Kevin Crossley-Holland in Swanbourne Preparatory School, Swanbourne, Buckinghamshire - in the beginning of the 1950's, in the morning

from The Hidden Roads: A Memoir of Childhood, page 119:

Breakfast was immediately followed by a short service in the glassy chapel.  Despite my father’s best efforts, I was still unable to read music but, all the same, I was immediately given a stall in the choir.  Day after day we belted out the manful and melancholy hymns that have been the staple diet of Church of England services for the last century, but what I liked most was the sense of teamwork and the slow-motion, antiphonal singing of psalms.

cite as

Kevin Crossley-Holland, The Hidden Roads: A Memoir of Childhood (London, 2009), p. 119. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1546771212382 accessed: 25 April, 2024

location of experience: Swanbourne Preparatory School, Swanbourne, Buckinghamshire

Listeners

Kevin Crossley-Holland
children's author, Novelist, Poet, translator
1941-

Listening to

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Hymns sung in the school chapel performed by choir of Swanbourne Preparatory School
antiphonal psalm singing performed by choir of Swanbourne Preparatory School

Experience Information

Date/Time in the beginning of the 1950's, in the morning
Medium live
Listening Environment in the company of others, in private, indoors

Notes

Kevin Crossley-Holland describes his years as a boarder at Swanbourne Preparatory School, which he attended from September 1951 until July 1954.


Originally submitted by lcc5 on Sun, 06 Jan 2019 10:40:13 +0000
Approved on Fri, 24 Jul 2020 14:38:05 +0100