What and when have you been singing recently?  Without MWC rehearsals, most of my music making has been to accompany the ritual anti-Covid 19 hand-wash several times each day – singing the recommended Happy Birthday to you, twice through, not forgetting to add on the three cheers, all of which can indeed be made to last the requisite twenty seconds.

That’s not a very edifying piece to sing so frequently, and I must confess that I soon tired of it.  But what would be a suitable substitute?  Well, there is a section of my favourite oratorio, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontuis, where Gerontius sings the Creed,  which is decidedly more interesting and powerful, and the first phrase lasts just about twenty seconds.  It worked well to start with.  But, whatever the singer thinks, others in the house indicated that, sung so often, this piece could also become tiresome – and I would not want to give Elgar’s work that reputation.

So what else might there be?  An obvious choice is the choral theme from the last movement of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.  That lasts just over twenty seconds and went down well with the enforced listeners.  It even works well without the words, just sung to “lah”.

But even that could pall.  The next thought was the gorgeous cor anglais melody from the second movement of Dvorak’s New World Symphony, written while he was living in the USA.   Some commentators believe that the melody reflected Dvorak’s longing for his home country, Czechoslovakia; one even creating some matching lines starting “Going home”.  That was a prompt for some revised lyrics reflecting our current situation.
Staying home, staying home,
Now we’re staying home.
Staying home, staying home,
Not allowed to roam.
Go out for necessities, scripts and groceries.
Otherwise, stay inside, be content to hide
A-way…..
Staying home, staying home,
Now we’re staying home.
Staying home, staying home.
Not allowed to roam.

After a few weeks of distancing and isolation, I found that I was getting not a little frustrated.  A new song was needed for hand-washing to give vent to that frustration.  What transpired is a reworking of O sole mio, with apologies to its Neapolitan composer and to Elvis Presley.
It’s now or never!  For we must fight
Coronovirus with all our might!
We’ll distance and wash as well,
This pesky virus can go to……..
And even with the final word omitted, it still lasts for twenty seconds!

Ah well.  The restrictions are gradually being lifted.  Maybe one day it will be appropriate to sing Dvorak again, but with different words:
Going out, going out……….

Roll on the day!

Roger Pratt has discovered a recently recorded video of a “virtual” performance of The Chorus of Hebrew Slaves from Verdi’s Nabucco.   Click here to watch it.

He writes:  “It’s especially moving knowing the current situation in Italy. You probably saw the article in the SMH on Monday, describing how in Lombardy they’re bringing in army trucks to cart away the dead bodies to the countryside to burn them.

“Also the choice of ‘Va pensiero’ is so apt – it became a virtual anthem for Italy during its struggle against the Austro-Hungarian empire during the Risorgimento in the 1850s. In the same way that it gave hope to the Hebrew Slaves, it still inspires the Italians in these dark times.”

Maybe we will find a way in which we at MWC can virtually sing together over the next few weeks.  You never know!

At last night’s rehearsal, we basses practiced the modest section in The Peacemakers where we take the limelight.  It was a revealing moment.

We were singing in the style of a Gregorian chant, the words being provided by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.  It’s one thing to read or listen to these words; it is quite another to sing them properly.  Singing them makes you think about them and what they really mean.  And they are challenging.

Particularly so this week for me, as I had been sounding off to anyone who would listen about the dreadful nature, in my view, of most, if not all, politicians.  Until, that is, a friend reminded me of two old adages.  “Countries get the politicians their people deserve”, and “Politicians tend to reflect the nature of their constituents”.

Hmmmm.  Does that mean that I am part of the problem?  It is indeed exactly what the Dalai Lama means when he writes – and we basses sing – “Peace starts within each one of us”.

That set me looking at the rest of the words in The Peacemakers. In some ways it is Jenkins’ choice of the text rather than his music whch make this piece special.  Yes, the music adds to the words, but the words are fundamental to communicating the nature of this work to an audience.

