And all of a sudden it's the end of the winter term and Easter holidays. Seems like only yesterday we were driving home on Christmas day and here we are at Good Friday.
As the exact date of Holy week and Easter varies from year to year, it's impact on Choristers varies. Most clearly for Tom is the fact that this year, 'We stay at school and the other children go home'. True - for day pupils it's end of term but for the Choristers, it's the Church's most important time and service sin the Cathedral come thick and fast. Luckily for him this year Easter weekend is right at the beginning of the school break but a late Easter can mean a week or two off school then a return for much of Holy week before the balance of the school holiday.
Tom's Easter card to us - in french!
Anyway, as a year 4 3rd desk, it's tom's first proper Easter and unlike last year, we're pretty much attending every service.
A couple of week's ago was a midweek concert of Bach's St. John Passion. These performances are world class. Don't miss them. Most recordings seem to be in German, but the massed choir sung in English which I must say helped the storytelling no end. In fact Tom remarked that he enjoyed the Passion more than Messiah because he could follow the story. For an English recording, go to Amazon and Benjamin Britten's performance featuring Peter Pears and the Wandsworth School Boy's Choir.
The day before the last day of say a concert from all the music groups at a nearby city church. Tom played in the string group, before a wonderful variety of music groups; recorder, brass, guitar and 'big band'. The stand out for me was the newly formed guitar group's rendition of Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here.
Tom and the string group performing French Folk Tune and Boogie Bass
That was part of the school's regular programme of music but you can see a complete schedule of Holy week services at the Cathedral here:
Download St Pauls Holy Week 2010
Most are performed by the full Cathedral choir but a few are sung by just the Vicars Choral - chiefly to give the boys a break. For an idea of just how much the boys sing, and indeed what they sing, here's the holy week music list:
