Thursday 28 June 2012

SS P&P brekkie


Since I have it on good authority that the morrow is a Solemnity and therefore feasting is in order. A bacon sarnie from my favourite Café it is.

UPDATE  Horror of Horrors, favourite cafe has been taken over and turned all Italian. Nice in itself, but no good for a bacon sarnie.

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Location:Fry up land

Saturday 23 June 2012

St Thomas More




Happened to go past this statue in Chelsea the other day...

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Location:Chelsea





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Friday 22 June 2012




Well that was quite an amount of work done this week
Lots of exam scripts marked, reports written, one band call, one dress rehearsal, three performances of a show and a big all school,all day event organised.

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Thursday 21 June 2012

Redressing the balance









Sister M. Christine Hatton, OP RIP




That's better.
I don't go for the tendency to laugh at the stupid American sisters because they are old. Mind you, They do themselves no favours by ditching the habit and wearing frumpy clothes. Being in a religious order for decades is very admirable. Saying and doing things which are wrong is not.
The sisters above don't get in the news, bit like all the mothers running homes, doing stuff. Just too busy with to be making trouble with the CDF or getting in the newspapers.
Still it's good that the stupid ones are in the news, because it explains some of the things I've seen the fringes of.
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Not a whisper

Tim Stanley leaks in The Torygraph that Govey is to bring back O Levels for first examination in 2014.

The syllabi would start being taught in September 2012. Oh hang on, that's next term. Maybe he means teaching from Sept 2014.

O Levels had an A-C pass rate way way lower than the current A*-C of the GCSE, so I look forward to that catching on. One great thing was that the syllabi did not change. I was the last year of O Levels and cos I could do the Music so easily I did every past theory paper going back to 1970. All exactly the same format. I meanwhile, have taught 7 different GCSE Musics in the last 19 years, which gets more tedious every time I have to change.

It will have a very interesting knock on effect on A levels. O Level Music was harder than AS.

I teach IGCSE as if we are doing AS, that way we don't get bored and when they get into the Sixth Form, they find they know most of what they need.

Are CSEs coming back too?




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Wednesday 20 June 2012

St John the Baptist and St John Fisher

Shamefully copied from wiki, but I read it elsewhere, so it must be true.

In May 1535, the new pope, Paul III, created Fisher Cardinal-Priest of San Vitale, apparently in the hope of inducing Henry to ease Fisher's treatment. The effect was precisely the reverse, Henry forbade the cardinal's hat to be brought into England, declaring that he would send the head to Rome instead. In June a special commission for Fisher's trial was issued, and on Thursday, 17 June, he was arraigned in Westminster Hall before a court of seventeen, including Thomas Cromwell, Anne Boleyn's father, and ten justices. The charge was treason, in that he denied that the king was the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Since he had been deprived of his position of Bishop of Rochester by the Act of Attainder, he was treated as a commoner, and tried by jury. [ handy.] The only testimony was that of Richard Rich. [ What's wrong with Wales...?] John Fisher was found guilty and condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn.

However, a public outcry was brewing among the London populace who saw a sinister irony in the parallels between the conviction of Fisher and that of his patronal namesake, Saint John the Baptist, who was executed by King Herod Antipas for challenging the validity of Herod's marriage to his brother's divorcée Herodias. For fear of John Fisher's living through his patronal feast day, that of the Nativity of St John the Baptist on 24 June, and of attracting too much public sympathy, King Henry commuted the sentence to that of beheading, to be accomplished before 23 June, the Vigil of the feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist. His execution on Tower Hill on 22 June 1535, had the opposite effect from that which King Henry VIII intended. John Fisher's beheading created yet another ironic parallel with that of the martyrdom of St John the Baptist who was also beheaded; his death also happened on the feast day of St Alban, the first martyr of Britain.

Monday 18 June 2012

Ut queant laxis





Singing it on Sunday.
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Sunday 17 June 2012

Do re mi Sunday






Next Sunday is The Nativity of St John the Baptist.
I say we all sing Ut queant laxis.
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Plans for SS P&P

Mm which version of Tu es Petrus to do on the 29th.
Anyone would think that text was important or something the way it keeps being repeated.

We will sing this and after the Salve Regina, 'God Bless our Pope.'
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Location:Chez Maestra di cappella

Saturday 16 June 2012

True to type





Horn players in an orchestra, by virtue of the fact people think it's a hard instrument, actually pretty easy compared to the violin IMHO, get treated with kid gloves by conductors..., unless they are horn players themselves and quite a few are.

Because most people don't like the idea of plucking notes out of thin air, which is basically what we do.


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Old and new at the organ





The back lighting is very handy for the Gloria at the Easter Vigil.

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Location:S Eugene et Ste Cécile, Paris

Feast of the Sacred Heart





Got to sing the Mass here, which is always a pleasure.

When I was in the infants, this feast was marked by Fr Koch buying the whole school ice lollies. Since my first summer at school was 1976, when it was a little hot, it was all the more exciting. I remember him opening the boot of his car and seeing boxes and boxes of lollies. The excitement!

That was after a visit here





where I slightly naughtily took my group into the temporary exhibition on Holst's The Planets. It's been put together by The Philharmonia Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen, who is into installations. It's great. We happened to be there as it got back to the beginning and started Mars. There was a percussionist, who showed the boys how to play various instruments. They got to bong the gong, play snare drum in the 5/4 ostinato, play bass drum and xylophone. Cool. Round the corner there was a cellist, who demonstrated col legno. There were also video thingies where you could conduct the orchestra. All the while the music played. They loved it. It was pretty empty too, so we had the attention of the musicians all to ourselves. If you are interested in the orchestra and in The Science Museum before mid July, definitely worth a visit.

