A stressful couple of Weeks - Part 2

Well, when I say stressful, following 'A stressful couple of Weeks - Part 1' this really shouldn't have been stressful at all but, when I arrived for the Annual Discord Concert there was a little trepidation about the hours that were to follow. Again I recited to myself 'you've completed a marathon Viv, you can do this' and, like all the other Discorder's, of course I could.

Much of my stress had been caused by my own stupidity following our last rehearsal on Wednesday. We have graduated now to singing a particular song - 'California Dreaming' in what I believe is known by musical people as 'in two parts'. We have all been given a number and we all know (well knew) which part each number related to. Having established on Wednesday that the two people either side of me were singing the opposite part to myself, we set off. Just a few bars in I became aware that all three of us were in fact singing the same part, convinced that I was right and they had both, independently got it wrong (which one of us had completed a marathon?) I continued. There then followed a period of very odd looks, a bit of pointing and a slow, painful dawning, that marathon or no marathon, I was the idiot on this occasion!. Now you would think that it would be quite simple to just simply swop and sing the correct part but it wasn't actually, for me, that simple and I ended up, for a short time singing both parts which soon became impossible because the parts in places overlapped. It was then a case of bringing my folder up far enough to cover my face and limping to the finish. But, you know what they say about bad rehearsals and on this occasion, using big bold stars, underlining and explicit instructions to myself I managed to sing the right part and I think it sounded quite good.

The entire concert appeared to be a triumph for Discorder's, the audience and most importantly for EACH the brilliant charity supported this year by Discord. We sang songs that spanned several musical genre. Starting with the upbeat 'This is the Life' by Amy MacDonald we then moved on to one of my favourites, 'Perfect Day'. There was plenty of scope for mistakes in the Chess hit 'I know him so Well' with some of us taking on the role of Elaine Paige and others singing the Barbara Dixon part, but again, all sounded well from where I was standing and everyone, singers and audience appeared to enjoy it. We then brought everything up to date with the Killers 'Human' and then the superb male contingent took the lead for everyone's favourite 'Any dream will Do'. Another personal favourite 'Hallelujah' sounded great and I think we all avoided the glaring pitfall and got the short and long, high and low hallelujahs in the right places - few!. The first half was rounded off with the exhausting 'You can't stop the Beat' that feels a bit like a runaway train on speed when you are in the middle of it. You just have to hope that your mouth will keep going fast enough and that you breathe in all the right places.

After an interval of teas, coffee's and ice-creams with proceeds going to the Friends of Chernobyl's Children, another great local charity. Plus the mandatory raffle we set off again. A moving rendition of 'Lean on Me' was followed by, among others, Coldplays 'Viva la Vida' and McFly's 'All about You'. The evening was rounded off by a Les Miserables medley. I think from the way everyone let's rip this has to be a unanimous Discord favourite moment with 'I dreamed a Dream' followed by the rousing 'Do you hear the people Sing' for a short moment I was French!. Not only was I French but I was part, a very, very small part of a fantastic group making an incredible noise. No-one could help but feel uplifted. Following an encore of 'Shine' the evening was over and everyone left. Hopefully like me, everyone in attendance left feeling at the very least a little more uplifted than they had felt when they arrived. I know for all Discorder's the high was very high and I hope we managed to share a little bit of that with the audience.

Of course none of this would have been possible without the talent, commitment and motivation of Michael Dann who works tirelessly to put these concerts on. You don't have to be a genius to see the colossal amount of work involved in putting on an event of this magnitude. We are told of the stressful moments but we only see the humour and the fun. Discord was set up over two years ago, the idea was to sing for well being, that well being now spans six Discord groups and hopefully touches each audience member of every performance. It also weaves it's web to encompass the many charities it supports. It's one heck of an achievement for one man. I'm hoping that Michael woke up justly proud this morning.