More Creative Shop Names - wombournechoralsociety.org

This issue’s TOPICS :

TOPIC 1More Creative Shop names...

TOPIC 2Music can get you high...

TOPIC 3Ten Composers from the Classical Period (1750 - 1820)...

Issue No : 031 April 2021

Music can get you high...If you want to get a release of dopamine and oxytocin in your brain, turn on a song you love. It seems that the "reward" part of the brain lights up when you hear music. They say... “the idea that reward is partly related to anticipation (or the prediction of a desired outcome)", is a fact in neuroscience.

So when you listen to a song, your brain is trying to figure out what's going to happen next without you realizing it. Then, whether or not your brain predicts correctly, it rewards itself with a shot of good-feeling chemicals. That's why anticipation is a great tool to use in your song. It's the thing that gets you high on music. More facts on what music can do for you to follow... Mike Coope

COVID News...They said a mask and gloves were enough to go to the Supermarket...They lied, everybody else had clothes on !

If I had only known when I was last in a restaurant before lockdown, I would have ordered a large dessert !

More Creative Shop Names...

1. Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) 2. Luigi Boccherini (1743 - 1805) 3. Luigi Cherubini (1760 - 1842)4. Domenico Scarlatti (1685 - 1757) 5. Muzio Clementi (1752 - 1832) 6. Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809)

7. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) 8 . Niccolo Paganine (1782 - 1840)

9. Le Chevier de Saint-George - Joseph Bologne ( 1745 - 1799) 10. Antonio Salieri (1750 - 1825)

Name the ten Composers from the Classical Period 1750 - 1820

1 2 3

4 5 6 7

8 9 10

This issue’s TOPICS :

TOPIC 1A brief biography of opera soprano Danielle de Niese...

TOPIC 3Nick Birch show us some of his many photographs of canal scenes...

Issue No : 032 April 2021

Right in the middle of thegreengrocery aisle, snowman gets caught picking his nose...

Danielle de Niese... Danielle was born in Melbourne, Australia, after her parents had migrated from Sri Lanka to Australia as teenagers. In 1988, at the age of nine, she became the youngest winner of a TV talent competition with a prize of A$ 5,000 and a Yamaha baby grand piano, which she still owns. In 1990, her family moved to Los Angeles, where she became a regular guest host of a TV programme for which she won an Emmy Award at the age of 16.

She made her professional operatic debut at the age of 15 with the Los Angeles Opera and became the youngest singer ever to participate

in the Young Artists Studio at the Metropolitan Opera, where she debuted at the age of 19 as Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro directed by Jonathan Miller and conducted by James Levine.

Danielle’s career has ranged through Baroque music, via Handel, Mozart and contemporary opera premieres at major opera houses around the world, to Broadway (Les Misérables) and film (Hannibal) roles.

At the end of 2006, when De Nederlandse Opera staged the three Mozart-Da Ponte operas conducted by Ingo Metzmacher, she sang Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro and Despina in Così fan tutte. In 2009, she made her Covent Garden debut in The Royal Opera’s production of Handel’s Acis and Galatea.In March 2012, she appeared as Norina in Don Pasquale at the San Diego Opera. She performed that role again the following year at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. In 2014 she appeared as the title heroine in Francesco Cavalli’s La Calisto at the Bavarian State Opera, sang Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress at the Teatro Regio di Turino, and performed the title role in Handel’s Partenope at the San Francisco Opera.

In August 2015 she returned to the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in performances of Concepción in L’heure espagnole and the title role in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges. In 2019 she played Aldonza/Dulcinea in Man of La Mancha with English National Opera at the London Coliseum. In February 2020 she created the title role in the world premiere of Eurydice, written by Matthew Aucoin with a libretto by Sarah Ruhl, at the Los Angeles Opera.

Daneille (called Danni by her friends and colleagues) married Gus Christie, grandson of John Christie and chairman of Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 2009, in London. Since her marriage, she has lived at Glyndebourne in Sussex. Their first child, a son, Bacchus, was born in June 2015 and their second child, a daughter, Sheherazade, was born on the 13th November 2020.

Watch Danielle and Sarah Connolly perform ‘Caro! Bella!’ from Handel’s Giulio Cesare - Follow the active link : https://youtu.be/cvyWfsWxPMc Mike Coope

John Rutter conducting his ‘Sing-a-long’ at Birmingham

University in May 2015.