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Location:St James's, Spanish Place

Friday 15 June 2012

Identifying the product

Too many people crossing the LCWR screen who are supposedly representing the Catholic church aren’t representing the church with any reasonable sense of product identity.

Cardinal Levada in an interview in the NCR.


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Tuesday 12 June 2012

Exams...

Tis the week of internal exams.

My list of spelling ishoos

accompaniment
clarinet
trombone
trumpet
cymbals
Parcell (Purcell) To be fair there were a couple of spelling of his name around during his lifetime.

but no Handle, chello or orcestra yet.

Two people think F minor has five flats

and one cellist cannot transcribe from tenor to bass clef. Tss.

We won't mention what 'Andante non tanto quasi moderato,' means, which is what Tchaikovsky wrote at the start of the Romeo and Juliet overture.  How indecisive!  Why not write minim = a number and be done with it.  The syllabus says you have to be able to define it, so there we are.

Sunday 10 June 2012

Reductio ad absurdum






Back in the heady days of the late 80s when I went to university it was to study Maths and lots of it and one of those handy methods of proving stuff was by Reductio ad absurdum
In answer to something someone (OK the Editor of y'know) had put on twitter suggesting that there would be more vocations to female religious orders if married priest were allowed <- non sequitur? Someone suggested that if we could have married priests then we should have married nuns also. (That was meant as a joke, btw.)
Ha. Have we got to the absurd bit yet? The great thing with Maths is you know when you get 43=72 that you've got to the end and you get to chuckle and write, 'hence blah blah blah not true.'
The trouble with the modern crazy age is however absurd, it just goes on an on getting more absurd and not everyone gets when you are chuckling.




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Gregorian hymns supplement

As usual, Clare has gone to the trouble of writing down what was said to us into a blogpost.

I would add that the repertoire of hymns provides an invaluable window, gateway, doorway or whatever you like into Catholic thinking and music. You get great melodies, beautiful beautiful words and some of the best stuff that most people can sing if they want to or at least music that is not going to drive people nuts when they are at Mass. Also, I have had a number of conversations with people who are really very moved when you tell them just how old the music and words are. They are very chuffed to have access to the music. And why not. We are Catholics and it's our culture.

Looking for a hymn honouring The Blessed Sacrament? Why on earth would you not want to sing Adoro te devote. Words by um someone quite good on such stuff. Anything in Mode V sounds major to our 21stC ears so is very palatable indeed.




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Location:Home in the rain

Saturday 9 June 2012

To St Cecilia's

 All good fun.






The beautifully tended roses are out and smelling gorgeous. Roses are my favourite flowers by miles. So sunny was it that some of us had an ice cream on the way home.










So, no LMS Conference for me, but I think it's great that there are lots of things going on. Be a sad thing if there was only one Catholic event on at any one time.

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Friday 8 June 2012

Postcard time

Fr Ray has a post about posting a postcard to the Holy Father.

We're off to St Cecilia's tomorrow, so I think I'll be sending him greetings from the schola from there.

Otherwise it's

benedictxvi@vatican.va

I believe.

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Location:Home, sheltering from the wind.

Corpus Christ - the aftermath

I went for C# in the end for Lauda Sion and it was fine and quite brisk. No point hanging around when you have 24 verses to sing. I notice from The Chant Café, that they went for a D in Rome. Good for them.

After a procession round the church, outdoors being a little too exciting weather wise, and Benediction, it was off to the after party in an, Mm,garden structure. 14 people round a table in candlelight, very snug.


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Location:Home

Thursday 7 June 2012

Corpus Christi





Happy feat day. Good luck starting on a good note for Lauda Sion.
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Location:Home

A day trip to Lille





Thanks to some vouchers one of my brothers was unable to use, I spent yesterday in Lille. Nougat is always a winner for my mother, so I stepped into Meert's for a slice and to inhale the heady aromas of the various teas they sell. This was a fav for De Gaulle, hence his bust in the window. And there's a chemist's opposite...

Had most of the 15thC section of the art gallery to myself, which was different.

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Location:Home

Monday 4 June 2012

Jubilee, the last post

Promise.

To end the story. Summoned to a jubilee lunch at my parent's house, the food had turned retro. Suddenly, sandwich spread sandwiches and jelly were for tea. Due to unusual circumstances, just now, my mother had to rush off immediately after lunch, leaving me in charge of re-heating things for ambulance brother's arrival after work. Ambulance brother did a 9 hour shift with no meal break and decided to go straight home, so I duly bagged up a haul of goodies sufficient to last to the end of Wednesday and then got a text. Text said, 'jelly in the fridge don't forget the sandwiches.' I ate another portion of jelly before leaving so it looked like it was being eaten.

Below is the medal that members of the armed and emergency services who have at least five years service have received to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee.


Now back to the sandwiches. Haven't had homemade egg ones for a while. Yum.

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Location:Home

Sunday 3 June 2012

Celebrating the Queen's reign in the rain




-Photo from The Daily Telegraph.

All very exciting. Great music from the AAM and the LPO, amongst others.
I liked the row boats best, because it looked kinda Venetian, in an overcast way.

Somewhat chilly and comedy rain on the way home.

interesting walk round Northumberland Ave and The Strand in an effort to get to Charing X, but made it onto a train and got a seat.
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Location:Home in the warm

Sunday by the Thames




I'm heading up to London with one of my brothers to see the corgis... Dressed warmly I think.



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Location:Home

Friday 1 June 2012

Le Weekend






Quite a few things to look forward to this weekend. Tomorrow is traddiedom day, I mean First Saturday in Blackfen, Sunday some singing n stuff and then up to London with ambulance brother for jubilee frolics, Monday Royal Command, the Leutgeb family jubilee in Castle Leutgeb. And then it's half term.
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Location:Home - yay




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