Ludlow

We had an excursion to Ludlow, a town near the Welsh border today.  What a charming place!  Many buildings from Medieval and Rrenaissance and Georgian times, including the ruins of a castle built in the 1100's. It was great fun to walk around the spiral staircases up to the ramparts of the Castle.  Gorgeous views of the country-side!

A warm (hot, actually) and sunny day throughout the Midlands.

We sang Evensong again todnight, as we will do everyday through Sunday, except for Thursday.  It went well, although the sudden heat and humidity pushed the Cathedral Organ out of tune.  Dr. Campbell worked his magic with stops and registrations to make it sound as good as possible.  He is a magician and an artist!

Here are some of todays picture highlights:

First official day singing at Worcester Cathedral

The choir had a great 90 minute tour of Worcester Cathedral today, which included some great history, and some wonderful comments on the varied architectural styles, which occurred over the centuries. The architecture generally looked fairly homogeneous to me, until some subtile differences were pointed out by the tour guide.

After our tour, we had a break for lunch. Barbara and I ate in the Cathedral cafe for the second time, because it has marvelous "museum cafe" quality food.

After a 3 minute nap, I got ready for our two hour rehearsal. Our initial piece in rehearsal had a stunning sound in that space. It took some getting used to the acoustics of the large space, with the organ pipes quite high over our heads, and the several seconds of reverb. Woosug and Jeffrey did some strategic adjustments on the timing and the voice blending, and things took shape as we solidified our sound.

Singing our first Evensong was quite an experience. It went very well, as we got more and more used to singing in the space. The kids did a remarkable job.

The First Evensong

Morning Tour

This morning, the choir took advantage of a great walking tour that Worcester had to offer. Our 43 person group split up, and formed three relatively even groups. Our tour group lead led us through many of the side halls of the cathedral and pointed out many interesting facts about the cathedral. Worcester Cathedral itself has many exhibits to show visitors all that it has to offer. It was a perfect day to tour the cathedral, because it was also the first day we sang at the Evensong service. 

This glass sits at the front window of the church. At 100 years old, it is relatively new for a cathedral.

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A few of the organists of the cathedral are interned inside the church gardens.

This custom woodwork was done by the same man that did much of the woodwork on the titanic.

The Worcester Organ

The organ at Worcester was built by Kenneth Tickell & Company.  The organ has 4 manuals and sits in a brand new loft on the south side of the choir. Because of the placement of the loft, the organist can't see the director, so a small tv monitor is placed directly above the music rack, to allow for an easier view. The sound does not reverberate as much as you would think, however, there is still enough lag time that it is best to play slightly ahead of the beat. It took the choir some time adjusting to this, but they soon figured it out. While it is tremendously difficult to sing and hear other choir members when singing in the choir stalls, sitting at the organ provides the best listening experience--from my perspective. 

Sunday Services at Worcester Cathedral

We went to services today at the Cathedral; Sung Choral Eucharist at 10:30 and Evensong at 4:00 p.m.  The choir of St. James Church, Richmond, VA sang at both services and their members were quite encouraging of us as they knew that "we had next".

In between church times, Anne P, Nancy A, Scott M and I had lunch at the Cathedral Cafe that is within the Cathedral Walls.  Very nice!  I don't think, however, St. Philip's could compete with our neighbors (Zin Burger, Reforma, Union, etc.) if we ever decided to have a commercial food enterprise.  After lunch, a guided tour of the city.  So much history here, including the escape route for Charles II and a building where he hid out.

Here are a few more views from today.

Edward Elgar lived here. 

Archway at Worcester.  Live long and prosper. 

Sunday at Worcester

We attended Mass and Evensong at Worcester Cathedral on Sunday, hearing the choir of St. James, Richmond, Virginia. We also had a nice tour of the city of Worcester, and found some scrumptious places to eat.

Half of the main organ

Choir stalls

Gentlemen of the choir