Diane Gardner and Bonnie Slade, who sing soprano and alto respectively in the GSA Choir, write about their experiences of rehearsing Brìdghe – composed by Pippa Murphy, with lyrics by Karine Polwart.
Being part of the GSA Choir is a joy, constantly providing to us, as performers, musical challenges and community. We joined the choir in 2015 and are honoured to have been part of commissioned world premieres by Jay Capperauld, Shona Mackay and Sir James MacMillan. In this blog, we wanted to reflect on our experiences learning Brìdghe, part of the Composeher repertoire.
Diane:
I was intrigued from the outset, from the first time Jamie played the piece for us and we began singing these unfamiliar, yet Celtic, lyrics. I nearly held my hand up and asked, “Who?” but then as we sang more and more, I began to relate the lyrics to my knowledge. Pippa’s music eased me into learning all about Saint Brigid and how she is able to support us in times of darkness, reminding us of how brightly the light shines, if only we wait and then look for it.
Brìdghe is a joyful piece which resonates with my musical experience; the familiar, almost common metre format fits the lyrics so well and then alters into a more challenging timing and rhythm.
I really enjoyed watching Karine and Pippa discus how they collaborated in their first Composeher blog, and then hearing more about their processes from Pippa at the inaugural Composeher event at Glasgow Women’s Library. Discovering more about Brìdghe / Saint Brigid and what she means to Christians and how this can be contrasted with Paganism was, indeed, a revelation to me.
Bonnie:
“Smoor the fire”! Singing the alto 2 part of Brìdghe is lovely – notes fall beautifully within our range – and there is a variation in the narrative between reverence and frivolity. Who wouldn’t be excited by berries and larks and milk after a long winter?
Learning our individual parts, however, is not even half of the challenge. Once we have learned the words and notes we need to appreciate how the story is told across the different voices in the choir. When we practice, I love listening to the other parts and figuring out how we fit together, harmoniously sometimes, and often – for the alto 2s – a ‘scrunch’. Knowing which section to ‘steal’ a note from, and when, is critical to being able to ‘be a leader’ and sing out with confidence! There is a magical moment when it all comes together, and the beauty of the music resonates from every part of the choir. Sometimes even Jamie, our Musical Director, is surprised!
Bonnie and Diane:
We are excited to be part of such an important and exciting project that we hope will have a lasting impact on contemporary choral music. Perhaps Brìdghe will find itself in Classic FM’s infamously almost all-male, white, cisgendered Hall of Fame?! Composeher is a step in the right direction to making choral music more inclusive. The future of choral music should be much more diverse, and Composeher just might inspire future generations of presently marginalised, talented artists.
Following the theme of two forces working together: Karine and Pippa, lyrics and music, Christianity and Paganism, we thought our different perspectives would make for an interesting blog as we move towards winter. The frost will come, maybe tomorrow, but we will be patient as there will be singing to help us through it.
Many thanks to Pippa and Karine for their wonderful work.