A beautiful work that set the words of the magnificat (Mary’s glorious speech from Luke’s Gospel), in Latin, to music. The work was six pieces long, with different tempos, a soloist and choral soloist (from the choir), and was very fun to sing.
• Stars by Eriks Esenvalds
  • A beautiful work that set the words of a poem by Sara Teasdale to musical accompaniment made by tuned wine glasses, filled with specific amounts of water. These glasses were played by running a wet finger around the rim of the glass, and the amount of water in each glass corresponded to a different pitch.
• Sure on this Shining Night by Morten Laurisden
  • A beautiful song musing about the beauty of faraway stars. It has some lovely lyrics, for example, “I weep for wonder, wand’ring far alone… / for shadows, on the stars…”
  • This song is included on the list, however, because at the AIV camp revue the Perth University Choral Society (PUCS) performed a filk of it – keeping the tune and pacing, but with alternative lyrics. To give you a hint, the title was “Sure on this Friday Night”, with the alternative title “Maccas Run”. We then performed this to the conductor later, just for laughs. Loved it!

Moving away from AIV, the next songs are a set of three about being true to myself. That was one of my themes for 2019, building on previous years. I haven’t shared all of that journey with you, but I think I’ll be ready in 2020 to do so. Starting now.

You see, I’m bi – and probably demi, too. Not to mention doubly disabled, having Dandy Walker Syndrome and being autistic. I’ll share more of my journeys of understanding those parts of myself with you in other blog posts. Now, onto the songs:

• Brave (Sara Bareilles)
  • This song was first in my 2017 list, but it became more powerful for me in 2019. This song is a song that Sara wrote for a friend who was worried about coming out of the closet. Sara wrote it to encourage the friend to feel safe with her. This song is huge for me.
  • In 2017, I identified with Sara, though I was beginning to identify with the nameless friend. Now, I identify with both. I came out about my sexuality to my “choir family” at AIV, telling my truth as an intro before I sang Brave to them. I then repeated the song as a solo performance at the semester 1 LaTUCS concert. While the intervarsity choir community definitely isn’t perfect, without their support, it would’ve taken longer to discover who I really am, I think.
• Welcome to My Truth (Anastacia)
  • A song about being true to yourself, despite everything that gets thrown at you, and living your dreams. It’s about finding the courage to take off the “mask” you’ve been wearing as a disguise, to show and be proud of your true self.
  • I heard this song when I was about to come out as bi to other important family in my life. It reminded me that whatever the outcome, I know myself and my dreams – and what I don’t know, I’m finding out for myself.
• Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)
  • LaTUCS sang this song as part of our semester 1 concert. (We also watched the movie later.) I identify strongly with parts of this song for similar reasons to the above song.
  • It’s a well-known song, but if you really listen to it, it’s also a song about pain, rejection, loss – and choosing what matters to you and how you recover from it. In a way. I certainly took it that way when we ran through it at choir the week after I’d had a particularly important conversation that led to a rejection of part of my identity by others.

In 2019, I trialled going to two intervarsity choirs each week during semester. While I don’t think I’ll do the same this year (it was a bit much for me to continue on a regular basis), it was still fun.

• MonUCS songs:
  • One of the MonUCS songs I did was Song of the Dragonborn (Skyrim: Main Theme) (Lindsey Stirling, Peter Hollens).
  • We did plenty of others, including a performance of Brahms’ German Requiem, but that’s the one that sticks in my head most.
• LaTUCS songs:
  • Songs sung by LaTUCS this year included:
    • Counting Stars (OneRepublic),
    • Northern Lights (Ola Gjello),
    • What a Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong),
    • True Colours (Cyndi Lauper), aaaand:
    • The Four Chords Song (Axis of Awesome).
  • Do yourself a favour and check out the latter here. It’s cool.

Edited to add: I can’t believe I nearly forgot the Come From Away soundtrack. I’m going to put Welcome to the Rock and Me and the Sky in here too.

That was my soundtrack for 2019.

In 2020, I hope to stop procrastinating and purchase songs on my to-buy list, keep singing in LaTUCS, go to QIV2020, attend other choral concerts and singing opportunities, and keep developing my appreciation for how music moves me. In that light, I thought I’d end by quoting a blog post I wrote back in October.

I have several passions …. [including] music; listening to it, relaxing with it, and performing it.

