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I've fallen into singing by accident

I’ve fallen into singing more or less by accident. When I retired I wanted to learn piano and organ and, for a grade exam in piano, you have to do echo singing which was problematic for me. It was decided I should get some singing lessons and so found a teacher who is incredibly rigorous but it’s also a lot of fun at the same time. I now do more singing than piano. Other than that, I’ve not sung since my voice broke!

After an interval of nearly 55 years, I’m really enjoying the singing. I had an unhappy experience with another choir and, in comparison, joining Royston Choral Society has been a good experience – I’m still here!

I haven’t sung the Brahms Requiem before – it’s challenging but that’s something that’s good for me, forcing me to count. My background is in mathematics and physics but I have difficulty counting and this is really good for making me get it right. Science, my background, is all about attention to details and, yes, I’m a perfectionist.

Rehearsing with the choir is a real pleasure. I’m very impressed by the size of the choir and by members' regular attendance. In other choirs, some weeks so few men turned up that it felt almost as if the basses were singing as soloists! 

I don’t come from a musical family. My entire life has been in science, I never thought in retirement I’d be more into arts and humanities – it’s not something I ever envisaged.

I found my way to the Royston Choral Society through another choir member who was at a U3A (University of the Third Age) group. We got talking about singing with a choir and he mentioned the RCS… and here I am!

What a thing to think about, being marooned on a desert island, all alone, and nothing but eight pieces of music to both keep you company and remind you of your life before the shipwreck! Having spent many hours walking my dog on Royston heath I know the beauty of the sounds of nature and if I ever tire of these recordings I’m sure that I could quite happily sit on the beach, listening to the sea, the sound of the gentle breeze and the birds.

Now to my choice of eight recordings:

Firstly, I would like a selection of J S Bach’s Sacred Cantatas, how many am I allowed? My favourite recordings are by The Netherlands Bach Society, Bach’s settings of scriptural text would connect me with my faith and the church; to lift my spirit if I ever felt down at being marooned. But, who knows, I might enjoy it.

My favourite cantata is BWV 106 Actus Tragicus especially the opening Sonatina so please could that be included. I hope the recording sleeve has the translations on it, my German is rather limited.

I have allowed myself two choices to remind me of my teenage years, the days when we had juke boxes and vinyl records. We listened to Radio Caroline broadcasting from a ship off the Essex coast (can anyone else remember how the records used to jump when the sea was rough?) I considered Moonlight Shadow by Maggie Rilley, Seasons in the Sun by Terry Jacks, Nights in White Satin by The Moody Blues, Albatross by Fleetwood Mac and all of Cat Stevens but the winners chosen to represent the soundtrack to my youth are Simon and Garfunkel, especially Bridge Over Troubled Water and Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield. 

My forth choice would remind me of my time spent with the Classical Guitar - studying, playing and teaching it for most of my life, I would choose music by Andres Segovia - for me there is no one better. I would like as much as you can fit on one recording please, including Recuerdos Del Alhambra by Tarrega  such a wonderful work.

My next choice is Ralph Vaughn Williams whose music would remind me of  home, the land of my infant nurture, my England, it’s hard to choose which piece, I think I would like a  double disc or one of those box sets that contain a number of records, is that allowed? My favourite has always been Variations on a Theme by Thomas Tallis  which sends a shiver down my spine.

I have greatly enjoyed my membership of the Choral Society over the last ten years and would like something to remind me of my time with the choir so, for my sixth choice, I choose Haydn’s Creation,  which I enjoyed learning, performing and listening  to the solos. I’m not going to choose a recording that would leave me subject to criticism, I would likely choose one that is out of vogue!

That leaves me two recordings left, and it is so hard to make a choice, I’m going to choose two historic (or to use the modern phrase “iconic”) recordings which I think are quite outstanding. The first is Jacqueline Du Pre’s playing of the Elgar ‘Cello Concerto   and the second is Glenn Gould’s recordings of The Goldberg Variations by J S Bach (the 1955 and the 1981 recordings are both on one disc). I know that his interpretation isn’t to everyone’s liking and many experts look for greater historic authenticity but it’s my desert island and I know what I like!

