‘My place behind the piano, that's where I'm happiest: out of the limelight a little bit.’

Choirside chats is a new series of interviews where we chat to someone from our community about what music, choral singing and Monmouth Choral Society means to them. 
For this Christmas edition of Choirside Chats, we spoke to Sam Bayliss - Monmouth Choral Society’s Accompanist. A chartered accountant by day, Sam is also a lay clerk at Hereford Cathedral and a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists.

So, Sam. Thank you so much for talking to us today. You've been with Monmouth Choral Society a long time now, which is brilliant for us, of course. But what's in it for you? 

Well, I think it's been 13 years now that I've been involved in Monmouth Choral, and I still really enjoy it. It's such a friendly choir. You've been very welcoming and supportive. And,  I still really enjoy the playing. 

My place behind the piano, that’s where I'm happiest, I think: out of the limelight a little bit, but accompanying is something I really enjoy.
 
Working with Steve is great.  He's so good with the choir, and we've got a good working relationship now; a good rapport.  Working with a conductor on a regular basis like that, you sort of come to know what they're going to say or do next. And so it's good to have been able to do that with Steve for so long and the choir as well. 
 
Why do you believe choral societies are important to the life of a community?

Oh, I think they can bring so much to the community. All those people coming together from different backgrounds and experiences, some with lots of choral experience, others with not so much and in different genres of music. I think it's a great spirit, when you bring people together like that. 
 
Big choral works that we put on, like Gerontius a few weeks ago - It takes such a lot to put that kind of thing on. We were lucky to, to come together with Chepstow Choral Society for that opportunity. But you absolutely need a big choir, and those great works would be lost and forgotten otherwise. Choral societies also give opportunities to professional musicians and soloists. 

What's your earliest memory of making music at Christmas time?

I was a chorister at Worcester Cathedral, and those are some of my earliest memories of performing at Christmas. I remember singing carols at the Cathedral, and we also used to go out and do carol singing in the streets. Through school, we went singing at local residential and care homes.

One of the big concerts I remember from my early days in the choir was The Messiah - we did it when I was about nine. I have quite a vivid memory actually, of coming out of that concert. I guess must have been the first time I'd ever sung The Messiah, and I just remember the final Amen chorus: you know, you get this big dominant 7th chord, and then there’s a bar’s rest. I remember the conductor saying that that bar’s rest towards the end is the most exciting bar of this whole piece, because everything stops. I just remember coming off that stage, thinking, 'wow, that concert was really quite something!' 
 
So It's a lifetime love for you, Choral singing, and you've been in lots of different choirs and different capacities as well.

Yes, I started as a chorister. Then my voice broke when I was 13, and I didn't sing much for a little while. That's when I took up the organ which became my main focus. But I came back to singing again later on at University.  Cathedral music, particularly, has been a big part of my life from age seven. 

Is there a particular carol that feels like home to you, or one that makes you think: Christmas has just started now when you hear it? 
 
The first verse of Once in Royal David’s City. At Hereford Cathedral where I’m a lay clerk, we still use a traditional 'nine lessons and carols' every year. We do the same kind of procedure every year, and just walking to the West End of the cathedral which is packed out with, 800 to 1000 people, and hearing that treble voice starting it all off, just as they've done for many years at King's College Cambridge… and then, of course, the the choir comes in, and then the organ comes in, and then you get the final verse descant… It always sends a shiver down your spine! It's just great to be involved.

Is there a moment in the Christmas season when it really starts to feel festive for you?

At the start of Hereford Cathedral's carol service, we process to the West End, and whilst we're doing that, the organist always plays a movement from Bach's Christmas Oratorio. Hearing that, I always think, ‘well, this is it. This is where Christmas starts’. That's around the 22nd of December. 

In the shops Christmas themes get earlier and earlier every year, of course. But having been involved in Cathedral Church music for such a long time, in my mind, we haven't even got through Advent yet! Christmas is still quite a long way away! I feel it's quite important to enjoy the Advent season first. I can just about cope with the Monmouth Carol Concert being on the 14th of December! 

Then of course Christmas Day itself. The service on Christmas morning is a massive part of it for me; having that experience is such a key part. And then you can go home and eat as much as you want!

What's your Christmas playlist when you’re peeling the parsnips for Christmas dinner? 

I quite happily listen to the Bach Christmas Oratorio but I also enjoy the classics… My kids are already putting on Mariah Carey, of course, and Slade!  I enjoy the modern pop Classics, as well. They both have a place. 

Do your kids also like the Bach Oratorio? 

I haven't quite got them into that yet - I'm working on it! But we perform the Christmas Oratorio every two years at Hereford Cathedral, and my daughter's just joined as a chorister so she should get to sing it in in January, which will be great; that will be her first experience of it.

So this could be the Christmas of following in Dad's footsteps!

We’ll see! She's loving it so far. She's really getting into it. I hope she gets the love of it that I have, but I think being a chorister is a great experience really, whatever you end up doing. It’s such a great experience from a young age. It really helped me, certainly. It is a discipline, because you have to have a lot of professionalism as a chorister. Learning things like that as a child, Learning to put together a proper performance over several rehearsals and being relied upon to do that. It's not easy to achieve, but it's a really good life skill.

Do you have a favorite unexpected moment in a Christmas service or a concert?  A mischievous descant or a triumphant pedal for instance? Is there anything that you particularly enjoy? 

One of the highlights is each year is a chord in O come all ye faithful. Because in that carol you have the standard six verses which you sing leading up to Christmas, finishing with ‘Sing choirs of angels’ with the Willcocks descant. But there’s a seventh verse, usually just sung on Christmas day: ‘Yea, Lord, we greet thee’. There’s a very famous chord that comes halfway through that verse on the word ‘Word’. Because we generally only sing it on Christmas Day we get the one opportunity to sing it. Willcocks wrote this arrangement, and, very cleverly, built this very famous chord onto the word ‘Word’ - because that’s the moment when the Word is made flesh. That is Christmas for me, I think. 

Finally, going back to Monmouth Coral Society, what three words would you use to describe Monmouth Choral Society?

The first thing that comes to mind is ‘friendly’. Then ‘welcoming’. And ‘supportive’. I've certainly felt very supported during all my time in the choir and very appreciated. I still love doing what I do for MCS and certainly hope I continue doing it for a very long time!