The return of the wonderfully disciplined travelling choir from The Sixteeen, under the direction of Harry Christophers. They are on tour travelling with religious music of the early modern period often linked with the new spirituality that became prevalent in what we now call the spanish netherlands. Josquin, Bommel and Lassus.
It will seem ungracious but it was difficult to share the enthusiasms for the works when they were not given much of a history by way of explanation. The programme notes were interesting, in that thy covered the ground, but in way that did not shed much understanding (to me anywhere) on the music as music
If only Harry Christophers had been able to spend two or three minutes speaking about and illustrating what was coming next and how it linked to what had gone before.
The audience loved the sound but I was uncertain how much they understood of the context of the music - or in fact cared about it. For me, the most satisfactory part of the evening - apart from the sociability and the glass of wine - was the men of the choir singing the monody in the alternate versus of the two versions of the magnificat. The rest of the evening left me thinking about how necessary was the reform of music for the liturgy at the reformation. The Council of Trent does not feature well in my circles but in this matter its insistence on simple, note for word, music was important even if it did not get adopted all that well.
Sunday, 22 April 2012
Pink
I am starting work on a paper on the colour pink. This follows the one on yellow that I gave at the Association of Art Historians at their Warwick University conference last year. It awaits being turned into a chapter of a book mapping the symposium of which it was a part. This next effort, more precisely, on psychodynamic understandings of pink is full of challenge. I would be interested in blog followers letting me have an idea of their understandings of pink. Why is it such a dangerous colour for many men and yet attractive to others in a risky way? Why are men considered brave if they wear pink shirts or pullovers? Is it just because of a link with homosexuality? Why do you think pink is linked to homosexuality? How culturally specific are these pink links?
If you could take a moment to give me your thoughts on pink I would be most grateful and gladly note your contribution if it gets to print.
If you could take a moment to give me your thoughts on pink I would be most grateful and gladly note your contribution if it gets to print.
Friday, 20 April 2012
On travelling alone by train for the first time in almost a year
Today, I managed to travel to and from London by train, alone, and this feels like a personal achievement that my supporters will enjoy sharing with me. The only strangeness was the ordinariness of the day. After so much time in hospital then living a very secluded life being out in the hurly-burly of life was challenging but fine.
One or two things did strike me: how little changes with some train staff, mainly men on-board staff, who can create such a negative atmosphere so quickly it is almost a gift. The staff of East Midlands Trains at Leicester were excellent but those at St Pancras are unbelievable: scruffy, borderline rude, determined to speak a version of English which puts off not only foreigners but even the locals. The lack of communication and cooperation with the St Pancras staff is hard to understand. The St Pancras staff also need some beefing up. Today's arrival woman was simply not up to the task. It really is not good enough for a disabled person who has asked for arrival help, on being helped down to the platform, then has to feel bad about asking for a push for the length of a Eurostar train. I thought the expectation was that if you arrived on the EMT platforms and were heading to the Eurostar entrance you would be helped down there.
The departure woman was marginally more skilful. I was still put on an empty train 45 minutes before its departure and could not see anyone else. She said she wanted me on board before she went off duty, so I was grateful for her thoughtfulness there.
Why does it have to be like this? All I had to do was move a few hundred metres from the EMT arrivals disaster area and go into Carluccio's where such a different atmosphere exists - largely created by the large number of Italian staff. The contrast with EMT and St Pan staff is marked.
St Pancras itself is starting to look shabby already. The nadir today was the lavatories on the man concourse. They are down a slight incline. The incline stops the door of the disabled wc being fully opened. The state of the facility was disgusting. I asked a person who seemed to be on duty to do something about it. He came back with a mop and tided things up somewhat. Later, I noticed the whole facility had been closed. I will spare readers detailed photographs of the evidence.
It looks as if St Pancras needs a good reviewing as to its facilities. As with airports, the shopping experience seems to have overtaken more basic needs - such as the lavatories.
Finally, the EMT staff at Leicester station seem to be working hard to make the passenger experience as good as it can be amidst the extensive work that is going on. I look forward to the new station.