Last Friday’s [Brahms] concert was fantastic. It was hard work – I wasn’t as relaxed as I was in other concerts. But I feel really happy about it all the same. The reason for that is …. a number of people were there who’d personally either bought a ticket from me, or came at my recommendation, because I was singing.

Afterwards, they were of course the people whose opinions I cared about the most. So to see their happiness and excitement at what we’d performed – pardon the pun, but it made my heart sing. When someone else gets a thrill from watching me do something I love and do it well – it makes me very happy. It fills me up, completely.

Partly, it’s because it is a gift that is shared. I am forever sharing “me” through my passions. But society’s rules and expectations, the way that quirkiness is looked down on because it’s different, meant that I struggled with fitting in for a long time. Anxiety, especially social anxiety, is a leftover gremlin from that. Finding LaTUCS, then the rest of the choir network, helped me become more comfortable in being “me” – because in the choir(s), we’re united through a love of music and a love of sharing that through choral singing. Regardless of our differences.

Being able to share that with the people I love, my friends and family, is wonderful. So I say to you: support your friends in their passions. Go see us perform, or ask us about our current project. Watch us light up and understand: It means the world to us. Often, we’ve spent a long time hiding or minimising our passions and ourselves. Being supported and seeing our friends enjoy what we do? It makes us feel seen. And loved.

Taken from “Reflections”: October 7th 2019. https://myzania15.wordpress.com/2019/10/07/reflections-2/

Life update

How are we doing?

I’m writing this on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Thank goodness for those, because the rest of the weekend is busy – the week has been too. I’ve had choir rehearsal three times since Tuesday, a work end-of-year event last night, and the first carols concert today. Tomorrow is the big concert – if you’re attending the Monash Carols by Candlelight event at Jells Park, you’ll see me as a soprano as part of the choir. Should be fun, if a bit exhausting. I’ve already scheduled Monday as a crash day. I love singing and carols but I need my downtime too, especially when all the events are on the same weekend. What’s your favourite carol?

Throughly fed up with politics at the moment. Australia is led by a fascist government. If you’re in the UK, vote so Labour will win – politics is not a bloody popularity contest!!

It was International Day of People with Disability on Tuesday, a day to “to promote understanding of the issues facing people with disability, and to push for change”. On that theme, if you want to read a couple of young people’s perspectives on their disability, check out Ben’s and Carletta’s stories from the Every Australian Counts website.

I’m relaxing this lazy Saturday afternoon by listening to Queen videos. If I had a time machine and money, I’d go attend famous musical performances, like Live Aid. That reminds me… I need to create my 2019 song playlist.

The holidays are nearly here, meaning that in two weeks I’ll have completed a year of work! I’ve learnt a lot during that time. #proud

Hope your lead-up to the holiday period is smooth, that you have enough time off, and your holidays are relaxing!

Reflections

Hi again!

I cringed when I looked at the date of my last published post and realised I hadn’t written a thing since August 14th. That’s nearly eight weeks – wowzers! Guess I got distracted by other things. Hopefully this month will be better, though I make no promises; I’ve learnt by now how hectic life can be and how easily distracted I sometimes get. (Case in point: I meant to start this blog post this morning, not at 21:30 at night. 😛 )

So, in the past eight weeks, what have I been up to?

• I’ve attended another SCA event and had some fun there. I think I might stick around. 😉
• I’ve done lots of admin for work
• I’ve learnt how to do my version of a fine motor/ handwriting program at work (work in progress)
• Same with an emotional regulation program
• I watched the intensity of the Global Climate Strikes – young people to the front for the future! (I hope to write more about this at some point)
• I’ve attended many hours of choir rehearsal, as the semester “sped up” and we prepared in earnest for the concerts of this semester
• I’ve baked various different things, in order to have something to eat for breakfast that I can eat on the go and doesn’t easily go soggy (I’m fussy about that 😉 )
• I’ve tried out a few recipes, too – hopefully I’ll put them on the blog soon.
• I got sections of my hair coloured – I’ll show you a pic or two some other time, when I’m more organised
• I’ve learnt things about myself, really trying to understand how and why I think or feel or do things a particular way
• I watched, with my family, from home as the Richmond Tigers won another premiership – go Tiges! – and reflected on club cultures and community.
• I went camping (properly, in a tent!) and had fun – campfires, so many animals, toasted marshmallows and fruit damper and coal-roasted potatoes…
• Oh and last Friday? I performed in one of the choir concerts of this semester – MonUCS’ Ein Deutsches Requiem. I Had Some Thoughts after that…