Photographs from Nick Birch...Some of you may know that Nick Birch is a very keen photographer and amongst the many subjects he is particularly fond of photographing are canal scenes, birds of prey, sea and garden birds, garden flowers, Welsh narrow gauge railways and coastal scenes in Wales, in both sunny and rough weather conditions. In this issue, we have selected a few of his canal scene images, taken in the local area. A very talented photographer... Many thanks Nick.

This issue’s TOPICS :

TOPIC 1Birds to be seen in your garden...

TOPIC 2Music can help relieve your stress...

TOPIC 3The History of the Button...

Issue No : 033 May 2021

A balcony shot taken in St John’s Church in the Square at the WDCS Concert on Saturday 28th March 2015 when we performed Brahms Requiem, conducted by Ian Clarke.

Music can help relieve your stress...We already know how music can help us be less stressed. Surely we've all experienced this regardless of your preferred genre.

Listening to music helps reduce the release and production of cortisol, which is called ‘the stress hormone’. Less cortisol means better learning capability and memory, lower blood pressure, heart rate and cholesterol, and a less likely chance of heart disease. So... you should stop reading this article right now and go listen to some music you love. Mike Coope

Birds to be seen in your garden...A British garden is a wonderous place that can be full of nature and can attract many different species of bird. Here are a few of the more common birds that you are likely to spot in your garden.

The Robin...The robin is arguably one of the easiest birds to spot - its bright red chest giving away its identity to all that it meets. The bright

bird is spotted throughout the year, especially so during the festive season, which is why it has long been symbolic of Christmas.

The Collared Dove...Pale, pink-grey to brown in colour, collared doves sport a distinctive black ‘collar’ around their necks which give them their name.

Look out for their reddish eyes and feet. Otherwise, listen out for their familiar monotonous cooing sound which is another sure giveaway.

The Great Tit...The resident great tit is the largest of the UK tit family. It can be identified by one of its main features of a black head with

white cheeks. If you are listening, a two-syllable song is your give away. During the winter, the bird will join other breeds of tit and form a flock.

The Goldfinch...The goldfinch is a colourful bird, with its vibrant red face and yellow wing. Listen out for their twittering for a likely spotting.

Increasingly goldfinch are visiting UK garden feeders – however by winter they will have migrated to warmer climates as far away as Spain.

The History of the Button...

Buttons are actually more ancient than what most people believe - they are thought to be as old as clothing itself.

The oldest button was found in the Mohenjo-daro region in the Indus Valley, now known as modern day Pakistan. It is estimated to be around 5000 years old, with a decorative flat face that fits into a loop, and is primarily made out of curved shell. However, according to historian and author Ian McNeil,

these objects don’t function like modern buttons do. They serve more as ornaments rather than fasteners, and are almost never arranged in rows (like in today’s shirts), but are used singly as decorative flourish and signified wealth or status.

Buttons were also used by the Ancient Romans. However, their flowing garments (that were usually made out of a substantial amount of cloth) required hefty buttons made out of strong materials like wood, horn, and bronze. These poked large unsightly holes into garments, and soon fell out of favor among Ancient Roman clothiers.Interestingly enough, Romans also invented the fibula as an alternative to the button. This was an early version of the safety pin, though the design was lost until it was rediscovered again during the 19th century Industrial Era in the United States.

However, it would be a long time before the invention of the buttonhole and the fully-functional button we know and love today.

Over the centuries, the button evolved from an embellishment, to a more practical item. The middle ages brought with them the invention of the all-important buttonhole, which was to quietly revolutionise clothing. A stunningly-simple but elegant design, the geometrics allowed for the button to pass through the opening and be slotted firmly in place. Fashion would never be the same again.

The Middle Ages is when the button’s use as a functional fastener started to take hold. In Europe, close-fitting clothes became in vogue among nobles and royalty, and

buttons were used to help the garments fit more snugly around the wearers’ body. For women, it’s the bosom that was accentuated, while for men, it’s the arms.

In 16th century France, button makers’ guilds started to pop up. These guilds regulated the production of buttons, as well as passed laws regarding their use. Though the buttons of the Middle Ages are already functional, they are still seen as a symbol of prosperity and prestige. Only those who are rich enough to afford them can be allowed to wear elaborate buttons. If you’re poor or from the lower class, you are forbidden to wear clothes with an egregrious amount of buttons.

