This morning, the members of Luceat were awoken by the dulcet tones of Dan and Jim attempting some of the duets left on the electric piano in the kitchen of our AirBnB. Some found “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” a soothing way to start the morning before a busy second day of our residency, but later on, as figured bass realisations were attempted, some found this too much - and decided to take appropriate action.
Having made it to the cathedral, we began rehearsals once again. The morning’s focus was Howells’ Gloucester Service, which was sounding beautiful - and was only improved by the addition of the weekly cathedral fire alarm testing. This rather shrill alternation between F# and C# (as was swiftly and adeptly identified by Dan at the keyboard) fitted seamlessly into the ethereal soprano dialogue at the beginning of the work, which amused us all greatly. That is, until the rest of the choir entered and all went rather sour (many winces could be heard).
When the rest of the rehearsal was completed without any further unwelcome noisy additions, the choir decided to head to Newquay for an afternoon at the aquarium. In true Luceat style, the journey could not be complete without some sort of parking saga. On this occasion, it manifested itself in the form of a parking meter that only accepted payment through an app - which, infuriatingly, most of us couldn’t download. However, once this app had cooperated and parking had been payed for, we were able to find the aquarium (after unsuccessfully searching for Love Island’s Lucie Donlan, finding ourselves so conveniently in her home town..) and enjoy an hour’s pure unadulterated delight at the wonderful aquatic life that Blue Reef Aquarium Newquay had to offer. After this, while enjoying fish and chips by the beach, we were able to see that the sea does indeed make a noise (and all that therein is).*
With a suitably contrapuntal Evensong carried off successfully, the choir headed to Truro Tandoori for the infamous ‘Choir Curry Night’, which met both our high expectations and appetites after a particularly energetic rendition of the Hayes anthem earlier that evening. This was a lovely way to spend time with other choir members and we left feeling full of both amazing food and brimming with renewed enthusiasm for another busy day of our Truro Cathedral residency.
- Daisy (Soprano 1)