Here are some of the lovely things that people have been saying...
"Terrific vitality. Virtuoso stuff. What a thrill to hear you in full cry. I am full of admiration for you and thank you so much for a wonderful programme." "Fabulous singing. From the energy with which you walked on I had a feeling we were in for something special." "Anybody can do Purcell, but how many can do this?" "Like chocolate to my ears! I want to sing with you!" "The whole experience was a lot of fun and James' infectious enthusiasm carried over into our songs and injected our music with energy and dynamism." "You really helped to make our Carol Concert "With the focus on the production of different vowel sounds James encouraged us to create sounds in spaces we didn’t know we had... By the end of a most enjoyable evening we had all improved our knowledge of the relationship between vocal techniques and the sounds that we make, especially the different vowel sounds needed by different languages – even if we were singing in English." "It was lovely to meet you and thank you for delivering such a brilliant session. The delegates were full of energy on Thursday evening, and praise for you and the session. Thank you again." "Before the concert, the choral group Chantage performed a thoughtful programme in the Barbican foyer. I sang Joshua Fit The Battle of Jericho in Germany last year, and this quirky, exuberant performance brought back many wonderful memories." "Terrible!" "Well done for holding such a fluid beast. And Chantage sounded sensitive and delicate yet warm. Excellent... Well done! A triumph!" "Your amazing equanimity keeps me coming back" "The recent course in Holy Sepulchre was hugely enjoyable. This was, in no small part, due to the course content and the way in which it was delivered. The good humour, and the pertinence and value of the observations offered by the guys in charge, created a comfortable atmosphere in which we could all thrive. I have learnt so much" "Ian and I would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making our wedding ceremony the most amazing and moving experience that we could have hoped for. It would not have been the same with out you all there filling the church with the most wonderful music. Everyone was seriously impressed with your choir, and said that they had not been to such an amazing service, they were nearly all brought to tears. I wish we could have just sat there and listened to you guys sing all afternoon. You were all incredible, and I was very impressed with the organist playing that organ so well. I hope he wasn't too unimpressed when he saw it. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I just wish we had another occasion to get you all to come and sing for us again." "Thank you so much for such a lovely week at 'Canford'. I enjoyed the experience so much... You were such an inspiration to work with and made things so easy for us - even when they were hard!" "Didn't get a chance to say a proper thanks for the rehearsal on Sat. It was FAB - we got so much work done and it was great fun too. I'm sure it's not easy to step in to conduct someone else's choir but you did it admirably. I only hope we can hang on to all the ideas you gave us." "What a fantastic evening. You were a total star and the whole event was wonderful. You are so gifted at bringing out the best in young people (and adults!). Thank you for all your time and energy. Hope to work with you lots more in the future." "The Choral Society has asked me to thank you again for leading us through such an enjoyable day. They felt they had worked hard – as I’m sure you felt you had too – and they were really pleased with the quality of singing achieved. We have taken many of your “warm up” ideas and look forward to incorporating these in our weekly rehearsals." "Just wanted to say a big 'thank you' again for Saturday. We were very honoured that you could come and help us at YMC. I was delighted with the way you accommodated all ages from 7 - 70 in your workshop - and I learned a lot. As one who started as a general musician and am really a jack of all (probably master of none!) and just drifted into choirs etc., I gained a lot myself from your workshops. Thank you so much." "Thank you for all the tips and pointers you gave us at our Take Twenty rehearsal last week. We certainly were energised and focused by much of what you had to say - so when we finally found ourselves on stage in Harrow, with Rachel at our helm on Saturday - we 'socked it to 'em' like nobody's business! And to everyone's astonishment and delight - found that we had got through to the next round, with flying colours and great judges comments. Thanks again for your help and encouragement!" "Six finalists will compete for the coveted title of Choir of the Year 2012 at the Grand Final, performing alongside the Grammy Award-winning Swingle Singers from TV show Glee who will give a special guest performance. Many professional choirs in the UK have used this prestigious prize as the foundation for their careers. Previous winners Chantage (BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year 2006) and London Adventist Chorale (Sainsbury’s Choir of the Year 1994) are now regarded as among the finest Choirs in the world." "Just a short note to thank you for your and the choir's wonderful contribution to mum's funeral today. It made it a very special occasion and I lost count of all the people (essentially everyone there) who thanked me and complimented you on your singing. You helped turn a sad occasion into a joyous one. Please would you thank all the team. Really very much appreciated. Thank you." "With the very sensitive careful nurturing from James we all warmed to his teaching of breathing techniques and responded to all he asked of us. The whole afternoon was great fun, so enjoyable and it was amazing just how James managed to get such a harmonious result... Much more important was the very real fact all were breathing a little deeper and more controlled - yes there were a few coughing but all were learning without realising the obvious benefits. A Physio could not have achieved such a positive and beneficial result in such a short space of time - nor left such a lasting pleasurable memory... Our room was buzzing after James and Heather had ended their session. I have never seen so many smiles and such pleasure in any of my Breathe Easy members in all the years I have been taking this group. It was voted the best meeting we have ever had. How is that for accolade - I might say well deserved praise." "It was a fantastic day and we learned an incredible array of techniques, songs, ways of listening and singing together, and we had a lot of fun!" "We are very experienced singers but found the whole day totally refreshing. We need coaching like this every week!" |
