Christmas Concert | Camberwell Community Choir

Our Halloween / silent film / scary choir concert went so well!

The buzz about it is still going on and there’s been so much interest in our choir and music at St Giles’ since then. In fact, no one can remember the church so full for a concert! Awesome work by everyone involved – we just need to have a think now how we can beat it!

With Christmas coming, there’s at least another two opportunities to perform this year. First up on Wednesday 10th December at 6.30pm is Kings’ College Hospital’s Christmas Carol Service. It’s a service for all the staff and patients at the hospital and should be a really special occasion. It is a service as appose to a concert, so there’s obviously a religious element to it although if that’s not your thing, it’s still an opportunity to have a bit of quiet time to yourself before the onslaught of Christmas shopping and the like! Plus, some of the music choices will be really special and it’s important that as we’re called a ‘community’ choir, we perform all over our patch and share our music with everyone.

Then – the big one. Our Christmas concert is on Tuesday 16th December at 7pm in St Giles’ Church. ‘Christmas Concert’ doesn’t quite cover it though as it’s going to feature ‘Carols ’round Camberwell’ which basically involves donning a heavy winter jacket, scarf and the like and then walking around Camberwell singing Christmas Carols. It’s awfully good fun – last year a thunderstorm started just as we walked outside and the year before that was the ‘Great Wind’…. But we’ll take shelter in lots of pubs en route and hopefully it will descend into a choir party as well. So three events in one night – we never do anything by halves!

Find out more details on Facebook/camberwellcommunitychoir

Time passes so quickly! And embarrassingly it’s been ages since we put some news on this website. Our Facebook page won the battle in terms of Christmas updates, but it’s not as if things haven’t been going on!

‘Camberwell Scare’ at the start of November last year must have been one of our most successful concerts ever – who would have thought a 1923 horror film and a live performance from a community choir would work? But it did – and it was so popular we might have to do it again this year! Our Christmas Concert was loads of fun too with a record audience turnout. ‘Carols ’round Camberwell’ was a bit damp, what with a thunderstorm starting just as we set out to sing! But we raised nearly £200 in 45 minutes towards the Philippines Typhoon appeal which meant it was well worth soggy clothes (and music).

But now to 2014 – and you can be sure that our music choices will remain eclectic as ever! But throughout the year, there will be some songs popping up commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Great War, 1914-18.

Music has probably played a role in warfare since the start of war itself – drums and trumpets always seem to feature highly when it comes to biblical battles (as the city of Jericho found out); flutes and fifes in the American Civil War (and closer to home in Northern Ireland); and of course marching army bands (watch the first 30 seconds of any ‘Blackadder goes forth’ episode!)

World War 1 got underway in the era of gramophones and perhaps more than ever, music on the home front and music on the front lines were connected like never before – often with some ‘edited’ lyrics by soldiers! A great example is the song ‘They didn’t believe me’ from ‘The girl from Utah’ by Jerome Kern and Herbert Reynolds. Arriving in Britain from the US in 1914, it became an ironic take on the allegedly ‘easy’ life of the trenches in the early part of the war. It was featured under another title ‘We’ll never tell them’ at the end of ‘Oh what a lovely war’, which is a bit of a hot topic for MP Michael Gove at the moment! We will be rehearsing this song at the next rehearsal with Ashley.

Anyway – even two rehearsals in – it’s never too late in the term to come and join us! And if you’ve visited us before, why not make a New Year’s Resolution to make music a part of your life in 2014?

Camberwell Community Choir

Tag Archives: Christmas Concert

What’s next?!

Already 2 Rehearsals in…!