Here we are, four weeks into our new term, and it is great to be back!

Our new term started on the 15th of August and we now have 107 choir members singing with us. I’m really delighted that we have a significant number of new members, as well as some members re-joining who haven’t been with us for a few years. Then there are the ‘old faithfuls’ who have stuck in over the last couple of very difficult years. You are all very, very welcome!

I’m also delighted with our new website. It is very much a ‘work in progress and we continue to make improvements and refine the site. Look out for further developments over the coming weeks. Huge thanks to Morag and Ruth who have done an enormous amount of work along with our web developer, Allan Clark at Universal Computing.

Our music for the Spring concert is The Armed Man, by Karl Jenkins, and Rutter’s Magnificat. Both of these pieces, the choral has sung in the past so they are familiar to a lot of our members. Indeed, we were rehearsing them last year before we decided to postpone the concert (due to Covid). I’m certainly finding that the familiarity of the pieces makes it a bit easier. The Armed Man was the first piece I sang with DCU back in the Spring of 2009 – which means I’ve been singing with the choir for fourteen years. It doesn’t feel like that long, but as the saying goes: ‘Time flies when you are in the place you are meant to be’.

We are also currently rehearsing some of the pieces for our Christmas concert. Sing Gently by Eric Whitacre is quite beautiful and very moving:

May we sing together, always.
May our voice be soft.
May our singing be music for others
and may it keep others aloft.

I think this verse sums up Dunfermline Choral Union. We sing together, we sing for ourselves and we sing for others. The results of our hard work, I hope, give much pleasure, enjoyment, and joy to others.

Linda Rae
President