Psalm for Mr. Kang

Our final Choral Evensong was glorious and we sang our hearts out, reaching the greatest heights of the arched Cathedral with a joyful noise.  We felt very supported in prayer and good wishes by our family and friends in attendance and also by the clergy and staff of the Cathedral who were most generous in the their appreciation. Many of us, including Woosug, were in tears at the end of the recessional---such a time of high emotion and gratitude.  I think it that is the way the Holy Spirit is supposed to work!

We have more pictures to share and there will be photo and audio "albums" forth-coming after approval by Woosug, and parents and making sure that we are in complete compliance with on-line safety guidelines.

The youth composed a wonderful chant to honor Woosug and performed it our banquet tonight.  Sarah Spurlin was kind enough to share the words with me.  It was sung in perfect Anglican Chant style, to a tune by R. Cooke (to which we had previously chanted Psalm 45):

1. Dear Mr. Kang * our hearts are inditing of a | grateful | manner:
    Unto thee we de-sireth to ex- | press our | thanks.
2. Let our combined lips show forth | our apprciations unto | thee:
    And let our mouths give | forth | joyful 'noise.
3. We pay rapt attention to you ac- |-cording to -thy comm- | and:
     And we obey they dir | ection with | fear and | trembling.
4.  Let the wicked quake be- |fore thy | death stare:
     And the proud gnash the | teeth in the | presence of thy | face palm.
5.  Ye | hateth the hipster:
     Unless | ye hath | discovered it | first.
6.  We remembered that ye hath discovered Facebook, Muse, and Dragon Ball Z be |
     fore all | others:
     But thou still detesteth those who | beareth the | bun of |man.
7.  For thine hair | reacheth -unto the | heavens:
      And acteth as a |beacon in | crowded places.
8. For thine hair gel is composed of  |Elmer's |glue:
     And thin hair hath cheered | us in | times of | dearth.
9. For ye hath composed thyself | always with | dignity.
    Even in the | face-of myst |erious green |slush.
10  For ye have worked always to giveth, * receiveth, * haveth, * and shareth thy
        knowledge | with the |choir:
      And thy creative | meta-phors | and i-magi |nation.
11.  For they tempos resembleth | that of - a | snail.
       and they | breaths are |too far | apaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaart.
12.  This is where we would hath placed more | jokes a-bout thy | direction:
       However ye are |quite good| at thy | job.
13.  Good | luck in |Nashville:
       We will | miss you | very| much.
14. We hopeth thou hath | bought thy |cowboy boots
       And | learned to | play the | banjo.

Glory be to the Father....
   

Saturday night

Oh my, it is Saturday evening after another full day in Worcester.  We had morning and afternoon rehearsal today, for a total of 3 hours.  In between times, some climbed the tower of the Cathedral for a commanding view of Worcester and surrounds.  

At Evensong tonight we sang the Steven Paulus anthem, "Pilgrim's Hymn".  The presiding priest introduced the music and we learned that this anthem was sung at the memorial services for Presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan.  None of us had known that before.  We sang it very well (a capella) and it was amazingly effective in that space and for that moment.  We are on a pilgrimage of sorts.

This will be short as we have a full day tomorrow, too, reporting at the Cathedrdal by 8:30 and really, not finishing until about 5:30 tomorrow afternoon.  Then, a celebratory dinner at the Fownes Hotel in Worcester. 

The library at Worcester Cathedral

Scott and I had some errands to do today and so we did not go on the excursion to the Cotswolds.  We did, however fit in two excellent experiences: lunch with Dr. Jeffrey Campbell at a riverside cafe, and then a tour of the library at Worcester Cathedral.  We had to walk up a 39-step spiral staircase to get to the library---the stair-case is found near that amazing baptismal font in the Cathedral.  We were shown manuscripts that dated from the 8th century!  We held original scores of music written by Thomas Tomkins, the Renaissance composer who was also organist at Worcester Cathedral. We saw some of the earliest extant music scores that exist in England.  The librarian explained the different styles of printing (by hand) that existed through the centuries of monastic scribing.  He told us that the styles changed over time, and also, that different monastic communities created their own styles.  In many books, there were doodles or cartoons in the margins: of people and animals, including an elephant that had pig-like feet.   The "recipe" for the ink used by the monks was also on display---pomegranate juice and charred wood were two of the ingredients.   The only other time I had seen such works was at the Huntington Museum in Pasadena, California, as a teenager.  At any rate, it was a thrilling experience to actually be up close and to touch these precious, and ancient texts.

Sorry, no pictures were allowed, so all I can do is write about these things.

"Quire" stalls at Hereford Cathedral

Worcester Cathedral at dusk

Interesting angles of the Cathedral

Tour of Hereford Cathedral

The choir took a tour to the city of Hereford, situated close to the Welsh / English border on the banks of the river Wye. This Cathedral city was founded in about 700 A.D. The original fortifications intended to protect the Saxon Hereford from the Welsh.

The area is famous for cider making. The special sweet apples popular in the region are gathered in the autumn and delivered to the factories where the prices of fermenting and blending takes place.

There has been a cathedral in Hereford since the city was founded.

Most of the present buildings date from the 11th / 12th centuries.

Hereford Cathedral 

Hereford Cathedral

Family members of the choir waiting for their cathedral tour

Choristers

Pretty organ pipes

Choir stalls

Choristers basking in the sun

Choristers

Lawn and garden at the Hereford Cathedral

Gardens at Hereford Cathedral

Hereford Cathedral

The Misericord (Mercy seat) on my choir stall at Worcester Cathedral

View Seven Swans on the River Severn and the Worcester Cathedral at sunset

The River Servern at sunset

Tour of Ludlow / Evensong II

Tuesday included a tour of Ludlow, about 75 minutes east of Worcester near the boarder of Wales. The group toured the Castle of King Richard built in about 1200 a.d.

The town of Ludlow

Ready for the castle tour

Scott and Barbara requisite selfie

Ludlow Castle

Choristers seek and destroy Ludlow Castle

Posing in a glamour pose

The Castle

Chapel

Choristers

More Choristers

Exploring one of several spiral staircases

Stairs

View from the top of the tower

Organ pipes in Ludlow Cathedral

Ludlow Cathedral

Little Medieval organ

Ceiling

Choir stall mercy seat

Headed back to Worcester to sing Evensong II

Window in Choir Room at Worcester Cathedral, where worship has taken place since 680 a.d.

Monday Doings

This was our first day "on the job" so to speak.  We had a tour of the Cathedral given by docents who explained the far-reaching history of the cathedral (first established as a place of Christian worship in the late 600's) and also the highlights of the architectural styles over the hundreds of years that the Cathedral has been established.

We sang our first Evensong tonight at 5:30 p.m. and it was glorious.  We had to work out the acoustics of the Cathedral, which Woosug helped us with enormously.  The tricky thing is that it is hard to hear other singers when sitting in the choir stalls, but apparently our voices blend beautifully when you are a few steps back.

I fell asleep trying to post this last night, and now it it is really Tuesday night.  Here are a few pictures from Monday.