Do you or your children sing in a church choir?

[roisin]

This summer ds2 is going to a choristers camp, but we're not anglicans and he doesn't sing in an anglican church choir. Morland Choristers Camp

It looks fantastic fun and I'm extremely envious of him. But I just wonder whether he might be a bit thrown by some of the ceremony and ritual with evensong and church etc.

What do you think I should do to prepare him?

Take him to some Anglican services? Do you have a Cathedral near you? What is his singing experience at the moment? You could try contacting the centre, to see what they would recommend?

It looks like a great opportunity! :)

I used to, many moons ago.

Radio 3 have evensong at about 4pm on weekdays (not sure of te exact time) which would give some idea.

Songs of praise or the Sunday service on radio 4 (around 8 or 9am) would have the style of hymns etc that are likely to come up.

And I'd second the idea of going to a service to hear it done in real life.

Actually, thinking about it some of the radio stuff might be available on iplayer.

Thanks. I'll take him along to choral evensong once or twice.
The singing experience is no problem - he's used to singing a wide variety and difficult stuff.

I just wondered whether he might be thrown a bit by the ritual and ceremony.

In my experience, there isn't that much ritual and ceremony to Evensong, other than processing in and out in robes. I'm sure you'll find he'll be fine! :)

Thanks MaryBS. If I ask the organisers, I'm sure they'll tell me to just chill!

He'll love it!
I would have loved to do something like that when I was a child.

I wouldn't worry about him getting bogged down by the service part - they will be provided with order of service sheets/booklets, and these days they tell you what to do.

I do agree that it's a good idea to take him along to choral evensong a few times, though - get him into the spirit.

the information on the website looks pretty full, too.
It sounds like they are going to make sure noone is confused as to what to do. :)

I used to and I think my DD will as we got to a C of E school x

I've now read the whole site, and I'm sooo jealous of your DS2!
It looks brilliant fun, and really worth-while doing, too.

What a fab opportunity for him.

(am thinking now about sending Junior chorister next year.... it's a bit far, and his parents might have to do a whole family trip up there for the week, and put him in the camp while they're up there.... )

I'm very envious too nickelbabe. Talk about living life vicariously: I've been looking forward to it for months and I'm not even going. (Well apart from going to the Evensong and concerts etc.) We're going up to stay nearby for the end of the week so we can go to everything! LOL.

I'll try and remember to come back and post a review, so you can consider for next year.

How old is yours?

he's 9.

I look forward to your review