A story is told of how one day, Sir Christopher Wren, casting around for something to mark the centre of his new cathedral of St Paul, sent a workman to find him a suitable stone. The new cathedral was being built among the remnants of Old St Paul's, and the workman came back with a broken slab of gravestone. On it, Wren noticed the word Resurgam - I shall arise. It seemed prophetic, and he subsequently had it inscribed on the pediment of the south door, beneath a carved phoenix.
Today, the cathedral still stands proud, a testament to a belief in miracles. Indeed, at the present time, the massive refurbishment of its exterior stonework continues apace.
Miracles are not confined to stones however! There are also choral miracles, and none more amazing or more welcome than the resurrection of the traditional choir of men and boys at Reading Minster. After a break of 36 years, the Minster will once again have a choir of boys singing there. The first rehearsal of the choir took place in late February, and already the boys are making good progress.
The Organist and Master of the Choristers, Peter West, said: "The Minster is the main church for Berkshire. It hasn't had a boys' or men's choir since 1974, and it's missing something in a way. Most of the choirs in the Reading area are mixed and very few boys are members. Boys' and Men's choirs are a great tradition, dating back hundreds of years, but it is a struggle to find male singers for choirs, so we need to do more to encourage boys to sing. "
Mr West recruited boys through local schools. He had 32 take part in voice trials, and 18 have registered as members, with another five on the waiting list - which all goes to show that those who repeat the mantra, "You cannot get boys", ought to do a little hat eating!
Mind, there was a momentary alarm when Mr West emailed the Campaign, saying: "I was very fussy in my voice trials, and so the boys I have actually make quit."
However, it turned out the cat had sat on the keyboard, and the email had gone out before it was completed. What Mr West intended saying was "I was very fussy in my voice trials, and so the boys I have actually make quite a nice sound already."
The Campaign suggested that the Minster's decision to re-establish the choir was of national importance, and Mr West agreed. "I think," he said, "it is more than just local news - all over the country boys' choirs are disappearing, and yet we have just started a new one, not with a handful of boys, but with 18 and a waiting list. I think this is a national story rather than a local one!"
CTCC members could not agree more!
ROLLING BACK THE STONE
Eglwys Gadeiriol Tyddewi, or St David's Cathedral in Wales, as most of us know it, was at the forefront of change when, in 1963, girls joined the choir. Gradually, over the years, the boys began to drop out, and eventually the treble line was made up entirely of girls (aged 8 - 18).
In 1990, the then Organist and Master of the Choristers, Kerry Beaumont, re-founded a separate boys' choir. In time, it came to sing Evensong on Tuesdays and Fridays (fortnightly with the lay clerks). The choir has sung in other cathedrals in the UK and Ireland and recently recorded its first CD.
The really good news, however, is that, on 21st February, the boys processed up the aisle of St David's Cathedral to sing Sunday Evensong on their own for the first time in 45 years. A truly momentous occasion, and those who say "nothing can be done", after eating their hats, should be obliged to eat their words!
This year's Be a Chorister for a Day at Ely Cathedral was not untypical of such days. "Dozens of lads aged six to nine" were reported to be "singing their hearts out". Once again, proof that, given the right conditions and encouragement, boys will come forward, will sing and will be proud and happy to do so!
1. Trailblazing choristers
The Yorkshire Post recently reported on a £1.5 initiative by the Leeds Roman Catholic Diocese to establish a state-funded cathedral choir primary school.
"The aim," we were told, was "to form separate boys' and girls' choirs who will sing regularly at services at Leeds Cathedral."
The inner-city school of Holy Rosary and St Anne's has been chosen for this project. Only around 10% of its pupils are English. Between them, they speak 20 languages. The Head Mistress, Kathryn Carter, believes that the school's becoming a cathedral choir school will allow staff to raise the aspirations of the pupils in what was described as a "deprived part of the city." She said the school had pupils who were "asylum seekers who have come from war-torn countries, and I believe music has the power to heal." And she went on to say that "music has the ability to transcend barriers of poverty, faith and culture" and that it can also "develop discipline and boost children's confidence and self-worth."
Ben Saunders, the Director of Music at the Cathedral, said: "In Chapeltown, there are so many languages, cultures and ethnicities, and we can use music as a way of uniting children across boundaries."
Ed Balls, the Children's Secretary, on a visit to the city, was equally enthusiastic. He said that listening to the choir was "a fantastic experience."
Getting children to sing is a noble cause, but in all of this talk, with its emphasis on social objectives, almost nothing is said about the religious function of a cathedral choir - which is its sole purpose. One has to ask how this function can be squared with having children of non-Christian faiths singing the services.
And it is good to note that King's College Choir, Cambridge, world-famous for its Christmas Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, has now added a new broadcast service - Easter from King's. But how can young boys cope with all this music? Do they think it worth the effort? "It's all worth it for Sunday breakfast," said Arthur, much to the amusement of his fellow choristers.
