group singing

We had a three hour rehearsal this morning at St. Paul's parish. Patrick Wedd, the organist and choirmaster at Christ Church Cathedral in Montreal is our guest conductor for our Two Choir Festival.

With the combined choirs we have over a 110 voices, including adults and children.

While I used to feel a certain amount of competitiveness between the two choirs, I think that we are now very comfortable singing together. This says more about me than it does the St. Paul's choir. But I notice that we all spend a lot less time making references to one parish or the other, and at least for these few days when we sing and practice together, we are one choir.

The Eucharist will be at St. Paul's 11:00 am service and the Choral Evensong will be at Trinity at 5:00 pm. I really think that evensong is truly my favorite service, an hour of music, chanting and prayer. There is something special about revisiting the texts of the Magnficat and the Nunc Dimittis, the Psalms, the read lessons, and the solemn prayers that gives one an opportunity to be quiet and listen.

But working on this music is hard on the legs. The bass section is at the back, and today we stood on chairs throughout the rehearsal, making the leg calves very sore. Thankfully, the services tomorrow will not be so long.