The festive season and mood shaped our December session at the Barn - helped along by some mince-pies kindly brought by Gillian and enjoyed in the break (many thanks Gillian!).
After a brief notice to confirm plans for the remaining seasonal events on our performance calendar, with Emily's capable and joyful leadership our voices and spirits lifted with “Hark the Herald Angels”, “Sweet Chiming Bels” and “The Holly and the Ivy”. “Ideo” came next, sung at a bright pace, followed by one of the songs added to our seasonal mix this year, “Now Christmas is Come”. We returned to more familiar territory in “Deck the Halls” before the first of three rounds sung during the session - “Hey Ho Winter Snow’"- which built up to a successful 5 part rendition, and very lovely it sounded too! 'While Shepherds Watched' to the “Pentonville" melody gave a pause before another round - the lovely "I heard a Bird Sing”, the gentle sweetness of which benefitted from a simpler arrangement in fewer parts.
After our break (with mince-pies and time for chat) we resumed with some debate about the length of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and considered trying a chorus after every two verses to reduce it a little. In the event it wasn’t sung but time was given instead to another round, “Child of Light”, provoking general comment on how enjoyable and beautiful singing in the round can be. We moved on to the "Sans Day Carol" - another 'holly' song full of the symbolic meaning this evergreen has at Christmas. With careful rhythm we sang the lovely “The Angel Gabriel”, followed by one we have not often sung although liked by many, the “Boar’s Head Carol”. This inspired us to give “Gaudete” a try, a popular song heard elsewhere by most of our singers. Alan and David did an excellent job on the latin verses - with the rest of us managing to join in with the simpler latin choruses. It is definitely one we enjoyed singing and would like to improve for next year’s festivities.
With an eye then turning to the new year - and in anticipation of wassailing with the Sompting Morris side in Tarring village on January 5th - we dusted off “Here We Come a-Wassailing”, the “Apple Tree Wassail” and the “Sugar Wassail”. Then the one we most often sing, the “Gloucestershire Wassail”, which like folk songs do has travelled across many regions, including Sussex! We closed the evening with a rather last minute suggestion to try another one heard but not yet sung by everyone, so led by Alan and Emily with a strong driving rhythm liked by all, we sang “Wassail the Silver Apple”- which we hope to revisit post-Christmas at our next Barn session in the New Year.
So with Seasons Greetings exchanged our last Worthing group session of 2023 concluded - and now we look forward to our first Barn session of 2024 on Thursday January 4th!
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