#toritakestheuk

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Day 1: Airport Adventures 😎✌️ Peace out USA, it’s been real~

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a couple of iconic style looks from the UK

bonus:

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Performance Review #3: Concert at Ely Cathedral Lady Chapel

Let me preface this by saying this was absolute favorite concert venue I’ve ever performed in and have had the pleasure of singing in. The Lady Chapel at Ely Cathedral is hands down one the most beautifully acoustic sounding spaces I have ever been in. 

We had our last concert engagement at the Lady Chapel on Wednesday, January 24. It was a very rainy afternoon, with storms pouring down for most of the day, so we all were a little spent from being out in the rain for most of the morning. We had our rehearsal in the space that went really well and I was so excited to be able to conduct in such a phenomenal space. The concert was attended by a very big group of people, with guests having to sit in the chapter seats because the other seats were full. It was a noticable difference from the first concert we had had in York the week before. 

Everything about this concert felt so different.

I don’t know if it was the space or our confidence, but it was the best performance I believed we had put on over the course of the trip. I was almost driven to tears conducting The 23rd Psalm, as it felt like it was always meant to be performed in that space. Everything came together and I was so happy to have been apart of such an amazing experience.

The repertoire from the concert consisted primarily of music to be performed on the R-MC choir trip to England and Scotland in J-Term, but also pulled from spring repertoire and new pieces were added solely for the concert. We had to overcome the challenge of performing pieces a capella for concert choir which is a difficult for many of the singers, since a considerable number of them are untrained singers or have very little musical background. Still, the overall response for the concert was a favorable one and I heard great comments from members of the audience. I believe that we had a very good concert and along with many of the new situations this year has brought our groups, we were able to overcome those challenges and put on something very nice.

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Performance Review #2: Concert at York Central Methodist Church

The R-MC choir group our first concert engagement overseas on Wednesday, January 17 at York Central Methodist Church in York, England. The location is a new one for the choir from our other venues in America, for obvious reasons. I really liked the space because it was a really historical space in the center of such a history-filled town. It was a nice day for a concert, but unfortunately, we did’t have that big of a crowd come out for the concert. Mainly due to the construction happening right outside of the church, and the little publicity by the church was the reason why we didn’t have a big audience. That being said, we had a nice group of older people from the church and from around the town out for the afternoon concert.

The repertoire from the concert consisted primarily of music to be performed on the R-MC choir trip to England and Scotland in J-Term, but also pulled from spring repertoire and new pieces were added solely for the concert. We had to overcome the challenge of performing pieces a capella for concert choir which is a difficult for many of the singers, since a considerable number of them are untrained singers or have very little musical background. Still, the overall response for the concert was a favorable one and I heard great comments from members of the audience. I believe that we had a very good concert and along with many of the new situations this year has brought our groups, we were able to overcome those challenges and put on something very nice.

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Reviews of Student Presentations

This entry is a summary of my thoughts on all of the student group presentations over the the course of our tour.

1. Music of the Methodist Church: Jeff Peters, Andrew Geiger, Jacquelynn Duff

This group discussed the music of the Methodist Church, focusing on the locations that we visited associated with Methodism and their significance: 

Edinburgh Methodist Church

Aldersgate Flame

The Wesley Chapel

Charles Wesley’s House

The next section focused on the Wesley Brothers in the creation of music for the Methodist Church, particularly the contributions of Charles Wesley and the writing of the hymns for the church as a method of learning the scriptures due to the illiteracy among the common people. 

The last section consisted of a comparison between Anglican and Methodist music particularly with the uses of hymns and congregational singing.

2. English Churches and Cathedrals: Russell Rochte, Caroline Hincher, Seth Buzan

This group discussed the various churches and cathedrals in England and examined them based on the time period in which they were built:

Saxon & Norman  

Middle Ages 

Reformation  

19th Century Gothic Revival 

Features of the cathedrals included vaulted ceilings, Gothic arches, and other architectural features that were prominent in each time period. 

