Summer Break

[Nick Baty]

Grrr! One of those slightly irritating days yesterday.

Gave our small, but loyal, group of singers a schedule of music and rehearsals for the next four months and then discovered that so many people are away, so many weeks in August that, to be honest, we'll probably not be able to rehearse at all for three to four weeks. This is entirely my own fault: I really should have checked before launching into planning.

Most of the August music can go ahead as planned but they'll have to put up with me as both cantor and psalmist which is far from ideal. However, given that most of August is taken up with John 6, we'll be able to use standards like Taizé's Eat this Bread, Farrell's Bread of Life. No problem with Alleluias and Holys as all those in our repertoire are, obviously, congregational. (One of our cantors reckons she'll drive home from a family holiday on 9 August especially to join in with O Bread of Heaven. – I noticed her husband grimace!)

All in all, the assembly probably won't notice any difference. The only things missing will be those things they weren't expecting anyway: occasional harmonies or items with verses for two or three cantors.

So I was just wondering, do other people have a shift of gear during August or is it just me not planning very well?

[monty]

I thought most choirs took a summer break.

[Nick Baty]

Yes, I think that's probably true.
The trick is keeping the music going without there being too much of an obvious change which, in all honesty, there shouldn't be in our place. Although I am limited to two cantor/assembly Glorias. The only assembly-only Gloria we have in the repertoire at the moment is still a tad shaky without a lead from our singing group, something which must be put right after Christmas.

[keitha]

We have a choir which is mainly made up of people in their late 50's and early 60's, mostly retired or semi-retired with no children at home and good pensions (probably the last of that breed!). They tend to go away for holidays and week-ends at very short notice if the weather forecast is good and from mid-June onwards it is almost impossible to predict who will be around. In addition, I have many things that I would like to join with my sons in during the summer (when my elder son is home from university in Canada for the only long vacation that he gets), and I also feel that I need a break. Accordingly, the choir break starts when my younger son breaks up from school and we go back when the schools start the autumn term. In the meantime, if I am at mass in the parish, I will play if wanted, and the congregation knows enough of, say, the Gathering Mass, for it to sound ok, sometimes with a lead from our PP if he is around. I do, however, welcome the chance to go to mass and sit with my sons and not have to worry about the music and liturgy. I am told by parishioners that on good summer Sundays they welcome having a shorter mass so that they can enjoy the day and that they are pleased to have a 'full' sung mass back in the autumn (perhaps a case of 'absence makes the heart...').

On odd occasions when away I have stood in for the local organist - on the last occasion I played the Bach D minor toccata in an excess of joie de vivre after mass (it's the only thing I can play from memory!) and was amazed when (i) hardly anyone left the church until I had finished and (ii) I got a huge round of applause afterwards!

I suggest, Nick, that you take a break and make the most of it!

[Nick Baty]

Well I am doing - no point turning up to rehearsals alone

As I said above, we'll keep the music simple: just me and assembly and, to be honest, I don't think anyone will notice the difference.

Enjoy your summer break, Keitha.

[Mithras]

Another advantage of the summer break, if you do take one, is that you can attend Mass at another parish where maybe the music carries through ... this might trigger a few ideas for your home parish. And organists particularly might go once in a while to a CofE or Non-conformist church (as long as it doesn't conflict with the obligation!) to get new perspectives on hymn speeds, alternative harmonisations, registrations &c. More than once have I heard a hymn/anthem/voluntary on, say Sunday Worship and been inspired to find and use it, so there's no reason why the same shouldn't occur in a "live" setting.

M

[Nick Baty]

Yes, that's a good point, Mithras.

I was fortunate to work for Songs of Praise for several years and picked up all sorts of things both from our own programme and from the radio worship team down the corridor, and simply from chatting to colleagues from other denominations.

Of course, for many of us summer is the worst time to take a break on a Sunday - fewer people around to cover. But I will try to take a couple of Sundays off between Christmas and Lent. My last one was December last year so, hopefully, they won't mind too much.

If you are visiting other places of worship, it can be worth doing a little research first - I know Salford Cathedral is on the top of my list when I have a free Sunday. Doubt I'd be able to get to and from Brentwood or Clifton in a day but, looking at their published music lists, and from my memories of them 20+ years ago, they both set excellent examples for parish musicians.

