Whether you are a seasoned singer or your singing experience is primarily shower-based, we are excited to welcome you.
The schedule for the afternoon is as follows:
15:45-15:59 Gather in St Mary’s Church
16:00 Rehearsal part 1
16:50 Refreshments (in the church hall)
17:20 Rehearsal part 2
18:00 Break
18:20-18:25 Take your seats
18:30-19:30 Service
Please don’t worry if you have little or no experience of singing in a choir for Evensong, or even singing full stop. The idea of the afternoon is to gather lots of people together from the community of Wimbledon, to raise our voices and to enjoy taking part in something a little bit different.
There is quite a lot of music involved in the service of Evensong. DO NOT WORRY though! You are under no pressure to sing every note, or to get everything right. We have chosen the music carefully so that you'll have the chance to learn some of the melodies on the day (if you do not read music) or to sing the more complicated bits (if you read music and are more experienced). We will be going through everything at the rehearsals and the wonderful St Mary’s Choir will be on hand to help guide you through.
If you know which vocal part your voice sits within (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass) then that’s great, but if not that’s perfectly fine: we will help you work this out on the day. Also, please don’t worry if some of the Evensong terminology sounds a bit alien to you. It’s not as complicated as it sounds and we will explain everything on Sunday.
The music we will sing is as follows:
Preces & Responses by William Byrd
Psalm 42 verses 1-7 to setting by SS Wesley
Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in D Major by Herbert Brewer
‘The Lord’s my Shepherd’ by Howard Goodall (you’ll know this if you’ve watched the Vicar of Dibley)
Hymns: All creatures of our God and King, For the beauty of the earth, O Praise ye the Lord
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask by emailing mark.underwood@stmaryswimbledon.org
We are all looking forward to a wonderful afternoon. See you on Sunday!
With very best wishes
Mark Underwood
Director of Music
St Mary’s Church, Wimbledon