British cathedral delivers 2-in-1 shot with vaccine and live organ music
Salisbury Cathedral organist John Challenger says he's thrilled to have a live audience again
What's the best music to listen to while getting a vaccine shot? It's a question organist John Challenger has had to grapple with recently.
"It's actually been very, very difficult to find pieces with titles that are relevant," he told As It Happens host Carol Off.
Challenger is the assistant music director at Salisbury Cathedral in England. Twice a week, the cathedral hosts 12-hour COVID-19 vaccination clinics.
During the wait before and after the shot, Challenger and fellow organist David Halls treat guests with a range of musical delights on the cathedral's Father Willis Organ.
The idea that music isn't terribly important, it falls flat here.-John Challenger, organist
Challenger says the music has been well-received by patients — maybe a little too well-received.
"With the Pfizer vaccine, which is currently being used, there is a requirement that you stay for 15 minutes after you have had your jab, as we say," he said.
"One of the medical team administering the vaccinations has been telling me how it's almost a bit of a problem. Actually, they're staying a little bit too long and they're running out of space."
The Salisbury Cathedral isn't the only large venue operating as a vaccination centre in England. On Jan. 25, the country's National Health Service announced that several other venues — including sports centres and a concert arena — will operate as vaccination hubs.
It's part of Britain's mass vaccination drive, which has seen more than 9.2 million people receive a first dose. The Cathedral's vaccine sessions have been held twice weekly since Jan. 16, and around 1,200 patients attend each one.
Challenger says the cathedral's dean, Nicholas Papadopulos, offered the building as a hub as soon as he heard the news that the vaccine was on its way to England. He pitched the building due to its beauty, size and ventilation.
"It's the most fantastic use of the building," Challenger said. "Salisbury Cathedral is an enormous, early English Gothic cathedral with lots of different spaces in which it's very useful at the moment. We have spaces for queuing, spaces for vaccinating and spaces for people to sit afterwards."
On top of that, the Salisbury Cathedral is one of the only places in Britain one can hear live music right now. Many of the country's theatres and concert halls remain closed.
"I've been quite fortunate throughout this pandemic in that I have largely been able to continue to play the wonderful instruments that we have in the cathedral, but not to people," Challenger said. "It's just wonderful to have reactions again. It makes it so much more worthwhile."
Alongside the positive reviews, Challenger says he's received suggestions for specific pieces — and even when they should be played.
These requests range from classical pieces from composers like Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel, to more "trivial" songs like I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside, he said.
Challenger says people have been starved for spontaneous music-making during the pandemic, and his work gives patients a chance to reconnect with the experience.
"They've really been missing these things, which are so crucial to our well-being and happiness," he said. "The idea that music isn't terribly important, it falls flat here. I mean, music does so much for people."
Written by Mouhamad Rachini. Interview produced by Chloe Shantz-Hilkes.
