'English Sacred Choral Music is education, and worship, and a celebration of skill and artisanship. It is sheet music wet with drops of music, smudged and loved. It is notes scrawled with humour and frustration. It is community, and it is friendship.'

choristers be like

Did YOU have a bit of a Saturday night sesh? Did YOU sleep through all your alarm clocks on Sunday morning? Are YOU in need of strength after singing a tricky Sanctus & Benedictus? Then maybe you need: HOLY INDEED. The sauce of all holiness. Available soon.

wow e v e r y o n e is in this film

Imagine something coming to a satisfying conclusion and somehow thinking there's a surprise extra bit that would not only be deeply unsatisfying but also undo quite a lot of the effectiveness of what went before. There's a choral example for everything.

This year, come to Evensong.

We had an epiphany. #CursedCarols

INT: PUB, evening, 5th January. Precentor: "I can't believe I forgot I need three people to bring in the gold, frankincense, and myrrh for the Epiphany service." Lay Clerk 1: "Sounds like a you problem." Lay Clerk 2: "Yup." Lay Clerk 3: *nods* Precentor:

NYE, #CursedCarols style.

If you start listening to this recording of Orlando Gibbons' 'This is the Record of John' at 23:58.13 on New Year's Eve, midnight will strike as John says "NO". Start 2026 the right way. youtu.be/l7Rj1Z-fqaI?...

send help

This isn't a challenge, precentors.

There is a certain inevitability to the 2026 edition of the Amended Oxford Book of the Year collection...

Received this as a Christmas present from my wife today. 😁 (Hat tip to @quiresandplaces.com!)

Aaaaand relax.

Godspeed. *hic*

Nearly there, folks. Nearly there.

Dressed appropriately for midnight mass #choir @quiresandplaces.com

Merry Christmas!

kudos to all those who got up and sang a solo this afternoon

Somehow I've been sharing #CursedCarols for five year, since I shoved Hark! the Herald into Aberystwyth in 2021. 1/5

It's technically still Advent, so here... #CursedCarols

"Figure we take out the high notes, lose twenty, twenty-five percent of the basses, tops." "I can live with that."

Look, if you run with torches, chances are you're going to end up in Casualty. This is another one of those brain-melty ones. With apologies to non-UK folk who will end up scratching their heads. (The clue is capitalised above.) #CursedCarols

Me: Choose kindness. You never know what someone else is going through. Also me: THERE'S 👏 NO 👏 PASSING 👏 NOTE

One to squeeze into the Christmas Eve Carol Service, if you have room... #CursedCarols

Owing to a glitch, the website had erroneously indicated my book was sold out: there are indeed still a few copies available on quiresandplaces.com. I can't guarantee they'll arrive before Christmas but I'm posting today and tomorrow. quiresandplaces.com/products/eve...

These [REDACTED] files are getting [REDACTED]

Excellent, thank you! Looking forward to #9lc, and my hoodie from @quiresandplaces.com arrived just in time! ❤️

No Christmas dinner should be without it.

If you go down to the woods today you're in for a big surprise... #CursedCarols

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One of my life’s ambitions fulfilled. I have a Word hoodie from @quiresandplaces.com

Don't sing it Upside Down. #CursedCarols (What, you thought we'd let the cultural phenomenon go uncommented-upon?)

Coe Fen improves pretty much anything. #CursedCarols

We're one week out and we're delighted to share this newly-discovered O Antiphon, specially for Christmas Day itself! #CursedCarol

OK, let's bring it back to something a bit calmer, a bit more sensible. Something <almost> nice. And yes, not technically a carol, but it feels festive-y and I make the rules, so... (Also, it will hurt your head a bit.) #CursedCarols

In 0 AD, a crack royal unit was sent to Bethlehem to find a Saviour they weren't sure was real. These men promptly escaped from Herod, who tried to slaughter them on their way home. 1/2 #CursedCarols

On a train, poring over Christmas sheet music while wearing my @quiresandplaces.com Word hoodie, a very normal commute

A tune so ancient, it's positively prehistoric. #CursedCarols

"What comes across most strongly is Tim's infectious enthusiasm for the choral tradition and a sincere wish that more people would visit their local cathedral at about 5.30pm after a tough day at work and experience for themselves the peace and beauty of Evensong." ~ Choir Schools' Association 1/2

ok, here we go 💣

There are few tunes which could actually make I Saw Three Ships worse than the original. (This isn't one of them.) #CursedCarols #ActuallyAnImprovement

OK, but this slaps. #CursedCarols

Hello, Ding Dong, my old friend. This one belongs on the same album as Hark! the Herald to "Scarborough Fair". #CursedCarols

"I know the carols by their page number too, you know. Try me. Ding dong? 28. Hark the herald? 39. Once in royal? 100. A ha! Trying to trick me, huh. Bet you thought I'd say 148. Nope, that's Once in royal in the orange one you're thinking of."

Have you got your bingo cards ready?

Are you ready?

It's only two weeks until Christmas. Don't worry, this isn't going to get you Harked. It'll just feel it for about a bar and a half. (One so obvious we're amazed it hasn't been done yet.) #CursedCarols