"Fabulous, clear, non-English sounds: ensemble, diction, delivery flawless.... thrilling, beautiful performances. Very fine singing indeed." "Superb choral singing and inspiring, confident, emotionally engaged performance.... The musical temperature of the hall just went up as soon as Chantage started to sing" "You are greater than the sum of your parts; you have stolen my heart and encouraged me to search for it; I am floating on the diaphonous cloud of your sound..." "a dedicated, enthusiastic and visionary group of people." "James, thank you so much for your involvement last week. As a first time member at Cranleigh Choral Week and the Dove choir, you really were the consummate professional!" "Thanks so much for coming and rehearsing us today. I thought it went really well, and you did a brilliant job enthusing us all and teaching such a mixed group of singers! I’m sure Lucy and John will be delighted with the progress we’ve made and I’m really excited about how its all coming together." "Thanks SO very much for Saturday. I love working with you and your wonderful choir - the day was, genuinely, an inspiration in so many ways. there's great joy in your music making - long may it continue." "I just wanted to thank you & Chantage very much for giving us all a real treat on Wednesday evening. Fulsome praise from all around & precisely 40mins as requested!" "A wonderful, informative day delivered with confidence and diplomacy. FANTASTIC!" "A wonderful event that ended the festival with style!" "You and everyone you brought with you were a joy to work with and professional to the last." "Just to say, really thank you so much, for your energy, creativity and relaxed-ness, as Tuesday lunchtimes totally make coming to work worthwhile" "I would say overall that the Music Man activity provided an excellent and unique method to bring together a large group of people to demonstrate quite effectively what can be accomplished when you work together as a team. The program found a way to engage everyone equally, no matter what their level of "singing" skill. It also provided the right balance of pushing people a little out of their comfort zone but in a way that did not spotlight any individuals. As a facilitator James was very engaging and kept quite a large group focused on the task." "Listening to the Guardian Angels is like having a big family hug" "Just a brief note to say a big 'thank you' for your work on With Voice Divine last evening. You cracked the last few of the sticky passages, and the choir, I know, went home very much more confident." "Thanks for your great work. The client has in fact come back to me with some lovely compliments. They said "I wanted to say a huge thank you for organising the choir for the wedding on Saturday. My client called today to say that they arrived on time, were extremely professional to work with, looked and sounded great. I think that the bride was quite a difficult client and so if she enjoyed the choir, then it must have been wonderful!"" "For being a total saviour, I think you must now be in the running to be patron saint of workshop leaders. It all went pretty well, they had fun I think and certainly the little old ladies surprised themselves with what they achieved. Thank you so, so much. I'll tell all when I see you but THANK YOU, YOU'RE AMAZING!" "It was a real pleasure working with you guys, we were struck by the energy and enthusiasm which seems to radiate from you all and the professionalism with which you conduct yourselves is impressive. The finished version is quite literally stunning and it will be a real delight for the audience. We hope you all enjoy the programme and once again a very big thank you for taking the challange on in such a short space of time, and producing something amazing. It was a really positive experience and I'm sure there will be more opportunities to work alongside you guys in the future." "James began his workshop on 'Changing choral colour' with a thorough introduction to the vocal placement of different vowel sounds. He then led us through a great range of music from different historical eras and cultures, applying a shifting but unified approach to the vowel sounds in each piece. This enhanced the musical variety and proved a rewarding experience for all." "I would like to thank you for all of yours and Heathers amazing work with the children of All Saints. Our parents were thrilled with the concert and I have been inundated with thanks and praise - most of which I'm passing onto you!" "Well, you didn't let me down! The music was amazing and everyone was blown away by it. Thank you so much for finding us such wonderful singers and for singing yourself. I'm sorry we didn't have a chance to grab a word, but I hope you could tell how delighted I was - I couldn't stop grinning! Colin was also fantastic so thanks for recommending him. You were so right about him being able to play brilliantly on any organ and I'm very glad I didn't allow myself to be bullied into changing my choices of processional and recessional music. Needless to say I would recommend you to anyone. Thanks again for everything and particularly for your support through the darker days of a few weeks ago when it all seemed to be going horribly wrong. I am absolutely certain that we had the best outcome in the end!" "I just wanted to drop you an email to say how fantastic the guys from the barbershop trio were on Monday. They sounded absolutely fantastic and helped us to get a number of the broadcast media interested while were stood outside the England cricket team’s hotel, even being filmed for BBC News 24 and ITN! We had a few issues with our sampling staff as you may have heard, which meant there was a lot of waiting around with nothing to do however the trio were fantastic and really helpful. They were enthusiastic about getting involved as much as possible in what we were doing and even got stuck in to speaking to the public and posing for some great pictures with the photographer." "Thank you so much for coming down to St Margaret's yesterday and giving our girls and all the visiting children such a worthwhile day. Undoubtedly, they all benefited hugely from the experience and went away happy and inspired - praise indeed!" "I started singing three years ago at the age of 50, and sometimes wonder will I ever be able to do it properly. After today I am encouraged, you gave us such clear and straightforward guidance... You were always positive and encouraging." "Absolutely superb in every way. The workshop was excellent and great fun as well." "Absolutely fabulous. Learned so much. You should charge more!" |