Unfortunately, revised guidance issued by government this week has limited the number of singers who are allowed to sing together inside to a maximum of six. Consequently, members of our choir, despite singing safely distanced for several weeks now, are having to take it in turn to sing. So much for moving forwards out of lockdown; hopefully this rule will be overturned soon.
Monday 17th February 10.00–11.30am
St Stephen’s Church, Hales Drive, Canterbury, CT2 7AB
Are you between 7 and 11 years old?
Do you enjoy singing and making music?
Come along to St Stephen’s Church for a fun morning of singing on the Monday of half-term, and see what it would be like to be a chorister.
Information for your parents or carers…
St Stephen’s is well-known for it’s choir throughout Kent. We believe that music is important not just to enrich our church services, but for our individual general well-being.
Our regular rehearsals for our junior choir will be on Monday evenings, 5.00–6.00pm with plenty of opportunities to sing with our main choir at Sunday morning services.
Our Director of Music, Stephen Barker, has over 20 years experience of working with choirs and is also a qualified music teacher. All of our adults who work directly with young people have an enhanced DBS disclosure; we take safeguarding very seriously.
What could your son or daughter get from joining a choir?
Singing in a choir is a great way to develop as a musician – there’s lots of research about the positive effect that music has on the academic development of young people. Amanda Spielman, head of ofsted, recently said that “mastering singing sets children up well for a musical future”, so singing in a choir may spark a greater musical interest and develop into learning to play a musical instrument. Singing as part of a choir is also great for developing concentration and the sense of contributing to something as part of a team. It’s also a great way to make friends who share similar interests!
if you have any more questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me by emailing choir@StStephensCanterbury.net
I look forward to meeting you and your son or daughter at our Open Morning on 17th February, or at any following Monday evening rehearsals.
Christian AID Charity Event
The Galliard Trio in Concert on Saturday 30th March, 7:30pm in St Peter’s Methodist Church. Music featured includes Mozart, Bartok, Bach and Mussorgsky.
Please come and enjoy an evening of beautiful music to support this year’s Christian Aid Week (12th-18th May) events.
Tickets at £10 (£5 for students) available from Jean Barber, phone 831956 jbarber@uk2.net or Doro Thyssen phone 479164 (eve) dorothyssen@outlook.com or come and find me after church.
Presented by the University of Kent, and returning to St Stephen’s after nearly 500 hundred years, John Bale’s inflammatory play about notorious King John is as controversial as ever. Join the Cultures of Performance research group as we workshop extracts from the play, bringing it back to life, along with some of the atmosphere of Reformation St Stephen’s. Featuring music, architectural projections, and some familiar faces from the community, the performance will explore how the play engages with the parish, Canterbury and Kent as they were in the 1540s and how they are today.
To coincide with this performance, the following Sunday, worship will be according to the Book of Common Prayer which has its roots in the sixteenth century, and accompanied by music by John Merbecke who published the Book of Common Prayer Noted in 1550, and by Thomas Tallis who’s compositions straddled the Reformation.
A Peaceful and Holy Christmas to everyone visiting our website. Don’t miss out of hearing some carols sung by our choir, recorded at the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols on 22nd December.
St Stephen’s Church Choir will be singing Fauré’s Requiem during the Sung Eucharist on Remembrance Sunday. Everyone is welcome.
Wednesday 8th February 6pm in Church
Work is now well under way putting the pipework back into our organ. As each rank of pipes is put back into the organ, each pipe is individually tuned, and adjusted to speak clearly and quickly, and at the correct volume. This process will be repeated three or four times for each rank as the organ is put together to ensure that everything balances well and works as a coherent instrument.
So far, work has been progressing on the Great pipework and the Pedal Bourdon.
At the end of week 2, much of the framework is up and it’s clear to see the front of the casework beginning to look as it did before, albeit about 2 feet further forward in order to accommodate additional pipework. Much of the winding is now in place, with the larger blower alongside our original smaller one, providing ample wind to the different departments via the sets of bellows and regulators. One or two of the larger pipes have also arrived, notably pipes from the pedal Trombone rank which will be split at the rear or the organ, one half behind the Swell and the other behind the Great.
Come back next week for the next update!
Finally, after being away for 10 months, our organ started to return today! The first job is to rebuild the main structure, beginning with the newly enlarged Swell on the right. The photos below show progress on day 1 (bearing in mind that the morning was spent loading, transporting, and unloading). The captions to each photo give some more information.