Live from Queens' College Chapel

Singing in the time of COVID:
An update from our Chapel Choir

The Chapel Choir is very particular about what colour shoes its members wear for services. Anything other than black and you are liable for some light-hearted ribbing, at the very least, if you manage to avoid the beady eye of the Choir Administrator.

However, in 2020, you’d be forgiven for thinking that particular rule was no longer in force. Our first service of the year was to an empty Chapel, without procession, without hymns, and with the addition of face-masks. We sang Matriculation service with only eight singers.

From octets at Evensong and special services, to quartets at Compline, small group singing has become an important part of the way Queens’ Choir operates this term. The opportunity to sing in small groups is normally rare for Chapel Choirs, but it provides a chance to really work as a team and learn the music in intimate detail. Our fine student conductors have also been able to practice their craft, so it has been a rewarding experience in many ways. We’re really looking forward to the impact this will have on our sound when we’re allowed to sing in full once again.

The other big part of our new normal is one you may have noticed already. Instead of singing to a crowded congregation of Freshers at the start of term, we streamed the service through Youtube. This has become the standard, although, as an almost entirely student-led effort, it has definitely been a learning curve. We now live-stream both Compline and Evensong to our Youtube channel. We also record all our services, and hope to share some highlight videos with the Queens’ community over the lockdown period. While isolation has become a familiar part of everyone’s experience this year, our move online has had the opposite effect, fostering a new kind of community. Certainly, it is strange to be notified that people are tuning in, rather than watching the congregation file into Chapel, but we can now reach audiences all over the world.

Keen-eyed Compline watchers can check whether or not Choir members are wearing the right shoes, no matter where they are. In spite of the great turbulence of 2020, some things never change.

After an intensive few days of pre-recording, Queens’ Choir is delighted to announce that while we are currently unable to meet, we will be posting videos throughout the lockdown period. First up will be a pre-recorded service for Remembrance Sunday, which will be available from 10.45am this Sunday via Facebook.

Find us on Youtube and on Facebook.