Today started like any other Sunday for me and I had no expectation that it would be any different to last week or the week before. I went about my usual Sunday routine taking the opportunity to review and practice my repertoire and go over what I had learnt in the week. However all that was about to change when one of my friends approached me in the early afternoon and asked if I would help her out by singing in the choir at Glasgow Cathedral.
Well you know me and how I love a new challenge so of course I said yes 🙂
I have never sung as part of the Cathedral choir at the Glasgow Cathedral before so I asked my friend Tim Edmundson if I could walk over with him as he is a regular member.
We arrived in good time for the choral evensong service which I was told was to be filmed and broadcast on the internet for those people who could not attend in person. Which I though was a great idea for anyone who does not live close enough to the cathedral or is housebound.
The cathedral has a long and interesting history, it’s lower crypt is the final resting place of the patron saint of Glasgow, St Mungo. I first remember coming across St Mungo when I visited the Trades House of Glasgow and read about the coat of arms of the city.
Glasgow cathedral dates back to the late 12th Century and luckily survived the Reformation of the Church in Scotland in 1560.
Adjacent to the cathedral is Glasgow’s necropolis, which sounds a little creepy but in fact is a rather beautifully laid out cemetery and park which dates back to Victorian times.
I had a great afternoon with the help of my friends and the other choir members and though the experience was a first for me it was one that I will remember fondly. Over the last two years I have been a part of a female chamber choir, Les Sirenes under the direction of Andrew Nunn and this has helped me immensely when it comes to sight reading in situations like this.
If anybody reading this wants to have a go at singing then joining a local choir can be an excellent way to start.
