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By the time this news-letter is in print, we will be very close to one of our major choral events of the year - Nine Lessons and Carols. The Senior Choir started rehearsing our Christmas music in September. There were many days in September and October when the sun was shining outside, and the temperature read a pleasant 20 degrees. Meanwhile, inside the school we were labouring over 'In the Bleak Mid-Winter.' Starting early is a necessity given the sheer volume of music we have to learn.
In addition to all the music, the choir has to process into the Cathedral - and this is the equivalent of planning a major military campaign. Students line up in two pre-planned lines - one with 43 members and the other with 44 members. Yes, your math is correct - one student does not have a partner. Students then do a slow dignified walk up the main aisle, genuflect at the altar, and then if the lines and partners are correct, students will arrive at their correct chair in their correct section. If this fails to happen, everyone exits the Cathedral, and we reform the lines outside in the middle of the blizzard - just kidding! The service of Nine Lessons and Carols has a long history. The first event was held in a tiny church in Truro, Cornwall in 1880 -while the move to King's College, Cambridge came about in 1918. In our own school, we have celebrated this service at Assumption Church, St Anthony's and finally, St Mary's Cathedral. Each move was due to the need for more space, as each year, congregations grew larger and larger. For many of our congregants, it represents an authentic welcome to the music and readings of this blessed season. Malcolm V. Edwards
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Malcolm EdwardsMalcolm Edwards was born in Halifax, England and emigrated to Canada in 1967. He is a graduate of Sheffield College of Education (UK), Trinity College of Music, London, the University of Lethbridge, the University of Montana and has done further graduate work at the University of Northern Colorado. He taught music in junior and senior high school for twelve years in southern Alberta before joining the University of Calgary as a Professor of Music Education in 1980. He retired from the university after thirty-one years of service in 2011. In the community he was affiliated with the Youth Singers of Calgary for 21 years directing the Act Three and Senior divisions. In his retirement, he is now employed as an Adjunct Professor of Music at St Mary’s University, as the Artistic Director of the Calgary Men’s Chorus and as the Senior Choir Director at St John’s Choir Schola. He has held leadership positions within the Alberta Choral Federation, the Association of Canadian Choral Communities, served on the Board of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and is active as a choral adjudicator and workshop leader in schools and churches. He is the recipient of two awards from the Provincial Federation – one in recognition of advocacy in arts education and the second in recognition of exemplary service to choral music within the Province of Alberta. In 2004 he received recognition from the national body (ACCC) for twenty-five years of service to the Canadian choral community. Archives
November 2024
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