now boarding

Magnificat solo for the Cathedral's youngest Chorister.

Yes, he did it bless him and beautiful it was by all accounts.

Tom sang two lines from Byrd's second service Magnificat (the solo is at about 2 mins 42 secs):

As he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his seed for ever.

Mum saw his afterwards and he was pleased as punch and promptly performed a magic trick with a 5p piece. Quite normal then.

So just over a year from he soloing at our local church's Christingle and Carol services, he's now performing solos at one of the world's most recognised Cathedral's. Not so normal then.

Magnificat solo tonight then live on BBC radio Choral Evensong tomorrow.

Tom's just told us last night that he's singing a solo in today's Evensong - during the Magnificat. We don't really ever get much notice and the actual soloist can change at the last minute but Mum reckons she can make it; sadly I can't. This solo is particularly meaningful as he'll be at his place in the quire this time whereas before his solos were during the Introit which were sung at the high alter.

Then Wednesday sees the whole Cathedral choir singing live on BBC radio 3's Choral Evensong.

I'd love to be there too, sadly there's a parent's evening with Tom's teacher, but that's another story.

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.

First term review

I guess it says something when your intensity  of  blogging varies. At the beginning of the school year we were posting several times each week but since half term their frequency rapidly decreased down to one or less a week.

Clearly this says a lot about what was going on at school, our questions, concerns and the number of fresh observations. It probably also spoke to how busy Dad was at work.

So come the end of the first full term, we're all much more aware of the processes and procedures, the rules and regulations of the school, choir and boarding. Things of course are still changing; there are some major changes to the staff, for example. (If you know which school Tom is at, you'll know what I mean). 

Here are some of the main points of interest:

Unknown unknowns

I think all of us probationer parents suffered from not knowing what we didn't know (as Jahari's window would put it). From 'Peris' to 'Dec', music practice and prep. The point here is that we often had to email other parents to get the answers as I guess there was a bit of an assumption on the school's part that we knew what everything meant.

Boarding

This has always been the thing with Tom; he hasn't liked the boarding at all - at least that's what he always tells us. We know to begin with he was very homesick, but after half-term there were signs that was changing and now in the Christmas holidays he even said that he was getting used to it. 

Occasionally the nurses say, they need to shuffle the boys around a bit. This happened in Tom's case as one or two of the boys in his dorm tended to stay awake a little longer than they should have, and kept Tom up. They're a little older than Tom and this meant our Tom suffered a bit. So after the change around boarding generally got a lot easier for Tom (a fact noticed by many).

Still, if Tom ever complains about this whole experience, he refers to the boarding, saying he loves the school, the choir, but hates the boarding. This will be a problem when he's 'made up' to the full choir.

Prep and music practice

This is an interesting one as the thing about boarding is that by definition we're not around to supervise and support. Neither mum or dad boarded so we're learning as we go along; to begin with for example, we didn't even realise he had a prep 'diary' where each day's prep was clearly listed. So each evening after supper the boys have an hour or so to do their 20 minutes prep, 20 minutes music practice and some reading and when mum and dad don't visit, we rely on Tom and the available staff to ensure he does what he's meant to do. Clearly the staff do a great job - but it ain't easy, especially when the boys are tired. Still, they're getting used to it and there are senior boys to set an example.

As neither mum  or dad are 'players', music practice is becoming a challenge for us to supervise. Tom's grasp of music theory has quickly surpassed ours and although his mum's a singer and dad has the basics, we believe this is one area where the school could provide some additional support.

Routine

There's a lot of personal responsibility given the boys and the school and choir demand a lot during the week. This routine is critical in helping them navigate all that is required of them - routine is both guide and distraction when they're missing home.

I have to say that the boarding staff, the nurses and helpers are all hugely understanding of the boarders and their parents - in fact their role is pretty much critical in making it all work. We make a point of letting them know how much they are appreciated.

A solo is no big thing

Tom's solo'd in public a couple of times now, both carol services. He didn't really make a big thing about either, in fact it was the head of boarding that told us about one of the. The thing is, he takes it all in his stride, there's absolutely no stress, it's all completely normal - it's just what he does.

School carol service

A truly awesome and moving experience.

All the school's many choirs played a part in the service, including pre-prep and the teachers too. Couple of nice touches; the choir wore their regular school uniform and were seated in and amongst the congregation (plus they only performed one piece alone); the 'One in royal David's city' solo was sung by a girl - not a chorister.

Then came the Echo Carol (German Melody, arranged by Jenkins) where our Tom and Keith both solo'd the echo responses from high up on either side of the cathedral, using the natural space as an echo chamber. Spine Tingling! He did so very well bless 'im.

And of course the whole gave their lungs a workout with 'O come, all ye faithful', 'Hark! The herald angels sing'...

Then that was the end of term.

Our probationer boy doing a solo?

Many apologies for lack of posting this half-term. Been a busy, crazy time what with everything. Will post an end of term report, as it were.

Anyway, we just heard from the head of boarding this evening (who tends to be a reliable source) that Tom will be performing a solo on Friday's end of term school carol service in the Cathedral.

Wow!

His Nanny and Gramps were going anyway to meet him and take him home with Mum - of course this means I'll be going too.