Alto Sue meets conductor Ang in an unusual place…
Why, you may ask, am I writing a Postcard from the Choir about the nickname of an elephant?
‘Jumbo’, is the self-storage company where items belonging to MfE, including music sung by Nottingham Chamber Singers, are kept in three units.
Wednesday afternoons are when Ang (Angela Kay MBE!) and I meet in Jumbo to whip hundreds of pieces of choral music into shape. The unit is filled with yards of shelving full of music in plastic bags and box files. Other copies are in carrier bags used to transport music between Jumbo and the MfE Office. There is a green plastic garden table to put music on and a few wobbly chairs.
We lug boxes, check the contents correspond to the labels and categorise the music into a) something one of the MFE choirs might sing again, b) something no one will ever sing again, or c) so browned with age that it needs to go. Our alphabetic skills are then tested until one of us recites the alphabet out loud to ensure ‘Au’ goes before ‘Av’, etc.
hindered by me not knowing one end of a screwdriver from the other!
You might be wondering why we do it. Music copies are the life blood of all MfE groups, so they need looking after. We do try to get the music in order, but perhaps more importantly we have a good laugh – we’ve been friends for 50 years having met at college.
After a couple of hours we decide our brains are addled and we’re tired. We escape from Jumbo and head home for a lie down in a darkened room, safe in the knowledge that there is at least some order to the music, making it easier for conductors to find exactly what they’re looking for.
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