Sing in Time: whatever time is sung, be sure to keep with it. Do not run before nor stay behind it; but attend closely to the leading voices, and move therewith as exactly as you can. And take care you sing not too slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from among us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.
And if there are still notes left on the page after everyone else has finished singing, do not sing them.
(from a tongue-in-cheek "Rules for Choirs" that has been floating around the Internet for some time)
[Tangent]
when I was a kidlet and attended church occasionally -or perhaps it was just once - on the Isle of Wight I could not believe that singy churchy people had to warble so slowly, and I rattled through the syllables as fast (and loud) as I could - with of course no regard for notes or timing or all those musikky things - to demonstrate my reading prowess. Dear goddessess I must have been a pain.
Yeah ... thinking back it probably was only once that I ever attended
While I am an aficionado of Tallis and his friends for worship music, in the mosquito-infested summer camps of Canada Kumbaya was often used as an accessible path to choral competence among young people and, as @Nick Tamen notes, can excel-- I have heard in a Black-majority church in North Carolina at a funeral and its quality and impact was remarkable. I admit the possibility that praise bands can deliver excellence but having experienced them primarily in the context of a parish melt-down (details available upon delivery of a triple portion of Lagavulin 16-year old), I am likely to head in the opposite direction and find a coffee house where they play Erin McKeown or the Indigo Girls on a loop. To quote @Baptist Trainfan, context is clearly all.
But much church music of any age, just like any music, is dire. The best survives. Just look at the top-40 list from your 16th birthday, and see how many of those songs you can remember. Most current church music will disappear, as did most church music of the 1840s or the 1380s.
A jazz vocalist friend teaches voice to pay her rent and feed her cat, and she tells me that adolescents love the challenge of excelling, and if she can find music to get them moving, she is cheered beyond words. Upon questioning as to which music works for them, she listed a number of names I did not know, but admitted that she had one pupil who was a Henry Purcell addict and has been known to busk in the Montréal métro with a tune or two. Perhaps she can pick up a florin or two outside the cathedral.
Those of us who while away our pandemic hours with BBC's Choral Evensong can see how some cathedral choirs are pretty omnivorous and can include all sorts of material, Perhaps with a greater acquaintance with the circumstances in Sheffield, one might perhaps understand why that approach is not being taken. Otherwise, it's a mystery.
But much church music of any age, just like any music, is dire. The best survives. Just look at the top-40 list from your 16th birthday, and see how many of those songs you can remember. Most current church music will disappear, as did most church music of the 1840s or the 1380s.
Absolutely, and something that I wish the folk who constantly bash modern worship would recognise. Goodness, in my limited experience quite a few modern anthems etc. are pretty awful - almost designed, it seems, to shock congregations (or to pose a juicy challenge for the choristers and organist) rather than to aid worship.
I have been having a bit of a go at Lichfield Cathedral's music list transcription project , currently in the 1850s. I found many of today's favourites got sung frequently back then too, but others not at all.
Take SS Wesley for example, Blessed Be and Ascribe got plenty of airtime, as is still the case. James Kent meanwhile was sung all over the place, but who bothers with him today? Gibbons on the other hand seems to have been known back then as a one-hit wonder for Hosanna, his other works perhaps not being regarded as inferior, but rather languishing unregarded on dusty shelves.
I'm sure there is plenty in the back catalogue from many composers that would be appreciated today if only someone dusted it off. Likewise there will be some popular frequently programmed things today, that like Prince Albert's Te Deum in C, will cease being regularly sung as soon as a convenient excuse arises.
The Church Of My Yoof had me as a (reluctant) choir conscript. We often sang an anthem at Evensong, and there were stacks of tattered copies of same in the vestry cupboards.
For the life of me, I can't remember the names of any of the composers, though doubtless some were (and still are) well-known.
Yes, it's not only contemporary songs etc. that are ephemeral.
In more recent times, a few years before his death in 2013, our Cathedral commissioned a choral item from Sir John Tavener to mark the dedication of a certain new piece of art. It was sung publicly at Evensong the previous week, as a trial run, and then again at the dedication service proper a week later. Whether or not it's been sung since, I couldn't say, but AFAIK it's not part of Tavener's published work.
But much church music of any age, just like any music, is dire. The best survives. Just look at the top-40 list from your 16th birthday, and see how many of those songs you can remember. Most current church music will disappear, as did most church music of the 1840s or the 1380s.
