It might have been grey and dismal outside but the atmosphere in the KTB rehearsal room was decidedly bright and cheerful and with an international feel. After the warm up we started with ‘Carol of the Bells’, which has Ukrainian origins and is quite well known as it’s featured in the film ‘Home Alone’. It definitely sounded like bells! We ran with torches all the way to Bethlehem in the carol ‘Torches’, a very rousing carol, which, if anyone had felt sleepy, should have woken them up. We visited Africa with the ‘African Noel’ which doesn’t have many words in it but does have some complicated rhythm which most likely adds to the happy sound it makes. About an hour in Kate must have thought we needed a bit of a break and asked what carol we would like to sing from the carol book. One of the basses chose Carole at the piano and Carole at the piano chose ‘Hark the Herald’ which we all sang with gusto. We finished the rehearsal with ‘It’s the most wonderful time of the year’, one of my favourites, as for me Christmas is one of the most wonderful times of the year. As this was the first time we’d looked at this, we didn’t get very far but it was enough to give us all a Christmas feeling. It may only be the beginning of November but I left with enough Christmas spirit to last me through until December I think.
Written by Sue Bradley