Favourite Hymns

from w
Sometimes here in Geelong we have a Favourite Hymns service, songs chosen by the people in the pews. Here are some well-known hymns from a conservative list that does not include many of the songs since 1900 and even 2000. I would add songs like 'Nothing is lost' from New Zealand, and many of John Bell's songs from Iona. These are in English, but there are many Fijian hymns I like from the Fijian Methodist Hymn Book of 1938 such as 199 Kemuni na veitokani and 261 Mai seretaki ira ga, and Hindi bhajans as well such as Jisu ne kaha jiwan ki roti. There are numerous excellent hymn and anthem writers in Fiji. In 1985 and 1988 choirs visited Australia, particularly Geelong who came from Labasa and were led by Saimoni Kete.

This year we do miss the annual Choir Competition in Suva. One church in Suva which produces remarkably good singers is Samabula East. Here is a picture of some of their singers.

A Fijian choir in Melbourne

from w
Yesterday we were delighted to welcome the members of the Dandenong Uniting Church Fijian congregation to Altona Meadows/Laverton church and their choir sang several beautiful anthems conducted by Raijeli. What a lovely time we had meeting with our friends in worship, sharing a meal together and later on there was plenty of talanoa and some yaqona drinking in Sailosi's home in Wyndam Heights. This choir were at the Adelaide Conference and were my favourite to win, but alas, the polished professional sounds of the city of Sydney won! At Adelaide a promise was made to give scholarships to promising singers/conductors from that conference so I hope one of the young women from Dandenong is given an opportunity for further music training. If Paulini can do it, so can many other young Fijians!

Click on pictures to enlarge.

Judging a Fijian choir competition

from w

On the Saturday night of the Fijian Conference at the Shores village in Adelaide there were many performances, skits, cultural dances, action songs, modern gospel songs and four choirs performed anthems to be judged in a choir competition: Sydney/Canterbury, Melbourne/Chadstone, Parramatta, and Dandenong. The Conference was very fortunate to have such an esteemed and knowledgeable singer, Esther King, as judge. On the Sunday the results were announced and her informative explanation of her criteria will be helpful to choirs in the future. Here are her ten main points when selecting winners.

I. Choice of song – that it suits the singers that you have – good soloists, trios, older voices, younger voices.
II. Presentation of the song
III. Pitch is correct and not flat such as singing under the note
IV. Attire – costume and the appearance of the group
V. Dynamics – warm, sharp, movement, interesting shifts
VI. Musical technique – the song is put across to make you believe that the singers mean it
VII. Diction – the clarity of words
VIII. Balance of voices – what should be done – heart, mind, body, spirit. The Kingdom of God is believable
IX. Style – young crisp voices or older voices, high and low voices, all ages and tonality, the ability to project voices. Some experienced choirs have developed their own tonality and style.
X. Lyrics and arrangement – is it a set arrangement or newly composed by a member of the choir? The judge needs to see the score to check pitch and voice parts. Try and write your own music if possible.

So according to these ten points the judge decided upon a winner. All choirs were excellent, looked attractive and sang very well. However, the winners according to the criteria of the judge Esther King (Litia Daveta) were
First: Sydney with 95 points,
Second: Melbourne with 94 points,
and equal Third Parramatta and Dandenong (each 90 points).

Actually my favourite was Dandenong and the soaring soprano soloist Apesai Smith's wife) with the choir, lovely sweet song, very well done. Of course I usually like choirs such as the Choir of Hard Knocks as there is more to singing than perfect pitch!