Thursday 26 June 2008

Rock Touring Party: Focused but not yet ready...


Last Saturday the Rock touring party met at Christ Church, Burney Lane, Birmingham with members of EBRG - Roger's support group. The aim of the day was to talk through what happens when we go on tour, to discover more about the Bible basis for the musical, and to spend some time in preparation for ministry.

So now we have a focused touring party. Just got to get the rehearsals over with now...
(Photos: The Cornelii having their armour fitted, and some of the touring party)

Tuesday 24 June 2008

Rock - officially out!

On Saturday 14th June we welcomed to Birmingham all of the touring party for Rock, loads of prayer warriors, and all of the organisers and choir trainers for the coming Rock tour. When all were gathered into one place... we officially launched Rock!

In the morning Rock was performed by the cast for the first time to backing track, and seemed to be very well received. Special mention goes to Paul Sodzi standing in for Simon Cooper in the role of Jesus. Well done Paul.

After lunch the prayer warriors had their meeting with the cast, and Helen and Roger bored everyone else with administration instructions and conductors notes.

To finish off the day, Roger shared a bit of his vision for CMM post Rock, and then we had a good prayer time for the whole lot.

A very satisfactory day. And Helen allowed herself a week off to recover, hence the lateness of this post!

(Photos to follow)

Monday 9 June 2008

A Cornish Weekend


How frustrating to be in Corwall on a beautiful sunny weekend - and inside all the time!


But despite this, we have just had a lovely weekend in Cornwall. Roger, Annie, Helen, Bob and Eve (associates from Bideford) and Pauline (an associate from Camelford) formed the team that helped lead the Torn Curtain at Threemilestone Methodist near Truro on Saturday, and the Circuit Day at Launceston Central Methodist on Sunday. It was Pauline's first event with us, and she did an excellent job!


Threemilestone and neigbouring churches gathered together a 20-strong choir who learnt the Torn Curtain. They were excellent singers, and provided a fantastic lead to the congregation who attended the special evening communion service.


On Sunday morning we helped to lead the service at Lauceston Central Methodist, for their special Circuit service. Roger led some teaching based around the Torn Curtain again, and we taught some songs ready for the afternoon communion. After the service, we had a lovely picnic with the congregation in the castle grounds, and then finished up with communion back in the church.

Thursday 5 June 2008

Office life!

I would say this is a normal week in the office, but it definitely isn't! We're incredibly busy with Rock at the moment - the publication day is coming up, and the cast drama rehearsals have started.

Yesterday, a huge pile of boxes filled with CDs arrived on a large white van before Roger was even out of his dressing gown! The books should arrive in the next couple of days. Alongside the books and CDs we have been working hard to complete the backing tracks, words copies, part-learning CDs and choir bible studies CDs.

Also, Alison Fuggle had a meeting with Roger to discuss another new musical, so watch this space!

Roger and Martin Recording the tenor and bass CDs

Annie recording the alto CD with her recording engineer, Martin

Alison Fuggle and Roger hard at work!

Tuesday 3 June 2008

The Caravan Crowd!


Last weekend, the Inn Crowd had its Caravan Club debut - Pamela Dewick managed to gather together a choir of 30 in a Cambridgeshire caravan site. They all thoroughly enjoyed it, and have travelled back to their home churches excited about the possibility of performing it far and wide!


Thanks to Pamela for her hard work!

Monday 2 June 2008

Your Performances

I have begun a new list to feature at the side of this blog entitled 'Your Performances'. This is so that people can know about any forthcoming performances of Roger's musicals in their area. So if you're putting something on, let us know when and where! helen@cmm.org.uk

Pharisee

The rest of the week at Abbot Hall went very well indeed. The orchestra and choir combined beautifully for an excellent (and unique) performance, and they were well supported by a full audience. Special mention goes to Annie for training the orchestra, and Sharon for training the choir. Thanks also go to Marian and John, our hosts for the week.

CMM lead a number of music weeks every year. For details of the other weeks, please contact the CMM office on 0121 7833291:
14th-18th July: Jail Break healing week - Harnhill
21st-25th July: Pharisee music week - Bognor Regis
2nd-9th August: Pharisee music week - Lee Abbey
16th-23rd August: Pharisee music week - Scargill
6th-13th September: David music week - St. Ives


Pictures:

Our hosts John and Marian

Some of the sopranos and altos

The tenors and basses

Some of the orchestra

The audience

Some more of the orchestra

Roger with some soloists

Annie and Sharon at the piano