We lent them a tenor!

Chris Mathews, recently moved from the alto benches to sing tenor in St. Peter’s choir, reports on a week of singing.

I recently had the opportunity to sing a full week of services at Carlisle Cathedral with the choir of St George’s Parish Church, Doncaster. The forty-ish strong choir included five altos, eight tenors, five basses and about twenty trebles.

The link with Doncaster Parish Church is that Stephen Jones (Chaplain at St Elphins School, Darley Dale, where Andrew Teague teaches) sings in their choir. Stephen also directed St Peter’s Choir during part of the weekend of services last year at Lincoln Cathedral.

The party went up to Carlisle in private cars and I travelled with Stephen Jones. After listening to the England v South Africa Test Match on radio, we attempted to play a tape but it got jammed in the stereo. We arrived in Carlisle first, followed about ten minutes later by the rest of the party.

Our accommodation for the week was in a place called Austin Friars, which is a boarding school situated about 1½ miles from Carlisle City Centre. The place was massive! Every day we ate our breakfast and tea there and were provided with a packed lunch.

Carlisle Cathedral is about half the size of Southwell Minster. Its many super features include the blue ceiling with its stars in the Quire, the war memorial in the nave, and the outstanding painting on the organ pipes.

The choir sang Evensong every day with an hour of practice beforehand. We also practised in the morning between 9 and 10 o’clock. Towards the end of the week I received some singing coaching from Stephen Jones. The whole series of services - six Evensong services plus Sung Eucharist on Sunday morning - were directed by Joseph Sentence, Director of Music at St George’s.

On Monday we had between 10 and 3 o’clock to ourselves and we played baseball, tennis and cricket. Then on Tuesday we visited Hadrian’s Wall. Wednesday brought rain and we had to walk through it into the City Centre to go swimming. We crossed the border into Scotland on Thursday, which was a day off for the choir. During Friday we went to Laser Quest and then shopping around town. After a fairly free Saturday we came home on Sunday after singing our final service at 5.45pm.

The music we sang during the week included:

Four-part Mass: Byrd
In Pace: Blitheman
Evening Service in G Minor: Purcell
Let all mortal flesh: Bairstow
Short Evening Office: Gibbons

During the week I learned some new music and gained some singing techniques from Stephen. I also got some tips by listening to the choir. Hopefully some of the things that I have learned will help me with my musical career and forthcoming Music GCSE.

Most of my trip was funded by the Vincent Trivett Scholarships (exclusive to St. Peter’s Choir Choristers) for which I am most thankful.

Chris Mathews

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