Singing TOGETHER

We arrived at 10am and performed it at 12.30pm.  That was the rehearsal schedule at the 'Come and Sing' Faure Requiem I attended at St Martin in the Fields, Trafalgar Square on Saturday - and it was great fun!

I have to admit that these singing from scratch concerts give you all the buzz of belonging to a choir with less than half the work of being in one with a weekly rehearsal.  Usually you are surrounded by really competent singers - so if you are a bad 'pitcher' like me you just follow them!  The conductor knows there isn't much time for rehearsing so its a quick dash through to remind those who have sung it a hundred times before and some concentrated work on a few tricky passages.  The accompanist is always brilliant and able to make up for any deficiencies an ad hoc choir can make.  And the performance - usually free (because who would pay real money to listen to a group of singers who hadn't even met two and a half hours before!) is attended by family members who are just pleased to indulge you and offer a hearty round of applause at the end!

I loved Saturday - I love the sense of camaraderie you always find in a choir.  A group of people energised by a love of music who want to collectively give of their best so that the the beauty of it all can be heard again - wonderful!

Just before Christmas a group from AFC did another 'from scratch' concert - this time in The Royal Albert Hall.  It was Messiah and the choir consisted of about 3,000!  On that occasion there wasn't even a rehearsal - and the sound produced was magnificent.

Working together for a common goal is surely one of the most precious facets of our God given humanity.  Wherever we find it - in a soccer team, colleagues at work, in a choir - and pray God, in the church - we have discovered and experienced something very precious.

Best wishes,

Ian