In the list above, I mentioned that I’ve been doing a lot of self-reflection about what makes me, ‘me’. I have several passions – some are small or about “things”, e.g. my favourite animals are dogs, and I’m one of those people who always likes to say hi to the dog, and often makes up what an animal’s thinking based on their expression/ behaviour. Other passions are bigger and are more, I realise, things “to do” and “to be”. Like story-telling (which I’ve spoken about before and will do so again later) – and music; listening to it, relaxing with it, and performing it.

Last Friday’s concert was fantastic. It was hard work – I wasn’t as relaxed as I was in other concerts. But I feel really happy about it all the same. The reason for that is how many people watched us. We had a decent audience (a fact I’d been slightly concerned about, given the large capacity of the venue) – and more importantly to me, a number of people were there who’d personally either bought a ticket from me, or came at my recommendation, because I was singing.

Afterwards, they were of course the people whose opinions I cared about the most. So to see their happiness and excitement at what we’d performed – pardon the pun, but it made my heart sing. When someone else gets a thrill from watching me do something I love and do it well – it makes me very happy. It fills me up, completely.

Partly, it’s because it is a gift that is shared. I am forever sharing “me” through my passions. But society’s rules and expectations, the way that quirkiness is looked down on because it’s different, meant that I struggled with fitting in for a long time. Anxiety, especially social anxiety, is a leftover gremlin from that. Finding LaTUCS, then the rest of the choir network, helped me become more comfortable in being “me” – because in the choir(s), we’re united through a love of music and a love of sharing that through choral singing. Regardless of our differences.

Being able to share that with the people I love, my friends and family, is wonderful. So I say to you: support your friends in their passions. Go see us perform, or ask us about our current project. Watch us light up and understand: It means the world to us. Often, we’ve spent a long time hiding or minimising our passions and ourselves. Being supported and seeing our friends enjoy what we do? It makes us feel seen. And loved.

Thank you to everyone who came to last Friday’s performance.

Choir Concert Season – Semester 1, 2019

It’s that time of semester again. Choirs are in the final weeks of preparation for semester 1 concerts. It’s been a bit strange for me – it’s my first year of experiencing this from a non-student choir member perspective, for one. For another, I’m singing in two choirs this year – LaTUCS and MonUCS. So that’s double the work – and fun. I just spent the weekend at a choir camp (for the latter choir) and then an all-day rehearsal (for the former), in preparation.

Below are the concerts coming up around Australia for the various choirs of the Australian Intervarsity Choral Societies Association (AICSA). I’ve grabbed them from Facebook, so follow the links to nab tickets! 😀

On Saturday, May 11th at 7:00PM, Sydney University Madrigal Society’s first concert of the year, Sublime & Ridiculous, will take you on an adventure to the weird and wonderful world of Renaissance musical humour. Check out the Facebook event for details! https://www.facebook.com/events/2365750140315595

ANU Choral Society’s next concert is on Sunday the 19th of May at 5PM at St Peter’s Church in Reid, Canberra. SCUNA will be performing some much-loved gems of the repertoire, including Purcell’s ‘Come Ye Sons of Art’ and Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria’. Tickets are just $15 and the concert will be held at St Peter’s Lutheran Church in Reid, 5pm on Sunday 19 May. Join them for a lovely evening of music-making! Tickets via www.trybooking.com/489818

Step into a world of pure imagination with MonUCS: Monash University Choral Society! MonUCS will weave magic with music from many realms, including Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and Lord of the Rings. They’ll be performing at Chapel off Chapel in Prahran, 25 May, 5:30pm and 8:30pm. Tickets available via https://chapeloffchapel.com.au/…/pure-imagination-fantasy-…/

Join LaTUCS for an evening of fun on Thursday 23rd May! See the Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/881387645531998/?ti=icl

Join QUMS: Queensland University Musical Society as they present a concert of Afternoon Delights: QUMS Presents a Day at the Proms, a concert filled with classic tunes such as Vivaldi’s Gloria in D and Handel’s Hallelujah chorus. No afternoon soirée would be complete without complimentary afternoon tea and homemade treats! There’s also a raffle with great prizes. Saturday, 1st June at 15:30. Afternoon Delights: QUMS Presents a Day at the Proms

20 Years of ROCS: help the RMIT Occasional Choral Society celebrate 20 wonderful and successful years of existence! Saturday, 8th June at 18:00. 20 Years of ROCSRMIT University – Kaleide Theatre

Singing for life

This year I’m singing in two choirs: the Monash University Choral Society (MonUCS) and the La Trobe University Choral Society (LaTUCS). It means my Tuesday and Wednesday evenings are taken during semesters (starting this week!). I love it.

