The Orchestra Song Finale

 
The sweeping staircase in the front entrance of Boarbank Guest House

What a blessed and happy few days I have had here at Boarbank Hall. The sisters took on the job of vowel shapes and downward scales with a will and by last evening at Vespers the tone was much more unified and I heard all the words !
On top of that I think they have all really enjoyed the singing, and even those who may have been a little nervous at first, or who maybe felt that singing lessons in a convent were 'surplus to requirements', happily joined in and gave it their best shot! I think they are won round, and maybe see that a little unification of sound adds to their praise.

For those who found some voice that they thought they had not got, it was a great 3 days, and a number went away feeling renewed confidence for those moments when they have to lead, or they are the Heb Dom for the week and have to sing the first moment of the service. If any sisters read this, I hope I have got that right - my knowledge of the intricacies of the Office is woeful indeed !

At the end of the final session I thought we might sing something non liturgical and fun, so my 'never failed yet' part song for such moments is to teach a few of the parts of the 'The Orchestra Song' - universally enjoyed, parts of all difficulties, and for high, low and best of all, 'no man's land' voice ranges - Oh, and for male and female! What more could one ask, a song to fit all, with 6 parts to choose from!
This went down very well, and we used the Clarinet part, the Horn part and the Drums, and I sang the Fiddle ! It went with a real swing, and made for some unexpected hilarity. Three ladies in habits singing 'The drum has no trouble.......Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom.....was a sight and sound to behold!

I am being taken to the station at midday today then on to the airport and finally back to Inverness by late this evening. I am staying over with some friends in Inverness before attending a meeting at L's school in the morning, which is to discuss his 'transition' from school to big wide world, academically and musically speaking.

I may then do a smidge of shopping before returning to Paradise, replete after my injection of 'nunning' for another few months anyhow!

St Cecilia (well sometimes)

My room name and number, patron saint of music, and belonging to another close to my heart!


I have had a most productive day. It is a while since I came to a place where everyone is new and a complete beginner. Where there is no history of 'Ann Lampard', and where I do not know anyone except Sr Anne who invited me to come.

It makes it all the more exciting, as each person who opens the door is a closed book ! (Now there is a contradiction in terms!) I had the Prioress first thing at 9.30am, who boldly went where no nun had gone before, and told me she thought she should 'lead from the front', who was easy to teach and very responsive. She has a natural voice, resonant and round, but no technique (yet!!), and was so thrilled when I managed to get her up to a top F, simply by showing her how to focus the tone, and sing with disciplined vowel shapes. It is so rewarding both to hear and to watch.

Every sister whom I have had dealings with over the last 15 years has proved so 'hungry' to improve, whether they are a 25 year old novice, or an 85 year old senior nun, who has passed her golden jubilee!

They feel that the better they sing, the better they worship, and coming somewhere new means all that rush of adrenalin at the first big improvement which I feel from each pupil, spurs me on to give them as much as I can in the short time I will be around. They know I am gone in 2 or 3 days, and so they inhale every second of information, and then retain it ! It makes for ultra pleasurable teaching!

Of course I never really get to know the individuals in the way I do my regulars, so I have to renew my thoughts very quickly when I return 6 months or a year later! I can't afford to have 'senior moments' !

Anyhow, I had several sisters who more than reached their expectations, and a young postulant who had done very little singing in her life, found that for all her small stature she had a big and ringing voice. The look of utter surprise in her eyes, at the size of her sound, was so like a startled rabbit it made us both laugh ! Given she is half Italian it simply must be in the genes - however well hidden!

A good day, new 'noises' and new friends!

A Room with a View

 


The view from my window

Boarbank Hall, Cumbrian Paradise

Once again I am in the privileged position of staying in a most beautiful place. How lucky am I to be working in such tranquil and glorious surroundings? I am sitting at a desk in my room, the sun is shining and there is a thread of spring mist in the distance, just beyond which is a miraculous view of the 'Sands' in Grange over Sands.

I arrived an hour ago, greeted by Sr Anne at the station, and then we drove to the village wherein the Convent is set. In many ways the whole outlook is like a film set - I can only hope that film set 'finders' never find it! Although it may help the coffers I suppose!

These sisters also run a large Nursing Home, and all I can say is that if I were in need of such care then this is the place for me!

The journey was trouble free, and only a group of Manchester serial night clubbers who were on the train spoilt the overall peace. Live and let live however, they were very jolly !

