How shall I keep from singing?

This Sunday was the start of the Exon Singers Festival Week. On Sunday morning we were on our own, singing ‘Here O my Lord’ by Whitlock and then we were joined by the Exon Singers for Festival Evensong. Several of the choir almost got cold feet at the last minute, as the music was not our usual fare, and other enticing events were on offer. However, 16 of us eventually turned up for the afternoon rehearsal and service – about the usual number for Evensong. It was much easier singing the Mag and Nunc (Bairstow in D), and ‘A Prayer of John Donne’ by Francis Jackson, with good strong voices behind us, and Matthew Owens (Wells Cathedral) conducting. ‘Save us O Lord’ (Bairstow) is a regular anthem for us – surprisingly this sounded the weakest item, to my ears anyway.
Francis Jackson is the composer-in-residence this year (at the grand old age of 88), so there will be several more of his compositions as the week progresses. His ‘Nunc Dimittis in Bb’ (First Performance) was sung at Compline last night, making a rich contrast with the all-male plainsong. This followed a sequence of music and readings to mark the 60th Anniversaries of VE and VJ days – many varied readings interspersed with music from Faure’s Requiem. Altogether a poignant programme.
The Tuesday lunchtime organ recital was by Peter Wright (Southwark Cathedral), including music by Vierne, Bach and Jackson. Several items were quiet and soporific, so I almost nodded off, but fortunately the final item (funnily enough called ‘Final’ from Symphony no 1, by Vierne) brought me back to life. It’s hard to doze off to the majestic emphasis of Vierne.

Arrived at church still talking about the amazing wedding of the Town Crier during carnival week, with all the guests in either town crier costume (complete with ‘Oh Yea’ bells) or Victorian costume. Suddenly the church looked more dowdy, despite clergy and choir robes. We are a boring lot these days to expect everyone to dress down for church….. Again we were grateful for the early morning vestry rehearsal as this time it was the turn of the sopranos to get very keen and come in a bar early on their entry (‘I will sing with the Spirit’, Rutter). All was well in the service, though, and we were even organised enough to sing a descant during the processional hymn (‘The Kingdom of God is justice and joy’ – Hanover). All difficulties of having to concentrate through the long prayers were forgotten as we skipped out (very discreetly) to Lefebure-Wely’s Sortie in Eb, diddly-diddly-dum.

No service for the choir in the evening, but a Farewell service for the Bishop of Plymouth in the main city church in the afternoon. Yet more Rutter, as the choir sang ‘Deep peace of the running wave’; also ‘Cantate Domino’ by Pitoni and ‘Hymn to the Trinity’ by Tchaikovsky. I got the impression that the Pitoni and Tchaikovsky suited the choir voices better than the Rutter, with its much more free-form style. Perhaps it was included as the token ‘modern’ piece. The congregation all applauded the Bishop as he processed out – it sounded very, very strange, especially as it quite overwhelmed the organ voluntary (Widor’s Toccata) which I wanted to listen to. But a sign of what high regard the Bishop was held by all present. The bun fight in the hall afterwards (‘Bucks Fizz’ and lots of cake) was pretty good, too. And gave me a chance to catch up with a very special lady of 93, the widow of the first vicar I remember from my childhood church.

…..but fortunately our service starts at 9.45 so by the time the day got really hot we were disrobed again. The service was rather poignant, following on as it did from the London Bombings and sad personal news for one chorister. But a few things put smiles on our faces, including the newly-revised inclusive words of one of the hymns and the amazing explanations of the sunday school children about their drawings and models – what exactly does Dr. Who have to do with King Saul??
‘Teach me, O Lord’ by Attwood went rather better in the service than it did in the vestry, when the tenors were distracted by something outside and missed their entry. No doubt it was the arrival of a plate of goodies, for we were to have a party after the service – partly in honour of one of the basses’ 80th birthday, and partly because it was a whole fortnight since the previous party.
The party was good – lovely food and good company, but so hot even in the shade of the garden. We sat and watched the younger choristers play badminton, and rescue the shuttlecock from the trees.

We had an evening off, as the Melanesian Brothers led the service – tales of haunting unaccompanied singing and processions with a canoe abounded, but I missed the lot as I fell asleep. Too much heat and Sangria, obviously…..

Full choir stalls today, and a full altar rail of choristers for communion. Our latest treble newcomer has proved his worth by not only showing that he can sing but has also recruited a young friend. The only thing we were short of in the morning was altos – we only have four at the moment, so any absentees are sorely missed. ‘Hail Glorious Spirits’ by Tye fortunately has no exposed alto part, so it went well enough: the only problem being that it is so short. We get all fired up to sing, and it is over in the blink of an eye.

The sermons on Thomas (Eucharist) and Job (Evensong) fitted in rather well with the evening Anthem: ‘Lord give me faith’ by Robson. And another voluntary by our youngest organist – I think this could become a regular feature, and a jolly good thing too. The poor organ cannot cope with all this enthusiasm and needs a complete overhaul – we’ve all been invited to sponsor a pipe, or sponsor an organ voluntary – it will be interesting to see what the organist gets asked to play…..

Mothering Sunday Family Eucharist, with a gaggle of Brownies, Sunday School and other children in attendance and going up to receive bouquets of flowers for Mum. It’s really cute to see the little ones go forward, but even better to see the great big galumphing teenagers, who suddenly remember they have mums too. It’s one of the few Sundays in the year when we have college students in church, or those who have left home to start jobs elsewhere – the church was as full as at Easter or Christmas! The anthem was ‘O Lord increase my faith’ and there was a play by the Sunday School about the origin of Mothering Sunday, complete with a male ‘Dame’! These pantomime roles are fast becoming a church speciality, which makes a change from people pointing out that the whole act of going to church is one big pantomime…..

Evensong, and the theme of Mothering Sunday was much more muted – but the reading of Moses in the Bulrushes, and the Magnificat took on extra significance. After Evensong was a choir party, loads and loads of food and a music quiz with easter egg prizes. Disappointingly (for some) nobody fell in the pond this year…..