In the weeks running up to the premiere of ‘Macmath: The Silent Page’ each of us involved in the project will be keeping readers up to date with what’s going on. So, first off it’s me (Emily). Since the last post the group has met several times and I’m delighted to say the material is sounding fantastic. We’re now at the stage of putting finishing touches to the arrangements and whittling down the choices as to which songs will be featured in the final programme.
I’m delighted with the songs I’m leading, I have three rather substantial (but beautiful!) ballads to get stuck in to and I’m currently working on learning lyrics and making the songs my own. I also have some light hearted numbers including a ‘mash up’ of riddle songs that were listed at the back of volume two of Macmath’s songbooks.
It’s been a pleasure working with all involved so far, each musician and singer brings something unique to the group and the variety of instruments and voices involved has created a really diverse sound scape for the songs. Not to mention the addition of the choir on some of the songs – this is going to be quite a show!
As part of my career I have spent over a decade searching for local songs from our beautiful Dumfries & Galloway. The search has certainly not been easy and so being part of the project of bringing Macmath’s collection of songs back to life is an honour.
There’s only a month remaining until the launch of this project which has been bubbling away for a few years. It seems like an age ago that we first met round a table laden with handwritten (some rather illegible) copies of songs. I wonder what Macmath would make of our efforts…hopefully he’d be impressed! His legacy will have a lasting effect not only in the live performances throughout this year but also in the album we will re-group to record in June.
MacMath The Silent Page 