Tag: St Andrew’s Leytonstone

St Andrew’s Carol Service

Byartsyhonker November 17, 2011 0 Comments
This service will draw on a mix of Advent and Christmas repertoire, including the Advent Prose and Berlioz's Shepherd's Farewell, as well as a West Gallery carol and traditional hymns.There will also be a rehearsal at 3.30pm on 11th December. All are welcome to join the choir. If you can't make all the rehearsals but would still like to take part, please speak to me.

Alive and well.

Byartsyhonker August 9, 2011 1 Comment
I'm not in London at the moment, and where I am is perfectly safe.St Andrew's Leytonstone will be open tomorrow from 11am to 3pm for prayer and for discussing concerns and responses to the London riots.I might do a more in-depth post later. In the meantime if you want to help please see for information on how to do so.

Big Hymn Sing 2011

Byartsyhonker June 6, 2011 1 Comment
This Saturday there will be a Big Hymn Sing at 1pm at St Andrew's Leytonstone. The congregation have sponsored about 30 hymns and I will add some more that I think are worth singing, for a total of about 48.The more people turn up the more fun we'll have! We'll sing for about twenty minutes at a time and then have a ten minute break; Café Refresh will be open, and I hope people will feel free to...

Stop, collaborate and listen

Byartsyhonker May 15, 2011 0 Comments
David Sinden has a series of blog posts recording different stops on various organs, one at a time so that you can really hear the character of the stop. It seemed like a good project, so I decided to try and record some of the stops on the organ at St Andrew's.Here, then, is the Oboe stop on the swell box. This is probably an original stop on this Swell Oboe 8 playing Stanley by...

Ever onwards…

Byartsyhonker April 26, 2011 2 Comments
This badge from Miss Music Nerd pretty much sums up my feelings on the subject. Alleluia, I survived! Like her, I'm also left with a rather large "to do after Holy Week" list that needs tackling. I think mine starts with tidying up the music room, I'm sure it had a floor once. I did take Easter Monday as a day to be lazy at home, and it felt decidedly odd not to be thinking of everything in terms...

Psalm 121: Anglican Chant with a congregational response

Byartsyhonker March 30, 2011 1 Comment
Continuing with the inclusion of psalms to our liturgy during Lent, on 20th March at St Andrew's we sang Psalm 121. This is a favourite of mine and of many others, and I wanted to use Anglican Chant this time. There are various chants that can be used; the one by H. Walford Davies, with solos in the first and third quarters, is certainly well-known. But it wasn't really appropriate for our very...

Starts with P and that rhymes with T

Byartsyhonker March 6, 2011 5 Comments
Lent approaches fast and, at St Andrew's at least, this will be a time of penitence, prayer, purple vestments and psalmody.The latter is my concern. During Advent we tried adapting the Common Worship psalter to a simple plainchant melody from Palmer's "Manual of Plainsong". It worked well for the choir, who could rehearse, but the congregation struggled to join in. Even when using the same...

Warmer wrists!

Byartsyhonker February 9, 2011 0 Comments
On Saturday a pair of these arrived in the post:They were knitted for me by my aunt, and my mum sent them along to keep my wrists warm while I'm practising at church.St Andrew's, like many church buildings of its time, was built with not much regard for temperature regulation. Once upon a time there was some kind of underfloor radiator system but that has since been replaced by radiant electric...

Carol Service

Byartsyhonker November 11, 2010 0 Comments
As part of my work as organist and choirmaster at St Andrew's Leytonstone I am helping organise the annual Carol Service. This year the service will be on Sunday, 12th December at 4.30pm.Choral singing is great fun, and I've always found it a good way of keeping my spirits up in the increasing gloom of November and December. Why not come and join us?Rehearsals will be Fri 19th Nov, Thurs 25th...

Vacation

Byartsyhonker August 15, 2010 0 Comments
I've been on vacation for most of the past week, staying in a guesthouse in Mark, Somerset and cycling a lot. I'm well aware that I have a shiny new job starting in September, and I didn't want to miss too many days of practice. So I rang up the local vicar to ask if I could use the organ in Mark Church. I'm glad I did; it's a lovely instrument in many ways and I spent a few hours on Wednesday...