Blog post #42 - ChoirKate-Part 2

I already mentioned in Kate Goes To Trinity how much I loved singing in the various ensembles, large and small, in those hallowed halls of learning. 
Such fun times. 

Now, Charlie Proctor, my famed sight singing teacher, was assigned to teach us Choral Conducting in my second year. 
He applied the same educationally sound principal in this class as he did in the sight singing class. 

Glaring over his half-mooned horn-rims, he lifted that somewhat arthritic index finger until it was in line with some hapless victim and said, “you!”
Whereupon, “you” got up in front of the class and waved their arms around in some semblance of a regular beat pattern, while the rest of us willingly obliged as best we could, by sight singing our way through Handel’s Messiah. 

I cracked jokes when it came to my turn. Best I could do, but after a while, losing a little of my gaucheness at last, I started to feel it. 
Now as a youngster I had naturally felt music. But, you may recall I was intimidated in that place from the get-go. So it was good to feel vaguely competent as my arms moved and my mates smiled.

Jumping a few years now to when I started out as a music teacher and I took to the whole kit and kaboodle of the teaching task like a proverbial duck.
Early in the piece, my little choir started to sound pretty good, even being picked to go into Capital Radio and record Silent Night for broadcast during the Festive Season. A few fans wrote into the station saying how beautiful it was in its sweet simplicity. 

Re-locating to Australia with WA as my first taster of our vast continent, I was all at sea in so many ways. 
More to come about all that. Tricky time. 
But, I was so very lucky to fall on my feet when I was offered the position of classroom music teacher at Perth Mod. It was a very interesting place having an inner city catchment area, but with a school within a school of talented music students. 

Oh my! How my confidence soared in that place and the kids came with me heart and soul. With the recollection of my experience of Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, I gathered the girls to learn that wonderful piece and by Christmas we were ready to sing it in 
St George’s Cathedral and the performance was recorded for broadcast on Christmas Eve, less than a year into my new life Downunder. 
I was so proud of them. I worked them really hard with practices every morning before school. 
But yes, they got there, and how! 

I wasn’t destined to languish in WA for long. Two years later I relocated to Melbourne to pursue further study in Opera and Music Theatre at the VCA. So in 1985, I packed up my little car, popped it on the train, while I braved the Nullarbor on the bus. 

Soooo much to say about this move, but I need to stay on track because this little string of memories is about ChoralKate…..

Long story as to how I found myself teaching at Wesley College (most know that story from Blog#1), 
but here again I was tasked with the choir, along with so many other educational hats! 
As is usual in high schools, I had a bizillion girls and a handful of new voiced baritones when I took over the designated Swing Choir. 
It was here that I first started fiddling around with arranging stuff. I had to. There just wasn’t any music that I could find that was doable, singable or anything-else-able with my young charges, who although enthusiastic, didn’t always have music skills to match. 
So here I arranged, Begin The Beguine, Sailing, Sunny Side of the Street, etc etc. 


I also had a lovely auditioned group who sang madrigals and the like. 
Both choirs took out prizes here and there and my Chamber Group tackled Britten’s Rejoice In The Lamb for the school music festival, much to my joy. Although it was a bit of a curiosity, they came with me and got into it! Stace accompanied them on the organ in the little chapel there. 
I’m not sure their family and friends quite understood it though! 

At the time my conducting technique was probably more glorified cheerleading truth be, but it served well enough and my singers and I had a wonderful time in my early Melbourne days. 

The next instalment takes me to MacRob…..beautiful young women, so much to say, but in the middle of it all, the tragedy of losing Stace. 
Promise I’ll try to stay on the ChoirKate task, but it will be a wonderful if poignant instalment……

Meanwhile, here’s the Hallelujah from Britten’s Rejoice In The Lamb. 
https://youtu.be/CuuaeenFxhk?si=eb-HWMcMQWtYT09-

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