I think I've mentioned here that I help out in the band for some charismatic RCs, despite being neither. The main man who picks the music - who is a good friend and (IMV) very good at leading folks in worship - seems to pick new ones on purpose, and the congregations seem to respond. It seems this music is meant to be disposable, which I guess might not be surprising given the pop genre from which it is derived. I suppose if I wanted to knock it I might say there's nothing too much there to get your teeth into, once you've sung it (and sung it, and sung it) a few times - but it helps people, and that's great.
I'm going to be the last man standing who finds 'will your anchor hold' moving - but so be it. My kids humour me
The Guardian reports that choristers of Sheffield cathedral who were abruptly dismissed in June to make way for a “completely fresh start” are launching a new choir led by the cathedral’s former master of music.
No paywall but need to register for free to read full article.
An interesting development, and one hopes that it will work out well for those who are clearly putting a lot of effort into it.
It sounds as if there might be possibilities for other Sheffield churches to enjoy choral music - of various types! - on an occasional basis, perhaps on special days such as Patronal Festivals etc. etc.?
The same thing happened at Bradford in the 1980s. In that case "The Bradford Choristers" carried on for over twenty years before finally being folded back into the cathedral in 2005.
The goings on at Sheffield are as nothing compared to the bloodshed at Westminster Cathedral over the choir, choir school and music department. The goings on there are trully awful.
From that link, it appears that it's not St Martin's own musicians and choristers that are being *axed* (horrid word!), but independent groups, choirs etc. which have been using the church, and helping to provide the formerly extensive music programme.
As one would expect from the press, the church is almost bound to be cast as the villain of the piece, but I suspect there may be more here (as usual in these cases) than meets the eye.
A general reminder (i.e. not apropos of any specific posts) that any discussion of the newly referenced choral contexts must, as with discussion of Sheffield, avoid accusations, confidentiality breaches et cetera
/Hosting
(PS ... I simply avoid cathedrals and choirs, these days, instead)
As nothing to the chaos at Westminster Cathedral which is down to the Assistant Master of Music, Peter Stevens, and a temporary "organist in residence".
The Master of Music, Martin Baker left "by mutual consent" in January after the head of the Choir School got his way and reduced boarding, so wiping out 2 of the choristers' sung services at a stroke: appeals to Cardinal Vincent Nichols fell on deaf ears.
Since the March lockdown all the adult singers have been furloughed and there is no sign of them going back.
Latest news is that the cathedral music department's administrator has now resigned, saying her position is untenable and that the very existence of this formerly world-class choir is now under threat.
For the first time in over 30 years no Organ Scholar was appointed to start this September so it will be interesting to see if the post is revived in 2021.
You can read more in The Times or on Norman Lebrecht's Slipped Disc.
At the moment there are no choral services at Westminster ...
The goings on at Sheffield are as nothing compared to the bloodshed at Westminster Cathedral over the choir, choir school and music department. The goings on there are trully awful.
What a shame. Westminster Cathedral offered (at least until recently) a quite different sound to English Cathedral singing, which was very beautiful, in my opinion. And I do enjoy the 'usual' sound a lot.
As nothing to the chaos at Westminster Cathedral which is down to the Assistant Master of Music, Peter Stevens, and a temporary "organist in residence".
The Master of Music, Martin Baker left "by mutual consent" in January after the head of the Choir School got his way and reduced boarding, so wiping out 2 of the choristers' sung services at a stroke: appeals to Cardinal Vincent Nichols fell on deaf ears.
Since the March lockdown all the adult singers have been furloughed and there is no sign of them going back.
Latest news is that the cathedral music department's administrator has now resigned, saying her position is untenable and that the very existence of this formerly world-class choir is now under threat.
For the first time in over 30 years no Organ Scholar was appointed to start this September so it will be interesting to see if the post is revived in 2021.
You can read more in The Times or on Norman Lebrecht's Slipped Disc.
At the moment there are no choral services at Westminster ...
Better in that the last two pages of the letter can be read. There is a warning ‘Stop! This image was hotlinked’ which I presume covers the preceding page(s).
Whatever the rights and wrongs of individual cases may be, there's no doubt that church musicians/singers (especially in the larger Quires And Places Where They Sing) are going through a very hard time indeed. Some seem to be coping, but others appear to be breaking apart - possibly the cracks were there before, but the wallpaper has now failed...
The same applies to ALL musicians, orchestras, bands, choirs etc. it seems, whether amateur or professional. Our organist runs an amateur choir, with some 60+ members in happier times, and she is worried that they will never be able to pick up from where they left off.
