From today we have definitely learned or remembered the tight-knit schedule. All 38 of us awoke at 7:00 a.m. this morning to ready ourselves for breakfast. We dined at 7:30 and felt almost as royalty with the top-knotch food prepared by Heidi and others. An hour long personal time block began immediately after. The entire sleu of us were extremely excited for a little R&R, but not for the trek up to the 5th, 6th, or 7th floor. Following a quick change of clothing, we went to the 11:00 a.m. mass at Saint Thomas to hear the Edinburgh choir from Scotland sing. They were magnificent. Their sound was clear and concise and they filled the whole church with beauty. Rehearsal was next for every one of us. First, we warmed up our voices in a fun way by making trilling sounds and saying fun phrases such as ‘ I Love to Wear G old ‘ and ‘ I Dig Up the Land ‘. Then, we head underway with intense and effective training. Basically what we did was run through whatever Ms. Macdonald asked then repeated certain sections until we had learned our mistakes and sung in an English accent instead of saying “ Gawd”. The hour and 15 minutes ran by so quickly that by no time at all we are reunited in the Rec Room for a short snack or personal time. Another educated rehearsal followed that and when it was finished, we ate dinner. For our dinner routine, we stood in front of our chairs whilst Mr. Lennox said grace. After 38+ Amens, the party sat down and began to chow. Special jobs are assigned to each member of the table. For example, the adult of the table passes out plates, a student picks up dirty dishes and puts them inside the brown bin, another student gets food plates from the kitchen, and a final student brings the dirty food plates back into the kitchen. When we are finished and full, we pray once again and depart to repose in our dormitories. After our break, we rehearse again and then take the elevator ( don’t worry, not all of us in one run ) up to the chapel on the 14th floor for an evening prayer, Compline. By the time we finish, it is 9:30. How the time flies when you are jammed packed with activities! After we ready ourselves for sleep, we lie in our beds while being quiet. The lights turn out at 10:30 and we close our eyes while trying to get all of the mass music out of our heads.
- Katie
As I was gently awoken by Sarah my AMAZING leader for the Sunday morning service at St. Thomas I almost feel off my top bunk! I came down just fine but it was a scary moment! I soon found myself enjoying my breakfast with the girls I just met and was able to have a conversation without the awkward pauses of people who just met. It was actually really cool how we all just clicked! I don’t think there was a time where there was nothing to talk about. We all got along just fine and didn’t have any problems. After the 11am service and listening to the St. Mary’s Cathedral Choir from Scotland sing we were on our way back to the school. Besides singing here we also play games and have some competitions. As the 7th Floor dominated during the day we fell a few points behind but we are a close 2nd
.- Erica
Our first full day, Sunday, we attended church and enjoyed the St. Mary’s Cathedral choir from Scotland sing for the congregation. They were simply wonderful to listen to. The group was made up of many young girls and boys and a number of men and some women. This was the first group to integrate boys and girls into one treble line in the late 70ΚΌs. The method creates a beautiful and memorable, youthful sound from the treble line. After the church service we then practice the procession we were to follow for entering the church on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday when we perform evensong. I had trouble making right angle corners when entering and leaving the alter, but eventually got the gist of it. So there will be no disgraceful procession mistakes from me. After church we began our rehearsals for the day. Arriving late the previous day and having only time to sleep, I had missed the first two rehearsals. Once the choir began to harmonize together in the first song, Magnificat, I knew that this was going to be amazing. For sure this is a legit group of girls and I am privileged to be able to get together with them and sing these beautiful songs. Mrs. McDonald is the conductor and she means business. For me it is so refreshing to work with someone who is truly passionate about their work and knows it inside and out. When working with her I feel like I’m in good hands because I am learning so much more than I have learned in three years of choir with my school. I am fully appreciative of her presence here.
- Amanda 
On Sunday Gabi woke me up to take my shower. Gabi has an alarm clock and then wakes me up so we can each go take a shower (there are two showers) then each of us goes and wakes up the two next people. After breakfast we had to go get ready for Church. The Choir singing at the Church was a boys and girls choir from Scotland. They sounded wonderful. After that it was a normal day.
