My second tranche of seasonal music began with an inclusive service at church for our Open Table Network congregation. This began and ended with some appropriate ‘songs from the shows’, which was for me a welcome chance to dip into a repertoire I don’t normally do. We made sure to include a descant to every hymn! More reflectively we included In the stillness<\/i> by Sally Beamish, as well as Rutter’s Star Carol<\/i>; astonishingly, I really have no record of ever having sung this latter before although I’ve heard others of many different ages do so lots of times.<\/p>\n
A few days later we made our annual excursion to the Royal United Hospital lobby to sing a short service for whoever happened to be passing through or setting in the café there. The major-birthday composer John Rutter featured strongly, including the Star Carol<\/i> again. <\/p>\n
Afterwards, a brisk walk eastwards to the city centre to join others from the Abbey Chamber Choir as a warm-up act for Jethro Tull, who were giving a benefit concert in aid of the new stained-glass window depicting St Alphege. We sang some well-known carols, including Gaudete<\/i>, with interspersed jazzy interludes. The trickiest part of this was negotiating the cables en route to our staging – and remembering not to look at the lights, which would have dazzled us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My second tranche of seasonal music began with an inclusive service at church for our Open Table Network congregation. This began and ended with some appropriate ‘songs from the shows’, which was for me a welcome chance to dip into … Continue reading