No matter the stress or processing load of the day, I can walk into choir and relax during the singing parts. If I’ve had a busy day I need to give myself alone time before I can “people”, or interact with others, as despite my extraversion crowds can be overwhelming, especially at the end of a long day. (More on that in another post.) The actual rehearsal bits are fun regardless. I love getting into the rhythm of songs.

This year is different too, as I am no longer a student and therefore aren’t the one organising things. It’s nice to be on the other side and I have confidence in the current committees.

Today both LaTUCS and ROCS (RMIT Occasional Choral Society) are taking part in promo events on campus at Bundoora and Melbourne city respectively. I wish them luck!

If you’re interested in singing, why don’t you come over and have a go? Our choirs have no auditions and are very friendly places. Everyone can sing in my opinion – and singing is good for you, too.

Singing is such a big part of my life and I wouldn’t change that for the world.

2018 Soundtrack

A well overdue post. For those who mightn’t have seen my previous soundtracks, every year since 2015 I’ve been posting a soundtrack of the year that’s been. Previous soundtracks are pre-2015, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Let’s get started on the 2018 ones:

MIV2018 Songs. Ah, MIV. It was a great experience and I’m very proud to have been part of the organising committee. I enjoyed the songs we sang, and I had a few favourites.

• I Was Glad (Parry) – the big entrance piece, with organ accompaniment. We sound really strong in this one.
• Lamentations, Light and Hope (Winikoff) – I love this one not just because it’s the Sop & Alto piece, but also I’ve found myself humming it to myself during different events. It is a song of womanhood and power – crying out in anguish, lighting the way, and rising triumphant.
• Light of Life (Elgar) (especially No. 6, “Light Out of Darkness“) – I enjoyed our major work. The reason No. 6 gets a special mention is it’s the first all-choral piece in the work, our entry is built up with a lot of orchestral lead-in, and we enter superbly. Glorious.

My Eurovision 2018 songlist of favourites were as follows (in no particular order) –

• Higher Ground (Rasmussen)
• La Forza (Elina Nechayeva)
• Monsters (Saara Aalto)
• Mercy (Madame Monsieur)
• You Let Me Walk Alone (Michael Schulte)
• Non Mi Avete Fatto Niente (Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro)
• Nova Deca (Sanja Ilic & Balkania)
• Hvala, ne! (Lea Sirk)
• Tu Canción (Amaia & Alfred)
• Storm (SuRie)

Then there were songs from local choir concerts I listened to or performed in. From a MonUCS concert, I have:

• Affirmation (Savage Garden) – I love this song. I first heard it ages ago, but it didn’t fully catch me then. Thanks to MonUCS singing it, I heard it anew.
• The Longest Time (Billy Joel) – the song with the tenors leading. ❤
• Some Nights (fun.) – loved the performance of this.
• Sing! (Pentatonix) – an ode to singing.

From LaTUCS concerts, there were:

• Shosholoza (Ndebele folk song) – this song has a powerful history. It’s a call and response song, is very enjoyable and can be easily used for spontaneous singing.
• Seal Lullaby (Eric Whitacre) – ❤ ❤ I love this song. It’s a lovely melody – apparently, it was written to be one of the songs in a potential Disney movie that was never made.
• Sanctifez Vos Ames (Lorraine Manifold) – a lovely rhythmic song written in French, with nice harmonies; written by the LaTUCS conductor.
• Fleeting Moment (Lorraine Manifold) – another one from our conductor, notable because it was a lovely flowing song with great harmonies and included a great high A for the sopranos (the sort that feels very nice to hit perfectly – gotta love that soprano rush!)
• If I Were A Bell (from Guys and Dolls) – I sang a solo in the LaTUCS concert #2 and this was the song I sang. I pulled it off pretty well I think.

