I have to confess that I blow hot and cold over Stella Natalis.

At home, going through the bass part, it seems to be a matter of singing lots of consecutive bottom A’s, then lots of consecutive bottom C’s, and then, oh my goodness here’s a D for a change.  And so-on.  Which is not very exciting, although it is a bit of an exaggeration.  I always say that JS Bach was a tenor as he gives the tenors all the best tunes.  Conversely, Karl Jenkins can’t be a bass, given that he has written these somewhat pedestrian bass lines in Stella Natalis.

Then we get to sing the whole piece, all the parts together, on a Thursday evening, and it’s really exciting!  Last night was a case in point.  From our Earth sounds lovely in the round, but you would not expect it from just the bass line.  It helped that Carlos showed us how to bring out the contrast between feelings of quiet wonderment at the complexity of the cosmos and striking awe at its majesty and enormity.

And then of course there is the exception which proves the rule.  Dona nobis pacem has a fascinating bass line.   The harmonies are interesting, and it does not matter that we are the only voice which does not get to sing the glorious melody. Picking out the intervals is much easier using the techniques Cathy Kerr passed on at the recent Vocal Workshop, for example, singing a sixth by thinking up a triad then adding a tone.

So after last night, things are blowing warm, possibly even hot.  I have a feeling they will stay that way, at least until December.