News
18 May 2009 Meltdown
Performs at Sir Nicholas Winton's 100th Birthday Party
We
were honoured to perform at a 100th birthday party
for Sir Nicholas Winton on 17th May. Sir Nicholas is one of the
greatest humanitarians of our time, having saved 669 endangered
children, most of them Jewish, from almost certain death at the hands
of the Nazis in 1939. You can read his amazing story at: http://www.powerofgood.net/story.php
28 April 2009 First Gig
for New Meltdown Line-Up
On
Saturday 25th April, we had our first gig in the new line-up, with
Jason on lead. The event was a Barbershop Quartet evening at the Epsom
Playhouse featuring six quartets from Windsor A Cappella. We all had a
great time, and really enjoyed our 3-song set, which went down very
well with audience and fellow singers alike. The evening was a
fund-raiser for Epsom Light Opera Company.
3 January 2009 Jason
Joins Meltdown
We're
delighted that Jason Leonard is joining Meltdown as our new lead. Jason
is a recent recruit to our chorus The Royal Harmonics, and we didn't
waste much time in sounding him out for Meltdown! Today was our first
rehearsal in the new line-up, and we're all looking forward to singing
together, finding a new blend, building our repertoire and resuming
gigs again.
23 October 2008 Farewell
to Paul J
It's
with sadness that we are saying farewell to Paul J, who has decided to
leave Meltdown and focus on choral singing from now on. However, it's
not like we won't be seeing much of him - only every Wednesday at Royal
Harmonics' rehearsals! Thanks and all the best Paul.
14 October 2008 Richard
& Michael Win Senior Quartet Gold!
On
the weekend of 12th and 13th October, Richard & Michael won the
British Senior Barbershop Quartet Gold Medal as half of The Royal
Males, a quartet put together especially for the occasion. Alongside
fellow Royal Harmonics singers Bob Walker and James Dubois, the lads
were one of eight quartets competing for the Senior title, and won with
a score of 60.3%.
In the overall competition to reach the BABS Quartet Semi-Finals at
next year’s Convention, The Royal Males finished in 10th place out of a
field of 39 – a fantastic achievement! They can now look forward to
competing in the Semi-Finals in Llandudno next May, and they have been
invited to take part in the Senior Quartet Championship at the BHS
Mid-winter Convention in Florida in January 2010!
Well done fellas!
16 July 2008 2 Gigs in 3
Days
The
start of July brought a busy few days, with Meltdown singing at a
corporate event followed quickly by a 60th birthday party.
On 4th July, we sang at a product launch event for childcare voucher
provider Sodexho Pass, At two locations (Wellington College in
Crowthorne and offices in Frimley) we sang a specially adapted version
of 'Under The Boardwalk' with
words rewritten for the occasion. The MD liked it so much he dashed
from the first venue to the next to catch our performance for a second
time!
Two days later we sang at a 60th birthday party at a farm location in
Burnham, Bucks. We performed two sets for birthday girl Jenny and a
highly appreciative crowd of family and friends. 'I Can't Give You
Anything But Love' and 'When I'm Sixty-Four' went down particularly
well, the latter with lyrics specially adapted for the family. Jenny's
daughter Louisa sent us a message saying...... "The personal touches you included were
fantastic - and I will be able to tell my children that they were all
included in the lyrics of a well known song! "
28 May 2008 Royal
Harmonics Win British Silver Medal
Our
chorus The Royal Harmonics won the silver medal at the British
Association of Barbershop Singers (BABS) annual convention in
Cheltenham on Saturday 24 May, and all four of us are delighted and
very proud! Competing against 37 other choruses, this was our first
British Championship medal since the chorus's foundation in 2000. Under
the direction of John Palmer, we took silver with ‘The Way You Look
Tonight' and ‘After You’ve Gone’.
12 April 2008 Meltdown
on the Menu
On 8
April we gave
a public performance at the Thames Riviera hotel in Maidenhead to mark
the launch of a new menu at the hotel's Blue River Cafe restaurant. We
sang two sets at an early evening reception, sharing the
billing with jazz trio Fretless & Friends.
12 April 2008 Barbershop
Demo Evening in Henley
On 13
March we were guests of Henley Round Table's
41 Club. After dinner we gave a demonstration of barbershop singing,
showing how the lead, bass, baritone and tenor parts combine to create
the end-product. We also got the audience involved, teaching them the
tag to 'The Shadow of Your Smile'. The evening was arranged by 41 Club
member Chris Schrier - you can read Chris's feedback on the evening on
the Testimonials page.
19 January
2008 A Look Ahead to 2008
2007
was our first full year as a quartert and what a full year it was! We
had well over 20 public appearances, competed in five festivals, and
sang at two birthday parties, two charity concerts, two hospitals, and a wedding... not
to mention numerous chorus appearances with The Royal Harmonics.
For 2008, we already have lots of dates in the diary, including a
Golden Wedding anniversary party, and a 'dinner and demonstration'
evening as guests of the Henley Round Table. We're looking forward to
working with our vocal coaches more, and filling up the diary with as
many fun gigs as we can manage. We might even record a CD too, so watch
this space!
