Categories: uncategorized
Date: 12 September 2005 13:46:20
On Saturday we had the first of the music concerts to raise money for the organ refurbishment. It's good to have a professional pianist in the congregation, and one who can play fiendishly difficult music off by heart. I made sure I had a good seat where I could see his hands. Sure enough, that was a rewarding move.
Lots of little kiddies in church this morning, but no disturbances - only a gentle hum of activity. We could have done with a longer anthem to sing, as 'Call to remembrance O Lord' by Farrant finished ages before the communion queue. We called to remembrance that the deputy choirmaster had told us to sing it quietly and smoothly, so he was pleased. Then we skipped out to Lefebure-Wely's 'Sortie' to find that there was lots of yummy cake left over from one of the weddings yesterday (but unfortunately we had drunk all the Buck's Fizz straight after the wedding). As soon as the groom returns from honeymoon, he assures us he will join the choir - he is much-needed as one of the tenors will be off to university.
After a short coffee break, we got on the coach to take us to Exeter Cathedral, as we were deputising for the Cathedral Choir (still on holiday) at Evensong. Playing safe with an easier programme, as the choirmaster is ill, we sang the Smith responses, Stanford in C canticles and Stanford's 'O for a closer walk with God', bravely and ably conducted by the vicar - although he admitted it was a long time since he had last found himself in that role. Apart from a slight slip in the anthem it all went well, although I did detect a harshness (probably due to nervousness) in our voices during the service, which wasn't there during the rehearsal. The Smith responses sounded most confident - we are well-used to singing them in the Cathedral by now. I think we made our new girl treble recruit very happy, taking her to the Cathedral on her first Sunday - I hope she doesn't expect such treats every week!