I like to take risks - I enjoy a challenge!

I was lucky to go to an exceptionally good school in Hemel Hempstead when it was a New Town. It had a good reputation for the arts – I took up piano and sang in the school choir and performing in a number of concerts. I had a very good and wide-ranging education at a time when the world was still optimistic.

I’ve sung quite consistently in choral societies but had a fairly long gap with my career and the need to earn money. Since retirement I’ve been running Cambridge Modern Jazz for the last 15 years – attracting national and international artists – with three seasons a year and a gig every month.

My wife had sung in some of the performances of the Royston Choral Society and, in retirement, I had a bit more time and decided to do more risk-taking – so I joined the choir! I performed in the Christmas concert and feel the choir is of a high standard, tackling difficult works which appeals to me – I’m enjoying the challenge. I’ve sung a number of requiems, but not the Brahms. I love the Verdi Requiem for its open and accessible style.  

The experience of singing with the choir is very rewarding. I’m regaining my skills at sight-reading and pitching my voice and I’m feeling quite fulfilled that we’re tackling a quite difficult work and I’m making progress.

I have a very eclectic taste in music and have had to leave out Edith Piaf, trad Jazz, Taverner and Cleo Laine among others. Here are my eight…

1. Brahms Lullaby. Both my mother and my grandfather played the piano and he had a music book with 100 songs. This was one of them…..sung many times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t894eGoymio&t=1s  

2. Chopin Fantasie Impromptu in C sharp minor, the first record I was given was Semprini plays Chopin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7V_nI_RUQw&list=RDd7V_nI_RUQw&start_radio=1

3. Elegy by Thalben Ball.  Played at our wedding! It was the organist’s favourite.  I have asked for it at my funeral.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bYgPbMlKcQ&list=RD5bYgPbMlKcQ&start_radio=1

4. It has to be Mozart - Un Aura Amorosa from Cosi fan tutte sung by the Swingle Singers arranged by Jonathan Rathbone who was one of the Musical Directors at Barnet Choral when I sang with them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zndn2pw__FY&list=RDzndn2pw__FY&start_radio=1

5. Panis Angelicus. To remind me of our grandson’s solo in Frascati Cathedral pictured here:

on a school trip to Rome. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK3TeWqSAZk&list=RDPK3TeWqSAZk&start_radio=1

6. Anything by Nat King Cole…maybe ‘When I fall in love’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfAb0gNPy6s&list=RDGfAb0gNPy6s&start_radio=1

7. Ubi caritas by Durufle …. The original version….well I am an alto! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1BTWCpEFRQ&list=RDl1BTWCpEFRQ&start_radio=1

8. O magnum mysterium Morten Laurisden ….I only got to know Laurisden about 10 years ago at the same grandson’s carol concert at school and have fallen in love with his music. So good to listen to and to sing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KvrbYZB2vY&list=RD7KvrbYZB2vY&start_radio=1

Tracy, one of our altos, tells the story of how she 'made an album'....

In my early twenties I was an au pair in Paris and during that year I sang in a choir having done a fair bit of choral singing in my school years. Amongst the pieces we sung was Haydn’s The Last Seven Words of Christ on the Cross… only in French.

We then performed it in the wonderful church of Saint Germain des Pres in central Paris, which was unbelievable. And, it was recorded so I even have this vinyl copy of the performance. It felt special at the time and now I look back on it with an element of pride. As you may be able to imagine, it isn’t a joyous piece of music!

Specially designed singing classes are clinically effective at treating mums with postnatal depression, a major three-year study has found. The authors say they could also be cost effective for the NHS at a time when mental health services are under pressure. Read more… https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c93127z99yxo

David Temple, conductor of Crouch End Festival Chorus, shares his fascinating insights as he guides us through CEFC's professional recording of Britten's Saint Nicolas. Shares the background of the Saint Nicolas story and includes some of the music - a great taster for the concert itself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpf40gKPmwY

After a sell-out performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion in April – a three hour marathon, sung in German – the Royston Choral Society return to Royston Parish Church on 5th July to sing some lighter, suitably summery music, written by an English composer.

