St. Thomas, Fifth Avenue

For the last four summers, I've had the chance to go to NYC for a week and a day to the Saint Thomas Choir School for the Girls Chorister Course. During the year, the school houses the trebles of the superb Choir of Men and Boys, but during the summer girls are offered the experience. It's pretty satisfying! Like any summer camp, "fun" is a main objective, but at this course, there are other goals that we work towards as well (some, way cooler than others, though; the weird 50s square dance last year was odd). The most important of these goals are the three services we sing: two Evensongs (a favorite service of mine and many others), and a Sunday morning Eucharist. This year, these services fall on July 31, August 2, and Aug 5, and I urge you, PLEASE to listen! Each service will be webcast live as well as remain online for at least a month afterwards (I linked to the Tuesday Evensong above). The repertoire this year is pretty good: some of those obligatory pretty pieces by Schubert and Brahms as well as a funky Mag & Nunc by Wayne Marshall, and more. And Sunday is full of Howells!

Another reason to listen is the possibility that, as organ scholar, I might get to play a voluntary or two before or after an Evensong. St. T's is definitely one of the cooler spaces to play in, because of its reputation as an religious institution featuring of serious music, and also as a magnificent looking building. Yeah, yeah the politics of the church are a little behind the times (i.e., God is always assumed to be a "He," and a female priest is very rarely--if ever?--seen behind the altar), but the music is oh so awesome.

This year the course is directed by the amazing Sarah Baldock, who I count as one of my idols. She not only blazed her way into church music as a woman quite successfully (she's at Chichester Cathedral now), she also is hilarious and very supportive. She trades off every year as director of the course with the other Sarah (MacDonald), who is equally fiery and great to work with.

Since the camp is NY, there are many trips around the city, including a Broadway show, and several refreshing bike rides around Central Park. The choir school is located only two blocks from the park!!! I'm looking forward to seeing my fellow choristers again. For many (most) of us, these eight days are our yearly fix for "high church." Once you've sung with the rigor and discipline found (and demanded) at St. T's, your local parish back home can seem a little dull. And, the Gentleman of the Choir at Fifth Ave. are fantastic. They're all professional, extremely talented musicians that provide a stunning (very manly!) foundation for our girly soprano sound to float on.

OH but it kinda sucks that the leaders of the Girls Course confiscate our cell phones for the entire week, save half an hour on Tuesday. Reeeally sucks. Oh well. The food is very tasty (Heidi is the chef...divine meals!), and we get tons of exercise walking around the city as well as up and down the 7+ flights of stairs. And bedtime is at 10pm every night, if not earlier. That's pretty annoying, seeing that i've been up rather late these summer nights (check out the time stamp below).

So make sure to tune in to the services if you get the chance! Hopefully by the time we're done rehearsing, the girls that neglected to bother learning the music over the summer will have learned to fake it well enough in the service!

Here's a pic of St. Thomas. Sigh.

Intro

I am very excited to begin at Eastman in the fall. From talking to other students there, I am a little apprehensive, after being warned of the frequency of tears and frustration. But I suppose this is to be expected at such an intense institution. Hopefully there will be students that enjoy relaxing every now and then. I tend to be competitive as well as shy, but I'm hoping the conservatory will not be as cutthroat as its reputation might paint. It'll be a nice change of pace to be away from home (no offense to my brilliant parents), and hopefully I will thrive in such a musical community. So far I've done pretty well at networking among the small world of organists (name dropping is a fabulous skill!), and due to my experience at the famous (infamous?) St. Luke's Church in Evanston, I feel I've gotten a good foundation in church music. Yes, what a fabulous career to aspire to, but hey, I work with what I got. If I had to, I'm sure I could work towards some sort of academic degree instead, but music is my passion. Can't help it. Who needs money anyway? 


This blog will be full of lame ramblings, but hopefully it will allow my friends and family to keep an eye on my shenanigans if they so desire. Feel free to post comments of encouragement when the inevitable teary-eyed whining posts arrive (I'm forecasting mid-October?), or just let me know when the posts cease to be as riveting as this one, and I'll try to spice it up. Also, be warned, I might use some foul language. Another passion of mine. 

To close, here is my hero (the organist from the fabulous cult classic, Carnival of Souls)... 


I'm joking. She's a wimp.