Choristers looking forward to singing for different audience
The Cathedral Choristers are looking forward to performing different music for a different audience when with they sing with Niall (Bressie) Breslin this Friday evening during his concert in Mullingar (see article on right).
A group of the young people took time out from rehearsal on Saturday morning last to talk to the Westmeath Examiner about their experiences with the Choristers and about the upcoming concert.
A consensus from the nine members present was that at Mass, they are not ‘performing’: “It’s to get the congregation involved so that they can reflect, you’re just adding to the Mass, you’re not taking over.
“For this, it’s full-on performance, we need to stand correctly and the performance face is on, whereas at Mass, it’s more about getting other people involved. When we sing, we hold out our hands to try to get the congregation to join in the responses.”
The concert “gives us a chance to sing what we wouldn’t usually be able to sing”.
The members of the Cathedral Choristers are aged between nine and 17, and all have a love of singing. The nine who spoke to the Examiner on Saturday represent the wider group in that they are clearly dedicated young people who get a great deal out of being involved.
They spoke about how their skills, from reading music to their singing voices, have improved since joining the Choristers, how they have made new friends and how they have had opportunities to visit new places.
“There are so many people who have a similar interest to you, because obviously there’s loads of people who sing, but they sing by themselves, whereas we come together and have different parts, and you can see a lot of teamwork through it.
“You’re not just relying on yourself, you know the person beside you has to learn their music, and you come together, and you hear when we start off and we think, oh, this is decent, and then you listen back, or you see the improvement in a couple of weeks. It’s really encouraging, we get to improve together.”
A common theme was music at home and at school and encouragement from parents and teachers to try out for the Cathedral choir.
Well rounded young people, most of the nine we spoke to play instruments as well as sing, and have a variety of other interests in sport and in musical theatre at Mullingar Arts Centre.
Some sing at school, including Cór an Chroí at Loreto College and the Schola Cantorum at St Finian’s College. Another common theme in the group was the notion that careers in music could be open to them as they progress through school to college or other training.
They also agreed that if professional futures in music don’t work out, they will definitely continue performing.
The nine members we spoke to on Saturday morning are Sam Corrigan, Senan O’Neill, Dillon Hanly, Mia Lambden, Sadhbh, Carey, Tom McEnerney, Amy Lucas, Anna Mannix and Éirin Meehan, and they emphasised their gratitude to Dervilla Conlon, coordinator of the Cathedral Choristers, and to Bishop Tom Deenihan and Fr Phil Gaffney, Adm, Mullingar Parish.
Concluding, they said that when Niall Breslin met the group a few weeks ago to discuss the concert, he told them that “if we worked hard enough and if we knew our music, then we could have fun on the day… but we had to know our stuff”.