CELEBRATING OUR ANGLICAN MUSICAL HERITAGERemember The Velveteen Rabbit? The part about becoming real?
“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
Choir trips are like that: they take a long time, and they don’t happen often. Next June (2008), your choir’s goal to embark on a pilgrimage to England will become real.
In 2005, Jacob’s fifth year at Saint Christopher’s, the choir began to look for a way to both recognize that they had improved markedly and to set a meaningful, although distant, goal for even greater musicality. At a choir dinner, someone suggested that they might consider a pilgrimage to England.
Reaction 1: “Right. Sure thing. Pass the salt, please.”
Reaction 2: Thoughtful silence.
That December, Jacob asked the choir if we’d be willing to work hard enough to prepare an audition recording…if it was good, it might qualify us for invitations to sing in England during the summer of 2008. By March 2007, we had an audition CD. By May 2007, after innumerable planning hours and conference calls, we learned that we – your choir! – had successfully passed the audition criteria at several prestigious institutions, including York Minster, and Durham and Ely Cathedrals!
The choir roster is almost full, but there are still seats for you, our ‘Fans and Friends’, to come along! Join The Rev. Ted Neuhaus, organist James Frazier, and director Jacob Manier as we become a small part of centuries of Anglican tradition – joining our hearts and voices with the great cloud of witnesses that has gone before us.
There is also opportunity – and need – for financial contributions assisting those singers who are unable to afford the cost of this pilgrimage. Contact Jacob for the details about how you can help to provide “choral scholarships” for singers in need.
After ten days, we will climb off the flight from London a little loose in the joints, and maybe we’ll look rather shabby. But we will have become just a bit more Real. And to have worshipped in those Cathedrals is, inexplicably, to worship a little closer to Home. Everyone will understand.
Only 6 of the initial 46 seats are currently available, and the deadline to sign up is 15 August 2007! Call Jacob at 651.633.4589 ext. 12 for more details.
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