30 thoughts on “sing with me”

• That was a wonderful session. I loved going through the songs we’ve done. I’m so looking forward to tomorrow’s 🙂

   

• Wonderful and fun sessions – only managed to attend one London and one Brighton Russian choir rehearsal before “lock-down” and so it’s good to have the chance to learn some of the repertoire during this time.

  I love hearing the music and lyrics, of course, but also the stories of Polina’s adventures in life too!
  Many, many thanks Polina. Let’s hope we can get some semblance of order into our lives soon and get back to proper rehearsals.

  Best wishes to you both.

  Neil

   

  1. Thanks for your kind words Neil, and for the fantastic series of background pictures you had through the first run!

      

• Hi Polina – Happy Pesach!

  I had to hear most of this evening’s session from the other room – it became clear today that our poor old cat was ready to leave the land of the living, and the vet (or more appropriately the Angel of Death!) arrived to help him on his way just a few minutes after 6 pm – hence my disappearance. Ma noimar could be heard in the background and provided a nice soundtrack to his final moments 😊. You never know what might be going on the other side of the screen! Hopefully tomorrow evening will be less eventful. See you then,

  Carla x

   

• Hi Polina – trying to catch up today – wonderful to have the archive – thank you! Wonderful sessions – gorgeous music, lovely texts and stories!

  About teyglekh, which I knew as teiglach or taiglach: certainly not dumplings, and definitely not with beans! My grandparents on both sides were Lithuanian and emigrated to South Africa (Cape Town) in the late 1800s/ early 1900s. Teiglach were made for New Year, and given as gifts to friends and family. The Lithuanian-origin ones we had in Cape Town were the shape of small bagels – round with a hole in the middle. They were fiendishly sticky and extremely sweet on the outside and tooth-breakingly hard on the inside. Everyone seemed to regard them as very special. Not found in the UK, in my experience.

   

  1. Thanks for your lovely comment Shelley and welcome! Everything you say about teiglach agrees with what I know. I wonder why that song talks abuot teyglikh mit fasolyes?! |I never came across them in the UK either…

      

• Dear Polina

  Just to say how much I love the sessions. You provide a lifeline and a focus each day, which I treasure. I admire the way you dress up for us every day, its always a surprise to see what you’ll wear next.

  Having been a member of the Brighton Yiddish choir for all these years has been a light in my life, through difficult times.

  Yesterday I was particularly happy with Ershter Wals, which I had hoped you’ll come to. I love the Russian songs too for their beautiful melodies, even though I don’t expect I’ll learn the words.

  I am very happy to pay for these sessions, you fully deserve this small contribution.

  With so many thanks and love

  Ilana

   

  1. These are beautiful words, Ilana, thank you very much, they go straight into my heart. Thank you for all your support too. With love, Polina

      

• Polina

  I would like to share on social media but don’t know what link exactly I put on there

   

  1. Hi Ruth, thank you very much for joining and willing to share.
     The best thing to do is to put a link to the project page, https://www.polinashepherd.co.uk/sing-with-me/ and to add a few words from yourself, otherwise Facebook just shows my site. If you write a few words from yourself, then people will understand what it is and why they’d be interested.
     Another option is to put a link to my Facebook event. https://www.facebook.com/events/620435508540921/
     Thank you!

      

• Hi Polina
  I wanted to tell you that my Israeli friend in New Zealand got up at 5am to join yesterday’s session and loved it.
  Many Russian songs are so familiar to us, with the songs we sang in our childhood which were heavily influenced, if not copied from them.
  Love Ilana x

   

  1. הי אילנה גם אני נהנית איתכם עדה

      

• Robin, thank you for everything. Doctors need music too! Oy vey this is a mitzvah allright and I am enjoying it so far! Xx

   

• The “Sing With Me” sessions continue to provide wonderful music from some very unique genres of music, much of which has been new to me. Polina’s style of teaching and selection of music have provided an amazing opportunity to listen and learn from an incredibly talented musician. These sessions also provide a much-needed connection to the London and Brighton choirs until we can all meet and sing again together and in person. Many thanks Polina!