The churches and cathedrals that we visited included the City of Edinburgh Methodist Church, Wesley Memorial Church in Oxford, Wells Cathedral, and Durham Cathedral.

The group also provided a list of key architectural terms to better understand the features of the different buildings we would be visiting throughout the trip.

3. Women in Anglican Church Music: Dustin Brown, Tori S. Troutman, and Jacob Stech

Since this is my own group’s presentation, I’m going to say that my group was the best solely because I was in it. That being said, even outside of me being in the group I thought this topic in particular was very cool.

We discussed women in Anglican Church music starting with the history of women in general church music and activities, and leading into the biases that remain in England with women in Anglican Church music, and finally we focused on Salisbury Cathedral being the first cathedral to add girl choristers to the choir and is one of the few cathedrals with girl choristers in the country.

4. English Church Music: Jacob Young, Andrew Crater, Jordan McCall

This group discussed Anglican church music as a whole in England. First focusing on the importance of music between Anglicanism and Methodism and the differences between the two, with Anglican music being more devoted to God, with Methodist music being for the congregation’s learning and understanding of the scripture.

The group also focused in on key composers in England over the course of the Anglican church’s history:

Thomas Tallis

William Byrd

Sir Charles Standford

Peter Warlock

David Bendall

5. The Three Organs: Austin Wachsmuth, BJ Camano, Callie Brown

I remember this presentation in particular for taking place at Royal Holloway at the University of London on our second to last day right before our tour of the college before evensong that evening. 

The group discussed the features of three specific organs from three different locations over the course of the trip:

Salisbury Organ

Greyfriar’s Kirk Organ

Selwyn College Organ

They discussed the different features of the organs, also talked about the history of the organ itself and the installation of organs in cathedrals. There was also an important perspective from Austin on the organs because he was able to play on all of them over the course of the trip.

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Day 14: Ding Dong, Is The Queen Home?

Windsor Castle is home. In case you didn’t know, I’m an undercover princess and this is my new permanent residence.

I mean not really, but the Queen wasn’t even home so what else am I going to do other than claim the castle as my own, it’s great.

We left in the morning and headed straight to Windsor, which isn’t actually too far out from London. We had a lot of time to explore the castle and it was essentially a free exploration day for everyone and it was a nice bright clear day too, so I would say it was great timing.

We also came just time to see the changing of the Guard at the castle so that was a fun time, I might post the video later if I have time.

We explored the castle, with my first destination being St. George’s Chapel, which I personally couldn’t take any pictures of because it’s a place of worship. Still, I’m gonna post some public pictures because I need to make a point about Henry VIII for a second.

So we’re in the quire, and a lot of royals are buried in the chapel, and I find the man himself.

HENRY VIII BURIED SMACKDAB IN THE MIDDLE OF THE QUIRE BECAUSE OF COURSE HE IS. Henry VIII, the reason the Anglican Church is what it is and why the English Reformation was able to happen is low and behold right in the middle so you don’t forget. I love it. Henry VIII is always back at it.

After that, we went into the apartments where the royal family ACTUALLY LIVES and we were able to tour around the premises, and once again since photography isn’t allowed, I’m inserting some public pictures from Google.

The place was great, I can’t even begin to describe how happy I was to be able to roam the halls of the palace. The only thing that made me mad was how much detail was put into Princess Anne’s dollhouse recreation because that was just ridiculous.

Anyway, we had some time for lunch and then we did some extra exploration of the town of Windsor and some of the shops, before we headed out to Royal Holloway College of the University of London for our last evensong participation with the chapel choir, which consists entirely of choral scholars.

And in case you missed it, I’m transferring to Royal Holloway because that place is gorgeous.

Case in point, the entire college.

I had a lot of fun with the students though they were all very nice and welcoming to us as we came to work, and we were even given a tour by some of the students before rehearsal as we learned more about the college as a whole and its history as a women’s college.

Afterward, we participated in our last evensong in England, and then had some dinner in the dining hall before we headed back to London for the night.