[Hare]

Doubt I'd be able to get to and from Brentwood or Clifton in a day but, looking at their published music lists, and from my memories of them 20+ years ago, they both set excellent examples for parish musicians.

Ah, yes. Brentwood yesterday set a wonderful example at 11.30! See http://www.brentwood-music.org.uk/lists ... 9/july.htm

[Nick Baty]

Might it be worth recommending places worth visiting - either during the summer or at other times?

The three cathedrals I have mentioned are at the top of my list but I know there are plenty of parish churches offering excellent examples from which I for one would benefit.

[docmattc]

We have a choir which is mainly made up of people in their late 50's and early 60's, mostly retired or semi-retired with no children at home and good pensions (probably the last of that breed!). They tend to go away for holidays and week-ends at very short notice if the weather forecast is good and from mid-June onwards it is almost impossible to predict who will be around.

That is my experience too. The choir will sing as a choir up to next Sunday, but then we take a break until September, the last few weeks have been a bit hit and miss though. I still manage to find cantors for the psalm throughout the summer and the music is not lessened (although last year I decided to go for an instrumental at the offertory rather than a sung piece) but pieces which require more resources than just organist and congregation don't appear. That's a pity during John's Bread of Life chapter that we get this summer as there's a lot I could do with a choir, (Anne Ward's 'Taste and see, in Cantate for example) but such is life.

[NorthernTenor]

We have a choir which is mainly made up of people in their late 50's and early 60's, mostly retired or semi-retired with no children at home and good pensions (probably the last of that breed!). They tend to go away for holidays and week-ends at very short notice if the weather forecast is good and from mid-June onwards it is almost impossible to predict who will be around.

That is my experience too. The choir will sing as a choir up to next Sunday, but then we take a break until September, the last few weeks have been a bit hit and miss though. I still manage to find cantors for the psalm throughout the summer and the music is not lessened (although last year I decided to go for an instrumental at the offertory rather than a sung piece) but pieces which require more resources than just organist and congregation don't appear. That's a pity during John's Bread of Life chapter that we get this summer as there's a lot I could do with a choir, (Anne Ward's 'Taste and see, in Cantate for example) but such is life.

One other option is to consider whether you have any sight-singers in the parish, or amongst your friends, who aren't members of the church choir but who may be willing to step in occasionaly on a single rehearsal. You might be surprised at how many such people there are around.

[Nick Baty]

Brentwood yesterday set a wonderful example at 11.30! See http://www.brentwood-music.org.uk/lists ... 9/july.htm

Hm! Yes, see what you mean. Let me rephrase: "Looking at their published music lists, Brentwood sets an excellent example – with one notable exception".

[Hare]

Brentwood yesterday set a wonderful example at 11.30! See http://www.brentwood-music.org.uk/lists ... 9/july.htm

Hm! Yes, see what you mean. Let me rephrase: "Looking at their published music lists, Brentwood sets an excellent example – with one notable exception".

Do Clifton publish theirs online? Looked earlier but couldn't find it.....

[Nick Baty]

And neither they do!
OK – let's remove my whole post and start again.
"Judging from their blogspot, Salford sets an excellent example..." http://salfordcathedralmusic.blogspot.com/

[mcb]

Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting progress...

If you look at Brentwood's lists (for their two Masses) over the whole year it's an impressive programme. The shock reversion to the hymn-sandwich menu probably reflects the fact that their regular fare at that Mass is strictly choral, so maybe there isn't a congregational repertoire of Mass ordinaries to draw on. You'd think they could handle one or two of the chant settings, though; so maybe there was some special reason for getting it over quick last Sunday. We'll see.

At Salford we're winding down now, getting ready for our month off in August. Most of our student members (nearly a third of our members this year) have gone home, and holiday commitments are keeping some of the others away. It's something I plan for each year, and it means keeping things on a small scale for a few weeks, and avoiding anything too new or too ambitious. I used to fret over what would happen if I turned my back on things in August, but these days I happily entrust things to the Management, and they're in good hands. (I think the Gathering Mass and the Easter chant alleluia get frequent airings.) It's good to get away.