- Hannah
We went to a mass this morning at 11:00 at St. Thomas. A choir from Scotland was singing- amazing. A week from today we will be up there singing mass. Then, after lunch, we went to Central Park for some relay race games; a little healthy competition. ;) We had a few more rehearsals that day, then dinner. Thanks, Mom, for your genetic gift of balance. I dropped about four or five plates on my way to the kitchen. I felt like I was at a Greek wedding… Wopah!
- Lindsey
We got up fairly early and had a great breakfast. We had a rehearsal in the morning and then went to church, and there was a terrific choir from Scotland that sang. It was a great service! We went to Central Park for sports, but didn’t stay for too long, since it was raining. We still had a terrific time, though! We had three rehearsals total, and we worked really hard. Rehearsals are fun, and the director is awesome, but I miss everyone at Very Merry a lot! And by the way, if anybody who’s reading this is going to see Mulan this week, could you tell them that I miss ALL OF THEM like crazy please?! (You can give some of them the blog address too!!) And I’m looking over my lines and my music every single day so I don’t forget!!
- Emma
Between Sunday and Monday, we have continually done different things. Today we are starting classes like music theory, journal, gym, and vocal and Sunday we got to go to a church service at St. Thomas so that we could see what their services are like and what we, generally, would be doing during that service. Since Tuesday is evensong, we practiced processing and recessing (going in and out of the church) after the service so that we knew what we had to do beforehand. These past three days have been great and I have a feeling that they are going to get even better.
- Susy
Day 2 began at 7:00 a.m. for the girls, but 6:50 a.m. for my roommate and co-leader Beatrice, for we had to wake all the girls up and get them out of bed before breakfast. Thankfully, Beatrice and I are the floor-leaders for the 7th floor, which consists of 14 year olds and up, and most of them were awake before they even were required to be. Leaving Beatrice with the girls, I myself headed down the six lovely flights of stairs to attend a leader meeting. At the meeting with Ms. Byon we were given the day’s schedules, which I posted before breakfast (going back up the six flights of stairs) on the bathroom door, then returning downstairs for a delicious breakfast. Following breakfast was another hour-long rehearsal, and after rehearsal came church. We lined up in the “croc” (so King’s College. I love it!!!) inside the choirschool, with each pair of floor leaders heading their floor’s “croc.” Then we all merged into one long crocodile and walked in two lines to St. Thomas’ Church. The choir of St. Mary’s, Edinburgh, sang Gabriel Jackson’s Edinburgh Service and some very well done Palestrina, which I greatly enjoyed. No less impressive was Howell’s Like as the Hart. After the service, we practiced some of the general motions for evensong in the choir stalls: bowing, processing, etc. The rest of the day proceeded normally: lunch, a “walk” which was more of a “run” in Central Park, another rehearsal, dinner (and a pretty awesome “choir-approved” hair do’s and don’t’s involving a clown wig), another rehearsal, and Compline. Beatrice, Anna, Angharad, and I cantored. (I perhaps should explain here that Compline takes place on the 14th floor of the choir school in a candlelit room about the size of Beatrice and my in-suite bathroom. Its really personal and snug!) After Compline came bed.
- Sarah
Sunday began with breakfast tacos and rehearsal again. We dressed for church and headed across Manhattan for Eucharist at St. Thomas. The choir of St. Mary’s church in Edinburgh sung the mass – both boys and girls were included in the treble lines. I’d been to St. Thomas once before, but I’d completely forgotten just how beautiful a church it is. Everything from the architecture to the music to the vast size – quite simply, it’s absolutely breathtaking.After Mass we returned to the school for lunch and more rehearsal. I began to wish I’d savored the elevator ride I took more – walking up and down seven flights of stairs is no picnic! Lunch was followed by some personal time, discussion of the end-of-week skits, and continued rehearsal. Apparently I have a lot to learn about choral music. The practice sessions are strenuous, but at the same time it’s almost exhilarating. Although we all come from different parts of the country, everyone here has a common love of church music, and I think that more than anything else is what brings us together. We had some relay races in Central Park, dinner, more rehearsal, and compline again. It provides a lovely time to center yourself and calm your thoughts before bedtime.