2. A Moving Experience
In a recent sermon preached at Leeds Parish Church, the Dean of Ripon told of a woman who became a Christian after walking past her local church and hearing the boys' voices ringing out.
Unfortunately, there will be no repetition of this particular scenario, as the choir in question no longer exists.
3. Have we got it wrong?
A recent concert on TV showed the choir of Paisley Abbey. It contained a competent boy treble line (singing with men and women). So, have we been wrong to suggest in recent years that there are almost no boys singing in church choirs in Scotland?
Alas, we have made no mistake, for it transpires that the boys' choir did not last ten years after a girls' choir was introduced and after the two lines were amalgamated.
And the broadcast? Well, that was a replay from yesteryear.
4. One small step
It is good to be able to report that Bradford Cathedral now has its men and boys singing together once a fortnight. No, it is not startling news, but it is a step in the right direction. The choir administrator at Bradford also says that there are plans to increase the number of services the men and boys will sing together.
5. Step forward!
The Head Boy at Leeds Parish Church has achieved one of the highest singing marks in living memory from the Royal School of Church Music. Several other Leeds boys have also excelled.
6. Sing Up, Reach Out
The Westminster Diocese has established a Diocesan Children's Choir. It will rehearse every Saturday morning at Westminster Cathedral.
The Cathedral's Outreach programme is also providing special singing lessons in primary schools within the archdiocese.
The initiative is part of the government-sponsored Sing Up programme, launched back in 2007, which aims to get professional children's choirs, such as those in cathedrals, to work with children in primary schools.
The Sing Up magazine recently interviewed Lee Ward, who runs the London Oratory School’s Chorister Outreach Programme in West London. He said that he found Year 5 boys at one school particularly challenging. "There were 15 girls and five boys, and for three weeks the boys refused to sing. I tried every trick in the book, but it wasn’t until I took six male choristers into the school that things changed. The boys were astounded to hear trained voices. After some giggling and rude comments, they joined in."
"The next week I took five choral scholars, aged 16-18, including the captain of our first 15 rugby team who is very manly and a countertenor! The boys were amazed. Their music teacher told me that a few weeks later they all wanted to audition for the solo for Once in Royal David’s City at the school carolconcert."
However laudable such things are, there is a down side. A look at the Sing Up website must inevitably leave anyone concerned for children to learn decent music and to acquire proper musical skills very disappointed. As for choristers going out to help, there is already plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that this initiative is asking too much, both of them and of their choirmasters.
7. Byrd on birds
In a wide-ranging look at the choral tradition last Christmas, the BBC Music Magazine declared that William Byrd, former Organist and Master of the Choristers at Lincoln Cathedral, would have approved of the girls' choir there. One wonders how the author presumes to know the mind of a man who died almost 400 years ago.
8. Recording deficit
Have you looked through your local music shop recently? If so, you may have found fewer recordings of the choral repertoire by traditional choirs than was the case even a short time ago. Something like 90% of choral CDs on sale recently in one Oxford music shop featured mixed ensembles.
CDs featuring traditional choirs were also noticeable by their absence in the newspaper reviews this last Christmas.
This trend is replicated on Radio 3, which rarely plays recordings sung by traditional choirs - by the very choirs, that is, for whom much, indeed, most, of the music was custom-composed. Protests to the BBC there have been, but it is usually a dialogue of the deaf.
However, the famous service from King's won applause in the Christmas edition of the Radio Times: "A magical Christmas tradition - sung by the sublime King's College choir".
9. Abusive epithets
"Reactionary critics (of Salisbury's girls' choir) have been silenced by its quality and musical achievements," opined Classic FM Magazine at Christmas.
Hurling insults of this kind at those with you whom disagree is no substitute for reasoned debate. Nor is it enough merely to state something to make it true.
10. Something to ponder
The Church of England's Research and Statistics Department has just published its Headline Mission Statistics for 2009, and interesting reading they make, too, as the following excerpts show:
"Attendance levels at regular weekly services in Church of England cathedrals have steadily increased by a total of 28% since the turn of the millennium, which is about 3% each year. At Sunday services alone 15,600 adults and 2,500 children and young people are usually present, while over the whole week the figures rise (by 78%) to 26,100 and 6,600 respectively. Westminster Abbey adds, on average, 1,800 people each week to these numbers."
"Midweek attendance continues to be very significant. In 2009, for example, it added 81% to Sunday congregations. Cathedrals are key places of daily Christian worship outside Sundays, adding an additional 67% of adult attenders and more than doubling the number of children over the whole week."