It is good that Carlos, as always, makes us reflect on the words we are singing.  Our performance could be, in its own modest way, one of that myriad of small actions which lead to a more peaceful world.

Are you a cruciverbalist?  It’s a rather fine word for someone who enjoys solving crosswords.  Anne and I both enjoy them, Anne from her background as a language scholar and teacher, and me from a background in computer programming, where the different languages, in common with spoken languages, each have their own vocabulary, syntax and grammar.

The Sydney Morning Herald crosswords keep us amused each day – we like to solve the Quick over morning tea and the Cryptic after lunch – a collaborative effort for us as we reckon that two brains are better than one, especially for DA’s fiendishly mind-warping puzzles on Fridays.

And then there is the Omega general knowledge crossword on Mondays, which requires familiarity with sports, art and popular culture, mainly Australian.  Solving it is a great way for newcomers to learn something of Australian history.  Sample clues are “Children’s TV series with fruit dressed in stripy night attire (7,3,7)” – that’s Bananas in Pyjamas (we knew that one)  and “Winner of the Women’s 80m hurdles at the Melbourne Olympics (7,10)” – that’s Shirley Strickland (we had to look that one up).

Imagine our surprise when in this week’s Omega the clue for 23 Across was “They are said in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount to be the children of God (3,11).”  Answer, of course, The Peacemakers.    Now that’s a bit creepy, and reminiscent of an incident in World War II, in the build up to the D-Day landings on the coast of northern France.

A cruciverbalist who was one of the few civil servants in the know and also an avid completer of the crossword in “The Daily Telegraph” noticed that, over a period of weeks, there was an alarming number of answers which were code words for key elements of the D-Day landings – Utah, Omaha, Juno, Pluto and so-on.  This was suspicious.  Was a German spy trying to communicate with their homeland?  After an investigation, it was decided that the appearance of these key words was no more than a co-incidence and that taking any action could well prove counter-productive.

Back to this week’s Omega crossword.  Does someone at the SMH have the best interests of MW Choir at heart?  Are they warming up Sydney for the release of Kerry’s magnificant publicity machine next week, complete with posters, postcards and press material persuading everyone to attend our May concert?

It would be nice to think so, but deep down I have a suspicion that it is just another of those delightful occasional co-incidences which brighten up our lives from time to time.

Most of us in the Choir know Margaret Zanardo as the graphic designer responsible for creating a number of stylish posters and programmes for the Choir over the past ten or so years.  Maybe we knew that she had taught English in a variety of schools and colleges.  What we did not know – until recently – is that she is a poet.

Time out of Mind – Poems of Love and Loss is Margaret’s first published anthology.  It is a modest booklet, or chapbook, of twenty short poems written over the past three years.

The booklet is indeed modest in size, and the poems are all short, each occupying less than a single page in print.  Most I found immediately comprehensible; some took more than one reading, and even then I am not sure I fully understand them.  And a few remain  a mystery after several perusals.

The subject – Love and Loss – is interesting, as we each have our own experience, some the greater, some the less.  These poems do not spare the reader.  Feelings and emotion, longing and yearning, ooze out of each one.  It is impossible to read them without being moved by the grief and pain felt in losing someone or something which has been an integral part of oneself and then disappears, never to return other than in the imagination.

It is possible that Margaret has written entirely from her imagination.  But the power of the poems suggests that she writes from deep felt experience.  If this is so, then she deserves the thanks of her readers on two counts.  Firstly from those who have also experienced such loss, that the poems help them to come to terms with what has happened.  Secondly, from those who have yet to experience such loss, that they may be better prepared for how they might feel in similar circumstances.

It is hard to choose one or a few favourite items in this anthology as each poem highlights a different nuance on the overall topic.  Perhaps, for this reviewer, When do I think of you?  is a summation of the theme, as the answer, without giving a spoiler, is more than all-pervasive.

Margaret will be at a Choir rehearsal on February 27th with copies of Time out of Mind  which cost $5 each.  Otherwise they are available from the publisher, Ginnindera Press.