- Angharad
This morning we got up, had breakfast and a rehearsal, and went to church. For many girls, it was their first time seeing St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church. It is very large in size and the echo is fantastic. I cannot wait to sing at the Evensong on Tuesday night to h ear ourselves singing together! A unique choir from St. Mary’s Cathedral in Scotland sang the mass. They were incredible. I couldn’t believe the pureness of the tones from such young children. After mass, we practiced processing up and down the aisles. When we got back, we ate lunch and had rehearsal. We went to Central Park for relays and other games; it started to thunder and lightning, but the rain surely didn’t dampen our spirits! Compline before bed is beautiful. We sing in the chapel on the 14th floor. It really settles me for a peaceful sleep.
- Maura
We awoke Sunday morning to light coming in through the blinds and a promise of a good breakfast from Heidi. We ate, and then headed for the first of our rehearsals for the day. At 10:15, we headed down to the church- on foot. The walk was refreshing and the sights of the city are always something to behold. When we got to the church, we entered through a side door. I didn’t realize it was a side door, and thought that the church should’ve had a grander entrance. As it turns out, the inside was so magnificent, it needed no introduction. The huge cross in the center of a wall of statues was so beautiful, it outshined most of the pieces in the Louvre. Even more joyous than the sight of the church, was the music that fell upon it the moment the organ started to play. The combination of the ever-beautiful sound of a pipe organ, and the voices of the professional choir that had come all the way from Scotland to visit, was enough to make anyone wish that the singing would never end, and that the organist’s fingers would never tire. When we got back, we changed as fast as possible, and headed out for Gym in central park. We could hear thunder as we went, but the promise of rain was far away, and the mist that came before it made the day cooler and even more enjoyable.
- Lindsey P.
Church happened. I was there. A choir from Scotland sang. They were marvelous. We practiced the procession and recession from the service. We also went to Central Park today for some relays and other rather amusing activities. I ate more good food. I like rehearsal a lot. It is quite a challenge to try and combine the voices of a bunch of people who mostly do not know each other and create a unified, beautiful choral sound.
- Eliza
We had rehearsal at 9 in the morning, then we went to church. There was an amazing choir from Edinburgh, Scotland. The trebles were magnificent and the first girl on Dec was brilliant. After the service we had a snack, and then went back into the church to practice the procession in and out for evensong (in the end we did the whole procession 5 times until everyone had it perfectly). We walked back to the school in to straight lines (like Madeline!) and had lunch. Then team relay games in the park with Danny (My team won one of them!) followed by rehearsal. Dinner was amazing, followed by rehearsal and compline. Bedtime was at 10.- Beth
Wake up was at 7:00 this morning and after breakfast; we rehearsed and went to church in three connected crocs. A croc the expression used at St. Thomas for how to walk in New York City. It is really important for us to stay in pairs so that we stay together to hear directions and don’t get lost. At church, a choir from St. Mary’s in Scotland sang at the holy Eucharist. They truly sounded like angels even though they were mixed voices of men, boys, and girls. They are the only choir school in the United Kingdom to teach both boys and girls. After church we practiced processing in and out of the pews and sang a few notes with Ms. MacDonald to make sure that our sound could fill the space. We raced back to the church because Mr. Lennox our gym teacher and priest was planned to give 10 house points to whoever was dressed and ready for gym first. Unfortunately, Floor 7 didn’t win, but right now we’re in the lead!
