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Tachwedd
Mae’r ysgol wedi cael tymor eithriadol o brysur rhwng Medi a Thachwedd a bu’n rhaid i’r aelodau newydd ddysgu eu rhannau yn gyflym iawn eleni. Dyna un her o arwain corau plant a ieuenctid yw cael pob aelod newydd i ddysgu eu rhannau fel y gallant ymuno yn y cyngherddau mor fuan a phosib.
Er fod y gystadleuaeth Choir of the Year wedi cychwyn nôl ym Mis Chwefror doedd rownd derfynnol y Categoriau ddim yn cael ei gynal tan fis Hydref. Eleni roedd y Côr Iau wedi cystadlu yn adran y Corau Ieuenctid a’r Côr H?n wedi cystadlu yn adran y Corau Agored. Yn yr adran agored roedd modd canu mewn unrhyw arddull o Gospel i Pop ac o’r Gwerin i’r Sioeau Cerdd. Roedd hynny felly’n caniatau inni fod yn fwy arbrofol yn ein rhaglen ac yn gallu cyflwyno rhywfaint o goreograffi.
Bu’r ddau gôr yn ddigon ffodus i fynd trwy’r rowndiau rhagbrofol a chael y cyfle i gynrychioli Cymru yn rownd derfynnol y Categoriau yn Y Bridgewater Hall, Manceinion ar Hydref yr 8ed. Yno, roedd 16 côr, oedd wedi eu didolli allan o bron i 150 o gorau, yn cael cyfle i gystadlu. Roedd chwe chôr wedyn yn cael eu dewis i fynd drwodd i’r hyn mae nhw’n ei alw yn Grand Final yn y Festival Hall yn Llundain ar yr 28ain o Hydref. Cafodd y Côr H?n eu dewis i fod yn y Grand Final ac er nad oeddan ni’n fuddugol yn y fan honno roedd yn brofiad aruthrol cael dychwelyd i’r Festival Hall unwaith eto, a daeth a llif o atgofion yn ôl i Rhian a finna. Yno, nôl ym 1991, y buom yn cystadlu am y tro cyntaf hefo’r ysgol, a dod yn fuddugol bryd hynny hefo’r Côr Iau yng Ng?yl Music For Youth. 1991! I lle mae’r blynyddoedd wedi mynd dudwch?
Roedd y tymor yma yn gynhyrfus iawn i ni fel côr gan ein bod wedi ‘gefeillio’ hefo un o’r corau oedd yn cystadlu hefo ni ar y gyfres Last Choir Standing nôl yn 2008. (Ydi, mae’r blynyddoedd yn hedfan!) Falla bydd rhai ohonoch chi’n cofio’r côr Sense of Sound o Lerpwl yn canu ar y gyfres honno. Fe gynhesom at sain y côr yma o’r cychwyn ac fe daniodd cyfeillgarwch mawr rhyngom. Yn Buxton, o bob man, y gwelson ni nhw eleni. Yno roedd rownd gyntaf Choir of the Year yn cael ei chynal, a Sense of Sound hwythau’n cystadlu unwaith eto.
Roeddan ni mor falch o weld ein gilydd fel inni fynd ati’n syth bin i drefnu dau gyngerdd; un yn Lerpwl yn y Gadeirlan Anglicanaidd a’r llall yn Y Feniw, yn Llandudno. Does dim byd fel rhannu eich cerddoriaeth hefo côr arall a bu’r profiad o ganu yn y gadeirlan yn Lerpwl yn un byth-gofiadwy i holl aelodau’r côr.
Bu dau gôr yr ysgol hefyd yn canu yn rhagwrandawiadau Côr Cymru yn Ysgol Friars ar Dachwedd y 17eg. Bydd Ffeinal y Categoriau hynny yn Aberystwyth ym Mis Chwefror 2013, felly ‘da ni’n croesi ein bysedd y cawn ni gyfle i gystadlu yn y fan honno yn y flwyddyn newydd.
