SoundCloud tracks!

Good morning everyone! I’m now back on East Coast time, thankfully not too jet lagged. I’ve taken some time to upload five tracks recorded live while on tour. If you go to the SoundCloud page, they should be there along with the previous three tracks that were uploaded before tour.

I hope you enjoy – I think we sound pretty good myself

Farewell UK

Well, we are on the bus heading towards London for one last day of sight seeing before we fly out tomorrow. It is hard to believe that the tour has come to an end! Yesterday’s visit to Wells was again spectacular. While some of the trip has started to blur together, Wells will definitely stand out as a gem.

We got to meet Louis the cat, who adopted the Cathedral a few months ago and loves to lie in the cloister as the sun sets. We viewed the scissor arches, which were added in the 1300s, almost exactly 100 years after the dedication of the church. These special arches are unique, and are now critical to the structure of the central tower. If they had not been added it would have collapsed! They are essentially two arches each, one that goes half-way up the cathedral to a point, and then the second arch is inverted and continues up to the tower.

The service was excellent, despite our relative exhaustion. I heard many choristers comment that, while the tour had been amazing, they had hit the wall with 6 services in a row. Thankfully, we were able to quickly hop on the bus and head back to Bath for our group farewell dinner. It was a lovely time, and we all shared our favorite Cathedrals with each other. Most retired early, since a lot of packing would be needed for our very early start. At the moment it is heading on towards 11am and we are very near London!

It has been a pleasure being able to share our experience with you all as we visited these ancient places of worship. There have been many memories made, and I believe I speak for everyone when I say that we cannot wait to return. I will be signing off for now, but do check back occasionally – once we are back in the states, I hope to post some of the recordings made on tour to the SoundCloud page. I also know that there are many more pictures that other choristers wish to post to the Flickr account as well.

Cheers!

Bristol blitz

Yesterday was a whirlwind again, it seems to be a bit of a theme. Still, that is typical of choir tours – lots of rushing around and touristing and singing, and very little downtime. We visited the ruins of the Roman bath house in the heart of Bath in the morning. It was spectacular! The actual ground level of the spring is about 4 meters beneath the current street level, and the vault of the ceiling (when it was standing) was higher than the neighboring houses. We had portable hand-sets that we could use to get as much information as we desire while walking ourselves through. By the time we reached the famous pump room, many of us were on history overload.

The water from the hot spring was free to taste in the pump room. If you have ever had rural country well water, that is the closest I can come to describing the taste. It certainly is unique, with strong minerals and a hint of sulfur. Being rather warm, it was less than refreshing to drink, but a good experience nonetheless.

After the tour, we split up for lunch before meeting back at the bus to travel to Bristol. I called this post a “blitz” because we had a tiny bit of free time in the city, but unfortunately it was not quite enough to do anything much. Being the 6th day of the tour, many elected to sit by the river and relax – the weather again was amazing.

Bristol cathedral is unique because its side isle ceilings are as tall as the central ceiling. The acoustics were the most impressive so far, with reverberations ringing for almost 8 seconds! After rehearsal, they were kind enough to provide us with tea, coffee, and biscuits as they held their evening prayer service. We had a lovely sit in the garden, which was in full bloom amongst some ancient tombstones. At 6pm we participated in the Choral Eucharist, premiering Stuart’s Alleluia for Ascension Day which sounded spectacular in that space.

We returned home quite late, but with plenty of daylight left for dinner. That has actually been one of the most difficult adjustments from being in England. It is daylight until 10pm, and the sun does not completely set until almost 11:00pm. Frequently choir members are startled to find out what time it is after dinner. It has been so sunny we might even return tanned (in my case, lobstered).

Currently we are on the road to Wells for our final Evensong service of the tour. This evening will be our farewell dinner with the entire choir. Tomorrow we will rush away very early in an attempt to get back to London by 10:30am. At that time, we will stow our bags in a room provided by the hotel, and go our separate ways to explore London on our own before departing for Boston on Sunday. I will look to do one final update tomorrow morning on the bus!

Good morning Bath!

Yesterday, we sang evensong at Salisbury Cathedral. I am admittedly running out of adjectives to describe these magnificent spaces! Salisbury was unique in a few ways, though. It was mostly completed in the space of 38 years, meaning its architectural style is one of the most consistent of any Cathedral in England. Also, the lawn was vast – some time ago, all the tombstones were removed around the church and the lawn was created. It was very refreshing to see so many families out enjoying the weather together, picnicking, playing, or simply lying and reading a book.