- Beatrice
The second day, we were all “sleep walking” to breakfast, but that would soon change. We went to church, where a visiting choir sang; St. Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland. The hymns included a few favorites, such as “Be thou my Vision.” The music choice was phenomenal, which included a very interesting mass setting by a contemporary composer known as Gabriel Jackson. Influences from Middle Eastern, Greek Orthodox, and Renaissance music could be heard. They also sang a motet by Palestrina, which featured the pure, ethereal sound of the trebles. Afterwards, we practiced finding our seats in the choir stalls, along with processing in and out. This is not a simple as people think. Every turn must be done in a right angle in pairs, meaning that the outside person had to keep up with the inside partner and even swivel on their foot. Additionally, there must be a consistent and steady flow to it, which took several tries to even get close to! We also had our first gym class, which was loads of fun. We did a team relay, and everyone was so supportive. I never had that much fun in gym!
- Jane
On Sunday we woke up at 7:00. Breakfast was at 7:30. We had breakfast burritos. Heidi, the chef, and Ponce, her sui chef, are both amazing cooks. After breakfast, we went down into the gym for rehearsal, after changing our clothes for church. After rehearsal, we headed out onto the streets of Manhattan to church. There was a choir from Edinburgh, Scotland singing. They were amazing. After church, we headed back to the church for lunch, and another rehearsal. After our rehearsal, we had a snack and headed back out to Central Park for relay games. It started to rain, so we went back to the church for another dinner. After dinner we had one last rehearsal for the day, and headed back up to the 14th floor for Compline. Luckily, we were allowed to take the elevator up from the gym to the Chapel for Compline, but we took the stairs down. After taking showers, we went to bed, and that was the end of day 2.
- Claire
On Sunday, after the first night at St.Thomas, we woke up for the first official day at the St. Thomas girl's choir course. After breakfast and a rehearsal, we all walked to the church for the Sunday service. There was an amazing choir from Scotland singing. The treble line was made up of young boys and girls. I loved getting to listen to them. Next Sunday it will be our turn! After the service we practiced some things for evensong. On our first outing to the park, we had a relay race between all the floors. The first relay we cam e in last, but only because we had the longest distance to run. But the second time when all the groups switched destinations, WE WON!!! We also got 20 points for our house. It started raining so after we took a couple of group pictures on the rock, we headed back to the school. After some more rehearsals, yummy meals, and compline, the 2nd day came to an end, and it was time for bed.
- Esther
For the first time I was able to see a real service at St. Thomas that was not sung by the choir that I was in. In previous years we never had this experience. We were able to listen to a choir from Scotland sing and it showed us the view of church from the opposite end. After church we were able to practice the procession in and out of the church and I was re-learning things that I remember so well from previous years. Once we got back to the school we spent time getting to know the staff better and we had more rehearsals. The rehearsals went by in a fun way, unlike what I had remembered from previous years. I no longer dreaded going to rehearsal and I could tell that myself, along with all of the other girls were learning a lot. - Hope
Today is the first real day of camp! We got our seating for the cafeteria and my table has been really nice. Each floor is doing a skit, and I think that my floor’s is going to rock! We can’t tell anyone what we are doing until we perform them so, shh! We also earn points for our floor if we do good things like getting to bed on time. We also visited the church today for mass and practiced the processions in and out. It is getting a little bit difficult to deal with the time change between Chicago and here, but I am managing fine. I am really liking this camp so far and it might even get better.
- Andie
Our first full day of camp filled with singing and church and name games. First we went on an exciting trip through New York, full of people and smells, to get to church. Coming from North Carolina, it was the biggest church I have ever laid my eyes on. It was absolutely breathtaking. We listened to a mixed chorus which was just as beautiful as the church’s architecture. After church we practiced our turning on right angles and walking with a partner bit for evensong on Tuesday. We are definitely well-fed, with food found only on cruise ships, delectable and original every day. We had more rehearsals, then I traveled up on the seventh floor to drift into sleep to be woken up the next day at 7:30.
