I obviously wasn’t singing as hard at this year’s carol service as I’ve done in recent previous years, as my voice wasn’t noticeably deeper and huskier today.

…. or perhaps it was due to the expedient of dropping our traditional closer, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, down a tone to F major from the G major of the Willcocks arrangement in Carols for Choirs I. That gives some nice beefy low notes for my bass section to enjoy and takes a little strain off the top although, with the descant part, it definitely isn’t one I’d want to put anywhere else in the service apart from at the finale.