I've been with the Latin Choir at St Michael’s Church Ipoh since 2007 as
its choirmistress (the men jokingly say that I am their mistress!) and I am
enjoying the fact that we can glorify the Lord in song in Church occasionally.
There are about 50 elderly people, mostly in their 60s and 70s in the choir. We have two accomplished organists, one in her late 70's and another who has years before she reaches 50. They are both versatile at the organ and clavinova and set the pace for what we do and how we present each hymn.
We are known as the Latin Choir but we sing English hymns as well. We sing for services in Church at least 10 times a year, not on a weekly basis. We come together for practices about 6 weeks before we are supposed to sing.
At the moment, we are attempting the Hallelujah Chorus in four parts but it is not so easy going as 99% of the members are music illiterate. We can manage 4-part singing for other Christmas carols like Joy to the World, Silent Night, Ding Dong Merrily on High and O Holy Night. We are quite confident with those carols and sang them at the 8a.m. Mass on 8 January 2012. The parts were arranged by B.M. Remedios.
I don't have any basic knowledge of conducting. I used to fight shy of conducting the Negaraku during Assembly when I was a teacher. In this choir, I see myself as a coordinator between the organists and the singers, teaching them new hymns, how to get the melody right, making sure they get the correct pitch and timing, etc. Thus I make sure that everyone works together in unison to make our worship as a congregation at each liturgical celebration more meaningful.
I think that everyone has his own style of conducting. We have 4-5 choirs in our church. The congregation say that one conductor looks like he is frying ‘kuay teow’. Another looks like she is all out to go to battle. Another accomplished music teacher conducts at her own pace without listening to the beat of the organ nor being aware of whether the choir members are taking her cue. Another only knows how to conduct the stilted way, not bothering about whether the choir is following the rhythm.
I have heard different comments about me. One says that I am a bit lifeless (compared to the one going out to battle) but someone else says that I am the best of all the conductors that we have in our church. Whatever they say, my duty is to get the choir and the organists and the congregation in sync for community worship. If that works well during the service, then I praise and thank God.
In actual fact, I was a choir member years ago and gave it up for a spell. I rejoined the choir as I read somewhere that after 60 years of age, one’s voice deteriorates, That frightened me and since I like singing I took on the challenge of being choir mistress of the Latin Choir. The previous choirmistress who was a perfectionist was sickly and wanted to retire from the position. She used to be a good singer when she was younger but now has voice problems, asthma and other ailments.
Our young organist is fantastic on the keyboard and covers up most of our mistakes. We have a good time singing (not always sweetly). But I think, being a church choir, we always give our best to the Lord and He in turn rewards us in so many ways. Oh yes, the acoustics in our church is very good so these days we do not even have to use microphones.
There are about 50 elderly people, mostly in their 60s and 70s in the choir. We have two accomplished organists, one in her late 70's and another who has years before she reaches 50. They are both versatile at the organ and clavinova and set the pace for what we do and how we present each hymn.
We are known as the Latin Choir but we sing English hymns as well. We sing for services in Church at least 10 times a year, not on a weekly basis. We come together for practices about 6 weeks before we are supposed to sing.
At the moment, we are attempting the Hallelujah Chorus in four parts but it is not so easy going as 99% of the members are music illiterate. We can manage 4-part singing for other Christmas carols like Joy to the World, Silent Night, Ding Dong Merrily on High and O Holy Night. We are quite confident with those carols and sang them at the 8a.m. Mass on 8 January 2012. The parts were arranged by B.M. Remedios.
I don't have any basic knowledge of conducting. I used to fight shy of conducting the Negaraku during Assembly when I was a teacher. In this choir, I see myself as a coordinator between the organists and the singers, teaching them new hymns, how to get the melody right, making sure they get the correct pitch and timing, etc. Thus I make sure that everyone works together in unison to make our worship as a congregation at each liturgical celebration more meaningful.
I think that everyone has his own style of conducting. We have 4-5 choirs in our church. The congregation say that one conductor looks like he is frying ‘kuay teow’. Another looks like she is all out to go to battle. Another accomplished music teacher conducts at her own pace without listening to the beat of the organ nor being aware of whether the choir members are taking her cue. Another only knows how to conduct the stilted way, not bothering about whether the choir is following the rhythm.
I have heard different comments about me. One says that I am a bit lifeless (compared to the one going out to battle) but someone else says that I am the best of all the conductors that we have in our church. Whatever they say, my duty is to get the choir and the organists and the congregation in sync for community worship. If that works well during the service, then I praise and thank God.
In actual fact, I was a choir member years ago and gave it up for a spell. I rejoined the choir as I read somewhere that after 60 years of age, one’s voice deteriorates, That frightened me and since I like singing I took on the challenge of being choir mistress of the Latin Choir. The previous choirmistress who was a perfectionist was sickly and wanted to retire from the position. She used to be a good singer when she was younger but now has voice problems, asthma and other ailments.
Our young organist is fantastic on the keyboard and covers up most of our mistakes. We have a good time singing (not always sweetly). But I think, being a church choir, we always give our best to the Lord and He in turn rewards us in so many ways. Oh yes, the acoustics in our church is very good so these days we do not even have to use microphones.
No comments:
Post a Comment