Rehearsal

It took me a few years to realise that we don't rehearse in order to give a concert. We give a concert in order to rehearse. Learning, taking into account a conductor's interpretation, and adjusting how we perform is by far the most interesting part of making music.

This was part of the rehearsal for our Christmas concert this evening, where the conductor (the unfeasibly talented 19-year-old Dexter Drown) is discussing with the bass soloists what needs to change in the next 20 minutes and the basses are listening, thinking, shifting...

We sang Morten Lauridsen's O Magnum Mysterium which I cannot imagine ever tiring of, and Schütz's Weihnachtshistorie, first performed in Dresden in 1660 and still a delight. For the Schütz we had period instruments, including a sackbut, a theorbo and a fretted cello, with all their quirks and vagaries. I was proud to be one third of the shepherd's trio. I have a middle-of-the-choir voice, not one to be exposed, but I practised hard and did the shepherds justice. (I'm just glad I don't have a voice at the pitch that is expected to be angelic.)

I'm sad that the concert is over and we won't be rehearsing this music any more.

(Dreadful colour is courtesy of the radiant heaters in the church.)


The very wonderful Tivoli always deserves a shout out, but especially so today.