Many years ago - about 1962, a very young Growster was a member of his school choir, and they really took the carol concert seriously...
We started rehearsing the various carols from September onwards, and by December, we were word - and note, perfect, but this particular year, it didn't go to plan...
One of the pieces we sang was 'The Shepherds' Farewell', and every time I hear it, I'm reduced to a dribbling wreck, as it's such a beautiful song, and of course, the Kings' version is always going to be the best!
What happened was this...
Our choirmaster decided that we would sing each verse after the first couple of bars of organ accompaniment (which are so evocative by themselves anyway), and from then on, we'd sing each verse unaccompanied. He'd just play these two bars at the start of each verse, and then we'd be on our own.
But things went very wrong, and whether by natural causes, or some sort of choral gremlin's influence, at the end of each verse, we'd all dropped a semitone, and in one verse, a whole note, so when he played the intro chords for the next verse, we were well out!
It was rather sad really, as there was no reason why he couldn't have played 'sotto voce' behind all our efforts, but anyway, my Dad went and bought the complete Berlioz record on the strength of it all, so things weren't that bad were they...
Here it is, sung properly! (a very young Growster sang alto back then, but definitely not in this lovely clip)!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_pyk3wmHGw&ab_channel=camusik96