   

• Polina, your sessions light up my day. I loved today’s song – “Children, come, Spring is calling”. It was exactly what I needed tonight after a tricky couple of days (nothing exceptional triggered it – it’s just Lockdown Wobble and I’m sure we’re all experiencing that at different times). I saw all your happy faces and joined in the uplifting music and the world seemed a welcoming place again. Thank you xx

   

  1. I am so glad Julia that it worked for you. I love the song and it is good to be reminded of clear skies and green fields sometimes! Thanks for commenting!

      

• Thanks for an amazingly uplifting class🙌! Where has the Zoom class link gone?

   

  1. Thank you. There is a different zoom link for every session. I delete previous sessions’ zoom links as they wouldn’t work anyway, being in the past. You can watch a youtube video of each session here on this page or on Youtube.

      

• Wonderful session as usual Polina! I loved the Cossack Lullaby, as I mentioned in the chat it’s one of the songs we enjoy singing with Lucy the 3 of us together. We’ll have to sing it to you one day! And loved the contrast with the boisterous and jolly Pancake song!! Loved doing the harmonies too. Thank you!! Looking forward to all the sessions to come 🙂

  Sophie

   

  1. Ah, lovely! I was almost certain you knew the song. Please sing it to our choir when we can meet again! Your list of pancake fillings was very impressive and made me hungry! Thanks for joining us today.

      

• Thank you, Leslie, for telling us about “We Began to Sing.” I just watched the trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRCySzDO-7c and then found the video “‘We Began to Sing’, Film, Song & Conversation, Sunday, May 3, 2020, 3pm EDT” at https://tinyurl.com/y8j5d775. Thanks so much for mentioning that in the chat during today’s session of “Sing with Me.” I was raised listening to Pete Seeger; The Almanac Singers; The Weavers; Odetta; Josh White; Joan Baez; Peter. Paul & Mary; and many other folk singers and groups, so I’m really looking forward to watching the “We Began to Sing” livestream.

   

• Polina – thank you for everything – absolutely everything! Looking forward to next instalment.

  Two queries (no rush – when/if you have time):
  You mentioned a talk on Yiddish modes. I think it has already happened. I can’t see a link to it on your ‘Events’ tab. Do you know if it is still available?
  Is the concert with Vanya Zhuk available to watch again? It was wonderful. Seems to be missing from the archive. Maybe Vanya didn’t give permission to post.

   

• I joined your first session of the present series on May 17th at the invitation of a close singing friend. I am so glad that he introduced me to you. The first session was the most enjoyable choral experience I have had since lockdown, and as I am starting to teach myself Russian was also very useful to me for pronunciation purposes. At 9 pm I made a video of myself singing Ya Pomnu Val’sa Zvuk Prelestnyi a capella which I have shared with a couple of people who have given me very favourable feedback.

   

  1. This is fantastic, dear Rick, this is the best news I could get from a new participants – wow! This is very impressive. If you are on Facebook, please find our event and post your video there, if you wish. Thank you and warmest wishes. Polina

      

• I just heard about your SIng Along from someone in my ZOOM Yiddish music class fromThe Skirball in Los Angeles, CA where I just began teaching Yiddish songs of Dos Goldene Land (songs of the immigrant era & 2nd Avenue Theatre). I plan to joinLooking forward to joining the SIng Along tomorrow.
  A sheynem dank,
  Cindy Paley

   

• You are so inspiring. Please add me to your mailing list so I can follow you and sing with you if you’re ever again in eastern North America.

   

  1. Thanks Beth! Adding you, thanks for joining and for your kind words!

      

• That was a fantastic discovery of yiddish singing ! Thank you Polina, I’ll come back ! Greetings from the South of France Clare

   

  1. Clare, this is the most wonderful response, yes, please do come again. There is so much fantastic music to share. Welcome! Polina

      

• Really enjoyed the September 8th session of “Sing with Me”. Was going to say how great it has been but seemed unable to speak.
  At the time of joining the Russian Choir in Brighton I needed an emotonal lift from some kind of music and this choir was easily reachable by bus from our home.
  However I kept on going because it is endlessly engaging and the people are wonderful. Polina does an amazing job and looking at my folder we have learned over 30 songs since I joined five years ago. Jackie keeps us updated with choir info and music notation for us to print out.
  The Zoom sessions are great for keeping the uplifting spirit alive and adding/trying out more songs. It’s so important to keep singing together, and awesome to be singing with people from other parts of the world.