now boarding

First half of term.

After the full-on month of advent and all the Christmas services, and a good couple of weeks holiday, the winter term approaches with all the regularity that business as usual brings.

We've been very busy as a family since Christmas trying to move house, hence the lapse in posts, so here's a brief overview of some of the things that have happened.

Christmas Day
Our second Christmas spent at the Cathedral, Tom has a hectic schedule (which I'll describe later) and we end up collapsing in a heap back home around 5.30 in the evening. What's nice is that for us, having our family day on boxing day, added to the festive warm up of activities, services and concerts, means that christmas is warmly long and gradual, enabling us to savour the spiritual aspect of this time of year. 

Settling back in
Tom goes from strength to strength and the beginning of this term was his best ever, I know he'd agree that. He helped with packing and organising and there was barely a tear on returning to school.

Radio 3 Broadcast
Every year around the time of St. Paul's day, choral evensong is broadcast live from the Cathedral. Apart from the microphones everywhere it's business as usual for the boys.

Parents Evening
There are some teachers we barely get the chance to see, or indeed have never met before, so the parents evening is a great opportunity. And of course to hear how Tom's doing. Here too he seems to be going from strength to strength. Possibly as his confidence in the choir and with boarding rises, his school work reflects this.

Games Workshop trip
One Saturday I took five of the boys to Games Workshop on Oxford Street. They loved it. They really are a great bunch, working and playing together and supporting each other in a way that would put many adults to shame. 

300th Anniversary Gala
A big concert this one, to celebrate the Cathedral's 300th year of completion. John Rutter conducted and Andrew Carwood, the director of music, sang Tenor. 

Cello
We knew Tom was enjoying his cello but we weren't quite prepared when his teacher told us just how much potential she believes he has (echoed by the schools director of music). The plan is for him to take his grade 2 exam this spring but then skip straight to grade 5. this also means we need to prepare for the purchase of decent instruments, so long as, as his teacher puts it, he doesn't decide to give it up and play rugby.

A new year 5 chorister
Tom is joined by a new probationer after half-term, boosting the numbers in his year to four! Eight seems to be average. For a couple of terms, Tom was the only chorister in his year.

 

Britten's Ceremony of Carols and a Celebration of Christmas

The concerts keep coming thick and fast, and two of the most popular within 5 days of each other. With their school work continuing a pace, the cold weather and numerous rehearsals really put pressure on the boys, but their commitment, stamina, professionalism plus the support form the nurses(!) too see them through.

The exeat, a probationer-style weekend off from Friday afternoon until Monday morning the weekend before Christmas comes as a very welcome respite.

The pretty much have no time to themselves, even cramming in ice skating, pizza eating and a trip to the potted panto.

Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols is possibly our favourite, not only did Britten write the piece especially for boy's voices but it's short and the only musical accompaniment is a single harp, so it's pretty much perfect. If you're really lucky and get into the Cathedral earlier in the day, you might even catch a glimpse of them rehearsing.

The Celebration of Christmas is quite a different affair, corporately sponsored and featuring a large orchestra (the City of London Sinfonia). It includes traditional carols the audience can sing along to as well as readings from actors, politicians and the like.

The first piece was Once in Royal David's City. Apparently all the most senior boys had rehearsed for the first verse solo but won't have known who it would be until the last minute.

Contrary to my last post when I observed that tom always seemed to be stood behind or off to one side, for these two events he was plumb in the middle, according to one of the gap students, Tom seems to perform better when he has a very clear view of the conductor (although Tom himself isn't quite sure why he's positioned there).

These concerts and the Christmas Eve carol services in particular get ever more popular and this year a giant screen and sound system were erected in Paternoster Square. Glad I was inside, as it was snowing all evening.

Photo from the Cahedral's facebook pages

 

Messiah.

In a word...

Awesome.

 

Each year, in early December, the boys perform this great work along with the Vicars Choral (the full-time men) St Paul's Cathedral Chorus (the amateur choir formed to augment the Cathedral Choir for Messiah and during Holy Week) and the City of London Sinfonia. 

