Make a joyful noise

This piece was inspired by the distant tower of York Minster in this weeks picture at Magpie Tales

As I made my way through the magnificent cathedral to the quire, all I could hear was the sound of my footsteps. It was eerily quiet. For a while I was alone this enormous echoing space.

Minutes later about fifty folk joined me on the velvet cushioned wooden stalls that surround the walls of that most intimate area.  People sat silently or spoke in hushed whispers.

Suddenly the sound of voices wafted through the cathedral from the transept some distance away. Souring voices in perfect harmony filling every corner of the ancient building. 

Then all was quiet again. We stood as a solemn verger holding his rod before him led a red and white robed choir to their candlelit stalls. The sombre faced clergy shuffled to their places. Then suddenly choir burst into song. A huge noise.

I shivered.

Anthems, response, psalms. Thirty voices swooping and swirling, this way then that. Soft as a whisper then loud as thunder. All thoughts were cleared from my mind as music filled my entire body.

Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together!

After forty minutes it came to end.  Total silence. The choir stood, tuned, and followed the verger out of the chapel disappearing into the gloom from whence they had come. 

For a few moments we sat in silence as if nothing had happened.