19 January
2008 Updated Gallery & New Slideshow
The Gallery page
features new photos of us taken at recent gigs,
including a wedding and a 60th birthday party. Also, you can see a
slideshow of us on YouTube.
31 August
2007 Check Out Our New Song Samples
We
have added several new song samples to the website. Have a listen to
them on the Downloads page. You can also hear us singing Witchcraft by pressing the Play
button on the homepage.
19 July
2007 Nice Work! Steve Jamison Coaching Session
On Tuesday 17th July
we were very lucky to have Steve Jamison coach us again. Steve is a
world-renowned barbershop educator, arranger and contest judge, and we
last spent time with him at the Royal Harmonics' February retreat at
West Deane, Sussex. Back then, Steve worked on optimising our line-up
for the best sound production. This time, he worked with us on three
songs to improve our performance. Steve's approach to establishing the
theme of a song and then using a 'tension and release' technique to
bring artistry to the performance is a real winner. We especially
benefited from coaching on 'Nice Work If You Can Get It', which was
completely transformed after Steve's encouragement and words of wisdom.
We look forward to seeing Steve again at next year's Royal Harmonics
retreat!
19 July
2007 A Busy Summer: Bournemouth & Leeds Castle Events
The
last few weeks have been very busy, with recent appearances by the
Royal Harmonics at the Bournemouth Music Festival and at Leeds Castle.
In Bournemouth, we were delighted to be part of a double award-winning
chorus, as the Royal Harmonics won both the Barbershop section (the
Roger Mills Trophy) and Choir of The Year (the Richard Eaton Rosebowl).
Meltdown also performed, our first run out as a quartet on such a grand
stage as the Bournemouth Pavillion.
At Leeds Castle, the Royal Harmonics sang at a 'party in the park'
style event as part of a 4th July (U.S. Independence Day) celebration.
We performed two sets, the second of which was as the support act to
the main act, the Glenn Miller Orchestra U.K. We sang on a massive
Glastonbury-style open air stage to an audience of over a thousand
people. What a buzz!
30 May
2007 Meltdown Makes Friends at Addlestone Show
On Monday 21st May, we appeared as
guests
of the Addlestone Singers in their Spring Show at the
Methodist Church in Addlestone, Surrey. The show featured songs from
Abba and from 'The
Sound of Music' performed by the Addlestone Singers, and we peformed
two sets of four songs from our repertoire. The concert was in aid of
the Sam Beare
Hospice in Weybridge.
We were
delighted to receive the following note of thanks from Marion Newitt,
Appeals Fundraiser for the Sam Beare Hospice:
'This is just to say an
enormous thank you for your support on Monday evening at The Addlestone
Singers Concert. Your 2 sets were an absolute delight and I’m
sure you could tell just how much everyone in the audience enjoyed your
performance.
The donation you made to
Sam Beare by waiving your fee was very much appreciated and really
helped to swell the total amount raised... you were the real stars of
the evening and I am sure I was not alone in spreading the word about
you… I know the hospice would love to work with you again.'
It was our
pleasure!
2 May
2007 Check Out Meltdown on MySpace.com
You can also find
information, sounds and pictures of Meltdown on our MySpace page
http://www.myspace.com/meltdownquartet
4 March
2007 Meltdown Winners at Farnham Music Festival
On Saturday 3rd
March, we sang in the Barbershop Quartet category at the 29th annual
Farnham Competitive Music Festival, and were awarded first place! In
making the award, singing adjudicator Christopher Field (scholar and
associate of the Royal Academy of Music, and conductor of the City of
London Chamber Choir) gave Meltdown a grade of 'Excellent'.
21 February
2007 Meltdown Awarded Trophy at Richmond Music Festival
On Saturday 17th
February, we sang at the Richmond-upon-Thames Music Festival and were
delighted to win our first trophy. The festival's vocal music
adjudicator
Adrian Goss BMus, ARAM, GRSM, LGSM, ARCO, LRAM, FRSA
awarded us a score of 84 out of 100 and we lifted the Senior Challenge
Cup!
5 February
2007 Meltdown Under Glass
During a fantastic away weekend
(February 2nd to 4th) with The Royal Harmonics, Meltdown was
privileged to be coached by top barbershop educator Steve Jamison.
Steve came over from the U.S. to coach the chorus on stage craft and
technique, and all the guys learned so much from his experience and
great teaching skills.
Meltdown was placed 'under glass' when Steve demonstrated how he works
with quartets to get the optimum vocal matching and sound quality. As a
result, our line-up is now completely changed, left to right. The
difference it made to our sound was evident to all the guys, and we're
grateful to Steve for the benefit of his experience.
The coaching weekend took place at West Dean College, a superb
flint country house, set in a 6,000-acre estate in the Sussex Downs and
surrounded by award-winning gardens. Anyone looking for a venue for a
conference or training session could do a lot worse than this fine
place.
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