As is tradition (well both times I've seen it at St Pauls), the soprano solos are sung by the boys, sometimes on their own, sometimes as a small group.

Another practice is to perform one or more of the pieces as anthems during Evensong and during other concerts. This year they performed...

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:
and the government shall be upon his shoulder;
and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor,
The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

And yes the centuries-old tradition of standing during the Hallelujah Chorus is observed.

No matter where I sit at concerts, Tom always seems to be slightly out of sight or obscured. There have numerously been flags and bassoons between us; for Messiah he was in the second row, far to the right and behind one of the taller boys.

Not that I'm complaining.

 

First Night of the Proms

Towards the end of the year, in fact at the last weekend but one, comes the opportunity for the boys to sing at the first night of the proms. This year it was Mahler's 8th, the Symphony of a Thousand; alongside Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral Choirs at the Royal Albert Hall.

It's optional, but say Yes.

It makes for an even busier last few weeks, many additional hours of rehearsal but it's worth it.

Get tickets for the performance through the Cathedral, or failing that, watch it on HD. You won't be disappointed; and the boys? They love it.

 
St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Cathedral and Westminster Abbey choirs, plus a choir from Sydney Australia and the Crouch End chorus.

 
The boys, close-up.  

 
Singing with seasoned professionals.

 
... and demanding conductors.  

Orchestral Mass and the growing choir...

Great to see the Probationers 'acting up' in to the full choir and what a weekend too. Saturday was the School Summer Fair, albeit bracketed by two rehearsals whilst Sunday was the second orchestral Mass.

I remember when Tom spent his first weekend in the Cathedral, very exciting for us and especially for Tom as all of the parts of the jigsaw puzzle began to fit into place. New timings, arrangements and for us, the beginning of weekend services at the Cathedral.

We actually missed the summer fair on Saturday as we had a family wedding, one of the few reasons that Choristers are let off their duties. Pity to miss the fair (Tom had planned a stall with one of his mates), although early reports are that we did well and all had a good time. As a member of the school PTA I had organised the raffle tickets as this was one of the few tasks that could be completed in advance of the day. The fair is our main fund raising activity of the year and the raffle key to that; although looking at the numbers the children's stalls actually raised more than the raffle (and their efforts go straight to a Children's charity).

Due to the wedding, we had a very early start Sunday as Tom needed to get back for a 09.15 rehearsal. Because the 11.00 service was with orchestra, the rehearsal took place in the School hall (not the smaller Cathedral rehearsal room); and as mum took him back she was able to take a little peek at the session from the gallery. In the two years Tom has been at St. Paul's, we've never seen a rehearsal; it really does happen behind closed doors. The boys are in School Uniform (no tie) and the gentlemen are the professional Vicars Choral who provide the Alto, Tenor and Bass. Hugely talented all of them and along with the organist and Director of Music makes St. Paul's Cathedral Choir one of the finest in the World.

   

The mass was Mozart's Missa Solemnis in C (K.337) as part of the July series celebrating the genius of Mozart, performed with the City of London Sympnonia. Truly remarkable and awesome, especially given the setting under the great dome.

Two of the boys sang solos, standing, metaphorically, head and shoulder with the male Vicars Choral soloists. Amazing to see how these young lads of 11 and 12 years of age take this in their stride.

In a break from our tradition of sitting closest to the Choir on Sunday mornings (for the Eucharist they sit under the dome, not in the Quire), we sat directly opposite them across the dome so they were singing straight at us, as it were. It might have looked something like this. 

After a wonderful lunch in the Crypt restaurant, it was off to Evensong at 3.15. Along with Tom's Uncle (himself an ex-Chorister) and Nannie and Gramps, we sat in the quire stalls with a great view as the Choir took their places. Now with 5 or 6 probationers acting up, there were 12 boys on Decani; room for a few more, but not many. The Pros in their black Cassock and stiff white Ruff looked very wonderful; and in September they'll receive their white surplice and be made up to full Chorister just like Tom did last year.

End of term, Holy week, Easter.

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:

Download Music list 21 march

Hallelujah!