Other songs to note include:

• How Far I’ll Go (Moana) – the live-action video clip of this is magic. It started playing when I was at the gym one day and I paused to listen, caught. A song of endings, beginnings and finding [my] own path.
• Most Girls (Hailee Steinfield) – I heard this song in a similar way. I really like it. We, women, are awesome.

Also, a few “finishing” songs – 2018, the last few months of it, were a succession of endings and beginnings. These were some of the songs that played at those events (like, for example, the Accommodation Services Gala Awards):

• I’m Coming Home (Vance Joy)
• I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Whitney Houston)
• Can’t Stop This Feeling (TROLLS)

ETA: I nearly forgot, but another set of songs were important to me this year: BodyPump’s release #106 soundtrack. This was my soundtrack as I learnt BodyPump and learnt that I love it! These songs take me back there (listen to a Spotify playlist of them).

• Still the One (Hardwell & Kill The Buzz feat. Max Collins) – warm-up track, setting up, getting in position;
• I Am Here (P!nk) – squats, wow, oof; this one is one of the big workouts of the set and the song is an unapologetic anthem to being seen (for me, anyway)
• Little Thing Gone Wild (Wildcat Wonder Wall) – chest track
• Say Less (Dillon Francis feat. G-Eazy) – the back track, “say yes to the clean and press”
• Tell Me You Love Me (MeGalantis & Throttle); Walk On Water (Thirty Seconds To Mars); Coco’s Miracle (Club Mix) (Fedde Le Grand & Dannic vs Coco Star) – all of these have good beats to move to and cover the triceps, biceps and shoulder tracks; I can’t remember which covers which.
• Tribes (Chase & Status) – lunge track, ugh; good song for a tough (for me) set.
• Revenge (P!nk feat. Eminem) – abs/core, another tough workout aided by a good beat.
• Stargazing Kygo feat. Justin Jesso – the cool down track

That’s a wrap of 2018 songs. I might think of others, but they’re more likely to go into the 2019 song-list, given the date.

It’s choir concert season again!

I’ve been doing a little bit of this, a little bit of that this week. I’m looking forward to this weekend though, as on Sunday (Oct 7th), MonUCS are putting on a concert with the MMO (Monash Medical Orchestra) and I will be going to see it. I’ve heard a little bit about the repertoire and it sounds really good. Tickets are selling fast. 😀

Here’s the Facebook event with ticketing link, should you be interested. The blurb says,

“MonUCS and MMO are thrilled to present to you our first concert together, ‘Convergence’. Led by the amazing Robert Dora, ‘Convergence’ features an exciting choral-orchestral repertoire.

Be blown away by Fauré‘s Requiem Op.48, featuring solo performances by Maria-Cristina Keightley and Oliver Mann. The popular hit This Is Me from The Greatest Showman Soundtrack will leave you dazzled, and an enchanting medley from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will get you pumped for its second movie release in November.”

Should be heaps of fun.

I’ve also heard of a number of other performances coming up this month, as October really is choir (etc.) concert season around here (and I love it).

This Friday and Saturday there’s a joint production by Monash University Centre for Theatre and Performance and Vision Australia. Facebook event here.

“Monash University Centre for Theatre and Performance and Vision Australia join forces to present FIGMENT, a work of immersive theatre created for sighted and vision-impaired audiences alike.
Created by Jolyon James and Simone French in collaboration with graduating students from Monash University’s renowned theatre program and clients from Vision Australia, this is a new approach to inclusive storytelling.
Figment questions how we perceive the world, exploring a colour cycle through non-visual means. The production aims to set a standard: creating work as exciting and accessible for vision impaired audiences as it is sighted audiences.”

In Perth, WA, the Perth University Choral Society (PUCS) are performing on October 13th. Facebook event here.

“The Perth Undergraduate Choral Society presents “A Light in the Dark”. Listen to composers through the ages conjure a magical journey of shadow and light. Be dazzled by the shimmering luminescence of Eric Whitacre, Thomas Tallis and J. S. Bach. Be chilled by the moving depths of Susan LaBarr, Gabriel Fauré and Morten Lauridsen. This will be a performance of truly beautiful choral music.”

The other one I have for you today is one from the FedUni Arts Academy, in Ballarat Victoria. Ticketing link here. It has a number of shows, from Thursday 25th to Sunday 28th October.

