What can I say... I understand it’s an entertainment show but you can’t help but get emotionally involved in these things! Why two such amazing couples in the dance off? I genuinely was loving the show yesterday, the routines; the audience was fantastic and enthusiastic, Craig was even being nice to people (with the odd remark thrown in and as much as I adore Len I think his problem should have been with the new Mr Meany Bruno, not Craig!).
... And then we get the bombshell! All the judges seemed devastated at having to choose between the couples and I’m glad James and Zoe got at least one vote as they did go for it in their dance off!
The worst part of the dance off is we get the info on who’s going to be up just before the couples come on stage to await their fate! The band has to know to be able to get the correct music out and prepare their instruments. Some of the guy’s may double up on instruments e.g some chairs play the saxophone, clarinet and flute, the guitars may have classical, steel strings, different types of electric guitars, pedals, the keyboards have to make sure they have the right sounds (it could be embarrassing if an 80’s synth sound came out during a traditional Paso for example!) and with some of the songs we singers have to come straight in, without an intro, in the right key. So Tommy gets out his mini keyboard and checks the keys before we launch in with some terribly wrong notes!
We have two dilemma’s at this point as there are some songs we don’t want to come back as we know who’s dancing to them (so last night was horrendous having to smile at our friends as they walk on stage knowing who’s going to be in the dance off) and other songs because after singing constantly all day to have something like “Good Golly Miss Molly” come back, we don’t know if we even have any voice left by this time! It’s not like we’re singing songs that are always technically correct! Some involve using a shouty voice or using growl sounds and you go through so many different styles in the night our bodies must get confused! Obviously we don’t choose the songs, can’t change the keys and have no choice of the order in which they come out! So some shows your first number could be Tina Turner (big belt voice pushing quite high with lots of growls and attitude) then your last song could be Ave Maria by which time your voice has been destroyed and you probably have no head voice left! I’m not sure if I’ve described that very well but I’m sure you get what I mean?! If not there’s a Q & A on the strictly bands website (link below) and Trevor (bass player in the hat) will be more than happy to answer your questions! STRICTLY BAND'S WEBSITE.
I absolutely loved my songs last night, Amy Winehouse, Back to Black and “Down With Love” where we got a lovely comment from Bruce! The band sounded unbelievable on Down with Love and it felt amazing to sing to! It felt quite strange going from something like that to J.T and Ciara. Obviously as I’ve mentioned before, modern stuff is pretty impossible to recreate with 4 singers but I believe we did an ok job considering!
Now, we have to get learning as next week... BLACKPOOL!!!
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