Unaccompanied

If you love to sing you also love to share that with others. Long standing Cantilena member Brian Marshall shares with us some of his joy in singing.

I joined Cantilena about 6 years ago, after singing with a bigger local choir. I immediately felt at home and can honestly say that Cantilena are the friendliest group with whom I have sung.

Music, and especially singing, are key (sorry!) parts of my life. I was lucky to have been brought up in a musical household where both my parents sang and played. I was with several choirs in Essex before moving to beautiful Somerset 8 years ago.

For me, singing is energising and encompassing and touches at a deep emotional level. At times, the experience of singing in a group can be quite magical and particularly bears out Aristotle’s aphorism that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

I especially love singing unaccompanied pieces. This demands greater rigour and a need really to listen and blend with other parts. We are currently rehearsing some a cappella music that is glorious to sing and - we hope - listen to: gems from the late renaissance by Victoria and contemporaries.

Picking up such a score represents for me a significant historic link as we re-create the exact sounds that a composer set down in a very different world, sometimes many hundreds of years ago.

If you can, come to our next concert at St Mary’s Glastonbury on 10 December 2011  and find out if the music is as rewarding to hear as to sing.

(This is going to be such an unusual concert - you really don't want to miss it!)