I wish I had words to describe the quiet, I cab here a pair of blackbirds singing and nothing else - an acre of Paradise in Cumbria!

No work today, I begin tomorrow with a clean slate and - so I understand - some rather nervous sisters! Dear Sr Anne told them I was 'totally non threatening' ! Did you hear that in Paradise..........................!!

PS
Supper with the sisters was delightful, and as the Prioress hails from Consett, which is about 10 miles from my home, I am now completely ensconced, elegantly fed and watered still the sun is shining.

Up, Up and Away....courtesy of Flybe

I am off on my travels again tomorrow - this is the ultimate time of year for my job! Well between now and July !

I fly from Inverness to Manchester, then a train to Grange over Sands, visiting a new Convent, with a new set of sisters. They are Augustinians, and although they have a contemplative house, they are also a nursing order. I met the sister in charge of the music for the office when I did some sessions at the Panel of Monastic Musicians meeting last September in Llandudno. Sr Anne from Grange over Sands almost immediately invited me to come to her house, which was very nice!

So I leave tomorrow and will begin 3 days of singing with them on Monday, and return to Inverness next Thursday evening. I will post from there whilst I am away, if they have WiFi in the guest house. If not I will store it all up for when I return !

It is always interesting and exciting meeting new people, and trying to bring them into the fold of Middy singing technique - I feel like an ambassador for the wonderful methods of singing she instilled into us, and that she learnt from her mother!

The dynasty goes on.

It's Tuesday Again

Tuesday, as some of you may know from early blogs, is my late teens and early/mid 20's aspirant professionals day! Wow that is a sentence and a half!

I have an 18 year old baritone who has just covered himself with much glory in the last month or so. He took part in a masterclass day with Claire Weston, a wonderfully empathetic and talented soprano who was for some years on the ENO Young Artists Programme, and sang a number of roles to great acclaim. She is now a most successful and, more importantly, happy, Head of Singing at a school in Suffolk. I knew she would be very helpful, and extremely useful to young L.

I have never mentioned this before, but this remarkable young man has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair. This seems not to impact in any way upon his singing, except that we have had to devise a completely different way of breathing, using his back and the full width of his shoulders ! It has been a challenge, but I can honestly say that I have rarely taught such a hard working and hungry for knowledge student.

The difficulties he has faced have added a magical 'force' underpinning his singing which it is hard to describe. I had a phone call from Claire after the masterclass full of admiration yet - as I had hoped - being very excited about his talent, and not dwelling on his problems. It is very hard for folk to see beyond the wheelchair, and treat the boy as a talent, legs working or not, but I knew Claire would rise to this admirably and, if necessary, give him a hard time! (Which was not needed incidentally!)

I fully anticipate him attending a conservetoire at some time, and doing very well, but not for a few years. Life at music college is hard enough, never mind having to cope with all the other tricky bits of his life!

I also taught R who now has her place at the Royal Welsh College, and having had the burden of auditions, and waiting and waiting for results, then considering those very results, is singing as if a great weight has been lifted from her shoulders.

Her vocal tone has opened up and she is singing with the freedom of a caged bird let free. There have been tension issues throughout the many years I have taught her, but since getting her place she has tackled this with a will and the difference is tangible. What is more, she has a smile on her face and a skip in her step!

Finally my lovely young dancer L came for her lesson. It was her turn for crisis and a few hot tears were shed. Working full time in the arts in such a physical way, as well as trying to do something for oneself, which also requires much physical and emotional imput had brought the poor girl to her knees. She has such talent, and such an awareness of what is needed to build that talent, when she hits the 'wall' she is even more upset with herself. She works such long hours and with such dynamism, the feeling of not coping is very real. I know. I bought that metaphorical T Shirt many times in my life.

She needs to believe that time for herself, and space in her life to just 'be' is more important than any job.

Any job at all.

A Blackbird Singing, along with an Alto and Baritone

...on a moss upholstered stone.....

It is a dismal, wet and windy day today, well the latter half of it anyway, and I did not finish teaching until quite late! Actually I over ran by about half an hour, so it was my own fault! Sometimes, time just goes out of the window in a puff of smoke. All those years in an institution being ruled entirely by the clock for around 10 hours everyday, means that I now feel a tad rebellious and want to work my own time, and not be a slave to a timetable.

