The Bridge Singers during the Covid 19 Pandemic
Onwards into 2021
WE'RE BACK, initially just 30 of us were allowed to meet together outside and we made the most of it having rehearsals in some beautiful Northumbrian locations, from basketball courts and tennis courts to the beach and pastures with sheep. Have a look at our summer 2021 video below. In July when all social restrictions eased we decided to continue to meet outdoors for rehearsals and now in October we resume cautiously indoors in the new venue of St Michael's and all Angels.
​
Whilst we haven’t been able to meet together as a choir during this pandemic throughout 2020 and into 2021 we have been keeping ourselves busy and productive; we've been constantly interpreting and adapting to the ever-changing rules governing what we can do as an amateur choir. We’ve learnt many new pieces via electronic learning tracks and recorded our own parts individually in isolation which were then put together via electronic wizardry into whole songs by Cheryl Camm our MD. It’s been a challenge and a steep learning curve singing on our own and grappling with new technology but it’s been fun and most importantly helped us keep our collective identity as a choir. At times when tiers and restrictions eased we were able to meet in small groups of 6 outdoors to sing and record. We also embraced Zoom rehearsals which whilst not ideal were good for learning things and good to be able to virtually see each other! HOWEVER it's so lovely to be able to sing together in parts in real life again.
​
You can see the results of our 2020/21 endeavours here.
The Bridge Singers’ Video Launch Live “Concert” March 29th 2021
The Bridge Singers have tried a lot of things to keep singing together and being a group since March 2020 when we had our last face-to-face rehearsal. March 29th 2021 was another new thing for us – a live, virtual concert and video launch. We invited some of our friends and families and overall we had 65 screens and over 80 people at the Zoom meeting. Read about it in full and watch there videos on Cheryl's blog
​
The main event was the launch of our new lockdown video of Abba’s song “The Way Old Friends Do”. Choir members sent in recordings of their part, photos of themselves with the best or oldest friends or of their happy place, and many also sent in their thoughts about what they miss about choir and what they love about it. You might need to watch it more than once to fully appreciate all the photos and stories.
​
​
Our Top 10 Zoom Singalong
Since Burns Night the choir’s been voting on their 5 favourite songs from our entire repertoire. 33 choir members voted, with over 50 songs receiving at least one vote. We’ll be singing our 10 favourites on Monday 15th February at our next singalong evening on Zoom.Have a look at Cheryl's blog for full details and recordings.
https://cherylcamm.co.uk/the-bridge-singers-top-10-singalong/
Virtual Burns Night 2021
​
Who doesn't love a bit of Robert Burns? The Bridge Singers certainly do; In 2018 and again in 2020 The Bridge Singers had Burns Night Celebration concerts, in fact the one in 2020 was the last full concert we performed.
​This year 25th January 2021 happened to coincide with our regular choir Zoom night so we decided to have a virtual singalong of our twelve favourite Burns songs from these previous two concerts as well as poems, recitals and a video of a clog dance performed by our very own Hazel and Chris.
After a few songs guests appeared in our Zoom waiting room – it was our Burns Night pals from last year, Richard and Morag Michael from Kirkcaldy. In 2020 they came down to be our guests for the day and Richard performed about half the concert for us. It was so lovely to see them lat our Zoom Burns Night – they dropped in for about 15 minutes for a chat and Richard played a selection of Burns tunes on his piano. It was very emotional and extremely special. We feel very honoured that such an exceptional and renowned musician would take time out to join us in our singalong.
Have a look at Cheryl's blog about the evening here and listen to the songs, readings and general merriment.
https://cherylcamm.co.uk/the-bridge-singers-burns-night-singalong-2021/?v=79cba1185463
A Song for Hen Harrier Day 8th August 2020
A Recent lockdown project
Cheryl was commissioned by the charity Hen Harrier Action to compose a song about hen harriers to be sung by participants as part of the online Hen Harrier Day 2020.
Using our recently gained experience we remotely recorded our parts and Cheryl has put them together into the most amazing song which was released on Hen Harrier day 8th August. You can see and listen to the song in the video below.
You can read about the full brief here
​
Every August we usually look back at our choral year and in spite of the rather odd circumstances of most of 2020/2021 we've been incredibly busy since our last Review of the Year, so here's our newest one below.