Another musical Sunday

Sunday
Most of the church choir 'got the day off' today, after our special presentation last Sunday. However, Roger and I and another couple also play in the Joyful Noise handbell choir and we were playing today, so we still had to be at church for 8am to set up the tables. We were playing the prelude and postlude, so especially in the case of the postlude very few people were listening to us anyway, which is kind of frustrating, when you practice for something and no-one listens. The noise of chatter and conversation was so bad first service that we could hardly hear each other, as the tables are arranged in two groups either side of the aisle, and consequently we got out of sync for a number of measures! The youth ensemble were singing the anthem, and a men's group the offertory, so there was a good variety of music.

After fondue for lunch, Roger and I went down to Knox Presbyterian church in Hyde Park to hear the Messiah. A Christmas isnt complete for me unless I hear a performance of the Messiah. I grew up with the Messiah from the age of about five. As I've mentioned in my journal before, my Mum was a pianist and taught piano and did a lot of accompanying for soloists and different groups. I was born in Derby and we attended the Methodist Central Mission in the center of Derby. When I was young they used to perform the Messiah every Christmas and my Mum would play for the rehearsals and play in the performance together with the orchestra. When we moved to Sheffield when I was five, Mum continued to play for the Messiah rehearsals and performance until they stopped doing it, I think when I was around 11 or 12. She would go to Derby by train on the Friday night and stay the night with a friend, and my Dad, brother, sister and I would drive over for the performance on the Saturday night. I remember the first few times being very bored, but when I could read better, and was taking piano lessons, Mum would let me have a copy of the score to follow, which helped, and of course, as the years passed I became more familiar with it. I remember two of my early favorites were the Hallelujah chorus and The Trumpet shall sound - I think partly I liked the trumpet, but I suspect part of the reason with the latter, at least in the earlier years, was that I knew it was nearing the end at that point!! I also remember the car ride back home afterwards, as the ladies of the church would lay on a tea for the choir, orchestra and artists between the afternoon rehearsal and the evening performance, and they would always bag up some leftovers for us to eat in the car on the way home!