Blue Heron has $26 dollars in its hand at First Church of Cambridge on Thursday, 30 January 2025.

The renaissance choir practices its steps ahead of the official performance of The Armed Archangel.

Who isn’t a sucker for free admission? Blue Heron regularly schedules no-charge practice sessions before official performances. The gorgeous polyphonal tones of the area’s favorite renaissance choir are a wonderful way to spend an afternoon, if you’re retired, under employed, or unemployed.

Did I sneak into another freebie Blue Heron practice at the First Church Cambridge?

Yup.

An excerpt from a forthcoming piece at my Cambridge Day gig.

The renaissance choir Blue Heron met last Thursday to practice their latest piece “The Armed Archangel,” based on “L'homme armé,” a secular tune adapted for use in Catholic Masses for St. Michael’s Day during the 15th century.

I’ll never rank practices above official performances, as a matter of principle. But there are small epiphanies that reveal themselves to you at the more rough-hewn stage, which are all but sanded away in the final product.

This is especially true with music performances that involve what people in the theater world call “blocking.” Choreographed movements for the singers, which will unfold in concert with the various phases of the Catholic ritual.

Eventually. It takes a little effort, though, to synchronize the movements with sound, and the small congregation of attendees at 11 Garden St. watched in real time as the choir perfected its art.

The “Procession” is the first and last major phase of movement in the Mass, sandwiching the rest of the ritual. And it’s exactly what it sounds like. The choir, in full polyphony, proceeds around the room, making a pit stop in front of the icon of St. Michael, before returning to their seats.

Artistic director Scott Metcalfe played the role of shepherd, guiding his flock neither too slowly, nor too quickly, to its appointments. A few water bottles were knocked over in all the shuffling. Renaissance choirs are not immune to the craze for gratuitously oversized hydration aids. But with the help of faith, God’s eternal love, and 40 oz of liquid, Blue Heron will have the wrinkles ironed out for any and all future performances.

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