Yesterday was a Saturday to come and sing with Bob Chilcott and Caius Lee, the head of music at Worcester College, Oxford.
Bob started us with a warmup, hums, and oos and ahs, and
each part changing by a semi tone when he pointed at us. He kept praising us
and then asking us to do something again, so we got better, and more confident.
There was an interesting mix of choristers because the usual middle class older
women were there, quite a few men in tenors and three basses. But also several
young men and women who were perhaps Caius' students. Some of the women wore
"St Hilda" or "Worcester College" jackets. They weren't
necessarily more confident than me as we started to learn each piece, but they
learned quicker and developed more confidence than I'll ever have.
Bob taught us a couple of pieces from "Songs my Heart has taught me": Unison and Resolution. He told the story of the schoolgirl
who wrote the words for him circa 2016 and came to study English at Worcester
2018-2023. Delphine Chalmers wrote on themes of unity, equity and diversity,
inclusion. Julian of Norwich's prayer of "All shall be well" inspired
her for "Resolution".
Caius took half of the sessions with the energy of a youngster, even demonstrating how we should breathe by lying down on the floor, despite the cold. It was cold; at the break, those who lived close enough went home to get extra layers. He taught us some of Fauré's Requiem, including Libera me (Deliver me, Lord, from eternal death), which we sang in Latin.
This was beautiful music to sing, with kind, experienced and gentle directors. Despite the cold, it was worth the day out.