Some of my pupils clearly did not realise that I was back, so I only taught a half day - but the 'half' who came were the singers who will be embarking upon their first public masterclasses when they come to the Song School in 2 or 3 weeks. So there was a certain degree of stress in the music room!

They have all done remarkably well, amateurs rarely have to learn the copious amounts of repertoire that a professional must learn, and the fact that they have to get anywhere around 9 - 13 pieces ready at one time, including for some, 2 or 3 ensembles, is an enormous undertaking, and not one to be taken lightly, or without the help of paracetamol and gin (not together you understand!).

Approaching that amount of learning takes discipline and good organisation. The 'Levels Method' is great - ie you learn a certain amount of music in each of 2 or 3 pieces, and that becomes the first level. The trick is not to try to move to the next 'level', or the next 16 bars in each piece, until the first 'level' is perfect. That way confusion never sets in (theoretically!!). In the same way as one would never attempt to learn a whole operatic role at once, but build up the levels, and the new sections are then no challenge to the already perfected bits. In academic revision we call it 'bite size chunks', and it is very close to that system, except that for singing we HAVE to memorise, so not moving on until the memorising is 100% allows brain space for the next bit.

I heard some very pleasing performances today, including the Agnus Dei from Mozart's Mass in C, Woe unto Them from Elijah by Mendelssohn, and a bouncy and playful 'Non piu andrai' from The Marriage of Figaro. As the singers have to learn so much music, there were some pieces which I had not yet heard, and I was very pleasantly surprised to hear a great Che Faro senza Euridice by Gluck from my gold dust alto who has gained a wonderfully secure top E since she last sang the aria to me, and a lovely 'A Blackbird Singing' by Micheal Head from the lady who just passed her Grade 8 (all the time assuming she would fail with the lowest mark in the Western world!!!!), and again what a surprise. The passages which used to be so difficult have now become a breeze - infact I feel sure she is not even aware of the passages she found really hard a couple of years ago, which are now a doddle!

Perhaps the secret of good teaching is NOT to hear something and let them do it themselves?!

Hang on, am I talking myself out of a job here?

See you Later

Last week of the term.......then a bit of sorting out for my Song School, the first week of which begins on April 11th. Go to Down to Earth on my favourite blogs side links. I cannot believe that the super duper Rhonda Jean has had to write today's post. Some folk in the world are too politically correct to live on this planet.

Will post later after my day finishes!

A Motorway Pie

Oh Dear......




Have been on the homeward trail today, the sun has been glorious all day, and only as I approached the mountains, was there a small glimmer of the white stuff. I hope it does not get worse tomorrow when I finish the last leg back to Paradise.

I am staying in a Travelodge as per usual, and the bed and such are impersonally fine, but the Moto restaurant has failed me on this occasion ! The so called steak pie had as much meat in it as an undernourished hamster and the pastry would have sat well in the founds of a new build house such was its density and resistance to a metal fork! The fresh fruit salad had a slightly suspect pale and interesting brown tinge, so half has remained in it's plastic coffin, for burial I hope . I am not a picky woman when it comes to travel fodder, and normally I pack a picnic so I can graze on something tasty which has not cost the best part of a small mortgage, but even I was hard pushed to eat my £11.97 's worth - Yes you saw correctly - £11.97, more than the cost of a singing lesson for my little 20 minuters, and not nearly so cute!

The time is around 7.30pm and the Costa Coffee section is closed - CLOSED ........so I have to make do with a sweet and rather sickly primo latte from the serve yourself with 3 ladies not doing much area, from whence my not quite Michelin starred meal was lobbed onto the tray. Lobbed in much the same way as in that very funny series by Victoria Wood, Dinnerladies. ! I would have wolfed the whole lot as if it were caviar had the clever and sparkling repartee been of that standard. As it was the humour was about as funny as my steak pie !

Ah well, you win some, you lose some.
Home by the morrow..........................Ahhhhhhhhh....................

Love's Minstrels and a bit of shut eye

The long shingle beach of Hastings


All done at Hastings ! The festival is huge, 3 weeks of every kind of competition from a professional Piano Concerto class with a prize of £2500, to pop and rock vocals which had its prizes awarded by Roger Daltry, and the dance classes where the major awards were given by Dame Beryl Gray, the famous ballerina of the 50's and 60's. Their big concert which takes place tomorrow evening will have as its new president, Petula Clarke - so I felt in elevated company. I asked who would be the 'important' person to present the Gold and Silver Awards for the classical singing, expecting Lesley Garratt would be zooming down to the coast from her last gig, but the chairlady said - Oh that's you ! What a disappointment for the singers I replied!

