Two things struck me at Choir practice last night.  I am not sure whether one is more important that the other, but they are certainly both worthy of mention.

The first is that we sang all the way through Stella Natalis  for the first time.  What an achievement!  This is not easy music: it has many sudden changes of mood and tempo, unusual harmonic shifts and occasionally d-d-d-d-d difficult words.  It requires skill and lots of concentration on everyone’s part.  That we managed to get all the way through is a testament to choristers and conductor, not to mention Angela, our accomplished accompanist, who has probably worked hardest of all during rehearsals.  It augurs well for the performances next weekend.

The second thing about last night’s rehearsal was occasioned by Naomi Roseth’s article appearing in the Limelight Magazine.  It is about Community Choirs, both the phenomenon in general and our own Manly Warringah Choir as an example.  In it Naomi describes the special relationship between the Choir and Carlos which is so much a part of our success. This prompted Carlos to say how much the Choir means to Alexandra and himself, and how working with us is very special to them both.  It is clear from the spontaneous reaction to Carlos that the feeling is very much reciprocated by everyone in the Choir.

We are extraordinarily fortunate to be members of a community bound together by a love of music and the wish to spread the enjoyment to as many people as possible.  With all the skill in the world, our performances would be nothing compared to what we make of them through commitment to the music, to Carlos and to each other.  Perhaps that determines which of last night’s two noteworthy events carries the prize.