THE ROYAL SCHOOL OF CHURCH MUSIC
GUILDFORD AREA
On a warm summer afternoon RSCM Guildford Area ran their first workshop for members of worship bands and instrumentalists. The course leaders - Darren & Helen Allder, worship ministers at St Mary Bethany in Woking, together with tutor Richard Morgan - all studied at the London School of Theology, and have extensive experience of bands, instruments and styles of worship. Their advice included forming a band, how to cover a missing instrument, why not to play all the instruments together (the rule of one), making vocals work, and current trends in contemporary worship. Whilst the band formed for the day included electric instruments, they also demonstrated the effects available if only acoustic instruments were available. The participants were full of praise for this innovative course, and for the skill and knowledge imparted by the tutors. Even though several of the course were from more traditional backgrounds, the feedback suggested that further courses covering the use of instruments in worship would be welcomed, especially those that might include 'where to find suitable music', and those working with limited resources.
There were over 20 participants at this Saturday workshop run by Esther Jones, and around a third of them were under 18, which is a very good sign. Esther reports that it all went very smoothly and people seemed to find it helpful. Should we run the course again? If you think that we should then please indicate.
February half term 2010 saw some 36 young singers aged 7-12 taken through their paces by Esther Jones and Leah Perona-Wright in a fun filled three-day Voice for Life course. The activities included games, music, drama, voice and musicianship training, and lots of singing. The singers were divided into teams and competed for points during the course and at the end of each day a 'singer of the day' certificate was awarded.
The course culminated in a lively final performance for parents which included African songs complete with percussion and dance, gospel music, anthems, dramas, readings, and solo opportunities for many of the singers. To finish off, the winning team were awarded their prizes, and the 'singer of the week' Amelia Schmitt was awarded an 'RSCM Chorister's Companion'. There was a photo opportunity and one last song before everyone went home!
A number of singers and parents asked if another holiday course would be run in the summer, and 100% of the singers said they had enjoyed the course on their feedback forms. This first-time course in the RSCM Guildford Area was certainly a resounding success, and we will be looking at dates for a similar future course.
100% of participants on their feedback forms said they had enjoyed the course and 35/36 singers said they would book another place next year. Comments received from participants and their parents include:
'It was great. I loved it and would like to do it again! Thank you!!'
'Thank you so much. The girls went in smiling and came home laughing every day and sang, in harmony all the way home. The standard of the final performance was extremely high, not just in sound but in presentation (smiling, standing, processing on and off etc). Everyone was involved from the youngest to the oldest. Well done everybody!'
'I loved the whole ethos of the course and was delighted at the high standards achieved in such a short time.'
'Thank you very much for a very well run course. It held the attention of my girls, they came home singing some of the songs learnt. I do feel their voices have matured even with the very short course!'
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A small but very committed quorum of singers and choir directors attended an evening's workshop at St Thomas-on-the-Bourne led by John Barnard. During the evening John introduced us to the RSCM's fantastic seasonal photocopiable resource 'The Carol Book'. Sometimes we sightsang through the pieces ourselves, and other times we were treated to a CD recording of the carols performed expertly by Southwark Cathedral Choir. John always gave extremely useful introductions to the pieces, explaining how they could be used and just how flexible the arrangements in the carol book were designed to be. This enabled us all to go away with plenty of new ideas for our Advent, Christmas and Epiphany Carol services this year!
During the break, there were refreshments available including mince pies, stollen cake, wine and soft drinks, and the attendees were able to browse through 'The Carol Book', the new 'Carol Book Supplement', the Carol Book CD and other extremely useful resources. A number chose to purchase items to take back to their choirs. We received a number of very favourable comments including 'What an interesting and enjoyable evening - it deserved many more people than were here!' and 'I have picked up so many good ideas to use with my choir and had an extremely enjoyable evening as well. Thank you!'
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A choir of over one hundred singers from all around the diocese gathered at Guildford Cathedral for the 2009 annual area choirs' festival. Once the seating had been quickly and efficiently organised, the choir spent the morning session under the expert direction of Katherine Dienes Williams, first with some vocal warm-ups, and then rehearsing the service music, which ranged from smaller scale pieces for two or three voices, such as 'Day by Day' by Martin How and 'I love you, Lord Jesus' arranged by Geoff Weaver, to larger pieces such as 'O for a closer walk with God' by Stanford, 'Grow in grace' by Malcolm Archer and 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me' by Elgar.
