01 May Update

Summer term: Week 2

This week you can read about:

• Rehearsal update.

• Song facts: Girls Just Want to Have Fun - how Cyndi Lauper turned an innuendo-filled song written by a man into a feminist anthem.

• Date for the diary:

  • Saturday 14 June - Crystal Palace Park: Festival of Architecture.

Rehearsal

On a gloriously sunny first day of May, we had a longer warmup than usual. Elena took us through 4 stages: opening and relaxing the throat; engaging muscles of the cheeks and lips; annunciation (the ability to move around notes while you are singing vowels and consonants) and breath (doing all of the above at once in addition to managing breath). An additional part is singing through the ranges (middle, then high, then lowest).

We did some more work on Keep on Movin' and revised What Happens When a Woman, focusing particularly on the soprano harmonies and keeping the backbone melody running smoothly throughout the song. You can see a video of our run-through below.

As a reminder, all of the lyrics and recordings (including clipped sections) are in our Lyric & Audio Library.

SONG FACTS

 GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN - CYNDI LAUPER

We all know Girls Just Want to Have Fun as a poppy anthem with a powerful feminist message, but did you know that the song did not start out that way and was originally written by a man? The lyrics were written from the point of view of its male protagonist, Robert Hazard, and were all about how lucky he was being around girls who wanted to have 'fun' with him!

Convinced it would become her anthem, the song was recommended to her by her producer, Rick Chertoff, and initially, Lauper was less than keen. However, she reworked the lyrics and changed both the delivery and tempo. This, along with the video featuring women from all walks of life, in all shapes and sizes, helped alter the song into a message of female empowerment.

In the book I Want My MTV, Lauper explained: "I wanted 'Girls Just Want To Have Fun' to be an anthem for women around the world - and I mean all women - and a sustaining message that we are powerful human beings. I made sure that when a woman saw the video, she would see herself represented, whether she was thin or heavy, glamorous or not, and whatever race she was."

DATES FOR THE DIARY

SATURDAY 14 JUNE Crystal Palace Park: Festival of Architecture  

Crystal Palace Park Trust are hosting an event in June as part of this year's London Festival of Architecture. The theme of the festival is 'voices' (https://www.londonfestivalofarchitecture.org/2025-festival). Their idea is to have different choirs/performances in various locations in the Park. Visitors would then be encouraged to explore the Park through sound.

We'll share more information (and a registration form) as soon as we have it.