One or two things did strike me: how little changes with some train staff, mainly men on-board staff, who can create such a negative atmosphere so quickly it is almost a gift. The staff of East Midlands Trains at Leicester were excellent but those at St Pancras are unbelievable: scruffy, borderline rude, determined to speak a version of English which puts off not only foreigners but even the locals. The lack of communication and cooperation with the St Pancras staff is hard to understand. The St Pancras staff also need some beefing up. Today's arrival woman was simply not up to the task. It really is not good enough for a disabled person who has asked for arrival help, on being helped down to the platform, then has to feel bad about asking for a push for the length of a Eurostar train. I thought the expectation was that if you arrived on the EMT platforms and were heading to the Eurostar entrance you would be helped down there.
The departure woman was marginally more skilful. I was still put on an empty train 45 minutes before its departure and could not see anyone else. She said she wanted me on board before she went off duty, so I was grateful for her thoughtfulness there.
Why does it have to be like this? All I had to do was move a few hundred metres from the EMT arrivals disaster area and go into Carluccio's where such a different atmosphere exists - largely created by the large number of Italian staff. The contrast with EMT and St Pan staff is marked.
St Pancras itself is starting to look shabby already. The nadir today was the lavatories on the man concourse. They are down a slight incline. The incline stops the door of the disabled wc being fully opened. The state of the facility was disgusting. I asked a person who seemed to be on duty to do something about it. He came back with a mop and tided things up somewhat. Later, I noticed the whole facility had been closed. I will spare readers detailed photographs of the evidence.
It looks as if St Pancras needs a good reviewing as to its facilities. As with airports, the shopping experience seems to have overtaken more basic needs - such as the lavatories.
Finally, the EMT staff at Leicester station seem to be working hard to make the passenger experience as good as it can be amidst the extensive work that is going on. I look forward to the new station.
Wednesday, 18 April 2012
You are living stones
I gather from Fr John Daly ic that over 70 people attended the YALS group sessions held at St Joseph's last Tuesday throughout the day. What a good idea to have three opportunities for people to give their views, listen to other people and BE TOGETHER? I understand that morale was high and people expressed great pleasure at being able to meet others. We need to think more deeply about this. In the New Testament the word Koinonia is often used. This is sometimes translated as fellowship and many of our Christian brothers and sisters use it very easily. Catholics less so. I think this is a pity as koinonia is precisely what many of us want/need. I often hear myself say, "But we are the Church" in an attempt to challenge us all to remember that The Church is more, much more, than the pope, bishop and priests. We are (all) Church. Events like the YALS day can be important vehicles for being together, taking responsibility as adults and getting on with building the Kingdom (as we say in the Pater Noster, Our Father....)
The next step is to keep up the momentum, deepen the koinonia/fellowship, and enjoy the process...
You can read the paper work on YALS here:
http://www.ndcys.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/YALS.pdf
One personal project I would like to push forward is to make audio/visual record of parishioners talking about "What the parish means to me..." The idea for this came to me some months back during communion at mass one Sunday. A family, I think newly arrived from another country, were together at the sanctuary. A tiny baby was lying over his/her mother's shoulder fast asleep. The man and the other children stood receiving communion around the mother/new baby. It was profoundly moving. Quiet, wordless music enveloped the congregation at communion. I thought then, what is the story here? who are these people? from where do they come? How can I get to know them and hear their story?
An idea came to me to make this audio/visual record that would be record of where we are as a parish in 2012. There are so many important things going on in the parish which reflects not just suburban Leicester but a vibrant world of many colours, ethnicities, cultures, patterns of living, coming together each weekend to celebrate the great thanksgiving, the eucharist, the mass.
If you want to support this project either by being interviewed, being photographed or simply with your good will that would be lovely. Your encouragement is needed. 07912 359 559 gets a warm response.
The next step is to keep up the momentum, deepen the koinonia/fellowship, and enjoy the process...
You can read the paper work on YALS here:
http://www.ndcys.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/YALS.pdf
One personal project I would like to push forward is to make audio/visual record of parishioners talking about "What the parish means to me..." The idea for this came to me some months back during communion at mass one Sunday. A family, I think newly arrived from another country, were together at the sanctuary. A tiny baby was lying over his/her mother's shoulder fast asleep. The man and the other children stood receiving communion around the mother/new baby. It was profoundly moving. Quiet, wordless music enveloped the congregation at communion. I thought then, what is the story here? who are these people? from where do they come? How can I get to know them and hear their story?
