now boarding

The summer term starts here!

We had a great Easter holiday, of course it does feel a tad long for us but not so for Tom; he's more of the opinion that he's earned it and I think he's right. As usual he spent a good chunk of time playing with his sister but mostly I know he values time by himself, which is totally understandable and common amongst the other choristers. Other than that, the three weeks and couple of days whizzed by.

He did manage to leave his prep in the classroom (again understandable at the end of a hectic holy week), and for possibly the 3rd holiday in a row I found myself visiting the school mid-holiday to collect. Need to watch out for that in future.

His end of term report was excellent again, his grades improving quite noticeably, clearly a sign that he's increasingly comfortable with the boarding and in fact the whole setup. 

The painters were in and the parts of the school that I saw looked clean and bright with a good lick of paint; I know that major works are reserved for summer holidays.

 
 Returning for a new term has never been a strong point for Tom - we've had a few wobbles previously but for this term he's really transformed; no tears (that I noticed), well organised and totally up for it. In fact he's been talking more and more about the repertoire (and in particular this Sunday's Eucharist Sanctus), which must be a good sign.

The Director of Music thought this a good sign too, and at the term's early Chorister Parent evenings he told us how well tom was doing. Not perfect of course, looking for Tom to 'let rip' occasionally and not worry about perfection.

 
  
Always good to get insight on his work in the Cathedral; and in September he'll have been there two years (he started age seven), so it's certainly a good, robust and gentle development.

The Chorister Parent evenings are annual informal, one to one opportunities to speak to the Director of Music and the singing teacher; but it's a tight schedule, barely 10 minutes allocated per chorister.

Other events take place at every beginning of term, the PTA's sale of second hand uniform sale effectively recycles valuable clothing and generates good revenue for the PTA to spend on the Children. (The most recent big ticket item the PTA has supported is a new school minibus).

 
 

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