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St Patrick’s Breastplate
Every year for St Patrick’s Day – or within the octet of Patrickstide – we sing the hymn St Patrick’s Breastplate, to the tune of the same name based on Irish melodies, arranged by Charles Villiers Stanford (born in my parish in central Dublin). The hymn was written by Cecil Frances Alexander in 1889, and
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My annual indulgence in the Bach passions
Every year when Lent comes around, and particularly during Passiontide, I love to take a dive into the Bach passions. This year I’ve started early. We’re not even up to the second Sunday in Lent, and I’ve already been listening to the St Matthew Passion. I love the complexity of the two-choir two-orchestra interplay. Luckily
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Performing as a ‘bumper’ or ‘ringer’ in a choir
I was recently asked to sing with a choir for one of their concerts. It was a paid role to help out an amateur choir. I was asked to sing a very small solo, but mostly I was being brought in was to help the tenor line with the chorus sections. It can happen sometimes
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Is it nearly Lent already?
It seems that we’ve only just finished with Christmas and Candlemas, and already Lent is nearly upon us. Easter Sunday in 2026 is due to fall on 5th April. The earliest Easter can be based on the vagaries of the pascal moon is 22nd March, and the latest is 25th April. So this year is
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Serving on the Select Vestry
When visiting the same building (or organisation) regularly, it’s sometimes natural over time to become invested in wanting that building or organisation to prosper and survive for future generations. For me, that building is a church, and the organisation is my parish/congregation. And after singing every Sunday in this church for the last 8 years,
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Blessed Cecelia
On November 22nd it is feast day of Saint Cecelia, the patron saint of music and musicians. One of the most famous choral pieces that celebrates Cecelia is the work ‘Hymn to St Cecelia’ by Benjamin Britten – based on a poem by W. H. Auden originally titled ‘Three Songs for St. Cecelia’s Day’. In
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Depping
One of the advantages of having a city-centre office, is that I can be out of the door at 5.00pm and along the road to Christ Church in time to sing evensong. I was in this evening depping for one of the Tenor lay vicars. I seem to have been in quite a lot recently