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The ante-penultimate day on a Gabrieli Roar residential is always marked by our beloved leader, Paul McCreesh, leaving to go to London to rehearse with the orchestra and soloists. And while the cats away, the mice will play!

There is still much work to be done at this stage of proceedings, knowing we have one more day before the orchestra arrive up with us in Greshams.

Rebekah and I charged through the material with our altos, covering moments that felt still a bit challenging note-wise. The choruses in Saul are littered with Handel’s characteristic genius, employing a variety of compositional techniques, and in particular in this piece there are various fugal moments which have to be carefully rehearsed and, as ever, Team Alto didn’t let us down. Their journey over the days has been one of huge progress and it has been such a privilege to witness. We’ve really bonded as a team and I’m really excited to see and hear their development!

When everyone comes together for the full choir rehearsals towards the end of the working day the choir is sounding in very good voice indeed and we can feel confident that, when he returns, Paul will notice the difference from when he was last with us.

Of course, throughout the day individual singing lessons have carried on to ensure that everyone on the course gets a singing lesson by the end of it, and those of us who are teaching individually have thoroughly enjoyed listening and meeting people one on one. We all come in different shapes and sizes, with different hopes and fears, aims and ambitions, and these sessions give a great opportunity for each and every child to be heard, both singing-wise and also as people.

I have mentioned three workshops, taken by Richard, Oli and Mhairi, in previous scribblings and the final two are taken by my colleagues Charlotte Brosnan and Ben Vonberg-Clark. Charlotte runs a class called “Pulse, Rhythm and Pitch”, building the core musicianship skills that singers use every day. This class, through the use of games, movement and listening, answers these questions and more, and it has been wonderful to see singers make use of the things they have been learning in that class as they grapple with the Handel score. Ben’s class has been rebranded this year from “Ben’s Bangers” to a more classic “Desert Island Discs”, giving the youngsters themselves a chance to play music to each other and discuss together what makes it memorable, moving and meaningful – ranging from Bach to Bieber and beyond.

The formal part of the day ends with the traditional choral cool down, but for some there is another task in hand: a cappella chamber choir! This is an optional extra for older participants (school years 12 and 13). The take-up is extraordinary – it seems that these young people never tire of singing! – and we have about 50 singers involved this year, preparing two pieces for performance at the pre-concert reception on Wednesday evening in the magnificent Deanery Garden in Ely. Given that the rehearsal time is short, the is a great opportunity for these older singers to take responsibility in a different way from that which we are asking them to do in Saul.

The “twilight” sessions kicked in after supper and I popped along to my colleague Suzzie Vango’s conducting masterclass where I was treated to 7 young people being shown the ropes of how to stand in front of a choir. I really wish I’d had this when I was younger! What a brilliant opportunity for these guys to work with a group of singers and learn about the power of hand gesture, facial expression, speed of beat, how to show an initial breath and other major skills that conductors need to be on top of.

You’d think all that would be enough for the day, but no! For so many of the youngsters, the highlight of the whole operation is the justly famous Gabrieli Roar Talent Show, a one-off evening on each course where people are able to put themselves forward, either as individuals or as members of groups to come and entertain us all. What ensued was quite simply a night of brilliance and huge joy!

The acts ranged from solo instrumentalists, Irish dancing, pop tribute acts, comedy stand up, powerful self-written poetry, and so, so much more. Organised by our wonderful pastoral team, and compered by the incomparable Oli Turner, this was the Gabrieli Roar Talent Show to beat all talent shows. Of course it is invidious to single anyone out but suffice to say I have rarely felt a room show a conductor more love than when the entire theatre was joining in at the top of their voices with the fabulous group from Durham Johnston School singing Charli XCX”s hit  “I Love It” to the changed lyrics of “He’s got a CBE and he’s a proper bro… Paul McCreesh, we love him.” And so say all of us!

David Clegg

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