Piano lessons in school will be finishing by 20th December. View your rearranged lesson times. Other than students at Upton Heath who will have a lesson as normal on Tuesday 14th Dec, you will only have another lesson if your name is on the spreadsheet or if you have a lesson booked on the diary.

Lessons will start again and follow a regular schedule in the New Year from Thursday 6th January, 2011.

Lesson times for Chester Catholic High will be updated after 16th December. Please see the on-line timetable or log in to the diary to check for updates!

Events leading up to Christmas 2010

16th Dec: Listen out for some “wrong” notes on Radio 4′s Afternoon play at 2:15pm – Will Hay playing some piano moments in  “Chequebook and Pen”

17th Dec: Neston Ecumenical Singers Christmas Carol Concert at St. Winefride’s Church, Little Neston starting at 7:30pm (featuring “Snowflakes” by Graeme Hopson)

18th Dec: Chester Cathedral Choir Christmas Concert at Chester Cathedral 7:30pm

18th Dec: An alternative Nine Lessons and Carols at All Saint’s, Hoole 7:30pm

22nd Dec: BBC Radio 3 Choral Evensong live from Chester Cathedral on BBC Radio 3 at 4pm

24th Dec: Nine Lessons and Carols at Chester Cathedral 3pm

The words are by the American, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The composition came about late in 2008 as a result of an annual competition organised by The Longfellow Chorus promoting the poetry of their founder. Graeme Hopson, the composer of this setting was a finalist in the competition with this work.

The score is available direct from the composer or from SibeliusMusic.com

The snowfall motif in the piano accompaniment delicately flutters throughout the snowflakes’ journey described in the lyrics until the ‘troubled sky reveals the grief it feels’. The harmony takes an anguished turn at this point as the heart rate of the choir members increases whilst the parts get a little more challenging to pitch! Effervescent tranquillity returns along with the carefree snowflake motif as the third verse draws to a close with whispered revelations to wood and field.