Easter-y Goodness
Sunday, the 3rd of April, 2005 - 12 to 7pm
Current Instrumental Work ~ Pink Floyd's "Money" as covered by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
...and again with the vanishment of my updating abilities. Hn.
Still, to look on the bright side of my newfound ability to convince myself that I've updated recently when I blatantly haven't, I am at least left with a fair bit to cover.
I also reckon that since the Easter holiday is not over even if the event that warrants it is, I am not too late to get in there with the seasonal greetings. With this in mind:
Happy Easter, Everyone!
I think it probably goes without saying that the answer to how I spent my Easter weekend runs along the basic lines of 'church, church, falling upon and devouring chocolate like a starving wolverine (with a sweet tooth), more church...'.
However, since it could be argued that the Art of Good Public Diary Writing calls for just a tad more detail, let me just try to remember exactly what it was that I did when not scoffing the fruit of the Cadbury's factory's labours...
Good Friday was, I must admit, a bit of a come-down after last year's Pergolesi, for our numbers were down and it was considered best not to risk anything fiendishly complicated.
Thus it was that we did Joncas' Kyries, Orlando Gibbons' Drop, drop slow tears, and Shephard's Lord Jesus Christ We Thank You.
The Joncas was performed as written, with two soloists singing the verses; my role as non-soloist was limited to attempting to sing 'kyrie eleison' and 'christe eleison' with great feeling during the chorus. Whether I succeeded or not, I haven't the foggiest.
On Easter Morning we performed Alleluia, He Is Risen - a lively piece from the latest Songs for Life anthem books. Unlikely to live on as a 21st century classic, and in its having lines with just alto, tenor and bass, not exactly playing to our strengths, but I think it went down quite well.
Now we come to Easter Evensong, and the moment that I'd been angsting over waiting for: This Joyful Eastertide, sung unaccompanied, and conducted by yours truly.
'Twas the first time I'd conducted anything since last Autumn, and I reckon it went really rather well. At the very least, everyone was perfectly together on the endings of all three verses, which was most pleasing.
Hopefully there will be more conducting opportunities in the not-too-distant future...
Lawks, I must away, lest my piano practise start to overlap with hours when crashing ones way through fingering exercises might seem a tad antisocial in the eyes of my poor innocent neighbours.
The piano, incidentally, continues to go well. I started John Thompson's Modern Piano Course: The Second Grade Book yesterday - The Adult Preparatory Piano Book is by no means done and dusted, but I felt that the technical exercises in The Second Grade Book would help with the pieces that have been proving tricky - and appear to still be moving in a forward direction.
I'm sure I have dozens of other things that really ought to be covered in this entry, but I shall endeavour to get on to them at some date in the not-too-distant future (no, really!).
Until then, au revoir!
Lily
