{"id":329,"date":"2014-08-21T11:06:41","date_gmt":"2014-08-21T11:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.risen.org.uk\/?p=329"},"modified":"2014-08-21T11:48:27","modified_gmt":"2014-08-21T11:48:27","slug":"blog-august-21st-risen-vocals-completed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/?p=329","title":{"rendered":"Blog August 21st \u201cRisen\u201d vocals completed!!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nAlex Knox (second from right) playing John in\u00a0 2013 Stage Production of Risen! at Holy Rood Church- also from left to right – Mariatu Conteh (Mary Wife of Clopas) and Nicola Poustie (Mary Magdalene)<\/p>\n

\"Martin
\nMartin Connor staring with Ken Shearsmith (circa 1930!) in \u201cThe Pirates of Portsmouth\u201d at Northern Parade Junior Boys School , Portsmouth<\/p>\n

I know I said that this week I would tell you about our CD \u201cPrecious\u201d and how my mum became a Christian aged 101 but our musical Risen! hit a landmark yesterday and that was when the last of our vocals were recorded; a process that has taken four years! \u00a0So I thought this week I best focus on these recordings.<\/p>\n

In \u00a0the last few weeks Joffy, our MD recording engineer, mixer, arranger and just about everything else \u00a0has been working overtime, \u00a0re -recording some parts and recording some new material. Ben Morris, who plays Jesus (see blog July 17th<\/sup>) Nicola Poustie, who plays Mary Magdalene (see blogs May 25th<\/sup> June 6th<\/sup> July 17th<\/sup> )and \u00a0Dan Scott, who plays Cleopas all came back to \u201ctweak\u201d their previous recordings.\u00a0 We also had brand new recordings from Chloe Brokenshire.\u00a0 Nicola was not available to play the part of Mary Magdalene in the Easter 2014 concert production of Risen! (see blog May 1st<\/sup>)) as she was getting married to Michael. However Chloe stepped in and did such a fantastic job that we asked her if she would record the part of Mary, Sister of Lazarus and Martha.\u00a0 Her performances are so moving – I can\u2019t wait for you all to hear them!<\/p>\n

We wrote into the script the role of Susanna , who, Luke tells us, was a follower of Jesus and who \u00a0supported Him out of her \u00a0own means.\u00a0 Ben Morris recommended a fellow member of the cast of the West End\u2019s \u201cPhantom of the Opera\u201d- Lyndsey Garniner.\u00a0 She too has a beautiful voice; you can see and hear her sing on http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nB1_7VTvdjI&sns=em<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0Incidentally you can also hear Ben Morris sing on http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kvxpvT0RMlk<\/a><\/p>\n

Then yesterday Alex Knox came down from London to finish recording the recitative of John \u201cthe disciple who Jesus loved\u201d (or more correctly- especially loved) How I met Alex is, I think a lovely story which I thought you might like to hear.<\/p>\n

When, at the age of nine \u00a0I moved from Gillingham in Kent to Portsmouth I went to the Northern Parade Junior Boys School. I have to say I did not like it at all – the teachers used the cane- something that I had not come across at all in the delightful Forge Lane Mixed School I attended in Gillingham.<\/p>\n

Anyway one classroom teacher, Mr Thorpe was keen on amateur dramatics and each year would produce a show, \u00a0usually one which he had written himself based on a Gilbert and Sullivan classic. I particularly remember \u201cThe Pirates of Portsmouth\u201d in which I played a pirate \u201cMizzen Mast Martin\u201d\u00a0 (I\u2019ll let you pick me out in the featured pic) The star was a guy called Martin Connor who was in my class and who had been one of the few people who had been nice to me when I first went to Northern Parade. Martin is stage centre in the pic with a hook for a right hand (only make believe!)<\/p>\n

In those ancient times we had to sit the 11 + exam to determine whether you went on to Grammar School or Secondary Modern. In Portsmouth there was also a \u201chalf -way house\u201d – the Portsmouth Technical High School.\u00a0 Well to cut a long story short Martin and I found ourselves both at \u201cThe \u201chalfway house\u201d. \u00a0We were also in the same form, the infamous 1B.\u00a0 Martin went on to become Head Boy – I did not.<\/p>\n

I knew Martin had gone on from school to pursue a career in acting, but on leaving school I had lost contact with him. When I was looking to cast for the role of John I needed someone who could both act and sing. All of Risen! is sung and I particularly needed someone who was expert in \u00a0recitative as this \u00a0holds the storyline together. I decided to try to locate Martin to see if he was still in the world of acting so I googled his name (what else!) and there he was m Head of Acting at the Prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.\u00a0 I knew it was the same Martin as there was a pic of him on the Guildhall\u2019s website and he had not changed a bit. (spit!)<\/p>\n

I emailed him and we met up at the \u201cCoach and Horses\u201d pub which is right opposite our old school. We talked and laughed non -stop for hours, picking up on all the old Tech School life as if it were yesterday. Anyway yes Martin did have someone in mind to play the part of John – Alex Knox. Alex had a degree in Music from Manchester University – he also had a Masters in Singing from Guildhall and was now taking the Guildhall\u2019s Masters Acting Degree- he would be perfect. So I took the train up to London to meet him at the Guildhall. I sang Alex the John parts in one of the Guildhall\u2019s studios, so I suppose it could be said that I have sung at the Guildhall School of Music and Theatre!\u00a0 For a classical trained singer it would not have been normal to learn a part warbled by some PE teacher, \u00a0but that is what happened and Alex has now played John\u00a0 brilliantly in three consecutive Risen! productions and, of course sings the part in our forthcoming Risen! CD. Alex has become \u00a0a great friend \u00a0and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for all his amazing efforts for Risen!<\/p>\n

With all the continued trouble in the Middle East I thought it appropriate this week to feature a song of hope- \u201cThis is not heaven\u201d sung live by Fiona Poustie of the Mustard Seed Soul Band at a production of our first musical \u201cHis Story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blog should feature \u201cPrecious\u201d next week but knowing me\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alex Knox (second from right) playing John in\u00a0 2013 Stage Production of Risen! at Holy Rood Church- also from left to right – Mariatu Conteh (Mary Wife of Clopas) and Nicola Poustie (Mary Magdalene) Martin Connor staring with Ken Shearsmith (circa 1930!) in \u201cThe Pirates of Portsmouth\u201d at Northern Parade Junior Boys School , Portsmouth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ken-shearsmiths-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=329"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions\/338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}