Church and Children

So far since arriving in London, I have been talking about finding a church gig. Somewhere I could go to sing weekly, perhaps earn a few pounds, and become part of the community. Today I took my first step towards actually making this a reality. My lovely landlord/flatmate's son is also an opera singer and sings as a regular at the Guards Chapel, just across the street from Buckingham Palace. It is the church for the queen's guard and is very important to the city. The choir is made up of 13 professional singers and is led by Tim Horton. No joke, the conductor's name is Tim Horton. How terrific is that? Apparently he has a collection of coffee mugs which friend have given him over the years from trips to Canada. I love it.
So yesterday, i decided that I should meet Mr. Horton, not just because of his famous name, but more importantly because he may be able to help me find work. I emailed the tenor-son and arranged for him to take me along with him Sunday morning.

Promptly at 9:15 the tenor-son rolled up in his green and white mini, with a surprise guest in tow. His 4 year old daughter, 'The Smeed' as she is so lovingly called, had decided that she wanted to go to church with Daddy this very morning! Dressed in a home-knit 'jumper' and scarf and a little white beret, she looked the part of a perfect little church girl and she was excited to see daddy work.

The drive to the church was a harrowing one, as we raced buses and swerved though traffic to meet our destination. You see, we had to get ourselves a cappuccino, and a baby-ccino for The Smeed before church and this didn't leave us much time. After shooting back the frothy creations from the little Italian coffee bar in Soho, we sped over to the guards, just in time for the beginning of music rehearsals.

Was I ever surprised. What a terrific choir! They were singing several beautiful pieces, including a Mozart Mass in C and a fabulous Ave Maria (though I forget the composer) The harmonies were so tight and each singer sang with their full, operatic voice. No one was forced to mark and the blend was lovely. During the rehearsal, they were accompanied by a lovely organ, but the best was still to come. The band of the Guards! playing from one of the upper choir lofts was a 10 piece band, with timpani, brass and winds. It was glorious to hear during the service.
After rehearsal, I went with the choir for coffee and was introduced to Mr. Horton, a Canadian girl's dream. He was lovely and invited me to come and sing for him in early November. He gave me his number and said for me to call him in a couple of weeks. This gives me some time to prepare myself and plan what I would like to sing. Hopefully, it all goes well and I can start to dep. at the Guards.

The church service was interesting, as I have never had to sit through church being responsible for a 4 year old. The Smeed and I sat in the front pew, so that she could see Daddy, and so that the entire congregation could watch her and her antics, along with my feeble attempts to control her. I wonder if I fooled anyone into think I was her mom? She danced to the hymns and counted the congregation. She waved frantically at daddy and took every book out of the pews... reading them all of course. Impressively, she did this all without making a peep, so at least she had that going for her. I did my best to control the wee one, but having only met her once before, I didn't have much jurisdiction for discipline. I did manage to stop her standing on the church pew, and counted that as one small victory. As I sat there trying to follow the service and control the little rascal, it dawned on me: "I'm not a mom". How ridiculously obvious it is that I am not a mom. A mother would know exactly what to say to make a child sit still, or stop pulling her hair, but I am at a loss. Not saying that i could never be a mother, but I am just clearly not one at this time.

Apparently, she and I did alright, as we got congratulated by the General of the Queen's Guards for her lovely behaviour, and he reminisced about bringing his own young ones to church and having to shush them throughout. Guess we both fooled him!