Looking to the future

[Dafydd y Garreg Wen]

36 minutes ago, Rowland Wateridge said:

Gracious, was this actually an article?  I assumed they were the kind of crank ‘letters to the Editor’ which one can also find in other newspapers.  

It was an article reporting comments some Twitter users had made.

Lazy journalism, but mining social media for material is a common substitute for old-fashioned reporting nowadays. The broadsheets and B.B.C. do it as much as the tabloids.

[Rowland Wateridge]

I won’t prolong this, but have just read minutes ago in another national newspaper that the Queen “lied in state”.  

What on earth is happening to our national standards?

[Martin Cooke]

17 minutes ago, Rowland Wateridge said:

I won’t prolong this, but have just read minutes ago in another national newspaper that the Queen “lied in state”.  

What on earth is happening to our national standards?

You may well ask, Roland!

[Choir Man]

Not all journalism has been so low. Quoting from a recent Telegraph article: 

"One obvious way for the CofE to repay the Queen’s parting gift is to persuade people that what they felt over the last few days - about duty and eternity, mortality and grace - is on offer every week. Of course grand spectacles like these don’t come around often. But breathtaking buildings, the language of the King James Bible and The Book of Common Prayer, the psalms and choral anthems, the ageless beauty of Byrd, Tallis, Parry – all can be found across Britain for free."

The full article is unfortunately behind their pay wall, but if you can get to it its here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/09/21/britain-yearning-traditional-christianity/

Like many others before I would like to pay tribute to the standard of musicianship seen in the last two weeks. Royal occasions have almost always included new music and the funeral was no exception. So whether its a march or a fanfare or a psalm setting, I look forward to listening to what will be presented for the coronation.

[John Robinson]

On 22/09/2022 at 12:58, Rowland Wateridge said:

I won’t prolong this, but have just read minutes ago in another national newspaper that the Queen “lied in state”.  

What on earth is happening to our national standards?

I suspect that this plummeting of educational standards probably began when some bright spark came up with the National Curriculum.

[John Furse]

The blame is partially mine, therefore.

As a newly-qualified teacha, I was ‘elected’ (by my colleagues) to head a county committee advising on the content of Music in said N.C. I was not lacking in experience, having previously lectured in Music.

It was not the N.C. itself which was faulty, but the way it was implemented – and then ‘perverted’ by government. The same applied to the brilliantly conceived G.C.S.E. Thatcher insisted on equivalence with O levels – and, by the by, Music was within a hair’s breadth of being omitted.

This, of course, is straying from the thread.  

[S_L]

2 hours ago, John Furse said:

......................................... and, by the by, Music was within a hair’s breadth of being omitted.

Some people don't realise how close it really was! It nearly went!

And whilst some may bemoan the NC, NC music has opened, to a wider group of youngsters, the opportunity to take part in actual music making as opposed to the simply awful class music lessons I had at school where we sat and listened to whatever the music teacher fancied that afternoon and were told how wonderful it was! It often wasn't!! 

But we digress - again!!!

[John Furse]

What I heard involved what we used to call a ‘rubber’ (actually, a Civil Service eraser). Thatcher. And a Royal. At the Royal Opera House.

I have no reason to doubt the veracity of this story.