It took place in a delightful Art Deco theatre right on the beach, and opposite the Victorian Pier which sadly burnt to the4 ground last year, but there is a move to rebuild! The whole theatre was redolent of Scott Fitzgerald and Agatha Christie. It was a wonderful place in which to sing, and I was pleased that the festival took the formal elements of performing very seriously. The competitors dressed beautifully, from young to old, and all announced and then bowed with immaculate presentation.




The White Rock Theatre - Agatha Christie could have watched Noel Coward here !

I heard some very interesting music, and a few songs I previously did not know. There was a great English Song class with some of the lesser known Vaughan Williams and a 'new to me' Howells song which I now must find a copy of !

The Gold Medal had only 2 entries - due to the hefty qualifying rules you understand - and the winner was a remarkable mezzo soprano whose programme was perfect, presented perfectly and she looked like a million dollars. She achieved the remarkable mark of 91. The set song was Love's Minstrels by Vaughan Williams, and I was totally transported by her hypnotic performance. It gave me goose bumps up and down my arms.

I was finished by 9pm last night but stayed at my B&B as I was just too weary to drive home.......so here I am now back in Petworth and about to leave to pick up the children and head on down to the cinema for a birthday evening for my grandaughter, who is 8 tomorrow, and a post film Chinese Buffet.

It is a children's film called Rango - but I am hoping for a few moments of blessed shut eye when the lights go down!

Some Enchanted Music Festival

Boy did I hear some great singing ! It was the only festival in the last year where I was absolutely driven to give 4 90's and 1 91 ! Usually I manage one or two at the most marks of 90 or above, but if the standard is that outstanding, then performers must be rewarded, otherwise if makes a nonsense of the lower catagory marks.

So what stood out ? So many performances if I am honest.

I heard a young 19 year old boy tenor who clearly has his sights set on a career in musical theatre but seems to be going about it the safest way and getting himself a good classical technique on which to build his future. He took complete control of the stage and drew us into his musical world. I was moved by his Negro Spiritual 'Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen', and equally moved by a cathedral worthy 'Panis Angelicus', but when he came to his 'Some Enchanted Evening' I was bowled over. The sheer insight into this music, the way he caressed us all with both the sound and himself, was astonishing for one so young.

I also heard a super talented young soprano who hushed the room to the point of freezing us in time when she sang one of my all time favourite songs, 'The Cherry Hung with Snow' by Colin Ross. The perfect line she sang with, just hung in the air, and the final verse, sung at nano ppp was magical.

There were some character classes for the little ones, and I was quite taken with a young half Spanish 8 year old who sang a most touching 'Feed the Birds' by Mary Poppins !! She really was the original Supernanny I think!

I do love it when young people announce their own songs - it is such an important part of learning how to perform, but the standards vary from an inaudible grunt from a 14 year old boy who clearly does not want to be there, and an old amateur / pro, who gives you the history of the song, the composers' life and the colour of the socks he was wearing at the moment of composition! All good clean fun!

Another performance by a rather elderly gentleman was most moving, and he could have taught a thing or two to some of the super league teenagers, in terms of focus and depth of feeling. He sang 'It is Enough' from Mendelssohn's oratorio, Elijah, and vocally it was worthy of the best stage in the land, as well as lifting us up with his honest and heart warming performance.

There were so many other fine moments, a simply gorgeous 'The Singer', sung by a petite 16 year old who soared to the top notes and then let the song fade like a very old water colour painting, a Quilter 'Fair House of Joy' sung by a 13 year old girl with a voice the size of Bournemouth, and such sensitivity I could hardly write.

It was a blessed couple of days musically, and to round it all off we were accomodated in a Hilton Hotel, sheer luxury..................it is usually a good B&B !

Off to Hastings later and another few days writing, listening and thinking for all I am worth!

Basingstoke will be hard to beat though.

Rest and Preparation

A restful day today, with just a little preparation for Basingstoke Festival on the morrow. I checked the distances from here to the festival venue and promptly wished I had asked for a hotel room for this evening, instead of offering to drive tomorrow morning. I will need to leave at around 7am !

This may not seem terribly early to all parents of small children, or commuters to the city, but remember I start at 9.30am and finish at around 9.30pm, and cannot lose concentration for one performance during the day!