"Approximately 118,500 people attended services in cathedrals on Christmas Day/Eve 2009, while services over the period leading up to Christmas attracted attendances of 729,600. These figures appear to be adversely affected by Christmas Eve being on Thursday. Nevertheless, attendance over the Christmas 24 hours has increased by more than a quarter, 26% since the beginning of the century, while attendance over the Easter has dropped slightly compared with the previous year, only increasing by 3% to 49,600 since year 2000. "
"Cathedral attendances on these two major Christian festivals average approximately 2,821 and 1,181 respectively for each cathedral, and for many cathedrals, additional services have been created to respond to the
space restrictions that continue to limit attendance levels. Westminster Abbey adds over 4,000 adults, children and young people to Christmas Day/Eve attendance and more than 23,000 over the Advent season. Comparable figures from parish churches are currently being collected and collated."
The press release accompanying these statistics states: "Cathedrals are spiritual and cultural landmarks that punctuate their local region's life and this Easter weekend an average of more than one thousand people will worship at each of them. ... We also know that cathedrals offer those seeking time in a sacred space a taster of high quality music and liturgy, with perhaps less of a sense that they will be committed to attending regularly. But many people are drawn to getting more involved, as shown by the encouraging rise in the number of baptisms that cathedrals are celebrating."
On the face of it, cathedrals would seem to be offering something that is very much wanted. The remark about "high quality music and liturgy" being sought by people in cathedrals is bound to resonate with Campaign members.
Anyone actually attending services in cathedrals can see the reality behind these dry statistics. A service at St Paul's Cathedral, last Christmas, for example, was full, and a queue of 2,000 people wanting to gain entrance had to be turned away.
In other words, the cathedrals seem to be doing something right. So, why do some clergy ache for a change that is not needed or wanted? These figures clearly show that the public has no "itch to ditch" the noble traditions we have inherited - certainly not if it means replacing them by squalid and worldly offerings.
11. Equality Bill and Broadcast Evensong
Some Campaign members may know of the message board R3 runs for broadcast choral evensong. It is a good place to get your opinions heard if you have something to say. Directors of Music are known to read the messages.
An alarming message appeared earlier this month. It referred to an article in the Church Times. Perhaps, a quote from it will suffice:
"BBC programmes will have to comply with the requirements of the new Equality Bill now completing its final stages in Parliament."
"This will, of course, include Choral Evensong."
In order to ensure that Choral Evensong is not discriminatory, the BBC are proposing that the programme returns to its previous Sunday slot with an increased running time of 15 minutes to allow for a sermon, without reducing the musical content."
"This additional quarter of an hour will evidently allow the BBC to invite, as well as the local clergy, speakers from all Christian denominations, non Christians, non believers, others with strongly held philosophical opinions akin to a quasi religion – e.g. the greens, eco warriors and climate change fanatics, people of all sexual orientations and some celebrity speakers."
"The militant atheist, Richard Dawkins, has already indicated that he would be demanding 'a say when Choral Evensong was broadcast from any of the Oxford Colleges'."
Well, before Campaign members start pulling out their hair, let it be said that the above was published before noon on April 1st! But if any members were taken in by all of this, it is not because they are gullible. Rather is it the case that such scenarios are all too believable in our obsessively politically correct society.
12. Direct from a DoM
The same message board which produced the foregoing spoof, also hosted some interesting comments from Rochester's Organist and Master of the Choristers, Scott Farrell. His remarks were a follow-up to a broadcast evensong which the men and boys sang a few months back. It might be of interest to quote a few of them:
"As a new DoM back in 2002, when appointed to Newcastle, I discovered a rather innocent point of view! Totally convinced that I could achieve at Newcastle what many bigger foundations did, I set to work."
"What we achieved from day to day was really impressive for such a place, and I remember reading these message boards with great joy after my second (and last) broadcast from Newcastle three years ago. Moving here to Rochester a year ago presented me with a whole new series of challenges, but some remarkable advantages over Newcastle. Obviously, the biggest one was the King's School and the seeming ability to have as much rehearsal time as one wants. Let me assure you that there is never enough, especially when your weekly quota of services goes from four to seven!"
"I am very fortunate in comparison to many in that my boys get 20 minutes vocal coaching every two weeks in pairs, but if only it could be one to one...more money would help!"
"The prestige of the wealthy establishments is a draw. Last year, Canterbury had 28 applicants for five Chorister places. I had three candidates for four places. I learnt very quickly at Newcastle that you took what you could and then it was up to you to do something with them and make them into Choristers. I am happy to report that this year I have nine boys interested in five places."
13. Watch the Beet!
The indefatigable Stephen Beet has been at it again! This coming June, or perhaps before, if things continue to move along swiftly, he will be bringing out yet another CD - Master Billy Neely: Belfast's Own Boy Soprano. When Billy began singing lessons at age ten with Miss Nan Shaw to help cure a stutter, she discovered that he had a fine treble voice, and in 1946 he was auditioned for the choir of St Anne's Cathedral. He was accepted by Captain Charles J. Brennan who had been the Organist and Choirmaster at the cathedral since it was consecrated in 1904. That was the start of a distinguished singing career.