Blog: A Little Orchestra

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I zoomed off on the Overground to Kilburn last night for a REHEARSAL. I was keeping it a big secret at the time, but now it can be revealed: I am going to be doing a song with A Little Orchestra at Indietracks! HOORAY!

I am, obviously, EXTREMELY excited about it, but was feeling a bit NERVOUS as I walked over to the Community Centre where the practice was occuring. I met a BASSOONIST outside and together we went in to find a small room with a laminated floor, circle of plastic seats, and various people milling about, occasionally eating biscuits. I WELLED UP with PATRIOTIC PRIDE to see such a Quintessentially British Scene before me!

The group had had a practice of my song a couple of weeks before, with Andy Pocketbooks filling in for me on vocals, and the tape I'd heard sounded GORGEOUS. Having the office to myself earlier on in the day I'd INDULGED myself in imaginings of me SWINGING OUT with the BIG BAND behind me, RAFFISHLY clutching a champagne bottle in one hand, undoing my bow-tie with the other. It wasn't QUITE like that in the community centre, although I did end up taking my Denim Jacket off halfway through. Dean Martin eat your heart out!

I had a Vital Appointment later on in the evening so we got started STRAIGHT away - about half the orchestra wasn't there yet but it still sounded BIG and GORGEOUS. REALLY gorgeous! When they started playing I had to keep a tight grip on myself NOT to start dancing around/CRYING, and also to try and hang on to the WORDS in my head while my entire BRANE was singing out "YES! THIS is how it's meant to be!" like an understudy from the wrong side of the tracks finally getting her big break on Broadway. It was FABOULOUS!

After the first run through they asked me if I had any comments about dynamics/speed but all I could think of was "IT WAS WONDERFUL". We had another go through which was even MORE fun, but that had to be IT really - much as I wanted to stay and sing with them all night - NAY, FOREVER - I had a Moon Horse preview to get to, and though I might well have been able to spare the TIME, I could already feel my VOICE starting to struggle.

And crikey - VOICE! Now that i was competing with an ORCHESTRA I found myself singing from all sorts of different parts of my body, and when I left not only did my throat feel GRITTY but my INSIDES felt like they'd been roughed up. Ooh, my DIAPHRAGM felt like it'd been lifting WEIGHTS!

It was an AMAZING experience, and I'm looking forward to doing it again at Indietracks IMMENSELY. In the meantime though I had to dash for the tube, for LO! London's Fashionable West End was calling me!

posted 27/7/2011 by MJ Hibbett

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