Church music course Open Day in Canterbury; From Generation to Generation – RSCM Summer choir school at York; God rest ye merry choristers (eventually)
Church music course Open Day in Canterbury
Church musicians interested in developing their work are invited to an Open Day in Canterbury in early January.
All are welcome to drop in on a Study School organised as part of the Foundation Degree in Church Music, an innovative course which offers a real alternative to conventional university study for church musicians, offered by Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) in collaboration with the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM).
The free Open Day, on Saturday 5th January 2013, takes place at the main campus of Canterbury Christ Church University. On three occasions in the course of an academic year, Foundation Degree students from all over the country meet for an intensive, four-day period of lectures, seminars and music-making, along with opportunities to observe rehearsals and attend services in the Cathedral nearby.
There will be opportunities to meet course tutors and students, who include a cathedral organ scholar, church choir directors, singers and instrumentalists. One of the attractions of the course is its flexibility; students use the church or place of worship in which they work as the basis for much of their study and reflection. In addition, many of the module study materials are online. Students also have online access to the university’s e-Library, and are supported by a Mentor from the RSCM, who makes three visits to the student during the year.
“We hope that church musicians of whatever age will consider this course,” says Chris Price, the course director. “This is a viable and attractive proposition for many church musicians. Fees are lower than a full-time course, and students can work at home without incurring the cost of living away, within the familiar surroundings of their own church.”
Those interested in coming to the Open Day to meet staff and students and observe some of the activities, should contact Chris Price by email chris.price@canterbury.ac.uk or telephone 01227 782244.
More information about the course, including an audio podcast may be found here: www.rscm.com/fdcm.
From Generation to Generation – RSCM York summer school
During the week-long summer school, Monday 12 – Sunday 18 August 2013, there will be a wide range of talks, workshops, masterclasses, seminars and presentations, as well as services including daily prayer in the city’s spectacular Gothic Minster. Speakers and session leaders include some well-known names from the church music world including composers Malcolm Archer and Margaret Rizza, hymnwriter Timothy Dudley-Smith and Minster Organist Robert Sharpe, together with Rosemary Field, the RSCM’s Deputy Director and Andrew Reid, Director of the RSCM.
“This summer school is all about music through the generations,” says Andrew Reid, who will host the course. “We will be looking at new developments in church music, seeing their roots in some of our ancient heritage. We will discuss how church musicians can hold onto strong principles in a world of change, and what tools we will need for the future. We will focus on training and how we pass the baton on to younger generations.”
From generation to generation is aimed at all who care about the future of church music and are keen to find out more about current trends. There will be opportunities to explore new repertoire, examples of good practice, and debates about the future direction of church music.
As with previous summer schools held in Canterbury, Durham and York, the event welcomes church musicians from all denominations and musical traditions, and from all round the world. Prices include residential and non-residential rates, and there are discounts for RSCM Individual Members and members of RSCM affiliated churches. Day rates will be available when the detailed programme has been finalised. For further information including booking go to www.rscm.com/issc
God rest ye merry choristers (eventually)
Telegraph – Journalist Will Heaven, a former chorister of Salisbury writes – There’ll be no Christmas holiday for Harry Jackson. The 13-year-old, who was pictured in yesterday’s paper wearing a cassock, ruff and medal – and with a side-parting that screamed, “Boys, matron is going to help you get ready for the photo shoot” – is head chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral. For Harry and his friends, this is by far the busiest time of the year: they will be working flat-out until December 25 and performing for some 200,000 people.
My family understands the life of a chorister all too well. In what (as my parents joke) was probably a world record, I, my two older brothers and my younger sister were all choristers at Salisbury. So we know, inside out, just what a Cathedral Christmas entails. Come to think of it, for 12 years straight we didn’t spend a single Christmas Day at home. The entire family dutifully trooped to the cathedral to watch one or more of us sing at 10.30am. It’s the same everywhere. “If you want a decent seat at the Eucharist, you can forget that Christmas Day lie-in,” a colleague and current St Paul’s parent told me.
The morning service, I remember vividly, was followed by a buffet lunch in school – slimy coronation chicken laid on by the chorister parents – and then, shortly after pudding, evensong at 3pm. (Even at St Paul’s, I’m told, the parents are a little tipsy by this stage.) Only after the last note of that service sounded did the holidays properly begin. “Oh yeah,” we remembered on the way home, “we’re going to get presents!”
Behind the scenes it was even busier. For the choristers, Christmas Day really starts at 11.30pm the night before, when they file into the stalls to sing Midnight Mass, a service which is for many churchgoers the liturgical highlight of the year. More at –
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/willheaven/100193871/god-rest-ye-merry-choristers-eventually/