A big sing!
In the middle of last year, we drove north, with some good friends, to join the Churches in the Pitlochry area, to meet at the Festival Theatre Garden, and sing some well-kent melodies and harmonies with other members of local churches.
For those of us who love to exercise our lungs in public, what is it that makes joining in a large choir so wonderful? Is it the comradeship, the mutual mistakes, the thrill of well-sung harmony, or some strange primitive sensation bringing us together in a common purpose, where no-one is more important than others, and equality is all? Or is it the anonimity which assures us that a mistake made by us is not going to destry the overall effect?
About the same time, I joined over 500 other choristers in the Glasgow City Hall to practise and then perform the Brahms German Requiem, all on one day! Some feat…..and (besides several Austrian holidays) one of the few occasions when I was able to justify the time spent as a youth learning the gutteral formation of awkward long words!
However it was a wonderful event and the sheer numbers of those singing the same part as I was, carried me forward to the right notes (well, at least, mostly!).
But the answer still eludes me….why do we like to sing in large numbers?
Pitlochry Eucharist
May 18th….2008
Holy Trinity Pitlochry…..Evening Sung Eucharist
This was not our normal Evensong, but a Sung Eucharist. This had been postponed from the morning, because there was a road cycle race through that area. The main road was cut off, and the noise generated by them would have precluded any peaceful Morning Service. We therefore had a different repertoire to learn, but all went well, with a full church….and the usual ‘feed’ afterwards.
‘Sanctus and Benedictus’ by James MacMillan
‘Kyrie Eleison’ by L.J.Whyte
Anthem:- ‘O, Lord, my heart is not proud’…music by Margaret Rizza
Vesper:- ‘May the road rise to meet you’….Irish Traditional
Some of Choir at Pitlochry2008
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2006 Events
June 11th…..2006
Holy Trinity, Pitlochry….Sung Evensong
This was our first ‘travelling Evensong’, when we headed to the lovely town of Pitlochry, known to many tens of thousands of visiters to the highlands. We were joined by many choir members from other churches.
Vesper…..’Through the Day, thy love has spared us’, words by T Kelly (1769-1854), and music by Thomas Morley
Angelus in the picturesque grounds of Holy Trinity