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Day 13: Girls Can Definitely Do It Too

Let me preface this by saying that Sarah MacDonald is the icon of my practice and I love her and she deserves everything good in this world and she is a Grade A Badass. 

I’m also going to preface this by saying I did not actually take any pictures on this day because it was windy and rainy because it’s England and that’s the default, but this day in particular was awful and gross so in a word, no.

I won’t say that this morning had a great start, it actually had the worst. I say this because we had an engagement at St. John’s College School in Cambridge, but due to unforseen circumstances and despite leaving at the most ungodly hour in the morning, we were too late to make it to the rehearsal of the boy’s choir. It was incredibly unfortunate because it was the only engagement with boy choristers in our itinerary so it was sad to have that fall through. So thanks English traffic :)

So instead of heading to Cambridge, we went ahead and went to Ely and to our concert venue at Ely Cathedral in the Lady Chapel for the afternoon. But before that, I was able to get an exclusive sit down conversation with Sarah MacDonald herself and we had a long talk on the politics of women in Anglican Church music, which ties into my senior thesis project on women in music history. Talking to her was honestly the highlight of the day, I loved being able to see her perspective of the blatant biases that still exist in England with women in the church.

Then we had our concert in the Lady Chapel, which was absolutely STUNNING. A full performance review can be read here.

After a nice concert, we hit the road for London, so talk about a long drive and a well-deserved nap along the way. It was amazing that I slept just long enough for us to be entering the city. I was so happy we finally made it there, it had felt like an eternity working our way to it. Plus, it was one of my all-time dream destinations to visit in my lifetime so it was incredibly exciting.

We settled into our hotel, after spending quite a long time in that iconic London traffic, and then we went out to dinner, where I had some fish and chips. 

After that, we came back and went to bed!

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Day 10: Wells, Wells, Wells, I Might Need a Bath

I will preface this by saying that Wells Cathedral is the most architecturally unique cathedral I have seen out of all the ones in our, as Robert puts it, “ABC Tour” (another bloody cathedral, another bloody cathedral, another bloody cathedral....) but anyway. 

We left from Salisbury into Wells and stopped at Wells Cathedral to attend the Sunday morning Eucharist service, which was a very interesting experience. I’m very happy we were able to attend an Anglican church service that wasn’t just an evensong participation, but a Sunday service of the Eucharist. I was also very happy because we were also permitted to participate in Holy Communion. I was surprised because I thought we would have only been permitted if we were baptized in the Anglican Church, but it was open to all visitors so I thought that was a nice touch.

After that service, we departed to Bath, named after lo and behold, the Roman baths that made the town a renowned spa in ancient Britain. We first visited Bath Abbey dating back to the 7th century AD.

It was really crowded with visitors though, so I didn’t really take much time to explore because of sensory overload, so I mainly just sat in one of the pews and basked in the glory that was the abbey instead. Sometimes, you don’t need to run and explore everything, you can learn just as much about a place just by resting and absorbing what the place has in its essence. 

After that, we headed next door to the Roman Baths museum and exhibit, which was also pretty crowded so I went through that one rather quickly, or at least as quickly as my phone could keep up with me before it died. (RIP)

I thought it was pretty cool, and then you were able to drink some of the spring water too at the end of the tour. 

It tasted a lot like iron, and I probably could taste it really well because my iron levels were so low because I DON’T KNOW HOW TO KEEP TRACK OF MY PERSONAL NUTRITION MEANING I NEED TO BUY VITAMINS.

This was honestly my favorite reenacted clip out of the whole of the exhibit. Tell me this isn’t the funniest thing ever. I’m still crying. 

After the Baths, we went on sort of an excursion around Bath because with England being, well, England, it was wet, cold, and rainy, so we couldn’t really do much of any browsing without getting wet, so we looked in a few stores, and then found a little tea shop. So we stopped and had some scones and tea just in time for High Tea time at four.

After that, we headed to Bristol and to our hotel, where we had dinner and then we went to bed for the night!