Variety is again the spice of life...

A local choir is putting on, this Friday, of all things, Britten's St. Nicholas, conducted by none other than Atso Almila. Muggins here got roped in a while back, being asked to 'stiffen' the back of the second violins, and also providing a full score for Atso to work from. Those of you with keen memories will remember that yours truly has rehearsed and led the orchestra for this wonderful work (a smile and giggle at every page turn). Those of you with even better memories will know that the scoring requires Choir, gallery choir, 5 boy soloists, Organ, piano (4 hands), tenor soloist, string orchestra and percussion. The intro to the score reads: the string orchestra sections should be lead by a professional quartet, and the principal percussionist should also be a professional, but the other percussion parts 'may be played by as many gifted and/or enthusiastic amateurs as there are instruments'. (Benjamin Britten's exact words). So, no prizes for guessing which enthusiastic amateur got asked to add another string to his bow.... Not sure about the gifted bit, but this will be either very funny or very embarrassing. Especially as there's a whip involved... see my last few posts regarding f*t*sh*s.