The Show Must Go On! – The Community Choir in lockdown
Still flush from the triumph of our 2019 summer performance of Vivaldi’s Gloria and then our Christmas Lights concert, we enjoyed starting the new year getting to know our new music director, Aidan Coburn. Unfortunately, like everything else, in late March we had to put away our music with the hope that restrictions would be lifted and rehearsals would resume within a few weeks.
By Easter it was obvious that things were not going to return to normal any time soon so it was decided to start our summer term meetings on Zoom. Many choirs have struggled with the challenge of singing on-line at the mercy of ‘variable’ internet connections (the word cacophony springs to mind!). So we allocated part of our meeting to singing songs that we had sung before (muted of course apart from Aidan!) and spent the rest of our time listening to memorable pieces of music chosen by members of the choir. Some of us still harboured a vain hope that we could put on some kind of summer concert but it was not to be. Never mind, we thought, we can still practice some wonderful pieces for our Christmas Concert!
What a joy in September when briefly we were able to meet again in church on a Thursday night (extra careful to follow the ‘hands, face, space’ rules). . . but not for long. By the end of October we were back on-line but this time feeling more confident about the new music we had been practising. We did manage to record a few pieces, Ave Verum Corpus, Panis Angelicus, Crimond, Litany and Wiegenlied – one of which was played to the congregation in December.
So, 2021 sees us back on Zoom but we are ever hopeful that this summer, or maybe in the autumn, we will be able to demonstrate our joy of singing and perform for you in church because we really do love singing in the Community Choir