An idea came to me to make this audio/visual record that would be record of where we are as a parish in 2012. There are so many important things going on in the parish which reflects not just suburban Leicester but a vibrant world of many colours, ethnicities, cultures, patterns of living, coming together each weekend to celebrate the great thanksgiving, the eucharist, the mass.
If you want to support this project either by being interviewed, being photographed or simply with your good will that would be lovely. Your encouragement is needed. 07912 359 559 gets a warm response.
Sunday, 15 April 2012
A friend writes.....
My Dear Bernard,
First a 'big thank you for having 'Pange Lingua' on your web. Really cheered me. Please find three important attachments from today's "Observer."
Just a personal experience on arriving in Britain. In the former British Colonies, the contact we have with the English is through the Civil Servants who worked and of the Europeans through the Missionary Priests in predominantly Catholic areas like we come from.
Hence, we have this pre-conceived idea that all English are well read in their literature, politics, etc, etc. As for we colonials, we have read all most all the English Classics from Dickens to Hardy, Shakespeare to Brontes. In Colombo and major cities and in the Catholic suburbs, most state assisted schools were run by Religious Orders, mainly OMI, SJ, OSB. Hence, there was upper and lower middle-class and skilled blue-collar workers children fluent in English and well read.
When products of these societies arrive in England, they have this belief that they are coming to a 'Mother Country' and they will be accepted as part of that family. At the start it is difficult to distinguish between naked racism and subtle racism. We have the advantage of being able to navigate confidently between two cultures and two languages, at the drop of a hat. We are confused, as to why the host community look at us in a different way. Why are you not accepting us as part of or an extension of your society? After all, it was Macauly who said when he designed the education system for the colonials: "we want Indians in colour but British in values and aspirations."
This how the conflict starts. On arrival, we do not meet Ratigans, Bowmans, Wisharts and Clarks. Our first experience is in the shop, in public transport, in the Church. It is later we learn and adjust ourselves to face real life in the mother country. In the Church they look at you in a strange way because you are able to recite the Sanctus, Angus, Gloria and Credo without any problems. How can he or she do that? They are not white.
I thought, these views will help you to do your project with a better understanding.
All the best,
Love
Shirley
First a 'big thank you for having 'Pange Lingua' on your web. Really cheered me. Please find three important attachments from today's "Observer."
Just a personal experience on arriving in Britain. In the former British Colonies, the contact we have with the English is through the Civil Servants who worked and of the Europeans through the Missionary Priests in predominantly Catholic areas like we come from.
Hence, we have this pre-conceived idea that all English are well read in their literature, politics, etc, etc. As for we colonials, we have read all most all the English Classics from Dickens to Hardy, Shakespeare to Brontes. In Colombo and major cities and in the Catholic suburbs, most state assisted schools were run by Religious Orders, mainly OMI, SJ, OSB. Hence, there was upper and lower middle-class and skilled blue-collar workers children fluent in English and well read.
When products of these societies arrive in England, they have this belief that they are coming to a 'Mother Country' and they will be accepted as part of that family. At the start it is difficult to distinguish between naked racism and subtle racism. We have the advantage of being able to navigate confidently between two cultures and two languages, at the drop of a hat. We are confused, as to why the host community look at us in a different way. Why are you not accepting us as part of or an extension of your society? After all, it was Macauly who said when he designed the education system for the colonials: "we want Indians in colour but British in values and aspirations."
This how the conflict starts. On arrival, we do not meet Ratigans, Bowmans, Wisharts and Clarks. Our first experience is in the shop, in public transport, in the Church. It is later we learn and adjust ourselves to face real life in the mother country. In the Church they look at you in a strange way because you are able to recite the Sanctus, Angus, Gloria and Credo without any problems. How can he or she do that? They are not white.
I thought, these views will help you to do your project with a better understanding.
All the best,
Love
Shirley
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