Rhai cyngherddau eraill fydd ganddon ni yn nhymor y gwanwyn fydd ym Mhenrhyndeudraeth ar Ionawr y 27ain, Pafiliwn y Rhyl ar Fawrth y 3ydd a Rhoshirwaun ar Ebrill yr 28ain.
Uchafbwynt y tymor yma, mae’n siwr, fydd ein taith i Frwsel. Ond gan y byddwn allan yno pan fydd deadline y golofn yma wedi pasio cewch ragor o hanes y trip hwnnw yn y rhifyn nesaf, yn ogystal â’n prosiectau hefo Côr Rhuthun a Chôr Gandwana o Awstralia!
Ar ran yr ysgol ga’i ddymuno Nadolig Llawen iawn ichi i gyd ac y gwelwn ni chi yn un o’n cyngherddau yn y flwyddyn newydd.
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November
The school has been extremely busy this season between September and November and the new members have had to learn their parts very quickly this year. That is one challenge of leading choirs of children and youth is to have all new members to learn their parts so they can join in the concert as soon as possible.
Although the Choir of the Year competition has started back in February, the final of the categories will be held until October. This year the younger choir has competed in the Junior Choir Youth Choirs section and the Senior Choir Choirs have competed in the Open section. In the open section we could sing in any style from Gospel to Pop and Folk of the Musicals. This therefore allows us to be more experimental in our programme and can introduce some choreography.
The two choirs were fortunate enough to go through the qualifying rounds and have the opportunity to represent Wales in the final of the categories at The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester on October the 8th. There were 16 choirs, which had been shortlisted out of nearly 150 of the best, and have the opportunity to compete. Six choirs will then be selected to go through to what they call a Grand Final at the Festival Hall in London on the 28th of October. The Senior Choir were selected to be the Grand Final and though we were winning at that point it was a tremendous experience being returned to the Festival Hall again, and came back a flood of memories for Rhian and me . There, in 1991, we are competing for the first time with the school, and then came out on top with the Junior Choir Festival Music For Youth. 1991! Where have the years gone?
The season here is a very exciting one for us as a choir as we have ‘twinned’ with one of the choirs that competed with us at the Last Choir Standing competition back in 2008. (Yes, the years fly!) Perhaps some of you remember the Liverpool choir Sense of Sound of singing on that series. We warmed to sound the choir here from the start and it sparked a great friendship between us. In Buxton, of all places, we saw them this year. This is where the first round of Choir of the Year was staged, and Sense of Sound when they compete again.
We were so glad to see each other as we immediately started to organize two concerts, one in Liverpool Anglican Cathedral and the other at The Venue, in Llandudno. There’s nothing like sharing your music with other choirs and the experience of singing in the cathedral in Liverpool is one ever-memorable to all the choir members.
The two choirs also sang in the school choir at Friars School on November 17th. The Final of those categories will be in Aberystwyth in February 2013, so yes, we’re keeping our fingers crossed that we’ll have a chance to compete at that point in the new year.
Other concerts in the spring term will be in Penrhyndeudraeth on January 27th, Rhyl Pavilion on March 3rd and Rhoshirwaun on April 28th.
The highlight of this season, I’m sure, will be our trip to Brussels. Find out more in the next blog post, as well as our projects with Ruthin Choir and Choir Gandwana from Australia!
On behalf of the school may I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and see you at one of our concerts in the new year.
Tags: Aberystwyth, Anglican Cathedral, Australia, awstralia, Bangor, blog, Buxton, cadeirlan, Choir Of The Year, choreography, cor hyn, cor iau, Cor Y Flwyddyn, coreograffi, Friars School, Glanaethwy, Godwana, junior choir, last choir standing, Lerpwl, Liverpool, Llandudno, november, tachwedd, The Venue Llandudno, ysgol, Ysgol Ffriars, ysgol glanaethwy