- Caroline
I got up at about 10 minuets late, realizing that my I-pod alarm clock didn’t work. Half asleep I sauntered into Hannah’s room and woke her up. We were the first to take showers. After breakfast we had a rehearsal and some personal time. All of us were cleaning our rooms because while we were at mass the “dorm inspection fairies” were visiting our dorm. After mass we went into the church and practiced processing out and in for the even song on Tuesday and Thursday with Ms. Mc Donald. (Our choirmaster) after that we came back and ate. Yummy!! After lunch we had some personal time. And later on we went to central park and played some games. After dinner we had a runway show of hair do’s and don’ts for church. It was really funny. After that we had another rehearsal and off to bed we went.
- Gabby
Breakfast is amazing! I don’t think even the best restaurants can even top Heidi’s cooking. Ask anyone around here and they’ll agree. After we eat, we walk towards St. Thomas Church for mass. The church is so pretty and the visiting choir sounds angelic. After the mass we have a quick snack and then we practice procession.
Later in the day we play around Central Park. We do relay races and play on a playground. My floor came in 2nd for both of the races, and we got 45 points for our house.
- Caitlin
Today we woke up very early (at 7), because we had to fit in a rehearsal and breakfast before church. Breakfast was amazing (of course!), and the rehearsal was again, very intense and interesting. I am learning new techniques every time we rehearse with our director! Later, at a quarter ‘til, we headed off to church at St. Thomas for an 11 o’clock morning Eucharist. There was a visiting choir from Scotland that sang very beautiful anthems by Howells and Palestrina, along with a great mass setting. After the service, we all practiced processing correctly and at a good pace for Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday, when we have services at St. Thomas. We got back to the choir school and started planning our skits within our houses. Then, we took a walk to Central Park, where we ran relays, and climbed humongous rocks (Check out the pictures!). After two more rehearsals, the food still proved to be excellent, and we went to sleep after Compline.
- Kaethe
Sunday morning was a flurry of showers and grumbling teenagers being woken up “hours earlier than at home!” But we all managed to slump down to breakfast, where Heidi’s cooking woke us right up. Then we had an hour of free time which for me was mainly hugging and welcome-backs. J Rehearsal in the gym and then it was off to the church itself. The service was sung by a choir from Scotland. We were all blown away. When we got back, we got together with our other floor members and decided which song to sing for the talent show on Saturday. Our song is a secret (shhhh!) but I will say that the spin we took on it is a funny one. Rehearsals so far have been exhilarating to say the least! Like I said earlier, our voices bounce all around the room. The music was fun to learn at home, but you just can’t compare singing in living room with three other girls to singing in a huge room with 35, split into three parts. The song that I like to sing the most is ‘Lift Thine Eyes’. Mrs. MacDonald had us stand anywhere in the gym, spread out, and surrounded by people singing a different part. It was so amazing to sing with so many other girls.
- Anna B.
On the second day, we had breakfast and another rehearsal and then headed of to 11 AM mass at
St. Thomas’s.
11 AM!
I’m so used to getting up at school time to make it to church at 9 back home.
After church we changed and all headed out to
Central Park were we had a few relay races to gain some house points.
But alas the rain stopped us of our pleasures and we had to return to the School where we had our first skit practice!
I still remember last years when my floor put a twist on “My Favorite Things” from
The Sound of Music.
So you can imagine that I was excited for what we would do this year.
So during the 7
th floor discussion, we decided on a 2 song medley of ABBA music, and we even started the idea of what we would do for the skit!!!
- Kelsey
On the second day, we woke up bright and early! I could barely make my way down the stairs I was so tired. We all lined up for breakfast which I knew was going to be good. My friend Hope recommended that we have breakfast tacos, which I was excited about. We said our prayers, sat down, and dug in. Later on we had some more practices with our director Mrs. McDonald who was there last year. She’s is amazing at making our choir sound great. After only three practices we sounded like professionals according to the other teachers. Between the practices we ate, slept, and socialized. Later on we sang compline, which is our nightly service before bed. Again, we all went to bed at ten and couldn’t wait for the next day.
- Liz