The interior of the cathedral was impressive as all the others. One feature I feel I must point out, though, is the spire atop the central tower. It was added much later, long after the cathedral was completed, and ways hundreds of tons. The added weight over the course of hundreds of years has started literally bowing the huge support columns outwards! You can stand at the base and look up, and the top is about 7 degrees off from the base. Thankfully, over the course of the years efforts have been made and things have been stabilized. They still check every so often, though, to make sure nothing else has shifted!

The chapter house contained one of the four remaining copies of the original Magna Carta, which many of us took advantage of seeing. There was another back at Lincoln, meaning that a few members of our group have now seen half of the remaining originals! There was unfortunately very little time to enjoy the City, with the bus ride taking 5 hours. It was bustling, though, and seemed a unique mix of ancient and modern spaces.

The service itself was beautiful, with many parishioners in attendance. Even though this is our fourth Evensong service in four days, the experience never seems to feel repetitive or stale. These spaces have seen hundreds of thousands of services, parishioners, clergy, and choristers, and we feel so privileged to raise our voices in worship here.

This morning is free in Bath, with the option to join Liz for a tour of the Roman Baths. I must be off lest I miss the group! This evening we are traveling to Bristol for our only Choral Eucharist of the tour, celebrating the Feast of the Ascension.

on the road to Salisbury

We have stopped for a moment at a roadside rest, so I thought I would pop on the wireless and say a few things about our time in Lincoln. First, the town is quite lovely – I have never seen a place more stuck in time. It looked as though all the houses and shops were straight out of the 17th century! Our hotel was right across the street from the Cathedral, which was an intimidating sight first thing in the morning.

Our free morning in the town was not nearly long enough for anyone – unfortunately the shops that we wanted to visit were all closed until about 11am. Many had self-proclaimed “variable” hours. The castle was as impressive as the cathedral, and each offered tours that were about 60-90 minutes long. By the time tours were over, it was time for rehearsal!

The acoustics were incredible. There is no other word – the church was the largest we were in yet, with almost 20 feet separating the two front rows of the choir. Incense was applied liberally during the survive, much to the chagrin of the front row who all got a nice face-full during the during the very complicated Howells Magnificant. Still, everything sounded lovely, and we left for dinner having contributed to a wonderful liturgy in a wonderful space.

We are now being called away to the bus, so I am off! See you all in Bath after our Evensong in Salisbury.

Salisbury

Good morning from the UK! We must be off early this morning bright and early. It is a 5 hour drive to Salisbury, so to have any chance of rehearsal we must be out by 7:45! I normally do a more detailed post, and there is much to say about Lincoln, but unfortunately it will have to wait until this evening when I have Internet (and a chance to write it up). Cheers!

Southwell Minster

It is another fine morning here in the UK. We are truly blessed by very good weather, and are in Lincoln with a free morning to explore! The cathedral dominates the landscape, and is actually right across the street from our hotel. There is also a castle to visit, and the walk down “steep hill” (yes, that is the name of the road into town…very aptly named), and tons of quaint shops and very old buildings.

Yesterday, though, was spent primarily on the bus. We left bright and early from London, leaving behind a long list of things we all wanted to see on our final day. On the way, we stopped in an idyllic English country town, Bassingbourn, for lunch provided by Annabel’s parents. It was a lovely, relaxing break from the coach – they had a spectacular garden that was a joy to behold. The sun came out, and we actually had to be shooed inside to fill our plates before returning to the garden to bask once again.

After a bit of singing, we popped back on the bus for the rest of the journey to Southwell. Liz mentioned that yes, it is pronounced “Suth-ell” – and it is so off the beaten path that she had in the past mistakenly pronounced it as “south-well”. We did not have time to explore the city, but the Cathedral was beautiful. It is very old as well, with a mixture of Norman and Gothic architectural styles. There was a clear division of the older Norman style, because the Gothic portion or the church was so ornate – there were carvings everywhere!

The service was inspiring, with scent of incense in the air and Joe singing the responses with us. There was a marked reverberation of at least 4-5 seconds, which created a spectacular effect. We had a few short minutes after the service to snap some photos, but we had to be back on the bus quickly if we were to arrive at Lincoln at a decent hour. As it was, we arrived around 8 in the evening – just time enough for some dinner, and an impromptu gathering in the lobby to share and upload pictures.

