It will be great to be back at Choir next Thursday.  As we continue our rehearsals for this year’s performances of Messiah, memories return of previous performances in which I have sung .  I reckon I have performed the work around 20 times.  This may sound impressive, but it is nothing compared to Robyn Blainey’s tally.  She sang her 100th Messiah with the Choir in 2014, and has doubtlessly clocked up a few more since.

However, Messiah always takes me back to when I was 15, my voice had deepened sufficiently to sing Bass for the first time, and the school choir spent a whole year rehearsing Messiah for what was to be my first experience of a full performance.   Sectional rehearsals on Monday to Thursday lunchtimes were complemented by a full rehearsal each Friday.  The school music master was in charge.  At no more than five feet tall, Rev Frank R Rust may have been of slight physical stature, but he was a force to be reckoned with.  As this performance was to mark his 25 years teaching at the school, he was determined to do the work justice.

Rehearsals were hard work, with seemingly endless repetition of phrase after phrase until each was just right.  However, there was a lighter side too.  Ferd (for that was our somewhat irreverent nickname for the Reverend) would quite justifiably become exasperated with us from time to time.  At that point, the swing of his baton increased and the Altos had to duck to avoid potentially painful contact.  And I remember his expostulation once when instead of singing “blessing” we came in with a rather vague “…lessing”.  “Do you not realise”,  he almost shouted, “that ‘b’ is the most expressive consonant in the English language?  Think of all those rude words – no don’t think of them………”.  As he became more exasperated and flustered, not only did the baton wave more erratically, but his top front tooth and its plate dislodged itself.  Schoolboys are not known for their reserve.  We laughed.  Embarrassed but unbowed, Ferd laughed with us, won us over, and was soon back to drilling us hard.

Ferd was a wonderful teacher.  His insights and encouragement were seminal in creating my life-long passion for music.  So as we sing Messiah, you might hear at times a sotto voce “Thank you, Ferd” from the ranks of the Basses.