This last week has been a week of music events and, despite still feeling ill, I managed to go to all of them.
First last Monday was my choir's concert in a nearby parish church. Five of my friends had - for the first time bought tickets to come and see me. Kay and her husband Darcy were there too. In the run-up to it, I had of course been feeling unwell, but knew I could not really go sick for the concert, if seven people had gone to all the trouble to watch me. It did put a lot of pressure on me, as with my acid-burnt throat I could not reach the very top soprano notes and had to mime some of them. Of course afterwards there was mince pies and mulled wine - none of which I could partake in as I am still on a very bland diet. The concert however was a huge success. Here is my favourite song of all our repertoire that night.
Then on Thursday Kay, Darcy and I had tickets for the Royal Albert Hall to see Anna Lapwood, the celebrity organist. The concert was a mixture of traditional Christmas songs, carols and theme tunes from big films often shown at Christmas, such as ET, Interstellar, Love Actually or The Greatest Showman. Anna Lapwood was an amusing compere from her little Rapunzel turret (or organ loft to give it its proper name) high above the choir and London Philharmonic orchestra, where she would then turn round to play the magnificent organ for all of the songs. Near the beginning she mentioned that there had been a lottery of ticket buyers and two names had won, both coincidentally German. She said she would call them up on stage to manage the audience at some point. In the second half of the concert, Anna Lapwood announced the next song was A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman and she called upon the two Germans - a man and a woman - to come up on stage, as she wanted the audience to switch on the torches on their phones during the chorus to give a starry effect in the auditorium, so the Germans' job was to make sure the audience knew when their cue was. Suddenly, the audience erupted into cheers and screams midway through the song, as the German woman got down on one knee and proposed to the man. Both ended in an embrace while the audience went wild. Here is Anna Lapwood's own Instagram post about it.
Then yesterday was our local church's adult nativity service. It is always packed out with a lot of people standing. It starts at 6.30 in the evening. We are given a programme and a candle as we enter the church. Once we are all seated, the church lights are all turned off and the nativity begins in darkness with Mary seated at the front. The Angel Gabriel enters with a candle while passages about the nativity begin to be read. The angel lights Mary's candle. As the nativity story unfolds, more candles are lit for Joseph, then the shepherds and three kings, as they enter the tableau at the front. The wise men and shepherds walk up and down the church aisles on their way to the scene at the front, so it is is quite emotional as the "audience" are involved. Once the story had been enacted, warders come along the central aisle to light the candle of the first person sitting in each pew and that person then lights the candle of the person next to them, so that very soon the whole church is lit with candles. It symbolises that the world is full of light, so to speak. It is such a popular service that, as I say, you need to get there very early to ensure a seat, otherwise it is standing room only! It is also of course the church where Kay and Darcy married. It is always a special service for me as I was three months pregnant with Alana when I first ever went to it and ever since it has never ceased to be the only church service I go to all year.
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