Posted in carers choir on November 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »
The Carers Complaints Choir is really coming along now, but we’ve realised we need more sessions.
So as a start, we’re holding two more sessions in December – Tuesdays 7th and 14th of December. Mash Gallery on Haydock St, St Helens.
Everyone’s welcome – especially if you want to sing or accompany us. See you there?
Posted in carers choir on October 31, 2010| Leave a Comment »
A reminder that the first session for the complaints choir is this Tuesday – at Mash Gallery on Haydock Street in St Helens – 2pm to 4 pm.
www.mashgallery.co.uk
You don’t have to sing! though all singers would be very welcome. We need carers to help us work out the lyrics from your complaints – we’ve already had a few suggestions like ‘noone listens to me’.
Joyce and Jez – two musicians with many years of experience between them – will help to construct a song out of the complaints. They’ll have a computer with them to provide all the instruments. So if you just want to come along and watch how people put together a song then that’s fine too.
Over the next 5 weeks, we’ll all work together to develop the song so that we can record it on video and show the world. It’s not compulsory to join in any bit – you don’t have to sing or to be on the video – though the more the merrier. And it will be fun.
Do pop along – if only for a chat and a cup of tea. Bring along anyone who’s interested. Please support us.
If you’ve not been there yet, Mash Gallery and cafe is a relaxing and welcoming venue. Kev, the owner is enthusiastic about the choir and is letting us use the gallery to rehearse. And at the moment there’s a fabulously positive exhibition on in the gallery to get us all off to a great start – take a look at some of the pictures online here:
Cultivate Creative exhibition
Posted in carers choir on October 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Our choir will meet every Tuesday afternoon in November – 2-4pm in Mash Gallery at 11 Haydock Street in St Helens.
What is a complaints choir?
“It all got started during a winter day walk of Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen in Helsinki. Perhaps it was due to the coldness of the day that they ended up discussing the possibility of transforming the huge energy people put into complaining into something else. Perhaps not directly into heat – but into something powerful anyway.
In the Finnish vocabulary there is an expression “Valituskuoro”. It means “Complaints Choir” and it is used to describe situations where a lot of people are complaining simultaneously. Kalleinen and Kochta-Kalleinen thought: “Wouldn´t it be fantastic to take this expression literally and organise a real Complaints Choir!”
We have contacted Oliver who said that ours will be the first Carers Complaints Choir in the world!
Who’s running this?
St Helens Music Network CIC has received some funding from the PCT to run this project. Jez Kerr has 30 years experience as a musician including writing songs for the band a certain ratio and music for adverts and films. Joyce Clavering is one of the music-net directors and a keen member of various choirs in the Borough. Kevin from Mash is supporting us by welcoming us to use the gallery.
How can carers get involved?
Not a carer? Come and join in the singing. Or let us know if you want to volunteer to help in other ways.
What’s going to happen?
We’re not sure! This is a first! But the plan is…. to take carers’ complaints and turn them into a song which we can perform.
We want carers to bring their complaints to us. Jez will help us to turn them into a song. And we’re hoping some carers will want to join in the singing.
We’ll all practice singing it and turn the complaints into a song that people will like to listen to. We’ll have plenty of fun along the way and who knows where it will be performed.
All this in 5 weeks? Can we do it? Do come along to Mash – all tuesdays in November – 2nd 9th 16th 23rd 30th.
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