By Emma Smallwood, GGCC
On a hot, sunny Saturday in July around 80 singers gathered to record a brand new EP. The Stoke Gifford Gospel Generation Community Choir (GGCC) was one of six choirs that were part of this exciting project. Three other GGCC Bristol choirs plus one from Torquay and one from Feltham swelled the numbers, creating a wonderful rich sound.
For most of the singers, this was their first experience of being part of a recording, so they got a new insight into the world of multiple takes, instructions for more energy, tighter diction and smiles! It was a long day, took five hours to record the four songs and then we had another three hours to record a smaller group and some solos. The backing tracks for the songs had already been done by GGCC choir director Emma Smallwood, so literally all that was needed were the vocals.
We had the expert help of experienced singer/songwriter Geraldine Latty for the day, she led the choirs through all the songs and two of the songs we recorded were actually written by her and her husband, Carey Luce. Carey was the engineer/producer for the day and will be mixing all the songs for us over the summer.
The title track of the EP is ‘Sing our way home’ and the other tracks are a mixture of traditional spirituals and more contemporary gospel songs. We’re aiming to launch our EP at our annual Gospel singing conference here in Bristol on 12th October. This is open to anyone who loves to sing and loves gospel music. There are still places available – visit ticketsource.co.uk for details.
We’ll have more details of the launch and how to get hold of a copy when our new rehearsal term starts on Tuesday 10th September. We meet fortnightly at 7.30pm in the lower hall of the St Michael’s Centre in North Road, Stoke Gifford. New members are always welcome, so why not come and join us!
See also: Gospel Generation Community Choir on Facebook
Photo: Choir members pictured during a break in the recording session.
This article originally appeared in the September 2019 issue of the Stoke Gifford Journal magazine (on page 29). The magazine is delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to over 5,000 homes in Stoke Gifford, Little Stoke and Harry Stoke. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.
