FARMINGTON – The sultry sounds of a hot Mississippi afternoon filled the auditorium at Mt. Blue High School on Thursday as the 15-member audition-only girls’ group Syncopations began learning the music it will perform next spring.
At a time when most high school singers are busy immersing themselves in final rehearsals of holiday music, the Syncopations, who just released a holiday CD and will perform at the Mt. Blue holiday craft fair on Saturday, are already looking ahead. This April, the group, led by Carol Shumway, will travel to London to perform for and with British choral groups.
With 16 pieces to learn, most of them American show tunes, jazz, and folk songs, the members of the Syncopations need all the time they have to rehearse before their plane takes off April 14.
“After Christmas, the whip comes out,” Shumway announced Thursday afternoon as the singers practiced “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” from the musical “Showboat.” “You’re not going to imagine how fast April’s going to be here. If we’re not prepared …”
On April 14, the Syncopations, Shumway, and accompanist Patricia Hayden will fly to London for one week. The $2,279-per-person trip, organized by Encore Tours, a division of ACIS Educational Tours, will include sightseeing in addition to the three performances the girls are scheduled to give, Shumway said. On Easter Sunday, they will attend services at either Westminster Cathedral or St. Paul’s, to hear the great pieces of British choral music as they were designed to be heard.
“I think these girls are just going to be blown away by the music in these cathedrals,” Shumway explained. “It’s going to be a life-changing experience. They will want to travel more. They will want to hear more.”
She added that she expects the Syncopations to learn a great deal from the concerts they give, as well.
They will have the chance to sing American music for a British audience, and will also get to hear different vocal styles, she said. All-girl groups are a relative rarity in the United Kingdom, Shumway said, and the director said the Syncopations “may be somewhat of a novelty” for their English audiences.
Shumway started the Syncopations four years ago because, she said, she is, “particularly fond of doing women’s repertoires.”
“There is something magical about women coming together to sing. It’s a safe environment, and there is a spectacular repertoire that goes unsung. And,” she added, “I want the girls to always know they have a voice.”
When asked what they were most excited to do in London, all 15 girls started speaking at once. Some clamored to describe the sightseeing they will do, visiting Stonehenge, the Roman baths at Bath, the Canterbury Cathedral, and the play they will see in Stratford-upon-Avon by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Others mentioned excitement about meeting British singers. All were enthralled with the idea of hearing Easter music in one of London’s two most famous Cathedrals.
The Syncopations are raising the roughly $34,000 needed to pay for their trip, and Shumway was notified Thursday the group had won a grant of more than $2,200 from MBNA. They will be performing and selling CDs at a craft fair at Mt. Blue High School on Saturday. Their concert begins at 9 a.m.
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