Eton Choral Course

Hello everyone!

It's been an incredibly long time so sorry about that! I've had a really busy summer: I went to Zante mid-July, Cyprus in the beginning of August and I went on a choral course in Oxford for a week shortly after that so I haven't had much time to blog about anything I'm afraid! But today is dedicated to my life for the past week.

I went on a course for choral singers which is run by 'Eton Choral Courses' which was set up by Ralph Allwood, a previous Director of Music at Eton College (yes, the private school of the royals which sounds incredibly pretentious but Ralph was actually really nice and not pretentious in anyway) and the course I was on was based in Queen's College at Oxford University.

It was absolutely incredible. I learnt more than I could have imagined, kearning new singing techniques, singing wonderful pieces with a bunch of amazing people. I'm not gonna lie, I was slightly put off by some of the posh and pretentious people; the course is quite expensive so most of the people that went go to boarding school and private, so for a while I felt really out of place, but I was judgemental far too early and discovered how wonderful they are.

 



This is The Queen's College and the chapel which we rehearsed and performed in. It is absolutely beautiful. Singing in the lovely chapel was an absolute pleasure, the acoustics are incredible. During rehearsals sometimes I'd be bored sodless and then look around at the intricate architecture, the vibrant stained glass window and the amazing circular painting and realise where I was.

 

 

This is Merton College chapel which we did our recital in. This is only a fraction of the college as well as the chapel. The college is set in beautiful grounds and there a few more quads than the one I am showing which are equally as beautiful. In the chapel, the image only shows the front part; behind this is a vast hall with a bell tower and grand pillars: it is quite a spectacle! At the beginning of the recital, we waited until the bell had struck 4 o'clock and instantly came in with 'HAIL GLADDENING LIGHT' by Charles Wood; an absolutely beautiful piece! Here are a few photos of my time there. Oh, and I take no credit for any of these photos because my camera is broken and so I wasn't able to take any, so thankyou so google and my friends on facebook!

 

 

 

 

 

The second picture is of my consort group which I had immense fun with. The point of concorts was to improve sight reading and interactions with smaller ensemble groups, plus we had to prepare a piece to sing grace at a lunctime and we sung 'The Lord's Prayer' by Sheppard and it was incredibly hard - it was the most complicated polyphony I have come across, but really enjoyable. One of our practises was in Magdelen College Chapel, the most beautiful college in Oxford so singing in the chapel was an absolute thrill.

 

Since I've been singing choral music all week I think I have soem inspiration for the next Desert Island Discs which I have completely neglected, I apologise. Anyway, I hope everyone is okay! Hopefully I'll blog soon. Speak soon.

 

Lots of love, Alice xxx