Wednesday, January 4 JOURNALS

Wednesday, January 4 – The first full day – by Laura Brill, sophomore soprano

"Coffee, juice, or water?" was the first thing I heard when I officially woke up this morning, about an hour and half outside of the Gatwick-London airport. What seemed like a very short time later, we touched down and unloaded the plane. We took a coach, or what we Americans call a shuttle bus, to the terminal, obtained our English money, and went on our way to lunch and our first destination, Winchester Cathedral. We had an interesting ride there, learning about the historic sites we were going to see. Our guide, Phillip Baker, informed us that Winchester Cathedral is the longest medieval cathedral in Europe. He also told us stories of the people associated with the Cathedral, such as St. Swithun, who wanted to be buried among the poor when he died. However, some years after his death, his grave was moved inside the cathedral to a place of honor. Legend has it that, immediately upon this change of location, it began to rain and continued for 40 days and 40 nights. To this day, Winchester residents maintain that if it rains on St. Swithun’s day (his feast day), it will rain for the 40 days following.
I can’t explain in words the feelings I had when I saw the huge cathedral looming ahead of me. It had to be one of the biggest, oldest, and most mysterious things I’ve ever seen. Honestly, it looked like a scene out of a movie. The inside was even more impressive. The Norman and Romanesque architecture Dr. Saylor and Phillip Baker, our tour manager, taught us about came to life. I thought the ceiling would never end, and I found myself frustrated because I couldn’t take a picture that did justice to this beautiful place. (I guess that’s where Dr. Collier comes in handy!)
We toured most of the Cathedral, seeing many different chapels and graves, including Jane Austen’s. Then we were allowed to go to the gift shop, and came back to observe a spoken evensong service. The process was somewhat familiar to me, coming from a Presbyterian background, but it was still very interesting to me because the pace was much quicker and sometimes I struggled to keep up. At the end of the service, we sang "Coventry Carol," a piece we all love, and one that has a strong tradition in our choir. This was such a neat experience and I had to close my eyes to soak it all in. This was something bigger than I’ve been a part of before, and I’m excited to know that this is just the beginning. There are many wonderful experiences still to come!
English lingo:
face flannel = wash cloth
feeling peckish = grouchy
coach = bus


Wednesday, January 4 – The first day from two non-Chamber Choir members’ perspectives:

1) by LouAnn Burney. (LouAnn and John Burney, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, are traveling with the Chamber Choir, as are Lois and Jim Berens, John and Linda Armstrong, Jean and Nick Neibergall, Lynn Lindell and Laura Colby.)

I must admit that when John called to ask me if I wanted to spend a week in England in January, my first reaction was not positive. I hate to fly, especially long distances, and I hate being cold. But when he told me we would be accompanying the Drake Chamber Choir tour, I immediately changed my tune.
If the impromptu treat of hearing the choir sing "Coventry Carol" in Winchester Cathedral is the only performance we hear, that alone would be worth the long travel time and the damp cold. After a day spent traveling, made even longer by the delay necessary for repair of a broken heating element in the wing of our plane, with no warm-up or rehearsal whatsoever, the Chamber Choir sang so beautifully that they literally brought me to tears. The combination of their incredible voices and the feeling inspired by Westminster Cathedral itself created a powerfully moving experience. That snippet of music-making is all the more cause to anticipate their scheduled performances and to get to know the choir members better.


2) by Lois Berens (Lois is a member of the Drake University/Community Chorus. She and her husband, Jim, are great supporters of the choral program and both are on the tour.)

I’m Lois Berens, one of the fortunate group accompanying the Drake Chamber Choir on its 2006 England tour. I must tell you of the unforgettable experience to which we were treated this afternoon. We were in Winchester Cathedral, in the Lady Chapel, the evening prayer service just completed. The Chamber Choir rose quietly, in perfect unison, and began to sing "Coventry Carol" – Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child…" Softly, in exquisite harmony, their voices raised in that vast space where mankind has been singing and praying for a thousand years. I don’t think the listeners even breathed – it was so breathtakingly beautiful. How proud I was of them! This is going to be a great week.