Choral Twinning

[David Coram]

I've been having a bit of a think about taking advantage of the current media attention being given to choirs in general, and the traditional boys/men choir by implication/association (Gareth Malone's show in particular).

 

Do any other contributors to this forum preside over a boys/men choir in rude health, whether it has always been like that or fairly recently reinvigorated (whether or not the Campaign for the Defence etc etc would approve of the means)?

 

Aside from whatever local joint choir efforts can achieve, some kind of cross-country joint effort in a central location might be an effective way of getting us ALL a bit of media spotlighting.

[nachthorn]

I've always been impressed by the results achieved by certain church directors of music who, through the donation of generous quantities of their own blood, sweat and tears, manage to maintain happy, motivated choirs of committed singers performing first-class music. What is most impressive is that most of them have done this on their own.

 

I've always felt that the RSCM is missing a huge chunk of its remit (and thus a slice of potential membership) by ignoring the needs of 'decent' choirs in favour of encouraging those much lower down. (A few years ago, one such director of music said to me, "What have the RSCM got to offer me?") Surely the RSCM are the natural organisation to be offering vocal training, conducting and liturgy courses to parish music directors, and central resources for recruitment and PR? Sadly, they seem to be too busy promoting Margaret Rizza, Iona, and Geoff Weaver's "global songs", and generally presenting a carefully contrived balance between sacred and pop. I don't mean to knock efforts such as Voice for Life - generally the RSCM serve young choristers well. If you're in the right circles, you can even join one of the cathedral singers' groups when you're a little older. They just seem to abandon anyone over 25 to a lifetime of Bring and Sing Stainer Crucifixions and Kendrick. They seem to do nothing to support those choir directors who recruit and train young choristers who could benefit from VfL.

 

Is there another national church music body who could offer to coordinate such efforts? Or perhaps it's time for a separate organisation - perhaps a mutual association dedicated precisely to those areas David mentions?