Who's the winner?!? -- updated

29 April, 2009

Thank you so much to all those who voted for Elaine and I in the March edition of Musicnotes' YouPerform contest. There was such an enthusiastic response to the competition that the organizers have sponsored 2nd and 3rd place prizes for that and all future competitions provided there is a minimum of 10 entries. Clicking the above image will now take you to where you can view comments from the 3 winners and listen to their music.

I learned a lot from the experience and am very happy for the ladies who won those lovely music vouchers. I want one for myself, so Elaine and I have been working hard on our next feature, "I'll Be With You In Apple Blossom Time". We hope to have that recorded in time for the contest opening on May 1st.

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2 April, 2009

Can we do it?

On the first of the month, Musicnotes.com provide a free download of their chosen arrangement for the month. The rules allow for competitors to choose from 1000+ arrangements by Musicnotes staff, but most people go for the free one. Competitors have one month to prepare and film their performance and upload it to their YouTube account. Public voting begins on the first of the following month, closing on the 15th. The prize is awarded at the end of that month.

Narelle loves Musicnotes.com because it revolutionized finding and purchasing sheetmusic. The Musicnotes website offers a pile of other music-related features, one of which is the YouPerform monthly contest, for which this video was created. Elaine and Narelle enjoyed making it, and hope you enjoy listening.

You'll probably recognize the melody made famous by Cat Stevens in the early 1970s, "Morning Has Broken", which was based on a song by Scottish composer Mary MacDonald (1789 - 1872). The original lyrics for her hymn entitled "Leanabh an Aigh" were in Gaelic. When the hymn was translated into English by Lachlan Macbean, the song was renamed "Bunessan" after a Scottish village close to Mary MacDonalds hometown of Ardtun. Musicnotes didn't supply any of these lyric versions in their "Bunessan" arrangement, so we decided to go with the vocalise style.

New Zealand Folk Song website promo

John Archer with the aid of other volunteers has put together this massive New Zealand folk song resource, featuring audio clips and free downloadable song lyrics and sheet music. The song lists are alphabetized, and there is also a search feature. Entries include modern, vintage, and historic songs, Maori waiata, ANZAC songs, tramping songs, train songs, Christmas songs, a list of the most recorded folk songs, and all are wonderfully researched and documented.

When preparing music for community programs, I find www.FolkSong.org.nz supremely helpful. It plays a song for me while I follow along with the lyrics and melody line. I can print the lyrics for me and the music for my accompanist. In short order, we have a new song added to our repertoire.

Here’s a big hand for the FolkSong band!
Thanks for all the work you've put into it, John!
It's a fantastic resource!

Ah-choo! Singin' with da 'Flu?

New Zealand Folk Song has a Q&A feature.

What happens when a singer is booked to perform while in the grip of a nasty cold?

On this page
the saga is told
of Micheal's cold
and Tony's tonsil tips
for coping with
da dose an da throat ond a really off day.

Provides a check list for how to know if you can perform, and survival techniques for both cancelling or proceeding as planned.