Dear Organiser . . . . . . .

. . . . . . we beg you not to take offence at the following notes. Our aim is to give your audience the very best performance we can, but over the years we have occasionally been frustrated by things which could easily have been avoided if we had had the courage to speak out. Hence these notes.

Please do not ask us to sing if the audience would rather be listening to “pop” music!

We have been trained to fill large auditoria with our voices, and we don’t use amplification. An audience bored with our repertoire will be restless, and in any case if they are pop fans they will be used to loud music and not to listening quietly.

Please make sure the piano is in good condition. Our music places considerable demands on the accompanist, and Nova can’t be expected to give her best if the instrument isn’t up to it. If you have any doubts please tell us and we’ll advise you; although we prefer a traditional instrument, we can provide our own electronic piano if necessary.

Please try to stick to a timetable. If we’ve been kept hanging around for a couple of hours, only to be told, “Right! You’re on as soon as we’ve had the raffle” you can’t expect us to perform at our peak! (In case you think this is far fetched, it does actually happen: on one occasion we waited an hour and a half, and then the accursed raffle took nearly another half hour! Having been booked for eight-thirty, it was ten-thirty before we started singing.)

And finally, please make sure that the hall is acoustically suitable. We have powerful voices, but there are some places which would defeat even Pavarotti. As with the piano, do ask our advice if you’re in doubt.

Please try to check out your audience. We like to give of our best, and so we spend a great deal of time preparing and rehearsing for a concert - even if we have used all the songs many times before. It is most disheartening to have a performance cancelled at the last minute due to ‘lack of support’ (which usually means that the organiser hasn’t bothered to sound out the market in the first place).