Caroling in the Quad

Last night UCL kicked off the Christmas season with a Christmas festival in the quad. It was rather cool- they decorated a big Christmas tree, and the huge marble pillars of the library were lit up with festive colors. There were a capella groups, fire jugglers, orchestral music, caroling, and authentic British food, like mince pies. The UCL choir took care of the caroling festivities, and it ended up being a rather strange experience. Let me explain...

So at around 7:45 pm, 15 minutes before we had to perform, we were required to meet in one of the academic buildings. One kid handed me a sheet of paper on which there were typed lyrics to some well known Christmas carols.

"Wait, aren't we going to get some sheet music so we can harmonize?" I asked.

The kid shrugged. "If you know some harmonies, sing 'em," he replied before moving away.

I stood there rather awkwardly and tried to mingle with my fellow choirsters; my default American alto buddy wasn't there. I started to talk to a friendly English girl with whom I had had a few conversations with; I am ashamed to say that I still haven't figured out her name, and she doesn't know mine. So I shall dub her Alto girl. Alto girl and I started talking about Christmas traditions.

"So do you have Christmas pudding?" she asked me.

"Umm, no," I replied. "At least I don't think so. What is Christmas pudding exactly?"

"Well, it's got this fruit in it, and its delicious."

"So is it in a bowl or something? You eat it with a spoon?"

"Well, no, it's like a cake, sort of, and you set it on fire and everything."

I frowned; Alto Girl was being extremely vague.

I started again. "Okay, so Christmas pudding is like a cake, a cake with fruit in it, and you set it on fire? Why?"

She laughed. "You pour brandy on it and then set it alight, and the brandy burns up, and it tastes really yummy."

"Oh okay. So what kind of fruit is in it again?"

"I don't know. I think Saltanos?"

I racked my brain for a translation. "Oh, you mean raisins?"

"I think so, yes. Anyway, Christmas pudding is my favorite. Its so sad they don't have it for you in America!" Alto girl also tried to explain to me what mince pie was; all I can tell you is that mince pie is made up of some unknown fruit (not meat, like I had originally assumed), and that it is 'really yummy'. I'll have to take her word on that.

So eight o'clock rolled around and we were all herded out to stand in front of the stage that was set up on the quad. The UCL band took the stage, and we launched into our set of carols. Keep in mind that we hadn't practiced, and neither had the band. We also had no conductor. The band would just launch into a song and the choir would jump in instinctively; we were flying by the seat of our pants.

The band was not very good, and some of them were even missing sheet music. They were also miked and we were not; this had the combined effect of highlighting their errors, as well as drowning out the choir. My roommate Natalie was there (god bless her) and she said she could barely hear us. Maybe that was a good thing.

Basically, it was not an amazing performance. I had expected the crowd (which was sizable) to leave in disgust, but to my amazement they stuck around, singing along with us. I realized afterwards that the vast majority of them were quite drunk; how else would they be able to stand the cold in the quad as well as our lackluster performance?

The worst part was, when we had finished our 15 minute set, someone yelled out: 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen!' It was the equivalent of someone shouting: 'Free Bird! Free Bird!' The band did not have music for this, and we did not have lyrics. Someone in the band started it anyway, and the rest of them trundled along. Us choir kids joined in reluctantly, not wanting to leave our band high and dry. When we got to the second verse (which NO ONE knows), we literally just started singing in nonsense words: "And when the da da da da da the blessed angel blah...and Jesus meh la la la la the blah de dah de mwah...." I exchanged mortified glances with my fellow altos. Fortunately the crowd of drunken English students didn't seem to notice. When the song was over the choir got the hell out of there, in case some other person demanded a random carol.

So with a few bumps in the road, I started the Christmas season, London style. Too bad I can't sit back and watch some Christmas movies, because I still have a ton of papers to write. In the meantime I will keep my eyes peeled for some mince pies.