At a recent rehearsal, tenors in the choir were asked how they felt about singing Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell. Despite the classical theme suggested by the title, all agreed it was a fun piece and all the more enjoyable for being sung in English!

Ian said “I’m enjoying the melodies and dancing rhythms and, having first sung it with the choir in 2016, it’s familiar. After all the effort we’ve put into rehearsals, I’m looking forward to showing how much we’ve improved over the past nine years!”

For James “It’s quite different from the other pieces the choir has been performing recently - there’s a witches’ chorus when we’re being asked to cackle! I always like the summer concerts because they tend to be more relaxed.”

Another James suggests “It will be a nice contrast to the autumn and Easter concerts which tend to be requiems and longer pieces about death – not the most uplifting subject matter!”

Neil praises composer Henry Purcell as ”a wonderful composer who creates fireworks and involves drunken nymphs – the piece is really exciting.” He goes on to suggest “There’s something for everyone because there are different moods through the piece. Singing a variety of pieces is good for the audience but also for the choir – learning new things keeps us fresh for each concert.”

Tickets for the concert, at 7.30pm on Saturday 5th July at St John’s Church in Royston, are £18 and available online at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/royston-choral-society, by phone 01920 822723 and, if available, on the door.

The most recent performance by Royston Choral Society was one of its most ambitious – Bach’s St Matthew Passion. It involved six soloists and a full orchestra and, despite a packed audience of 240, it made a financial loss. We invited our Treasurer Caroline Franks to explain the money behind our music-making.

Rehearsal costs

All choir members pay a subscription to sing in the choir and rehearse each Tuesday evening in St John’s Church in Royston. Our Musical Director and Accompanist are paid for their time, and including venue hire, each weekly rehearsal costs us £295, or about £4 per head. As each term holds between 10 and 14 weeks, you will see how those costs, plus the library costs for the music, our annual insurance, performing rights fees and Making Music [a choral societies association] subscription take up the bulk of our subscription income. Our increased choir numbers do mean that there’s a little left over to put towards the costs of our concerts.

Concert costs

Concerts are our costly activity. This spring, we sang Bach’s St Matthew Passion, the most expensive work we’re mounted to date. It is a fantastic piece to sing, and we had a sell-out audience, but the costs on the day of that concert amounted to £8,900 (more than 90% of that paid for musicians and soloists).  At £22 per ticket, that equates to 405 tickets needing to be sold to cover the concert costs. With the number of performers taking space in front of the conductor, the audience capacity of the venue is 240!

Unfortunately, despite having an experienced fund-raiser in the choir who has been able to secure amazing grant funding over the years, this time the only grants we received amounted to £100. The upshot for our March concert is that we ended up with a net loss of £3,700.

We’re committed to singing large works with orchestral support, but we need to balance those with smaller scale works, and work ever harder to sell the maximum number of tickets each time. Knowing that the Matthew Passion was coming, we performed our November concert this season with a string quartet, and we will do the same in July. In December we chose not to include the brass players who have joined us for the last few Christmas concerts.

Of related interest: https://www.roystonchoralsoc.org.uk/Articles/UnsungHeroes

Choir members were invited to share their choice of music for their funeral service. This was tenor Jason Sanderson’s selection of five pieces.

1. Finlandia for coffin procession. It's a piece of music that brings me to tears as it’s so full of emotion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE0RbPsC9uE&t=1s

2. Alla Hornpipe from Handel’s Water Music for when my coffin leaves. This was the first piece of classical music that I appreciated https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRoEo7lZO6s

3. In the Bleak Midwinter for no other reason than it's my favourite Christmas Carol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb9tHjuy9Hw

4. Cantique De Jean Racine So much beauty, a true example of musical artistry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g16zSj6Ynko

5. Byrd Ave Verum The greatest of all the Ave Verums. So simple and full of passion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3vuU7XAaUM