My first reason for writing is to thank you. There is nothing that comes close to my Oxford Choir School experience. Tim and Mary, while I think you were thirteen years along when I joined the group last summer, your idea and the ambience and the authenticity of the Oxford Choir School was for me as innovative and fresh and scary and lovely as though it were just invented yesterday. To those in the choir who let me sing beside you, and showed me the ropes from other years, thank you for your support.Besides the significant learning, the Oxford Choir School had a tremendous and much more pervasive impact for me than I ever would have imagined.
Early last year, I knew that I wanted to find a way to re-engage with choral singing. Like many of you, I had sung in some pretty good school choirs, and had dabbled from time to time, mostly informally in my adult life. In 1995 I sang in a Bach Cantatas series but I was fairly consumed with life, and I never saw clearly through the fog to seriously finding a way to sing in a choral group or choir. The Oxford story is amazing for me, because having done a bit of searching and found Tim and Mary in the Globe and then on the internet (not knowing who or what I was looking for), it is as though I stumbled onto something that in retrospect has been filled with both surprise and joy.
When I came to Oxford, I didn't know what my voice was, I didn't know what my range was. I had decided I couldn't read music (or didn't: I used to). Ironically, by time I arrived, I had lost even my confidence or boldness to sing, which I Iove to do.
Upon my return to Vancouver after Oxford I began re-engaging with music. Somehow, there was no barrier as far as the culture of choirs goes, and I know where I got that. Oxford! In fact, I continue to see the legacy of the Oxford experience as it dips back to and reshapes even my earlier choir experiences.
Yes, I am now singing in a great choir in Kitsilano. We are accompanied by cello, violin, organ, trumpet, and at times flute. The number of instruments varies and increases with special occasions. We have done surprisingly more Latin and medieval hymns and anthems than I expected (which I love). Tim, on Christmas Eve we had a guest conductor, Marcus Moseley, from the Good Noise Choir for a gospel piece, "Sweet, Little Jesus Child." To quote others, "It brought the house down." Thank you for that brief introduction and insight to gospel in Oxford.
Please receive my thanks for the good fellowship, the love of music and sharing of this very meaningful pleasure, and thank you especially to Tim and Mary for your vision, the relaxed and yet rigorous approach, and the very enjoyable legacy the Oxford Choir School still manifests for me.Fondly,
FP
"Oxford: A Day In the Life"
At least, MY typical day! There is a great deal of flexibility….We get up at our personally appointed hours and eat whatever sort of breakfast we like, since each floor has a kitchenette and a couple of fridges. (Only 6 or 8 people share the kitchen so plenty of facilities and sitting room for all.) Some of us get up early and go for a walk (and a couple of brave individuals have been known to go for a run!), while others get up at the last minute and grab a coffee on the way to Balliol to practice.
We walk over to the chapel on the main Balliol campus for choir practice from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm with a break midway, during which we tend to mill about or sit and chat in the lovely courtyard, or admire the gardens. With three conductors, all wonderful, with different styles and musical selections, the time seems to whiz by! Then, full of oxygen and energy, we walk over to the lovely old hall at Holywell Manor in which we eat our meals. (The meals are really good, by the way – the best cafeteria I’ve ever seen. There are always three entrees to choose from, a good salad bar, fresh fruit and usually a really good soup. The vegetables are super – can’t figure out why mine don’t taste that good- and one entrée is always a vegetarian selection. My father, who is diabetic, can always find many excellent choices at meals. The food is plentiful and delicious. The lunch and dinner meals are offered within usually 11/2 or two hour timeframe, so you arrive when you like between the appointed hours – nice for flexibility when you’re roaming or going out to concerts. But I digress!)
Then we’re free for the afternoon. There are so many museums, gardens, old churches etc to see that I never manage to see all I’d planned. For instance, it took me three years to get to the historical Bate Collection of musical instruments – well worth seeing! We’re back to the hall for dinner, then I usually go to a concert in the evening. Most evenings, there are several events one can go to, and most are very reasonably priced. Holywell Music Room (right around the corner from our residence - has great acoustics) offers several concerts per week and often one Sunday midday. Large choirs or orchestras often perform in Oxford (usually at the Sheldonian – quite ornate) at least once during our visit (Saturday or Sunday nights, often). But many of the evening concert offerings are chamber music performed in the chapels of the various colleges – seeing them alone is worth the time, but I’ve been very impressed by the quality of the concerts offered. There are some wonderful musicians who offer ‘series’ of concerts in Oxford in the summertime, both instrumental and vocal. If you’re interested, holler and I’ll find a few of the Internet sites I usually visit before I get there to whet the appetite…..other things ‘pop up’ on colourful playbills posted all over Oxford. There was one year I recall that I was out to a concert or play every evening but one, and had to miss a couple of interesting things due to conflicts!
There is also open-air Shakespeare plays offered in the evenings – two years ago, there were two different groups offering plays, both of high quality, and in wonderful settings. And some of the group also go to a local pub in the evening occasionally – I’ve gone to see a local Morris dancing group at the nearby King’s Arms pub several times – great fun!
If it sounds as if I’m a fan of this trip, I am! I initially came along with my parents, almost as a ‘family vacation’, but now go happily whether or not I know anyone on the trip. What I’ve found is that the group is always collegial and pleasant and I meet interesting people. The extent to which you are independent or wish to go and see things with some member of the group is entirely up to each person – at lunch or dinner, there are always folks you’re chatting with that say ‘Is anyone going to…..’ so you can walk over together, or hear of interesting events to attend. Two years ago (I was unable to go last year, and missed it terribly!) a couple of the folks on the trip and I climbed up to the top of the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin to see the wonderful view – not something I would have thought of on my own, but I really enjoyed it! We also have some opportunities to hang out with the garden tour folks (or if that’s your main event, they have opportunities to do things with the choir). Since our activities/free time/meals coincide, often two friends or spouses come on the trip, one to sing in the choir, and the other to tour the gardens.
I should mention the day trips as well – those are great fun. So nice when you don’t have to negotiate the driving! We are driven to a place, such as Bath, Cambridge, Salisbury, etc. on an air conditioned bus (often these trips have included the great cathedrals that are within driving distance), are given a map, and wander for the day or the appointed period as we like. Again – folks on the trip tend to ‘clump up’ depending on what they most want to see and the amount of walking they’d like to do that day. And somehow, we all make it back to the bus in time to go back to Oxford (often in time for an evening concert!) On the weekend we are there, some folks hop trains or buses into London or go to visit friends or acquaintances elsewhere. I generally hang around Oxford, since there are usually some great concerts offered. I’ve also done day tours on the weekend, from Oxford to the Cotswolds or Avebury etc. with others on the trip. There are several companies that offer these quite reasonably.
The accommodations are not swanky, but are clean and comfortable and quiet – and the ensuite baths are a nice feature not always available in GB. The setting is lovely (architecture superb) and the people are great. I’ve always enjoyed the music selected, and find that no matter how active I’ve been on the vacation, I come back rested and energized. And I find there is enough flexibility that no matter what your energy level or mobility, you can have your preferred style of vacation!
Tired of reading (don’t blame you!)? I hope this helps you visualize what the experience could be like for you…. And please ask if there are any questions I can answer!
Regards,
MJ