As probationer parents we could only speculate on the considerable effort the boys sustain in the weeks leading up to Christmas; comprising the considerable role they play in the daily pattern of worship and the additional seasonal services and concerts.

There is of course the up side of all this hard graft; the sheer beauty and majesty of the music, the boys obvious pride and enjoyment and the honour and privilege we feel as both chorister parents and Christian music lovers.

Handel's Messiah is of course an extremely popular choral work (and justifiably so) - Tom's Nanny peformed it many times as a soloist and I have a hugely vivid memory of singing the Halleluiah Chorus as an 11 year old in a local parish church.

To have the opportunity to see and hear our boys perform this masterpiece in such a setting as the Cathedral is wonderful in itself - that many of the boys take the Soprano solos is an additional spine tingler. We're hugely lucky that the Cathedral supplies us with decent tickets for the event - and, top tip; do all that you can to take advantage! I've just experienced the full 53 pieces over nearly 2.5 hours for the first time and already I'm planning my next fix.

 

For the boys it's special - they know that - but they also take it in their stride; not in a cocky way, but they do look confident, and at the same time of course, they are still boys. Tom has a favourite - and it's not the Halleluiah Chorus.

The boys clearly adore the choir master who also conducted the performance. He shows leadership, charisma and is rather fond of the spotlight too. As a singer first and foremost (the tradition seems to be for choir masters to be organists), he clearly understands all that the whole choir needs to do and even appears more comfortable conducting voices than instruments (that is just my sense).

Boys took individual solos and some solo'd as a group, I understand this varies from year to year - and these solos traditionally fall to the the year 7 and 8s. Tom still has another four ahead of him (not including performing at Easter, which they may well do).

So they finished at about 8.55 and we saw them for about 5 minutes in the school; they were obviously still on a high... Tom clearly loved it and all the boys accepted the well deserved praises with dignity. Also nice to see a few of last years year 8s there - including the ex - head chorister.

Of course they didn't get a lie-in the next morning - it was a regular school day; although Tom being a 3rd desk doesn't sing at Evensong on Fridays. Saturday morning see a one hour rehearsal at 9am and as I write this he's mid-way through a near two-hour rehearsal prior to Saturday's Evensong.

You reap what you sow, as they say.

Concerts, concerts, concerts

Last week saw a brief series of concerts for the boys and girls. Sadly Tom's mu and I couldn't attend them all, that seems to be the way as we try to squeeze everything in.

On the wednesday there was a performance where the children in year three played various instruments. This was in school time and Tom's mum went along. Tom's being playing Cello for less than nine months now but still managed very well.

Then after school on Friday, years 3,4,5 choristers and pros gave a brief concert - short, relaxed and with a glass of wine afterwards (as always), the aim was to get the boys comfortable with performing in front of an audience, and especially to get the boys used to performing solos. 

The 12 boys sang a selection of pieces, here are a few examples:

Consider yourself (from Oliver) by Lionel Bart

Silent Worship by Handel

A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square b y Manning Sherwin

The Cloths of Heaven by Thomas Dunhill

I bought me a cat by Copland.

It was a lovely broad range of material - now I'm not an expert but there were some classic singing pieces and what I'd describe as show tunes.

Tom had what many thought was the most difficult slot, singing first with Consider Yourself which he deliverd beautifully. He was joined by everyone for the last verse, which was clever as it gave everyone a good warm-up and 'broke the ice'.

It was interesting to see and hear how Tom had developed since we last heard him solo (at our small Church last Christmas). Those year five boys were clearly more advanced - technically and, given their physical age, most had a better set of lungs!

What we find amazing is that at this age there appear to be no nerves, no stage fright, all without being over confident. Sadly I think, nerves are what we pick-up though later life although of course they can be a good thing.

And to show their thanks, the head chorister presented their singing teacher with a well deserved and huge bouquet of flowers. 

Then Monday was the Summer concert at one of the many local city churches. Sadly we didn't manage to get to this. It featured several choirs, orchestras and music groups. 

It's lovely how much the school supports music, not just the roots of the choir and the cathedral but also giving every child a great opportunity to express themselves through music.