She is by profession a music teacher - the recorder is 'her' instrument, so to speak - but she plays the piano well, whilst admitting that she doesn't feel quite at ease with the church organ! At least she is able to play the piano or the organ during Sunday Mass, which is a small start, I suppose.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of individual cases may be, there's no doubt that church musicians/singers (especially in the larger Quires And Places Where They Sing) are going through a very hard time indeed. Some seem to be coping, but others appear to be breaking apart - possibly the cracks were there before, but the wallpaper has now failed...
The same applies to ALL musicians, orchestras, bands, choirs etc. it seems, whether amateur or professional. Our organist runs an amateur choir, with some 60+ members in happier times, and she is worried that they will never be able to pick up from where they left off.
.
I belong to three choirs and each has its own ways of keeping going.
The church choir is now able to sing in church, a maximum of 8, though it has been 6 or 4 so far. We learned new material via Zoom over the summer which sounded good when put together in Real Life.
The community choir has kept together socially online over the summer and has put a distance learning programme in place via our website and Youtube. The IT person has worked really hard on this, but even so it is not very inspiring.
My auditioned choir has done least over the summer but now meets on Zoom, with snippets of various pieces to sing or improve. Last week was the first of four sessions with a vocal coach, thus providing useful tuition as well as some income for her.( baked beans as well as toast).
Yes, I think our organist's choir has been doing something similar to your community choir @Puzzler, but, of course, it's not the same as meeting (and singing!) in a large group.
Still, the ingenious ways in which people are adapting are Legion - though it must be proportionately harder for the professionals, or semi-professionals, such as cathedral choirs.
We spend a massive amount of time and money trying to keep people out of institutional care as long as possible, and we recognise the damage done to children by the process of removing them from their families and placing them in care - even when those families are unsafe. Why then send children away from their families who do not need to leave ?
There are several examples of Cathedrals which welcome day pupils. So boarding is not the only option. But not everyone lives within easy travelling distance of a Cathedral. Boarding has improved tremendously over the last generation and can offer a very positive experience and safe care. So I believe there is room for both.
Maybe, but among the front rank of our cathedral choirs they all have full boarding for choristers.
The key issue at Westminster is the palpable hostility towards the cathedral choir from the choir school, as shown by three things.
1. Pulling the choristers out of a recording week at the end of a school year - result, they were dropped by their recording company.
2. Deciding that a parent governor's decision not to go on a choir tour to the USA meant the boys couldn't go. Pulling out of a tour that had taken 2+ years to organise with only a few weeks notice not only lost the choir it's agent, and they haven't been picked-up by another, but damaged the choir's reputation with concert halls and hosting churches and cathedrals.
3. The insistence on boys being collected from school mid-afternoon on a Friday and being brought back by 9am on a Sunday has effectively closed choristership to all boys except those living inside the M25, preferably in or close to central London. This at a time when all other cathedrals are trying to cast the net for recruitment as wide as possible shows a disturbing lack of interest in keeping choristership open to all, regardless of parental income.
With all of that it might be hoped that the "cathedral authorities" - which in this case means the Cardinal Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster - would step in and offer support. Instead he has been found missing-in-action hiding behind a "review" that seems likely to preserve the unsatisfactory status quo (at best) or to lead to the dissolution of one of the world's great choirs.
@Chorister and @TheOrganist I don’t dispute your understanding of the politics of the situation. However, re boarding, the issue is not if it is safe - as in abuse free - though obviously that is very important.
It is that, it is fundamentally damaging to be separated from your key attachment figures in early / middle childhood. It is also the case that living in a total institution (by which I mean a place where you work rest and play in the same place, usually communally) has well recognised and profound effects on the mind and personality. It can be very difficult to adapt when you leave, giving rise to the idea of people being “institutionalised”.
This is not exclusive to boarding schools, similar effects in people leaving long term hospital care, the army, prison etc
It's worth pausing a moment and considering how many of our senior politicians, judges, business leaders, lawyers, journalists et al spent their formative years at boarding school and what the effect might be on our public life.
It's worth pausing a moment and considering how many of our senior politicians, judges, business leaders, lawyers, journalists et al spent their formative years at boarding school and what the effect might be on our public life.
When the Butler Education Act was being put together after WW2 apparently Churchill wanted to abolish Public Schools (in the UK theese are private, elite, fee-paying mainly boarding schools) on the grounds that they had failed to do what they were supposed to do which was to provide the country with excellent leaders. His Conservative Party was having none of it. We are suffering the effects of their failure to act today.
