How shall I keep from singing?

Our morning service started late because the Ecumenical Service overran by half an hour. You can’t argue with a youth on an amplified drum kit, especially at Pentecost. The choir processed in, eventually, for the Liturgy of the Sacrament, beginning with a hymn and the Eucharistic Prayer. There were just the right number of choristers to sing ‘Listen Sweet Dove’ (Ives) with a good balance. Coffee at the back of church was a very welcome sight, especially for those who had survived the full two hours.

We thought it was Sung Evensong tonight, but it turned out to be Festival Evensong which usually means more bells and whistles than usual. A hurried compromise was reached, with Stanford’s ‘Nunc Dimittis’ in C replacing Anglican Chant and the Sweeney responses replacing the usual Ferial. The anthem was a straightforward unison item (sopranos, men, full): ‘Litany to the Holy Spirit’ (Hurford). The half term holiday was taking its toll on choristers able to attend, so we were glad to be joined by two of the staff, one Alto and one Bass, to bring our numbers to 14.

We sang the atmospheric ‘Veni, sancte, spiritus’ (Harper) which appeared to be well-received. One churchgoer likened it to music by Tavener. Meanwhile, the sunday school made paper hats with flames on top, each giving the name of a country. Although they looked like they were advertising the entries to the Eurovision Song Contest, we were assured that they were to represent all the different languages spoken at the first Pentecost. So ‘nul points’ to those of us who got it wrong.

I then came home and stared at this for 30 seconds, until I saw the light.

We had a very small choir with four parts but only two sopranos. Fortunately, the anthem was a hymn: ‘The Lord ascendeth up on high’ (Palace Green)

The vicar produced a helium balloon (during the sermon) which he pretended to let go of and it floated right up into the very high roof (except the choir could see the fine fishing line on the end securing it to the pulpit) and we drank champagne after the service with corks popping into the air. I think the vicar likes ascension day.

A surprising number of people turned up to church today given the awful weather. We did threaten to sing ‘I’m singing in the rain’ as the anthem, but were good and sang our planned offering, ‘If ye love me’ (Tallis), a capella, instead. This was sung very smoothly, in a laid-back style, as we rehearsed at choir practice, and we tried to sing brightly, despite the weather. We got a few surprised stares from visitors – I hope it was for the right reasons. The children’s vestry group were preparing for Ascensiontide and had produced a large cloud covered in cotton wool – perhaps they were to blame for the atrocious weather outside?

One of the younger choristers was presented with her dark blue RSCM award; all of the young choristers had the good sense not to participate in the Ten Tors event this year – it may have been an effort to get out of bed this morning, but the church was a lot drier than facing the elements on a sodden moor.

A feast of music all week from local and visiting musicians culminated in Festival Evensong on Sunday. This was a contrast to the plain and simple ‘I give you a new commandment’ (Aston) at the morning Eucharist.

The highlight of the evening was ‘Let all the world’ (Vaughan Williams) for which we, fortunately, had a conductor; other items included the Sweeney responses, Psalm 98 and the canticles set to Noble in B minor.