Viva Acappella

Coaching with Joan

Kerry — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:05:20 +0000

Thursday 19 January 2012

It was certainly really hard work, but WOW! What an evening!

Everyone had such a positive experience.

“It’s great to have some new tools (or the same tools but delivered in a different way) to work on to improve our sound.”

“It was an amazing night. What a talented lady she is. I learnt things I never even knew existed.”

“It was an exhausting, fun and very informative evening”. “Thought Joan was amazing and she worked really well with Gaynor.”

“She was a great personality and has re-inforced the message Gaynor is always giving us about getting into character and maintaining energy and enthusiasm. Not just at the start of the song for impact, but to keep the energy throughout the whole song”.

Kentones Show

louis — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 15:17:04 +0000

Friday 11 November 2011

We ensured a Remembrance Day never to be forgotten as we prepared to sing at the Kentones Show at Bromley School. We were scheduled for the second half, so we were keen to keep our energy levels up as we rehearsed. Then quickly into our dresses, finishing touches to make-up and hair and we were ready to go.

On stage it was very hot, but the audience response made everything cool. The enthusiastic applause for every song was fantastic. We all had a great time basking in their appreciation. Fabulous.

Later, members of the audience took the trouble to personally thank us. We were described as “a breath of fresh air” and were told how they loved our songs. They said they didn’t want us to leave the stage and that we were “truly brilliant”. Wow!

Birmingham Convention

louis — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 20:37:26 +0000

Saturday 7 May 2011

The expectations were high as we got ready to compete at the Sweet Adelines Convention in the UK & Netherlands region (Region 31). We’d manage a silver medal in the 2010 event. Everyone was very excited. All the work we’d put in! Now we’d get to see if we’d be able to put that into practice.
We warmed up in the mall area of the Birmingham Symphony Hall. Many people who didn’t know about the competition stopped to listen to us. Their appreciation helped our confidence and calmed a few nerves. Then we were called through to backstage. We’re all rehearsing in our heads; some are humming, others going through the choreography. We’re buzzing.
ON STAGE! All smiles and applause as we take up our positions. Deep breaths. Keep smiling. Pitch pipe sounds, and we’re off with our first song – You’re Nobody Til Somebody Loves You. We give our all – and the audience shows their appreciation. Relief. More smiles. Get your breath back. Ready for the next one. We start our comic take on the Impossible Medley. It’s going great. They’re laughing in all the right places. We finish – and the audience gives us a standing ovation. Wow!
We could hardly believe the response we received. Every moment we’d agonised over to achieve that result was worthwhile. But there was more to come. Not only did we receive popular support but the judges awarded us the GOLD medal in the Small Chorus category. Celebrations and delight for all of us.
We were invited back to perform in the evening’s Show of Champions. After that we partied through the night.

Top Choir Kent

louis — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 20:36:12 +0000

Saturday 16 April 2011
We were delighted to get through to the Top Choir of Kent final. The competition was organised by the Rotary Club in Canterbury and the final was held in the Shirley Hall in Kings School, Canterbury.
The final was of an excellent standard with choirs from a variety of genres. It’s so hard to compare choral groups with community choirs, baroque with barbershop. All styles were represented. The only requirement was that the choir be unaccompanied.
There was no backstage available to us, so we had to reach the stage by walking through the middle of the audience. This was a bit daunting but it boosted the adrenalin levels.
After a lovely MC introduction we started with Lazy Day. We’re often told about how valuable it is to energise our performance. We certainly reaped the benefit of this as we could feel the audience warm to us. It changed to a magical still as we sang the beautiful ballad Shangri-la. By the time we finished with our version of Somebody To Love they were all rocking with us. It was a great feeling.
After much deliberation, the head judge came back to the stage to announce the results. The winner is ………VIVA ACAPPELLA! I’m afraid we reverted to stereotypical female behaviour – we all screamed. There was laughter and a few tears. It was very exciting.
The icing on the cake was that so many people came up to congratulate us. People we didn’t know. They just wanted to tell us how much they’d enjoyed it. Fabulous.

Showtime

louis — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 20:33:05 +0000

Saturday 18 September 2010
The beautiful venue of All Saints Church, Orpington saw our inaugural outing for the VIVA and Friends show. Not only was it a chance for us to perform most of our repertoire, but we also had the opportunity to hear the talents of the many “friends” that are associated with our VIVA members.
MC Brian Schofield got us started, then VIVA performed a set comprising Come Fly With Me, You’re So Vain, You Don’t Know Me, Turn The Tables and Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing. We added our hippy gear to perform a theatrical Rhythm Of Life. All the songs were received well but the last number caused a great deal of praise and merriment.
The next performer was the amazingly talented James Pirot, who gave us a few of his own compositions, singing and playing keyboard. We and the audience were hugely impressed. The first half concluded with the brilliant Unbroken, whose mixture of ballads and rock songs seemed synonymous with quality and diversity.
The second half opened with The Late Show, a fabulous quartet of four of our VIVA members. Their lovely harmonies had the audience spellbound. James Pirot then returned for another short but inspiring set. Finally VIVA returned to the stage, concluding the show with performances of Lazy Day, Shangri-la, Lean On Me, Goodnight Sweetheart and Somebody To Love.
It was a fabulous night. The audience appeared to love every minute of it. We felt it was a striking showcase of our skills and were delighted with all the positive feedback.

Viva’s Bring A Friend Evening

Emmacourt — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 20:00:51 +0000

Viva will be hosting a bring a friend evening packed with singing, information and fun – check out the flyer here:

VA Bring A friend Poster

Kentones Show

Matt — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:30:07 +0000

Kentones Show, Priory School Orpington.

Charity event Five Bells pub

Matt — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:00:47 +0000

Charity event Five Bells pub Chelsfield Orpington

Sevenoaks Three Arts Festival

Matt — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:00:17 +0000

The Sevenoaks Young Musician of the Year Competition, presented by Sevenoaks Three Arts Festival, was the brainchild in 1995 of June Clements, a long-standing member of the Festival’s Executive Committee, and has grown in stature and prestige, moving in 1998 from its beginnings at Bradbourne School as part of the Festival in June to its present venue, Stag Theatre in Sevenoaks.

First Sing Out

Matt — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:55:37 +0000

What a night! We had our first ever sing out tonight and what a way to begin! We performed for ‘Gravesham Has Talent’ and we’ve got our fingers crossed that we’ll make the final which will be held at the end of May. Watch this space.

We performed two songs – Lean On Me and Goodnight Sweetheart – both of which went down really well with the judging panel. We also did a photo shoot so hopefully we’ll be in the local paper in the coming weeks.

It’s out first time on stage together as a group and to celebrate afterwards we headed down the local where Rachel works and celebrated some more, we even got up and did a bit of karaoke.