The Industrial Revolution helped popularize and democratize buttons. For once, buttons can now be had by the masses and their use are not limited to just the upper classes

alone. Buttons can now be mass-produced cheaply.Buttons would still be the preserve of the rich and fabulous for years to come, until the mass production of the Industrial Revolution saw the button become a ubiquitous staple. The style was pared-down, the shape flattened-out and four holes were drilled into the surface, meaning that it could be quickly and securely attached to clothing.

Buttons nowadays come in a wide variety of colours and shapes, but the flat, circular shape still remains the most popular.

In traditional tailoring, the horn button is usually favoured but recent years have seen a rise in alternative materials, such as the corozo button. This is made from the nut of the corozo tree and, due to the grain of the nut, each button is completely unique, like a fingerprint.

When the 20th century came along, the price of buttons further dipped with the introduction of a new material - plastic. Plastic is far cheaper than bone, bronze, horn, shell, or metal - and as such became the perfect material with which to craft buttons out of. Mike Coope

This issue’s TOPICS :

TOPIC 1Why does choral music sound so good...

TOPIC 2How to encourage pollinators into your garden...

TOPIC 3More photographs from Nick Birch, this time it’s the Red Kite...

Issue No : 034 May 2021

Why does choral music sound so good...Until COVID-19 arrived, choral music was going through a renaissance with hundreds of professional and amateur choirs singing all across the world. But what makes the sound, and in particular the sound of a professional group, so appealing?

In this essay, the science behind the notes is studied to find out why choral music sounds so good. Learn the full technicalities of why the human voice can create beautiful sounds by watching the video at : https://youtu.be/au92XTLm_SU

More old photographs of Wolverhampton as it was:The High Level Railway Station and The Outside Market sited where the new Town Hall was built...

How to encourage pollinators into your garden...Thanks to the rich diversity of plants and flowers, gardens are some of the best habitats for pollinators. The best ways to encourage bees and other pollinators into your garden is by providing nectar- and pollen-rich flowers throughout the year. Creating suitable nest sites in your garden is another excellent way to provide for them.

Here’s how to support pollinators in your garden: Fill gardens with good pollinator plants - Allow lawn ‘weeds’ to flower by cutting less often - Provide water for pollinators - Avoid using pesticides wherever possible and never spray open flowers - Provide nest sites for wild bees.

More photographs from Nick Birch...

The Red Kite...If you drove, pre-lockdown, through mid Wales you may have seen a beautiful, distinctive fork-tailed bird circling not far above: a red kite. (Image 1)

Recently, I photographed red kites at the conservation project at Bwlch Nant yr Arian, 9 miles from Aberystwyth. This project was started in 1999 to support

the dwindling natural population of these birds, once widespread, but by then remaining, almost uniquely in the United Kingdom, a small pocket in mid Wales.

At Bwlch Nant yr Arian, a spectacular assembly of up to 400 birds appears at 14:00 (15:00 in BST) daily for supplemental feeding. Kites naturally feed early in the morning so this is a “top up”.

As they swoop to feed, they grab food in their talons, fly off and then transfer it to their beaks whilst still in flight. I managed to capture one bird feeding in flight (Image 2), but the sight of a succession of these magnificent birds, with a five foot wingspan, circling and swooping to feed is amazing. (Bwlch Nant yr Arian - OS Grid Reference: SN 717 813)

Other projects in the UK...Luckily, reintroduction projects have now successfully established populations in various sites throughout including Yorkshire and The Chilterns. (They can now be seen when driving down the M40).

For more information visit:https://naturalresources.wales/bwlchnantyrarian?lang=en Nick Birch

This issue’s TOPICS :

TOPIC 1A Science Quiz all about Space Travel...

TOPIC 2The Bee species you are likely to find in your garden...

Issue No : 035 June 2021

Quiz - Science : Space Travel... Answers below

1. What record, released in 1969 concerned the space flight of Major Tom ?

2. What was the name of the first US manned space programme ? Was it Discovery, Challenger, Apollo or Mercury ?

3. Who wrote the 1865 novel ’From the Earth to the Moon’ ?

4. What space ‘first’ took place on July 17, 1975 ?

5. What was the name of the first dog in space ?

6. What was special about the 1985 spaceflight by Jake Garn ?

7. What was the name of the US communicatio)ns satellite that in 1962 inspired the Tornado’s No. 1 hit record ?

8. What was the appropriately named company for which Britain’s first cosmonaut, Helen Sharmen worked ?

9. What approximately is the furthest distance from Earth that astronauts have yet travelled : 250,000, 500,000 or 1 million miles ?

