Chapter 20 #2
Jules put her arm around the young man who was around an inch taller than her and gave him a squeeze, a look of immense pride in her eyes. Angelia surmised she must be his mum.
‘Okay, Angelia, I’ll hand the floor to you to give a quick introduction for those members of the choir who maybe haven’t encountered you before,’ Ferris said, holding out his hand.
Angelia cleared her throat and felt her face heating.
She could address a crowd of thousands in an arena but talking to a group of twelve or so people suddenly felt quite daunting.
‘Hi, everyone. As Ferris said I’m Angelia.
I’m originally from just outside Portree in the north of the island where I grew up, living with my mum and dad.
Music is my true passion, and I play a variety of instruments and read music too.
I started to study music at the Conservatoire in Glasgow but that was cut short when I…
well, when…’ She knotted her fingers in front of her.
‘You can say it, Angel,’ Ed interjected. ‘It was cut short when you landed your dream job as lead singer for the incredible rock band Angel and the Fallen.’
Angelia smiled nervously. ‘Yes, when that happened. And by the way, this is one of my best friends, Ed Halsall, he’s a fantastic musician too. He’s played for some of the biggest orchestras in the world. So he’s far better than me.’
Ed shook his head. ‘Not entirely true. And anyway, we’re not here to talk about me, go on.’
‘Erm… I came home to Skye because…’ Angelia glanced sideways at Ferris who gave an encouraging nod and smile. ‘The band decided to take a holiday, and I figured I’d make the most of it and come and visit my folks.’
‘Aye, dearie, you’ve to make the most of them,’ Isla said with a nod and a sympathetic look to her face. ‘Parents are verra important.’
Angelia smiled. ‘I agree. I’ve also just bought the shop along the road from the bakery.’
‘Oh, aye and my Arabella’s working her magic on that for you, isn’t she? She’s verra talented, my Arabella,’ Isla said proudly. ‘She can give that Lawrence Lulu Lemon a run for his money, I’ll tell you.’
Angelia wasn’t sure at first who Isla meant but when the penny dropped, she had to try her best not to laugh. ‘Oh, yes, that’s right. Her designs are fantastic.’ She held her arms out. ‘And that’s about it really. So, what do you need from me?’
Bella said, ‘We need someone to guide us on the best songs for a relatively new choir to sing and how to come up with the harmonies.’ She glanced around at the others who all nodded their agreement.
‘Our last leader was great but unfortunately, she isn’t available now and we didn’t really solidify a set list. Apart from Christmas carols we have one song, “Love Shine a Light”, which none of us actually like. ’
Angelia nodded. ‘And I understand you’re to perform at the village show in June, so carols aren’t really appropriate, I suppose.’ She grinned. ‘Okay, so how long a slot do you have?’
Caitlin told her, ‘It’s a thirty-minute slot before Ruby’s dancers.’
‘Great!’ Angelia said. ‘Do we have any other sheet music or song sheets to have a go at?’
Isla rolled her eyes and huffed as she folded her arms across her chest. ‘Amelia, our former director, was a huge fan of ABBA but no one wants to hear songs about chicken tikka, do they? I’m more of a Harry Styles fan these days, thanks to Arabella. And I do like a bit of Florence and her machine.’
Angelia, fighting threatening laughter again, said, ‘I love Harry Styles too. He’s a nice guy and a lot more talented than people give him credit for. And Florence is an amazing vocalist, although her songs may be a little too obscure for such an event. How about Queen?’
Isla pursed her lips. ‘Personally speaking, I liked her, although I wouldn’t say I was a royalist. Not sure about King Charles yet but I’m prepared to give him time. Why do you ask, hen?’
Angelia couldn’t help giggling this time. ‘I was referring to the band, Isla. Freddie Mercury?’
Isla laughed and slapped her thighs with her hands. ‘Och, that would make more sense. Although maybe best not to try to get us to perform that Bohemian rap song. I’m not sure we’re up to that! All that “scare a moose, scare a moose”, and all the harmonies might be a bit much, even for Glentorrin.’
‘Noted. No moose scaring or crazy harmonies,’ Angelia said as she shared an amused glance with Bella.
* * *
The first rehearsal went quite well considering Angelia hadn’t done anything like direct a choir before.
They had selected Harry Styles’s ‘As It Was’ and Queen’s ‘You’re My Best Friend’ as starting points, the music for which Ferris had pulled up on his phone while the members of the choir had used their own phones for the lyrics.
Angelia found herself laughing with the singers on many occasions when lyrics were misheard or notes were completely missed, and she couldn’t remember feeling this relaxed in weeks.
She managed to arrange the singers into their vocal ranges from Reid as baritone and Isla and Morag as soprano and everything else in between. The evening flew by.
The mixed-age group of people thanked her profusely at the end, saying how much they had enjoyed it; that it was much more fun than when Amelia had been running it; she had, allegedly, been a tad too serious and obsessed with the seventies, making only one allowance for the Katrina and the Waves song but only because it had been a Eurovision song contest winner and that had been her other passion.
The members had, apparently, thoroughly enjoyed having a say in which songs they would sing rather than being dictated to.
Once the choir had left, Ferris walked her and Ed to the door.
He held out his hand to Ed. ‘Good to meet you, Ed. Thanks for coming.’ He turned to Angelia.
‘That was amazing, Angelia. They clearly love you. But why wouldn’t they?
’ He glanced at Ed and cleared his throat.
‘Anyway, thanks again for helping with this. I think they may try to kidnap you when it’s time for you to go back to London. ’
Angelia left the church with a smile on her face, feeling like she had really achieved something for the first time in a while.