How shall I keep from singing?

After a raucous singalong at the local hospital (what must the poor patients have thought of us?) it was ‘how still we see thee lie’ at the Midnight Mass. The church was full, with people standing at the back, and yet there was total silence. There was a row of candles each side on the sopranos’ stalls and candles around the pillars, but no dangling greenery to risk repeating last year’s unplanned fire. During the administration we listened to the faultless A-team of handbell ringers and then sang ‘Away in a Manger’ (unaccompanied) and the ‘Sussex Carol’ (with organ accompaniment). We started ‘O come all ye faithful’ right on the stroke of midnight (so we didn’t cheat by singing ‘born this happy morning’) – planned with military precision, obviously.

I didn’t expect a high turnout for the 9.30am Christmas Day service, but had a surprise. I suppose being a Sunday this year there was the normal congregation plus the extra Christmas visitors. Most of the choir turned out again after the previous night, plus a couple of additional younger choristers who, although intending to stay up for Midnight Mass, fell asleep. Although the choirmaster instructed us to sing ‘Little Jesus sweetly sleep’ (with Lullaby harmony – Czech carol, arr. Willcocks) very quietly, I fear we got carried away with the sound of our own voices. As we were standing right next to the crib at the time, I hope little Jesus wasn’t too frightened.

Most of the music matched the theme of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to go with the Gospel reading and the Sermon. It seems strange to sing the Magnificat at morning service, I’m so used to singing it at Evensong every week. The anthem was one of my favourites, ‘Ave Maria’ by Arcadelt, sung this time with quiet organ accompaniment.

The service of Lessons and Carols went well after a scary start when the candlelight was so dim we couldn’t read the words. Fortunately, even the newest chorister was able to sing ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ off by heart, and by verse three the candles were supplemented by some of the church electric lighting. The youngest choristers sang the first verse on their own, and blended together rather well.
After the unison ‘Adam lay ybounden’ (Warlock) got us off to a rather disappointing start, the rest of the programme only improved. We were on ‘Choir Lite’ this year, with our choirmaster having been so ill, so concentrated on doing simple harmonies well and using techniques such as alternating high and low voices on the verses. Thus, ‘Hail Blessed Virgin Mary’ (arr. Wood), ‘Sussex Carol’ (arr. Willcocks), ‘Myn Lyking’ (Terry), ‘Infant Holy’ (arr. Willcocks), ‘The Shepherd’s Pipe Carol’ (Rutter) and ‘In the bleak Midwinter’ (Darke) completed the programme, along with all the old favourite carols, with some carefully-chosen descants. ‘The Shepherd’s Pipe carol’ always seems to come alive on the night – it is my least favourite during rehearsal. The soprano solo verse of ‘In the bleak midwinter’ positively soared. All in all, it was a good service, with a choir of 30 including university returnees.

The Third Sunday of Advent, with only the morning Eucharist to sing at. ‘Rejoice in the Lord alway’ (Anon.) was wheeled out for the third time this quarter, I’m not quite sure why. Perhaps it’s the anthem which the choirmaster is most confident we can sing without our heads buried in the copies? We took it at a zippy pace this morning, rather than our usual laid-back style.

Instead of Evensong, there was a service of ‘Reflection, remembrance and gratitude for our loved ones at Christmas’, in other words another chance to remember those who have died in the previous year. I wasn’t sure how many of the choir would turn out for this, having already sung on Remembrance Day and All Souls. However, by the appointed time there were fourteen of us robed and ready in the vestry and between one and two hundred in the congregation. So it obviously fulfilled a need. As did the coffee and mince pies (with clotted cream) in the parish centre afterwards…..

All the choir members seemed to have colds this weekend. Obviously, the Dickensian Evening on Friday didn’t help – an hour and a half of choirpractice indoors, followed by an outdoor carol service starting at 8.45pm on one of the coldest days of the year. Brrrrrrr.
A record turn out of sopranos and trebles this morning ensured that the top line of ‘How beautiful upon the mountains’ by Stainer sounded confident. Half of them turned up at Evensong to sing it again.