Music News - December 2024 

The enjoyable and successful autumn morning coffee concert series closed in October with a highly impressive organ recital by former scholar Elliot Randall, and plans are already underway for the spring series. 

One of the many highlights of the past month was the opportunity to lead a service of Choral Evensong in Norwich Cathedral. Some of us went on a fascinating free tour of the Cathedral before rehearsals in the Song School, whose motto is appropriately “They shall laugh and sing”. Then we moved into the choir stalls for instruction from the duty verger in how to process and recess, before working out the best balance between the organ and the singing. This was particularly tricky because of the enormous distance be tween the 2 groups of musicians. Oli and Jeremy engaged in an incomprehensible (to non-organists, especially the many passing tourists) debate about the multifarious options available. The team photo before the service of course shows every one on their best behaviour. It is not clear whether the Juniors were influenced by a misericord carving, sadly defaced during the Reformation, of the fate awaiting naughty choir boys in the Dark Ages.

The service was very moving, and we are grateful to Caroline Goulder and Peter De Vile for organising this, as well as to the many robe transporters, chaperones, and other helpers. The period from October to January is always busy for the church musicians, but there has still been time for Choral Scholar Eleanor to be commissioned. November began with the All Souls service on Sunday 3rd and the British Legion service on Sunday 10th. At the end of the month the Juniors with their ducks and the Choral Scholars with mulled wine, as well as the adult choir, will be running stalls for the Christmas Fair.

Meanwhile we are practising several new pieces as well as some old favour ites for the Advent Carol service at 18.30 on Sunday 1st December and the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols at the same time on 22nd December. At the moment we are working on our Russian pronunciation, which is proving almost as challenging as Welsh has been in the past. I am always impressed by how well even the youngest members of the choir manage to sing in a wide range of languages.

It is very encouraging to see that the ranks of the Junior Choir have been swelled by the summer recruitment programme. 6 new joiners will be attending their first service in robes at Christingle at 4pm on Sunday 8th December. The Juniors will also be leading the services most appropriate for younger children at 4 and 6 pm on Christmas Eve for Lighting the Christmas Tree. And then after a very short break we shall be looking forward to Choral Evensong for Epiphany on Sunday 12th January. Happy New Year!

Ottilie Lefever