Category: music

Lockdown Blessings

July 25, 2023

This article first appeared in the July 2020 issue of the parish magazine. Here it is again for you to reflect on:
For many, lockdown has been an incredibly difficult time of worry, isolation, ill-health, boredom and captivity. It has been tough, and will continue to be so for many months to come.
For others it has offered opportunities and blessings. I am fortunate to be in this group … More Lockdown Blessings

Build Your Kingdom Here – Rend Collective

June 13, 2023

Tom and I are always open to suggestions of music – instrumental or vocal, hymns or anthems – that could be incorporated into our services at St Margaret’s. Sometimes, the suggestions are not seasonally appropriate, so they have to wait until later in the year. Sometimes they aren’t suitable for our singers and instruments. Sometimes the suggestions simply aren’t theologically or liturgically sound, so we just can’t use them. Sometimes though, they’re just right … More Build Your Kingdom Here – Rend Collective

The Lord is my Light and my Salvation – Brad Nix

May 9, 2023

At St Margaret’s we are blessed to welcome highly talented musicians to perform concerts for us. One of the more recent groups to do this is HeartEdge Manchester. This is a group of choral scholars from across Greater Manchester, led by Andrew Earis – the Director of Music at St Martin-in-the-Fields. You are probably aware that St Martin-in-the-Fields is a hub for music of all kinds, and Andrew Earis is internationally respected as a choral director … More The Lord is my Light and my Salvation – Brad Nix

Alleluia

April 25, 2023

Alleluia!
This is indeed the Alleluia season.
There are many, many pieces of celebratory church music that have just the one word – Alleluia – and since this magazine issue is going out predominantly online, I thought this would be a good time to showcase some of them … More Alleluia

As Dew in Aprille – Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)

April 11, 2023

So often I have written that carols are not just for Christmas – and here is another example. “As Dew in Aprille” is from Benjamin Britten’s “A Ceremony of Carols”. During Lent we celebrate both Mothering Sunday and the Annunciation of Mary – when Gabriel visited Mary to ask if she would bear God’s son. This carol is very appropriate for both occasions. The text comes from a middle English lyric poem by an anonymous author … More As Dew in Aprille – Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)