I will report back over the weekend. I am expecting some fine singing, as I recognise some of the names in the programme.

Early bed tonight, and must make sure that I find the postcode of the venue so I can get in the car and travel relatively brainlessly to economise on nueron use.

Need all the help I can get these days !

A Lovely Dose of Arundel Poor Clares

Cure All !










I had two delightful and peaceful days at the Crossbush Convent near Arundel, where I have been teaching for about 15 years. The sisters are a complete cross section of life, age and personality, and the ambience is one of joy and complete democracy.

There are some difficult health issues there at the moment, but the acceptance of such, and the sense of gratitude for doctors, surgeons and nurses is humbling.

These issues have cast a slight shadow over the house and when I arrived the singing was a little lack lustre! They simply love their singing so it took no time at all to inject energy and a smile into their sound. I use all the same exercises as with my private pupils, and we even attempted some 'flip ups' this timk ! That is, singing down the scale and flipping back up to the top as many times as possible.

This caused some hilarity, and the amount of times they could do it was as diverse as my own pupils ! Some are fainting after 2 scales and others can keep going for 5 or even 6 times! It is all to do with relaxation, and controlling the flow of air as we expel it to make the sound, not really tyo do with size of lungs, or ability to load up as much air as a barrage balloon !

One sister stood out head and shoulders above all the rest, a young woman from Zimbabwe, Sr Clare Ruva. She is serene, walks with a wonderfully languid flow, and laughs with happiness and generosity. I often use her as an example of good posture and relaxation, infact I wish I could bring her home..............

She could go on for 4 or 5 scales at her first attempt. Just shows - personality and culture will out.

We ended the day in the chapel going over the piece we had practised during the previous 2 days. I love the Poor Clare chapel, it is warm, simple and peaceful. It has beauty, but a different beauty from more ornate chapels I have taught and sung in, The sound of the Anima Christi rang around the building, never overblown, but so resonant. The sister who plays the organ is also incapicitated at the moment so I had the honour of playing the organ for our session, and it gave me a true feeling of what it was like to be in integral part of the community.

I love the life, the speed of the day, the community feel, the kindness upon which life is founded.

However I hate the 5am start to the day.......................

Away Match

I am now 700 miles away in the South of England about to embark upon a couple of weeks of adjudicating and 'nunning' !

I made it by 2pm today, just in time to pick up young C and W from school, do cello lesson, then Brownies followed by the swings and supper, and the grand finale, a chapter of 'The Island of Adventure' by the inimitable Enid Blyton.

Variety is the spice of life........

Two lovely days teaching the Poor Clare sisters in Arundel starting tomorrow.

No rest for the wicked singing teacher.

Concert Review - High Class Singing in Paradise

I was so thrilled with the concerts. It feels like a lifetime since we last performed, and in reality it is a good while. We had to cancel the Christmas concerts due to the Arctic conditions, so if I look back it must be last May when we did proper mixed bag concerts. Of course we did perform HMS Pinafore which was a great deal of work and rehearsal, but concerts are different beasts, and a fair proportion of the group were performing for the first time as a soloist, or even for the first time with a 'new' or greatly developed voice !

There was a relaxed and 'family' feel within the singers, and this leached out into performances. I truly felt that whilst there was the accepted trickle of Adrenalin running like a small river through all the singers, it was a healthy amount of fear - not the destructive nerves which destroy and paralyse.

The youngsters were brilliant. They are so much more vocally developed than last year,and they shone brightly under the pleasure and surprise exhibited by both audience and performers.

The tinies were truly excellent. Both M and H sang two songs each - which lasted around 50 seconds, and as ever, made it very difficult to follow them and win! H sang John Brown's Body, with a pure and ringing treble tone and captured the audience completely, and M gave a beautifully controlled and heart warming performance of an unaccompanied Hebridean folksong called 'Morag's Cradle Song'.

We had a wide range of repertoire which took four of them up about 3 technical notches. The gorgeous 'Fly Home little Heart' by Novello was a quite magical moment sung by 13 year old N, and Summertime was performed by a confident and accomplished R, whose top A in the final phrase was stunning. L sang the Libera Me from Faure's Requiem with such depth and with such ringing tone, I think he shocked the assembled audience/singers to their very core. Young M was quite the actress when she performed a delightful Buttercup's aria, showing what confidence she has gained during the last year.

