Diocesan Church Music Committee News (2003)

David McConnell gives news of recent and current activities

What's our purpose? 

The Diocesan Church Music Committee does not have a formal ‘mission statement’. Perhaps it should have. Words such as ‘support’, ‘encourage’, ‘inform’ and ‘train’ come to mind when reflecting on what we aim to do. There is never any shortage of ideas at committee meetings. But implementing these ideas can be problematical in the absence of professional administrative support. When confronted with a host of good ideas, focus is achieved by prioritisng, and this is something the committee will have to look at if it is to be effective.

Our mailing list now includes (we hope) all church musicians (Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian) in the dioceses of Dublin, Glendalough, Meath and Kildare, and even a few further afield. The Committee always welcomes feedback from church musicians, and suggestions. So, don’t be shy, let us know what you think. Our email address is info@churchmusicdublin.org. 

Training Scheme

Brochures about the diocesan training scheme for church musicians have been circulated widely. The course includes 28 one-to-one organ lessons, and group sessions on choir direction and liturgy. The student, the nominating parish and the diocese share the cost of the scheme. The closing date for applications for the 2003-04 year is Friday 15 August.

Deputy Organists

The revised list of deputy organists was circulated recently and is now published in the Dublin and Glendalough diocesan directory. Please keep us up to date with any changes that need to be made. If you would like your name added to the list, just let us know.

Empty Tables

This year’s church musicians’ dinner, scheduled for 19 May, had to be cancelled due to very poor advance bookings. We had 60 people at the dinner in 2001 and 2002, so the drop-off of interest is hard to explain. If anyone can come up with some reasons, we’d be glad to hear from you. ‘Thank you’ to those who did say that they would be present.

To cancel is always discouraging and disappointing. The Committee believes that many church musicians welcome an opportunity to meet socially from time to time. Maybe we need to explore varying ways of doing this. Any ideas?

Children Leading Worship 

Recent research has revealed a significant need for help in establishing new junior choirs and children's groups involved in leading the liturgical and musical aspects of worship. With the help of a grant from the Church of Ireland Priorities Fund, we intend to establish a scheme on an initial pilot basis for the encouragement of such groups through parish and school contacts. The scheme will involve the holding of a training workshop, probably in Christ Church Cathedral, for children and music group leaders. Course materials and resource packs will be produced which will enable the participants to readily use the material learned at the workshop in their home parish situation.

The project will produce resources on an ongoing basis and distribute them to the participating groups and will have skilled personnel available to give start-up help in local situations.

Look out for more about this innovative idea during the coming months. The project will be led by Judy Cameron, cameronl@eircom.net, and Canon Ricky Rountree, powerscourt@glendalough.anglican.org.

Choir Training Class 2002-2003

Peter Barley 

On an early December evening, this year’s choir training class met for the first time. Having run similar classes in London at the Merton Adult Education College, and the Royal Academy of Music, I was interested to see how the Diocesan scheme here would compare. I was favourably impressed by not only the standard of the students here, but also their eagerness to learn, not least from each other. This has always been a guiding principle in my choir training sessions, namely that students can learn a lot from watching each other, as well as from hearing instructions and tips from a tutor.

We had a good number of students, enough to form a small guinea pig choir for each student to direct, but not so many that each didn’t get a fair turn. Working mainly on repertoire from the Oxford Easy Anthem Book, we were able to cover a wide range of the basic skills needed as a choral director. Thus we began by learning beating patterns for different time signatures, and then moved on to consider how to indicate dynamics, phrasing and other musical subtleties. Alongside this, the practicalities of taking a rehearsal, correcting mistakes, making good musical judgments, and use of time were discussed.

One of the most important things as a conductor is eye contact with the singers you are directing. Much can be then conveyed to the singers, and particularly for giving leads or warnings this is very important. A lot can also be shown by gestures, and having mastered beating patterns, students were encouraged to try to become more independent with their left (i.e. non-beating) hand. This hand can be used to shape phrases, to grade dynamics, to encourage or to quieten, and to pinpoint leads.

Many of these aspects rely on the conductor being properly prepared, and knowing the score well. This was also covered in the classes, with particular reference to marking up and preparing a score, and aids to learning a score as a conductor.

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