Singing again with Marlborough College Choral Society

 Setting up the Steinway piano

Oh dear, a new year and the start of another season singing in Marlborough.  How time flies, and of course, I'm another year older!  Above you can see the piano being prepared for our first rehearsal last Friday 9th Jan.   It's a smart, newly renovated instrument, and cost something in the region of £75,000 last year.   The old one was taken in part-exchange, and will be recycled for another choral society or school.  We rehearse in the concert hall/theatre at the college, with the concert taking place in March in the chapel.

 The stage, with Ian our accompanist, and part of the choir.

I took these photos on my mobile phone, and the camera cannot cope with too much contrast with the light, hence the almost white stage!  It is brown and wooden in reality.  The sopranos are sitting in the foreground, with some of the altos in the background, and the gentlemen sit between the two sets of ladies!  

We are singing Verdi's "Requiem" a mighty choral work which demands two separate choruses and soloists.   I've never sung the work before, so became somewhat confused when attempting to follow the proper chorus line!

Ian and Alex, the conductor.

A great round of applause goes up when Ian comes onto the stage.  He has retired from teaching, but comes in to accompany us on the piano.   This is Alex's second season conducting us, and it is always good fun, even though we are singing a requiem!

Carl Nielsen - Springtime In Funen (Fynsk Forår)

Devizes Chamber Choir met for the first time in 2015 on Tuesday evening, and we started rehearsing "Springtime in Funen" by Carl Nielsen, a work non of us had previously performed.   We sang the first couple of pages at sight, and realised we might have an uphill battle on our hands.  The sopano line contains some top A's, and last night our voices were sounding squeaky, and completely out of practise

As with all choirs, we are short of men's voices, and last night we sang with only seven tenors and four basses.  The sopranos are the largest section of the choir with nineteen voices,  and the altos come a close second with twelve strong singers.  Our conductor Liz, has sung the piece before, and I think we will sound wonderful when we have worked out what we should be singing!

Carl Nielsen, 9th June 1865 - 3rd October 1931  was a Danish composer, and is widely recognised as Denmark's greatest composer, conductor and violinist.  He was bought up by poor but musically talented parents on the Island of Funen, and demonstrated his musical talents at an early age.  It took some time for his works to be fully appreciated, even in his own country, but Nielsen's works have entered the international repertoire.

Good music and video, a shame about the adverts in the following video!

Walking the "Devizes Bounds" on New Year's Day 2015.

 Walking on "Park Pale" where once a wooden fence would have stood on the ridge to protect the deer park.  The ditch is to the left of the photo.

We do this walk every year on New Year's Day, a tradition established way back in 2007.  It was a damp and miserable morning, so only 10 walkers turned out to brave the drizzle.  The entire Bounds walk is approx 8 miles long, but today we walked the most interesting half, totalling 4 miles.   The walk took around two hours, and on arrival back in Devizes, we had a well earned drink and meal in a local pub.

 Standing and chatting on the line of the old railway.

Devizes castle, now a Victorian folly, which stands on the site of a castle dating from the 12th century.

Sorting the Music for the Devizes Chamber Choir´s Spring concert.

 Sorting the music for the Sops, altos, tenors and basses.

I´ve been singing again with the Devizes Chamber Choir, and inadvertently offered to be the choir´s librarian!    Not an easy job!   This spring we will sing Vivaldi´s "Gloria"  Nielsen´s "Springtime in Funen" and "Be Still, My Soul" from "Finlandia" by Sibelius.  I have sung the "Gloria" several times, but not the Nielsen or the Sibelius, although I know the tune very well.   I am looking forward to some good singing in the New Year.

Three scores for each of the 50 members of the choir.

Each singer will need three scores, so I spent an afternoon numbering each copy from 1 to 50, and then bundled them into groups of three.   There is always a little chaos at the beginning of each new term, when everyone has to collect their music, and even more when it all has to be collected, and returned to the music library.  Happy Days!

Carols by Candlelight in St Mary´s Church, Devizes

 The Norman high altar in St Mary´s Church.

St Mary´s Church, one of three medieval churches in Devizes, lies redundant at the moment.  It is kept alive with one service a week, and attempts are being made to turn the lovely space into a community arts centre.   The plans for an extension have been turned down twice, which is most unfortunate.  We sang a carol service here in 2013, so hopefully this will become an annual event.  We sang without an accompaniment, and managed to stay reasonably in tune.

 What a wonderful light in which to sing.

My candle and carol sheet, and not easy to photograph with one hand!  

I had problems trying to sing, hold a candle and take some photographs, and in the process I managed to get my right hand covered in hot wax.  Mince pies and mulled wine were served after the service, which were very welcome.

Out Walking near Jubilee Wood, Rowde near Devizes

 Jubilee Wood, near Rowde, where hundreds of trees have been planted to celebrate the Queen´s Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

It was a cold day, but well worth the 3.5 mile walk from my home to the wood and then back up the Caen Hill flight of locks.  Having eaten too much over Christmas, I was in need of a good, fast walk.  I planted six of the above trees, although I´m now not sure which ones.

The Rowde Village plaque.

Rowde village consists of mainly brick built houses, although a number of 17th century buildings still remain in the village centre.   These include the "George and Dragon" public house.   "The Cross Keys" a pub built in 1938, now stands on the site of a timber framed and thatched building, which unfortunately burnt to the ground.  The 15th century church of St Matthew stands in the centre of the village.

Up on the Civil War Battlefield Site on Roundway Down.

 Could this be "Bloody Ditch?"

The Royalists won this battle on top of Roundway Down, and at some point in the fight, the Parliamentarian Cavalrymen were driven off the edge of the Down and into the so named "Bloody Ditch."  There are several ditches, and no one is really sure which one it was.

 A distant "Oliver´s Castle,"  not that Oliver Cromwell was ever there!

This promontory, topped with trees, is the site of a neolithic hill fort.  It must have been very chilly up there on a dark and stormy night!

Oliver´s Castle showing the steep chalk escarpment, that drops down to the lower greensand.