The slightly older singers acquitted themselves very well, R sang with such relaxation and showing how she thoroughly deserves her place at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama - and another young soprano showed her new and glowing colours in her first foray in 'classical' singing.

There were two beautiful SATB quartets, soft, controlled, and with divine tone, from the fearless four who worked together like a well oiled wheel.

Let us not forget my 'ladies' !! There were some sensitive and musical performances especially a lovely Bless this House from E. Then three other more mature singers gave us a wide selection of humour! A terrifying Duchess from |The Gondoliers, scary enough to frighten the top notes from a tenor, and a superb Fairy Song from an unusually fluffy and frilly retired college lecturer, whose bending wand sent a ripple of laughter around the hall. P sang a fine and suitably stiff upper lipped housekeeper in the song 'Miss Otis Regrets' by Cole Porter, resplendent with pinny and yellow duster.

C's conducting debut was fantastic - he had definitely got the job! His confidence has grown so much, and when the chips were down, I felt he was truly in control. Good man!

So you see, I bet you all wish you could have been there!

You would have loved it.

Summertime and other Light Favourites

We had a short and excellent rehearsal tonight, and as I said earlier all we are waiting for now is Adrenalin, to add the final frisson of musicality.

Will comment upon that after the concerts!

I was pondering about the intricacies of putting the concert programme together this afternoon. Each set of items for any concert are completely different and individual. This list is heavy on the 'light' and 'humorous', rather than serious and 'heavy'. That makes the jigsaw puzzle all the more tricky.

A programme is an organic being in it's own right. We try to start with strength, but not the strongest in the group - that must come towards the end of each half, put less confident newcomers in the first half, so the nerves don't have such a long wait and become overpowering, and build the arch of the evening carefully so every listener is kept interested!

Quite an ask really ! When the list of repertoire is biased towards one style or genre is is much more tricky to find that aforementioned and often elusive 'arch'. Well it is done now, and the few more serious items peak at the end of the first half, and the light, bubbly , fun items fill the second half to busting! The only less light moment in the second half is the Goodall, Lord is my Shepherd, all the moments around that range from Gershwin's 'Summertime', and two of the 'tinies' singing a Hebridean folk song and 'John Brown's Body', via some Jerome Kern and Gilbert and Sullivan.

The art of programme planning is complex, and needs a sensitivity of touch. Nobody wants to follow 'small and cute', so always best to put something choral or ensembley after little ones, and breaking up a run of solos with some duets or quartets is a must.

Even though we are 'light' heavy - so to speak - I feel sure it will all come together really well, and the jigsaw pieces will become a whole.

Fingers crossed!

For the Love of an Echo

The Glory of Peterskirche, Vienna

They are beginning to sound good - really good. All the choral pieces have slicked up, and most of the singers are, at last, using their brains as well as their voices!! The tone is good, and I think almost everyone knows the music off copy now!

Which is great, since the concerts are friday and saturday this week!

I forget how beautiful sacred music is, when I spend so much of my time teaching secular music, ranging from opera to song to light music. There is such strength in sacred music - perhaps because so much of it was composed by devout believers. Unless a composer has been commissioned to write a mass or a modern oratorio, I can't imagine why anyone would want to write about God unless they had a strong belief.

The lovely setting of the Tallis Canon - Glory to Thee my God this night - so simple and yet so effective, is based on the redoubtable canon form. Literally everyone sings the same tune at two bar intervals and it all fits together like a miraculous musical jigsaw, just like the children's rounds, London's Burning, or Kookaburra sings in the old Gum Tree.

Simplicity is, in the end, always best, and I love the way the arrangement begins in unison and finally ends with a majestic explosion of sound in four parts with a high soprano descant thrown in for good measure.

I am so looking forward to hearing it in a large hall with a bit of resonance, so the sound can trumpet around the place and send a thrill up and down the spines of the singers as well as the audience.

There really is nothing like a good echoy venue, such as the wondrous Peterskirche in Vienna, where the echo lasted about 2 days! The thrill of singing in that beautiful place will live with everyone in the group. The first strains of our music rang around us all, up and down the mountainous walls and around the ornate dome, giving each singer, old and young, professional and amateur the musical memory of a lifetime.

No wonder Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Mahler and Bruckner wrote huge sacred works to be performed in all those fabulous Viennese basilicas, and for the delight of listeners whose belief was strong enough to bear the beauty of it.