How long would it take to walk to Madrid?

One of the most enjoyable parts of choir life is going on tour abroad - singing fantastic music to confused but happy local audiences, and then partying till we fall over. Friendships are formed, photos are taken, light blackmail is undertaken over said photos once we return to the UK. But getting there isn’t normally as much of a challenge as our end of May tour to Madrid is shaping up to be. The volcanic ash situation just hasn’t caused enough uncertainty, so BA have decided to really lottery it up by going on strike. A sizeable portion of the choir are flying BA, so it’s quite exciting to see what will actually happen. Will all of the men get stuck at Heathrow, and the altos will have to sing bass? If so, will the men enterprisingly form the Terminal 1 Male Voice Choir to entertain captive audiences of stranded travellers, leading to a reality TV show? What if David-the-conductor doesn’t make it – will we each have to take turns conducting? I may have to fake a broken arm if so. Two broken arms. And a leg. That should be enough to get me out of it.

Anyway if we do get to Madrid somehow we’ll be singing bits of music from the forthcoming June concert, but also, I’m delighted to say, bits from the Leighton and Martin masses we did back in March in freezing St Andrews church. Hurray! Memories of the extreme cold came flooding back as I opened the Leighton, and I shivered fondly with nostalgia, and then shivered a bit more with trepidation as we turned to the 5/4 hosannas which gave us such grief last time. We sang through the hosannas again to refresh ourselves, and it was a game attempt, but I don’t think we were singing in anything approaching 5/4 – it was kind of a combination of 6/4 and plainchant. We’ll be fine once we’ve got back into the swing of it though. Rather more worrying was the Benedictus. I know I only sang it two months ago, but I have absolutely no memory of it whatsoever. None. And the rest of the sops were all over the place too, even though it’s an easy sing. I was definitely there in the concert, and I’ve got notes in the score, and they’re in my own handwriting and everything. So the only possible explanation is that there was a Men in Black moment in the concert, and we had our memories wiped after witnessing an alien invasion. But perhaps I shouldn’t blow the whistle like this! If there’s no blog entry next week, I will have been kidnapped and taken off for re-education. Please inform Amnesty International.