Ascensiontide

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 30 May 2006 18:44:10

The choir and congregation are increasingly coming to view midweek services as optional extras. I gather this is common all over the country, not just here in Creamtealand. Eleven of us sat on one side of the choir stalls for the evening choral Eucharist for Ascension Day and bravely sang four hymns and the Thorne setting (no anthem, fortunately). Another 20 or so faced us in the nave. Perhaps we need to introduce a custom popular in my childhood church - that of climbing the church tower to sing from the roof (a true Ascension!) - but maybe many years and several pounds later I'd find I was more out of breath and incapable of singing than I'd like to admit.

Sunday saw an encouraging influx of returning students and other younger people with strong voices. In the morning we sang 'Veni Sancte Spiritus' (Harper) which has an eerie, repetitive ground bass with the top two parts singing in thirds above. Many people in the congregation liked it and asked for more of the same - an unusual request from a congregation famed for preferring their music to be traditional, but I could understand as the music composed within the last ten years still had an ancient feel to it. Much more ancient than, say, a florid Victorian anthem.

A festival Evensong completed the weekend - our choirmaster appears to be attempting one of these each month in addition to the usual choral Evensong with Anglican chant settings. We could have benefited from a larger soprano section as we sang the settings by Brewer in D and the anthem, 'Come Holy Ghost' (Atwood) complete with solo first verse. We are fortunate in having such an army of tenors and basses, however - unlike a photo seen the next day in another Creamtealand church of 20 trebles and a handful of women, but no men at all.