Happy Advent! This season of expectation has got to be my favourite in the church year. I am a sucker for Christmas and really enjoy revisiting all the classic carols every year, whether in performance at an Advent procession or in rehearsals, in preparation for Christmas. Also - the Advent quiz is going swimmingly so far, mustn’t forget to mention.
The cathedral choir sang the annual carol service for the Worshipful Company of Plaisterers at St Vedast in London this past Monday. This was the first of many carol services I’ll be involved in this season, although this one was most definitely a Christmas service, even if it happened on the second day of Advent… but it was nice to hear the choir sing some of the Willcocks descants and to hear the familiar Gospel readings detailing the Christmas story (comforting also because my family enjoys a few inside jokes about Luke’s account: for example, the shepherds came with Haste, the aptly named lamb; also that when Herod was “troubled” he was actually just suffering from some uncomfortable constipation - these may be odd/nonsense but come from my wacky family’s traditions).
After the carol service, we were treated to an amazing feast in Plaisterers’ Hall. It was very formal and extremely yummy, although the effects of the several wine pairings/port/brandy made the four-hands arrangement of Mack Wilberg’s “Ding dong” slightly stressful to play at the end of the evening!
Now the choir and the organists are enjoying a mini break this week, which has allowed us to gather our strength for the Christmas craziness to come (finishing off with two services on Christmas Eve and three on Christmas Day). It’s also allowed me to do a bit of traveling, so I’ve enjoyed visiting with a friend in London, attending Evensong in Ely yesterday, and today visiting York. It’s great to be so close to other cathedral cities up here, although I still miss Cornwall very much…
I can’t help but wonder where I will be working next Advent. As I discovered after my year in Truro, it’s quite bittersweet to be an American organ scholar in the UK: on one hand I feel that I’m literally living my dream by getting to play for evensong so regularly in such a staggering building on a great organ, with a good choir, etc. Not to mention that I’m automatically placed into a social group of people that, like me, love good liturgy and choral music, and that cathedral attendance seems to be rising every year! But on the other hand, the reality is that it’s close to impossible to emigrate here, as the government requires a job to pay an exorbitant salary (presumably to guarantee an immigrant wouldn’t have to rely on public funds), which No. 3 and No. 2 organists jobs never offer. Naturally, I don’t feel drawn to this profession for its money-making potential; I’d be perfectly happy living close to the poverty line if my soul was being fed with daily evensong and chorister rehearsals! It is disheartening, though, to be enjoying the Advent season and the music that accompanies it all while remembering that this experience is finite and not guaranteed for the future. The optimistic solution is to make the most of my time here, bring my experiences back to the States, and try to cultivate an appreciation for good music and liturgy wherever I end up. I’ll do my best to do that, but I do find myself wondering how I might fare over here if citizenship were a non-issue.
Luckily I have cheery Christmas carols to distract myself from these slightly depressing thoughts…!