Blog
As the days get shorter and the nights get colder, soon winter comes to mind. While seeking warmth inside our houses, the Christmas month approaches. All Christmas lovers start searching for gifts to buy or food to prepare, others buy decorations to add to their collections and others start asking about Christmas events.
Many have marked the event of ‘Carols by Candlelight’ in their Christmas schedule and as from months before start asking about the event. It was introduced by the Schola Cantorum Jubilate in 2003 that kept holding it annually. It is a major Christmas event which attracts many, even foreigners who plan their holidays according to this event.
Gozitan choir Schola Cantorum Jubilate has just returned from a Venice tour as part of their 15th anniversary celebrations.
During their five-day stay, the choir animated Mass in a number of important churches such as the Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of St Mark in the heart of Venice; the Basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, which houses Titian’s Assumption of the Virgin and the tomb of 17th-century composer Claudio Monteverdi, which is also found in Venice; and the Basilica of St Anthony in Padua.
For the second consecutive time, SCJ is launching the project: ’Discovering Hidden Voices’.
Basically this is a call for youths and adults interested in learning music and getting the necessary training to perform high quality music. Once completed the programme, interested participants may join the SCJ family. The sessions will consist of theory of music joint with vocal training.
'Librat et evolat' - a motto, coined by the old Romans. In simple English it means "poised and soaring", an apt description of the 'restrained assertiveness' which affectionately but succinctly characterises the people of Xagħra. But alas! It is a world - known fact that due to the Neolithic Temples at Ggantija, the village of Xagħra goes much and much more back in time than the Graeco-Roman Era.
Children should not be pushed to sing Let It Go while dancing to the music with “ugly” gyrating moves and, instead, be encouraged to join choirs, according to a choral conductor.
Marouska Attard, 30, from Xagħra, choral conductor of youth choir Schola Cantorum Jubilate, believes primary schools are not attaching too much importance to voice training and choir singing.
“When we were kids we used to sing a lot at school but, nowadays, children sing along to a You Tube clip on an interactive whiteboard,” she said.
And these days, at school prize days, children sang along to CDs rather than performing as a choir, Ms Attard said, adding that the way they moved seductively on stage was “ugly”.