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VANCOUVER’S Christ Church Cathedral held a
special reunion August 3, as Evensong was performed by choristers who
participated in the church’s Choir of Gentlemen and Boys tour of
England in August 1968.
The Venerable John Bailey, rector of Holy Trinity
Cathedral in New Westminster – and a one-time Cathedral
chorister – presented a homily. He first paid tribute to choir
director Grahame Baker who, he said, “played a major role in
enriching the choral tradition.”
Baker’s work in the 1960s, Bailey noted,
“came at a time when it was not cool for boys to sing. We
lacked the tradition, long established in Europe, where children sing in
choirs from a very young age.
“At school, as Beatlemania swept through the
playground, none of us understood that . . . many of the British rockers
came out of church choirs. In spite of the raspy voices and loud
noise, they knew how to carry a tune. They had confidence to stand in
front of an audience and sing.”
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Singing in church, he said, “gave us all an
education in voice production; it established our confidence to be speak in
front of large numbers of people and enable our voices to be heard; it
introduced us to a form of language which is able to speak to people when
words fail.”
– DFD
September 2008
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