Heavy and Blue

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 04 October 2004 15:52:20

No, not my mood, but the new hymn books we have just started using. The red books (Hymns Ancient and Modern New Standard) were getting very old and tatty - and that is all of them, not just the one I dropped into the vestry loo by accident two weeks ago..... If the vicar, the organist AND the choirmaster give their seal of approval to a new book - Common Praise - it must be good. The text is clear, the harmonies are eminently singable and the selection of old and new hymns (but not choruses) is just right for our church. We just need to build up our arm muscles at choirpractice.....

Last week we had another new experience - a service of blessing for a baby due to travel with his parents to Zimbabwe. Normally the baby is just baptised, but this was a two part, dual-country ceremony, so we got to have the first part. The baby and proud parents stood at the front of the church, with little sister, whilst prayers and blessings were said.

Choral music last week was 'Jesu the very thought of thee' by Vittoria, and one of my favourite organ voluntaries, the 'Carillon de Westminster' by Vierne - I love those eerie opening bars, just as we get ready to process out! And for evensong, Dyson's 'Let all the World', with Murrill's 'Postlude on a ground' which sounds as if it deserves to be buried in the ground, it is so gloomy.....

This week, being harvest, the emphasis was on cheeriness and tradition, with all the old favourite ploughing and scattering hymns, plus 'Thou visitest the earth' by Greene in the morning - followed by the yummiest and scrummiest harvest lunch, and 'The heav'ns are telling' by Haydn in the evening. The trio in the middle went fantastically well, with our new boy treble plus young tenor and bass singing the best I've heard them sing: at an average age of 15 they put the rest of us to shame.