Marked the second Sunday of Advent and St Nicholas Day with a little celebration of our own in the evening. Earlier we went to St Mary's chapel for the usual Christmas carol concert performed by present and past students of the college. Former Sr M Leo students this year were Lindsay Freer and Patricia Anne Shaw, who reminisced about her school and singing days. I am sure she said she was overcome with emulsion instead of emotion! I remember my own singing days at St Mary's when on one occasion Sr Leo sent me down to the primers to get them to show me how to sing, a humilation I barely recoved from, certainly not in my school days. The present-day Schola and the Chamber Orchestra, conducted by David Hamilton, NZ composer of note, and teacher of composition at St Mary's performed some of the old familiar carols like O holy night which brought back a flood of memories of the school prizegivings. We were all lined up in the blazing sun in front of the old brown convent (now demolished) for what seemed an interminable length of time singing these carols and getting through the prizegiving. Last night's offerings included several David Hamilton pieces, the highlight for many of us.
And I have now joined a choir myself - this is a choir for people with neurological conditions that meets fortnightly and is under the auspices of the Centre for Brain Research in Auckland. Many of us have conditions where pathways in the brain have stopped functioning properly and music may stimulate them or other pathways giving us a lot of pleasure and rediscovery of the joy of making music ourselves. I certainly feel stimulated by the exercises and songs we have been singing, mainly Christmas carols which we are performing at the Centre for Brain Research Christmas party later this week.
