manyfold when we sing compared to when we speak . In real terms , this has meant any singing has had to be socially distanced and undertaken by small groups ( typically 20 to 40 per cent of their usual size – and only taking participants from discrete year groups ) in rooms large enough to ensure adequate ventilation . The very necessary reorganisation of the lunch hour ( and , for that matter , boarders ’ supper ) has put a further squeeze on the time available . What better moment to organise some year group chamber singing ? Each year has had their own time to meet and sing . It has long been in my mind to try to recreate what Bach would have experienced on a Sunday morning , which is to rehearse a choir and then perform a work from scratch – so was born the impromptu performance of a Bach cantata . You will find a report on this endeavour later in these pages , written by a student , who doubtless would have preferred undertaking this on a Tuesday after school rather than the 9am Sunday slot that Bach would have remembered . The Upper Sixth leave us having had both their Lower Sixth and Upper Sixth years severely compromised , so it occurred to me that I should build any carol service around a choir from their year , and this was an excellent opportunity to learn and perform Britten ’ s A Ceremony of Carols .
We started the year with grand plans to rehearse and perform as many of Bach ’ s Brandenburg concertos as we could , in various arrangements and across as many year groups as we could . Of course , in September we were saying the virus would be over by Christmas , admittedly more in hope than expectation , and little did we know that the Kent variant would put paid to all these speculatively laid plans . Still , the students had the opportunity to at least play some of these masterworks through , and some of my Upper Sixth have enjoyed simply running through works like Mendelssohn ’ s octet and Schubert ’ s great C major string quintet . The Lower Sixth enjoyed playing through some Vivaldi concertos , alongside one of the Brandenburgs , and did get to perform Vivaldi ’ s concerto for four violins in B minor to boot . And , in the Summer term , the Upper Sixth , still in their
SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2020-2021 57