How shall I keep from singing?

A highly entertaining organ recital on Saturday, using the substitute ‘wardrobe’ organ, which even plays itself on occasion!

Lots and lots of children in church on Sunday – and quite a few adult visitors I’d not seen before. Perhaps they had all come to judge if Tavistock deserves the title, ‘Best Market Town’? And since when has, ‘Hello mate!’ – the vicar’s welcome to the toddler to be baptised in the service – been part of the Liturgy? Whatever next?!
Given the general lively buzz, the service proceeded in more or less orderly fashion, with ‘Hide not thou thy face’ by Farrant passing off smoothly and easily (and with much better diction than the above title would suggest….) It was only afterwards that the organist explained he’d given us a lower starting note, so no wonder the sopranos sang so well

There was a repeat performance of the anthem at evensong – when the congregation numbers were much lower, but with a good choir turnout. We needn’t worry that our tenor evensong singer has gone off to university, as the trainee NSM has an equally clear voice – albeit an octave higher.

The morning Eucharist was the turn of the retired Bishop of Crediton, wheeled back in to assist until they appoint a new Bishop of Plymouth. (Old Bishops never retire, they just dream that they mitre.) The choir was rather unbalanced during the anthem, ‘Rejoice in the Lord Alway’ (Anon), as there were thirteen and a half sopranos and only one and a half altos. Two of the junior choristers were confirmed from the choir – even on the day of their confirmation, they don’t get time off…..

The Archdeacon of Plymouth preached at the Patronal Festival evensong – some of the choir were rather full after the enormous cream tea, but we still managed to sing ‘With a voice of Singing’ (Shaw) with extra gusto and welly, which it needs. Much of the rest of the music was a repeat of last week’s cathedral evensong – but not many of the congregation were the same, so we hoped nobody would notice. At youth group afterwards, one of the younger basses composed the following ditty about the service:

There once was a musical vicar,
Whose conducting’s as good as a ticker.
The Stanford’s divine,
The Smith was sublime,
But I wished that the sermon was quicker.

Says it all, really……

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!

Hey, it’s good to be back again. And even the vicar looked relieved that he didn’t have to sing solo from the chancel any more. We came back to discover the choirmaster is ill, which is rather a blow especially as we have to sing at the cathedral next week. Fortunately the vicar can conduct (quite a one-man-band, he is) so we had no excuse to be ragged.

Our first service back was a ‘Songs of Praise’ (ie. hymn sandwich, interspersed with a potted history) to celebrate 900 years of being a market town. It was a good way of getting our voices back in trim after the long break. There was also much admiration for a quilt which had been lovingly compiled for the occasion, to hang in the market hall. On Sunday, we had a gentle introduction to both morning Eucharist and Evensong, with ‘Teach me O Lord’ (Attwood) at both services.