10. In the film ‘2001 A Space Odyssey’, what is the name of the talking computer ?

That’s the last time I shall bite the Christmas lights !

Answers: 1. David Bowie’s Space Oddity 2. Mercury 3. Jules Verne

4. A US Apollo capsule docked with a Soviet Soyuz capsule 5. Laika6. First Politician in Space 7. Telstar 8. Mars 9. 250,000 miles by Apollo 13

10. HAL

Good News... We hear that Rosie Lomas, who sang soprano when we performed Messiah, has recently given birth to a lovely little boy, Thomas.

Bees in your garden...Bees visit flowers to collect nectar and pollen, which they use as food for themselves and the larvae in their hives or nests. By moving from flower to flower, they are vital pollinators of many garden and wild flowers. Insect pollination which can be carried out by any insect that visits flowers including many flies, social and solitary wasps, beetles, butterflies and moths, is essential for the cropping of most fruits and some vegetables.

Which bees am I likely to see?Bees are insects in the order Hymenoptera. There over 250 species in Britain, they feed largely on nectar and pollen and are some of the most familiar of the 1000’s of pollinating insects found in Britain. British bees can generally be divided into three groups.

Bumblebees (Bombus)There have been about 26 species recorded in Britain, but some are now extinct or have a very restricted distribution. At peak strength in summer, a bumblebee nest will have between 50 and 400 worker bees. There are about eight social bumblebee species and four cuckoo species that are common in gardens. In most cases only

young fertile female bumblebees (queens) overwinter, unlike honeybees, which overwinter as colonies feeding on honey stores. Most species have queens that burrow into the soil to overwinter. They emerge on sunny days in spring, though occasionally they can be observed foraging on warm winter days. In spring the queens search for suitable nest sites and often choose tunnels made by mice or other rodents. The queen then sets about raising her first brood of larvae in early spring.Once these become adult worker bumblebees, they take over the nectar and pollen gathering duties, allowing the queen to remain in the nest and continue laying eggs. In mid to late summer, male bumblebees and next year’s queens are producedBy late summer, bumblebee nests are in decline with the old queen, workers and males all dying. Sometimes bumblebee nests are found in compost heaps or other places where they can be inconvenient. Wherever possible these nest should be left to naturally die out in the late summer or autumn. One species, the tree bumblebee, Bombus hypnorum prefers to nest in holes in trees and

will often use bird boxes. This species is a recent arrival in Britain and since 2001 has become widespread in England and Wales. Occasionally overwintering queen bumblebees are uncovered, in which case try not to cause further disturbance and cover the bee back over. In some warmer areas, particular urban areas in southern England, the buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) can have active nests all year round

Solitary bees (Andrena, Lasioglossum & other species)There are more than 260 species of solitary bee in Britain. Unlike the above social bees, solitary bees do not have a worker caste. Each female constructs and provisions her nest on her own and dies before the next generation of bees emerges. Despite being solitary, some soil-nesting species can be gregarious and there may be

many nests situated close together. Soil-nesting bees produce conical heaps of soil above the nest tunnels where excavated soil has been deposited. This can be inconvenient in lawns but is usually for only a few days or weeks each year and could be tolerated. Other solitary bees make their nests in hollow plant stems, soft rotten wood, soft sandy cliff faces or in beetle borings in dead wood. Leaf cutter bees make nests out of leaf or flower petal sections. Most solitary bees are active in spring or summer. An exception is the ivy bee (Colletes hederae) a species that has become widespread in southern England and Wales since it was found in Britain in 2001. It can nest in large aggregations in sandy soils and the adults visit ivy flowers in autumn. More information on solitary bees along with information on wasps and ants can be found from the Bees Wasps and Ants Recording Society (BWARS) at : http://www.bwars.com/home.

Honeybee (Apis mellifera)This is a social bee that lives in colonies of up to 60,000 and is the insect that produces honey. Most colonies are maintained by beekeepers. Each colony or hive has a single fertile female (queen bee) whose role is to lay eggs and maintain social cohesion within the colony. There will be several hundred male honeybees (drones), but most of the bees in a hive are

infertile female worker bees. It is the workers that go out to gather nectar and pollen, as well as performing all the other duties of caring for the larvae, comb building and defending the hive. Mike Coope