After a lunch break, the choir robed for an afternoon rehearsal, accompanied on the organ by Paul Provost, the new Sub-organist of the cathedral. For the festival service, led by Canon Nicholas Thistlethwaite, the choir was augmented by the cathedral choir. Ian Church spoke briefly about the RSCM before the successful candidates received their Dean's and Bishop's Awards.
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We were delighted to welcome Geoff Weaver to lead us in an inspiring workshop which took place at St Mary's Church, Walton-on-Thames. During the course of the evening we were introduced to songs from all around the world contained within the new RSCM photocopiable collection 'In every corner sing' compiled by Geoff himself. This includes music from China, Brazil, South Africa, Cameroon, Lebanon, Korea, New Zealand, The Philippines, India and more.
Geoff would often have a fascinating story about the people he had met or the places where he had encountered the particular song he was teaching us. He opened our eyes to the context or situation in the country where each song had originated from. This was challenging, moving, and often led to us approaching the singing of the songs in a completely different way.
Geoff taught some of the pieces by rote,
and for others we followed the music. But as usual, Geoff challenged
us to go beyond the notes on the page, and by the end of the evening
had us all moving to the music and even adding actions to 'He
came down that we may have love'!
We were introduced to many songs from around the world that could
be used in our own churches - some as suitable anthems, others
as ideal pieces of liturgical music (e.g. a Kyrie, or Sanctus)
and others as hymns or congregational items. We were taken out
of our comfort zones - musically in having our horizons widened,
but also in developing a new understanding of the lives of others
around the world. We were also treated to some fabulous refreshments
on the 'world theme' with the relevant flags showing where the
food was from! All in all, a fantastic evening!
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The annual Come and Sing event at Guildford Cathedral remains one of the Guildford Area's most uplifting events. Each year, around 150 singers of all ages join together to rehearse and sing great choral works in just one evening. Although many singers sign up individually, the majority come with friends from choirs (both sacred and secular) that they sing with from all over the area. In recent years, Stainer's Crucifixion and Vivaldi's Gloria have been performed, alongside shorter pieces such as Handel's Zadok the Priest and Parry's I was glad. This year, selected movements (known as the Choral Suite) from Karl Jenkins's Armed Man Mass (which has already become something of a modern classic among choral societies), were performed.
As a result of feedback from singers who attended the 2008 event, we were delighted to be able to secure the dynamic and amiable musical leadership of Rufus Frowde, Organist and Assistant Director of Music at the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court, once again. Rufus's warm-ups and rehearsal techniques seem to generate a remarkable energy from singers, who've (in the majority of cases) already done at day at work. The energy and enthusiasm (and the sheer joy of singing with so many other singers in such an awe-inspiring building) remained apparent throughout the rehearsal and didn't let up until the last note of the concert performance which followed. The audience, largely made up of friends and family of those singing, were treated to a moving rendition of the work, and particularly enjoyed the decisively rhythmic 'Sanctus' and lyrically poignant 'Benedictus' movements of the Mass.
News of the coming year's Come and Sing event can be found on the Events Diary page. The Guildford Area RSCM committee is always keen to receive feedback from singers who have attended this event in the past and welcome suggestions from singers about the works that they would like to perform in the future. Please feel free to email comments by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page.
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This was an action packed afternoon designed to help candidates prepare for their Bronze (Dean’s), Silver (Bishop’s) and Gold Award exams, and for any singers working on (or interested in finding out about) the Voice for Life scheme.
Singers were divided up into groups based on the award they were working for: Light Blue, Dark Blue and Bronze (Deans’) candidates, Red and Silver (Bishops’) candidates, Yellow and Gold candidates. The Yellow and Gold Award candidates were lucky enough to have the expertise of John Wardle, the RSCM’s Chief Examiner, as their workshop leader for the afternoon. The other groups circulated round the other three session leaders during the afternoon: James Casselton (Director of Music, Therfield School), Esther Jones (Programme Director, RSCM Church Music Skills) and Leah Perona-Wright (Programme Director, RSCM Voice for Life). Singers were given training, help and advice on all aspects of the awards covering the prepared singing and voice training with Leah, the sightreading, aural and theory skills with Esther and the viva sections of the exams with James.
Even with all this helpful information and hard work, there was still time for some singing together at the beginning and end of the afternoon, a break with tasty refreshments, and games for the young people! One singer summed up their experience: ‘Thank you! Very encouraging and inspiring!’ and 9 out of 10 singers said they would definitely recommend the workshop to other singers.
To see a list of forthcoming events in the area, click here or e-mail for a copy of our brochure by clicking here.
Please let us know your comments on any of our events by clicking here.