Rant about Carol Singing ...

[NotQuiteCockney]

We had a big carol singing event for DS1's school this morning. Ok, I'm not a great singer, but if I'm careful, and listen very closely to someone who's good, I can sing along ok. I was doing pretty well this morning, the woman next to me was a good (and loud!) soprano, so I was singing along happily, but then we get to the last verse.

And nearly every time she starts going all trilly and weird, something like the carol verion of beatboxing. And it's all high and weird and quick and I have no chance of keeping up and have to just vaguely trail off.

And other people were doing it too ... at first I thought it was a group of weirdo excellent woman singers, but of course it was the bloody choristers showing off. Most annoying ...

WHAT are you talking about woman?

Who can resist the descant for Ding Dong Merrily?

Is there nothing we won't rant about on mumsnet?

were they singing descant?

I love to sing descant

Freaky weird showoffs, that's what I was talking about. And some of them were singing the words at a different time and generally causing trouble.

I kept expecting rapping, or maybe some barbershop quartet-stylee nonsense ...

anyway it's family event, if it drowned out the screaming kids it can't have been all bad

It may have been descant. I have no idea. It was certainly wrong and weird and showoffy.

I was quite to realise I'd been mistaking a bunch of prepubescent boys for grownup women. No wonder they were showing off so much, at least it's normal for them ...

Ha ha. No screaming kids. All very very good singers. It's a choral school.

Actually, there was one slightly cranky baby. At one point. It really was quite nice, apart from the showoffs.

As a choir member myself I too get miffed when sops show off and trill the descant when they're in a congregation, i.e. not in a choir, very non-U!

Discuss!

are you dissing the sacred descant!?!?!?!?!
[festiveswoon]
may you burn in hell for that NQC. the descant is the holy gift to sopranos. see how high we can sing! cover your ears, oh lowly mortals and altos.

Oooh, let's get onto parents who won't take their screaming toddlers out of the audience of the school nativity play when everyone's trying to hear their DS/DDs say the lines that they've been learning for weeks.....

I'm a brilliant alto - all I ask for is a tune

(To be fair, this was a choir school event, so it was no doubt actually fine, particularly for the choristers, to do this. The leaflety thing did say we were to sing "in parts" at least ...)

I am a soprano, I think, but not a very good one.

I was genuinely startled by these people wandering off all on their own (well, in a group) to have their own little trilly tune above everyone else.

Sing choirs of angels

ooh I love that descant, mine is slightly out of tune but I don't let that stop me.

D'yer know what I did once many years ago (can't believe I'm going to reveal this but hey ho its Christmas!) I recorded myself singing the normal tune then sang descant to my own recording - p-ingmsl oh Jools, you weirdo!

I probably should take singing lessons, I did used to enjoy choir, and there are some choir opportunities attached to the school, for parents, of course.

Problem, though: I have a "friend" who offers singing lessons, but I suspect her teaching me anything would be the death of her or me, and certainly our friendship. Such as it is at the moment.

There are some carols where I am incapable of not singing the descant .

I do try very hard though.

Well I just sing along in the tune I think is right and then everyone stares at me when I go completely out of tune when there's an unexpected change of key - you should have seen me blush when DD was Christened, and I could'nt hide as I was at the front of the church for all to see

But I love to sing so dont care - after all it's all about rejoicing is'nt it?!

GLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORY ii-in the-e highest!

Grrr. This is my thread. And it's descant-free, if you please.

(I don't think it's actually rude to sing descant, wherever you are! It just makes it very hard for poor singers like me to know what we're meant to be singing!)