Today I had the privilege of attending the New College evensong rehearsal. I heard from the small group that attended their rehearsal yesterday that these children are incredible musicians. Sister Hall asked who would like to attend the rehearsal and I shot up my hand. She took the first six she saw and what a treat it was to watch these little boys working on such thick repertoire! They practiced music for their evensong and some for their other concert engagements. This rehearsal was conducted like a well oiled machine. The boys quickly moved between pieces (silently), they helped each other, and they answered questions about theory. I just went over the modes with Matt yesterday and I was blown away that these children were already well trained enough to know what mode they were singing in. There was also a portion of rehearsal where the conductor pointed to each child in turn to check how well they knew the piece and how well they were singing it. If one boy messed up the director would stop and ask "what happened there?" and the boy would answer with something like "I keep singing the fifth sharp" or something like that. The director would say "what are you going to do?" and the boy would say "fix it". What dedication from such a young musicians. I learned a few things from this rehearsal but mostly that children are so capable! If you set the standard high and encourage them in the proper ways, they will rise to the occasion.
We attended evensong there with them. They sang an introit, Stanford's "ascendit", responses Howells "St. Paul's Service", and Finzi's "God is Gone Up". It's been so fun to listen to the songs that we studied in culture class before coming to England being performed live and by some pretty incredible and well respected choirs.
-headshots
-covered market for Scott's man bag (he didn't purchase) and umbrella that he loved but didn't get, he says in his blog it's because he didn't want to spend the money and cart it home...the real reason is that it was blue and had accents that he felt were to feminine.
-tour with Ruth, seeing where famous people went to school
-oxford time, thus us being on time to Christ's Church meant we were 5 minutes early
-sandwiches at Mortens, ate there 2x. :) sooo fresh and yummy, lovely courtyard
-Asmolean Museum
-New College evensong, scott experienced the choir the day before
-6 people at the rehearsal, very intimate setting, got to do all that with Scott
-not open to the public, just students
-sleeping on the bus back
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