Service in Rochester

I must say that service in Rochester Cathedral was an amazing way to begin our singing here in England. The place itself is steeped in history, and as we were singing you could almost hear the echo of choirs past in the reverberation throughout the space.

We had some free time yesterday morning (Sunday here in the UK). For those of us who were motivated enough to wake up early, it was a beautiful day in London and a great chance to get one last glimpse of the city during the day. At 11am it was on the bus and off to Rochester.

We had an hour or so to browse through shops, or visit the castle, and then grab some lunch. The city was preparing for the Charles Dickens festival to take place in a few days. At 2:00 we went up to the choir storage room via a very narrow back passage and staircase. After robing, we began rehearsal in the choir stalls.

Everyone we met was so welcoming, it dispelled any nervousness that we might commit some slight procedural offense. We were able to enjoy the service, which was so well attended that we had to bump a few parishioners from our area of the stalls! Michael did a fantastic job, and I have no idea how he saw anything. The organ console resided up almost 20 feet off the floor and nested amongst a plethora of pipes.

It all worked brilliantly, and we returned by bus to London for a free evening in the city. The weather was perfect for walking, and many took the opportunity to travel around a bit. While London feels much like Boston in the size and density of the buildings, one look at the Tube map indicates that the city itself is much, much larger. One could spend the entire 10 days here and not see half of what the city has to offer.

We are off early this morning to Southwell, stopping half-way for a brunch generously provided by Annabel’s mum. There is rain in the forecast, so hopefully everyone brought an umbrella!

Day one

It is morning on our second day here in London, and I waned to do a quick update. Yesterday was an amazing first day in England! We all were able to find each other in the airport, where we also met our tour guide from ACIS, Liz. Thankfully she had plenty of energy for all of us, as most did not sleep on the plane. Because we had arrived around 8am London time, our rooms were not ready yet so we were off on an adventure!

Our destination of the day was Windsor Castle, the oldest and largest continuously occupied castle in the world. It is one of the official residences of Her Majesty The Queen. She was not in residence that day, because her flag was not flying over the castle walls. Still, it was an incredible experience.

We were just in time for the changing of the guard, which many of us witnessed up close and personally. Unlike the castle, there were no huge gates in the way! The the three major attractions were St. George’s Chapel, Queen Mary’s doll house, and the State Apartments. The Chapel was more like a massive Cathedral with over a dozen bays, stunning stain glass, and more royal remains in residence than anywhere I have ever been – including Henry the 8th and Jayne Seymour.

The doll house was a spectacle unto itself. I recommend looking up a picture because my description will not do it justice. It is a 1/12 scale model with working lights, elevators, a car park, and all the trappings of a palace in miniature. The State Apartments were grandiose to the degree of a movie. The walls were awash with art and weapons, and the ceilings and architecture a wonder to behold.

After lunch in the little town outside the castle gates, we piled on to the bus to head to the hotel. Poor Liz tried to give us information, but many of us were unable to stay awake any longer, being lulled to sleep by the gentle movement of the bus. Once checked into the hotel, and showered and changed, we gathered into the lobby to travel to our inaugural group dinner!

After an adventurous trip on the tube (the soccer finals were happening- imagine 30 people trying to stay together on the T after a Celtics and Sox game both let out at the same time) we arrived at Sartoria. This was a wonderful prix fixe Italian dinner with a Prosecco toast. I must say, though, that our usually boisterous crowd was subdued, having now been awake for about 36 hours straight. We made our way back to the hotel, many of us walking to get a view of Buckingham Palace en route.

After a night cap in the lobby bar, for what day in London wold be complete without a pint, we gratefully made our way up to our rooms for a much needed sleep. This morning, we have an hour or two of free time before gathering at 11am in the lobby to head off to Rochester Cathedral for our first service!

Blog from the plane

So, plan one has not gone so smoothly. Here I was thinking we were in the 21st century and that we could have wifi on the plane. Unfortunately, my airline is so last year and does not have that option. Still, it has been a pleasant trip so far.

This may be news to some, but we have many of our Choir members flying separately. The tour company was flexible enough to allow us to purchase our own tickets if we did not want to pay them for finding us the airfare. This has been a great help, especially for frequent travelers who wish use airline miles.

I am flying solo at the moment, but as I write the rest of the choir is over the Atlantic as well! We hope to all meet up in the airport and move on together. I will post this once I am back online in England.

P.S. – now sitting in heathrow in terminal 1!