Author Archives: CSB

Rehearsals have restarted

Rehearsals have now restarted, at 7.45pm on Thursdays, in Portishead Methodist Church.

When you arrive, the Voice Reps will be there to welcome you. Please make sure you:

  • Use the hand sanitizer when you arrive at the church.
  • Register your attendance with your Voice Rep.
  • There will be a QR check-in sheet if you wish to use it with the NHS Covid App.
  • Please wear a clean face mask throughout the rehearsal.
  • Observe social distancing. Please leave a chair empty between you and the next singer.
  • If you can, please take a Lateral Flow test at home on Thursday before the rehearsal.
  • Remember, please do not come to rehearsals if you have developed a cough or cold, but do let us know you are unwell.

Update: Rehearsals are restarting on 9th September

Portishead Choral Society is restarting rehearsals on 9th September. Please note our new venue is Portishead Methodist Church, and the start time is 7.45pm. We will be working towards a concert on Saturday 4th December, entitled “GLORIA! A CELEBRATION OF SINGING TOGETHER AGAIN”, which will include four contrasting settings of “Gloria”.

New members will be very welcome. If you enjoy singing, please do consider joining us. There is no audition, and you would be joining us as we all get back into singing after a lengthy break. Please contact our Chairman, or another committee member, to let us know you are coming, so that we can greet you.

Message to members from our Chairman, John Turner

We’re looking forward to meeting and singing together again. Thank you for your loyalty to PCS through the difficult period when we could not meet to sing together. Now we will need to build our skills as individuals and as we do, build PCS as a choir. It will be an exciting time and every singer is needed. We have about 40 singers, well balanced between the voices, attending on September 9th and more will join us in subsequent weeks.

We want you to enjoy singing together again, but we want you to be safe. The levels of Covid 19 infection in our communities are quite high and we must remember that some of our singers are particularly vulnerable or are caring for others who are vulnerable to Covid 19. Your Committee recommends observing safety precautions:

  • Please avoid coming to rehearsals if you have developed a cough or cold, but let us know you are unwell
  • Use the hand sanitizer when you arrive at the church
  • Please wear a clean mask at rehearsal. (see below)
  • Observe social distancing. Please leave a chair empty between you and the next singer. We will mark chairs to be left unoccupied.
  • If you can, please take a Lateral Flow test at home on Thursday before the rehearsal. Kits are available free from Pharmacists, or from the government website, https://www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests
  • Please register your attendance with your Voice Rep

Regarding masks, we are aware that some singers are unhappy with the idea of wearing masks while singing. We sympathise. Members of the Committee have tried singing, particularly while using the surgical type of mask and report it is surprisingly easy. We have also been experimenting with spacers. We will have some masks and some spacers available at rehearsals.

If you wish to buy a specially designed “singers” mask, these are available from various sources on the internet.

Rehearsals to restart on 9th September

We are very much looking forward to restarting rehearsals on 9th September. Please note our new venue is Portishead Methodist Church, and the start time is 7.45pm. We will be working towards a concert on Saturday 4th December, entitled “GLORIA! A CELEBRATION OF SINGING TOGETHER AGAIN”, which will include four contrasting settings of “Gloria”.

“Singing Out & Singing In” – a talk by our President, Pamela Rudge, 10th June 2021 at 7:30pm for 7:45pm

We are delighted to announce that Portishead Choral Society’s second series of Zoom presentations continues with a talk by our President, Pamela Rudge, on Thursday 10th June 2021 at 7:30pm for 7:45pm, entitled “Singing Out & Singing In”.

Pamela has suggested an interesting format. She will talk for about 45 minutes and then there will be 15 minutes for questions, followed by a further talk of 30 minutes. The extended evening will allow us to hear more of Pamela’s interest in music and singing and, of course, her long association with PCS.

Rehearsals are restarting!

Portishead Choral Society is restarting rehearsals soon and if you enjoy singing, you are very welcome to join us. There is no audition, and you will be in the company of friendly, experienced singers.

Assuming the government’s “Roadmap out of lockdown” proceeds to Step 4 on 21 June, with the removal of all legal limits on social contact, rehearsals will be held in Portishead Methodist Church as follows:

  • Thursday 24 June 2021 at 7.30pm
  • Thursday 1 July 2021 at 7.30pm
  • Thursdays 9 September 2021 – 9 December 2021 at 7.30pm

Covid-19 regulations and guidance applicable at the time of each rehearsal will be followed.

Existing members – please note the new venue and time.

“What makes a good hymn? Two thousand years of argument, and still going” – a talk by Keith Clements, 25th March 2021 at 7:30pm for 7:45pm

Portishead Choral Society’s second series of Zoom talks continues with a Zoom talk on Thursday 25th March 2021 at 7:30pm for 7:45pm.

Hymns are important to lots of people – and, surprisingly, not just to those who go to church. As a way of blending words and music they are a special art-form which over the centuries has permeated our culture in ways well beyond church. As a minister I’ve spent a lot of my life in the business of choosing hymns for services and other occasions, in editing a hymn-book and even writing a few hymns myself. But I’m still intrigued by the question of what makes “a good hymn”, whether it’s primarily the words, or the tune, or the blend of both, or who wrote (or composed it) and in what circumstances – not to mention the associations it has acquired for us in our people’s history and our personal life-experience. With the aid of some stories and audio-clips I hope to explore the question. Don’t expect a final answer – just some more questions!

Keith Clements

Keith is one of our Basses. He has had a particularly interesting life and recently published an autobiography – “Looking back with hope” (Resource Publications) which is highly recommended.

Musical Memories – a talk by Bryan Anderson, 25th February 2021 at 7:30pm for 7:45pm

Portishead Choral Society’s second series of Zoom talks continues with a Zoom talk on Thursday 25th February 2021 at 7:30pm for 7:45pm.

The speaker is Bryan Anderson, one of the tenors, who has had a busy life as a musician. Bryan’s title is “Musical Memories”. It is an intriguing title and I have been lucky enough to hear a snatch of Bryan’s talk. It was excellent and I look forward to hearing it all through. Please put the date in your diary.
John Turner, Chairman

Mozart’s Requiem and the Levin completion – a talk by Lloyd Buck, 11 February 2021

Portishead Choral Society’s second series of Zoom talks starts on Thursday, February 11th at 7:30pm for 7:45pm. The speaker will be Lloyd Buck who is a busy music teacher and pianist living in the North West, who has accompanied and sung with PCS. He will present aspects of Mozart’s Requiem and the completion by Robert Levin. Lloyd writes:

It was in my singing days as a teenager with PCS that I first got to know the work through the ubiquitous Sussmayr completion. I have a particular love of Mozart’s music, although when I first encountered the Requiem, I couldn’t believe that some of it was not by Mozart. As time went on however, it became clear just how many problems there are with Sussmayr’s completion, and when I actually studied the work in detail for a performance that I was directing in Ellesmere Port, I realised just how little Mozart wrote. The completion by Robert Levin is, I believe, the most ‘Mozartean’ of all the completions currently available, and I’m sure that the members of PCS will be intrigued.