13 November 2022
Polychoral joy in Oxford
Here’s Emma’s report on our first ever ‘Come and Sing’ day!
“It was an unseasonably warm day, and gloriously sunny (Helen always insists it’s constantly raining in Oxford, but I know different!) and, ignoring the underlying nagging worries about the future of our planet, we could have almost imagined ourselves in Rome…
“Becky, Will, Jonathan, Nathan and I met, along with around 50 smiley, enthusiastic and highly punctual participants, for our very first ‘Come and Sing’ event in Oxford. The theme was polychoral music from (or associated with) Rome, and by the end of the afternoon we were singing in 12 parts in 3 distinct choirs.
“After a brief physical and vocal warm-up, we got stuck in with a 2 choir piece by Palestrina. We had Will as the conductor for the afternoon, as we felt that with so many notes to get through, a conductorless model for 50 people who had never sung together was a bit of an ask!
“We had set the groups an enormous challenge in the repertoire, but it quickly became clear that everyone had brought their A-game to these rather tricky pieces, and by the end of the day we had tackled 6 large-scale works by Palestrina, Soriano, Cesis, Allegri (no, not the piece you’re thinking of!), Marenzio, and Victoria.
“A tea break in the middle, and a prosecco reward at the end of the afternoon, gave everyone a chance to chat and meet new people, and the atmosphere was wonderfully convivial. We certainly put people through their paces, and I for one finished the session racking my brains to remember how we had started it 3 hours previously, but it was highly rewarding to have the chance to sing these pieces – some familiar, some rather less so – in a group where everyone was supported but everyone was valuable.
“With very many thanks to the University Church of St Mary the Virgin for all their help, and of course to Becky and Will for the huge amount of work they put in. But most of all, thank you to everyone who came along and gave so much energy and warmth to the event. Better start planning the next one…”