Shanties in St Mary of Charity

Responding to an email inviting suggestions of events for Open Faversham 2024 and then meeting with Kevin from St Mary’s Church, led to Lowering The Tone and Upping the Shanty welcoming singers to join them for an evening of Shanties and Songs of the Sea on Wednesday 21^st  August.

Between 30 and 40 singers joined us for a workshop at 6pm. We learned four shanties in an hour and the church was filled with the joy of singing together. Another 30 or so folk joined us for a concert at 7.30pm. The men of Lowering the Tone sang several shanties and led the audience in Being a Pirate! The women in Upping the Shanty sang some of their favourites and got everyone singing Roseanna. And the highlight of the concert was the singing of the shanties learned in the workshop by all of those who at attended with thirty or so singers of Lowering The Tone and Upping the Shanty! A fabulous number of singers!

All of the songs were taught by ear, and the feeling of relying on collective memory during the concert shone through! Great fun! Huge thanks for the team at St Mary’s for allowing this event to take place in the church and for great refreshments during the evening. The evening resulted in conversations about repeating the event next year, several folk signing up for future workshops and a handful of singers interested in joining LTT or UTS. Both groups welcome new singers – for more information contact Christine Adams christineadamsmusic@gmail.com