Blog
The sound of collected voices
Nothing fills my heart with joy so much as the sound of collected voices raised in song. The sense of community that one gains from singing with others is a magical thing.
As we enter the Advent period, the thing that I know for sure is that over the coming weeks, my heart will be overflowing! Just as certain as the winter colds, blocked noses and sore throats that invariably come with the season, is the fact that the students of Valley Park will singing over the coming days and weeks.
On Saturday, the Valley Park Chamber Choir and Senior Choir joined the choirs from the other VIAT secondary schools to sing at Leeds Castle, in order to mark the turning on of their Christmas lights. Hundreds of people flocked into the courtyard to hear the choirs from Valley Park sing alongside The Lenham School, SST and IGS; a wider community beyond our school, united by the power of music.
By singing in celebration of Christmas we become part of a centuries old tradition. Two of the oldest carols that we sing are Gaudete, dating back to the sixteenth Century and In Dulci Jubilo, which is even earlier, first seen in a manuscript from 1305. Both carols also appeared in Piae Cantiones, a collection of secular and sacred music first published in 1582.
Over the past 500 years, how many others have sung these carols? Thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Millions? It is mind-blowing to consider. So whether you are Steeleye Span or Mike Oldfield, The King's Singers or The Choir of King's College, Cambridge, when you sing at Christmas you are part of a community which reaches deep into the past and far into the future.
Merry Christmas one and all!