“Spanning one hundred and fifty years of toil, hardship, and devastating etcetera, The Sovereign Wife is one woman’s epic journey across our sunburnt country – from country Victoria all the way to the Simpson Desert.”

I’ll tell you about others as I know about them, or as the promo materials are released.

Life, and…

Hi all.

I’m writing this on Sunday evening after a nice weekend. Fun, but tiring.

I spent Sunday afternoon reading through a book called Space Opera. It is Eurovision in space, where the stakes are high and Earth’s hopes for their first (and possibly last!) entry rest on a couple of misfits.

Utter ridiculousness ensues, with the small semblance of plot finding time to make broad geopolitical commentary amidst heady descriptions and a dizzying pace.

I expected a light-hearted romp featuring a starry-eyed main star and got a tragicomedy drama with a bunch of cynics. Also, unexpectedly, quite a lot of feels.

Hoping that this week’s literature search for the project is a bit easier than last week’s.

I’m halfway through my second-last uni subject! Wow!

 

More Concerts!

Last night’s concert went well if I do say so myself. Go LaTUCS!

We realised at the dress rehearsal the night before that we performed our 2017 May concert on exactly the same date! Funny coincidence.

Now I have to refocus back to uni, but there are other concerts by other university choirs happening soon. I’ll see the ROCS one, Internet Through the Ages, next week on Saturday evening. In fact, there are several concerts happening next weekend as well as this one.

EDITED to add: Queensland University Choral Society (QUMS) are holding a concert with the The 810 Clarinet Quartet, The University of Queensland Chamber Choir and The Stuartholme Singers this Saturday 2nd June, in Brisbane: Colin Brumby, A Retrospective. Sounds fun!

Over in Perth, they’re presenting, “Invictus: Freedom is Coming” on 17th June, back by popular demand after the first concert sold out! So get tickets quickly.

If you’re in Sydney, you can go to the Greenway Series and see Sydney University Choral Society (SUMS) and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music on June 1st and 2nd. You could also go to Violets in Her Lap, a performance by Sydney University Madrigals Society (MADS), the following weekend (June 9th).

Adelaide University Choral Society (AUCS) are performing Faure Requiem on June 1st. Incidentally, they’re also hosting the next Intervarsity Choral Festival, Adelaide IV 2019, in January next year. They’re holding a movie fundraiser tomorrow (May 26th) – a screening of the new movie, Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Also tomorrow is a concert from the ANU Choral Society (SCUNA) in Canberra, Four Seasons by Haydn.

Finally, in Ballarat, the 2nd Year Music Theatre group of FedUni are in the middle of perfoming a set of shows called, The Wide Blue. There are still tickets available for tonight and tomorrow afternoon!

Chookas to all the performing people. I love concert season!

Sing it out as hard as you can…

On Saturday night I was in the audience for the Monash University Choral Society’s  Music Through Time concert. It was fantastic.

Each time I go to one of these I’m reminded of why I keep going. It’s so wonderful to watch friends and other choir members perform songs I know they’ve been working hard on all semester and seeing them having fun whilst doing so. The songs alternately moved me, roused me and entertained me. As I said to a few people after the concert, they all “gave me feels” and it was awesome.

MonUCS introduced me to songs I hadn’t heard before and to new arrangements of old favourites. They sang songs ranging from 12th-century classical through the centuries to 20th-century jazz and pop/alternative, right to 21st-century pieces. There were whole-choir pieces, sung acapella and with accompaniment, as well as solo and small-group works, and pieces with all of these.

Some of the pieces we were treated to included (but were not limited to): Gloria Ad Modum Tubae (Dufay Guillaume) – whole choir piece; Say Love If Ever Thou Didst Find (John Dowland) – a lovely quintet performance; Jesu, Meine Freude (J. S. Bach); Jerusalem (Parry); an SATB version of Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen); a well-carried and embodied Affirmation (Savage Garden); The Longest Time – with a fine tenor melody; finishing with a rousing Sing! (Pentatonix). I’ve taken the title of this review from a lyric of the latter.

Of course, it ended with the after-party, singing more songs until some of us were a bit hoarse, snacking and chatting and playing games, well into the wee hours of the morning.

In short, it was a lovely night out.

Bravo, MonUCS, and thank you! 😀

I’m looking forward to next semester’s concert already.