When the Butler Education Act was being put together after WW2 apparently Churchill wanted to abolish Public Schools (in the UK theese are private, elite, fee-paying mainly boarding schools) on the grounds that they had failed to do what they were supposed to do which was to provide the country with excellent leaders. His Conservative Party was having none of it. We are suffering the effects of their failure to act today.
The so-called Butler Act was passed in 1944 during WWII. Its aim was to make secondary education compulsory and free for all up to the age of 15. It set out the desired three tiers at secondary level (Grammar Schools, Technical High Schools and Secondary Modern Schools) with end-of-year exams to pick up people who needed to be moved from one school to another to cope with late-developers. The original aim of a 16 year leaving age was defeated by an alliance of Labour and Conservative rebels who said it wasn't necessary for factory hands to have examined qualifications.
It's perhaps a salutary thought that all these problems with choirs, choir schools, musicians, and so on are, in a sense unlikely to be resolved in the foreseeable future. The ongoing (and increasing) Covid-19 situation will see to that.
What remains of the church, if and when we get through the crisis, may well have different priorities, and music-making will probably have to a take a different form.
@Chorister and @TheOrganist I don’t dispute your understanding of the politics of the situation. However, re boarding, the issue is not if it is safe - as in abuse free - though obviously that is very important.
It is that, it is fundamentally damaging to be separated from your key attachment figures in early / middle childhood. It is also the case that living in a total institution (by which I mean a place where you work rest and play in the same place, usually communally) has well recognised and profound effects on the mind and personality. It can be very difficult to adapt when you leave, giving rise to the idea of people being “institutionalised”.
This is not exclusive to boarding schools, similar effects in people leaving long term hospital care, the army, prison etc
I often hear it said by former choristers and people who know more about chorister boarding than me, that they often thrive with boarding because of the structure, teamwork and devotion to music which they love, whereas boarders who aren't choristers may not have such an easy time.
I certainly wouldn't make an assertion that the experience is fundamentally damaging to them based on research not conducted on modern-day choristers
It's worth pausing a moment and considering how many of our senior politicians, judges, business leaders, lawyers, journalists et al spent their formative years at boarding school and what the effect might be on our public life.
When the Butler Education Act was being put together after WW2 apparently Churchill wanted to abolish Public Schools (in the UK theese are private, elite, fee-paying mainly boarding schools) on the grounds that they had failed to do what they were supposed to do which was to provide the country with excellent leaders. His Conservative Party was having none of it. We are suffering the effects of their failure to act today.
The Labour Government of 1945 to 51 had 3 big failures. Failure to abolish Private Schools, failure to prevent private medical practice and failure to close a private club (House of Lords). The inequalities of today's UK society are the result.
Yes, but under the present circumstances (which are hard for EVERYONE, not just cathedral/church choirs) there's precious little to be done about the *vexed question*.
With all due respect, the *church* has perhaps more important priorities, although I would expect some immediate pastoral care to be shown to any choir members/families who are in financial or health-related difficulties...
Fretting about when Choral Evensong can be resumed is not IMHO one of those priorities, however much one might love and value that service. There are (believe it or not!) viable alternatives...
Comments
And if there are still notes left on the page after everyone else has finished singing, do not sing them.
(from a tongue-in-cheek "Rules for Choirs" that has been floating around the Internet for some time)
when I was a kidlet and attended church occasionally -or perhaps it was just once - on the Isle of Wight I could not believe that singy churchy people had to warble so slowly, and I rattled through the syllables as fast (and loud) as I could - with of course no regard for notes or timing or all those musikky things - to demonstrate my reading prowess. Dear goddessess I must have been a pain.
Yeah ... thinking back it probably was only once that I ever attended
/[Tangent]
But much church music of any age, just like any music, is dire. The best survives. Just look at the top-40 list from your 16th birthday, and see how many of those songs you can remember. Most current church music will disappear, as did most church music of the 1840s or the 1380s.
A jazz vocalist friend teaches voice to pay her rent and feed her cat, and she tells me that adolescents love the challenge of excelling, and if she can find music to get them moving, she is cheered beyond words. Upon questioning as to which music works for them, she listed a number of names I did not know, but admitted that she had one pupil who was a Henry Purcell addict and has been known to busk in the Montréal métro with a tune or two. Perhaps she can pick up a florin or two outside the cathedral.
Those of us who while away our pandemic hours with BBC's Choral Evensong can see how some cathedral choirs are pretty omnivorous and can include all sorts of material, Perhaps with a greater acquaintance with the circumstances in Sheffield, one might perhaps understand why that approach is not being taken. Otherwise, it's a mystery.
Fanny Crosby (1820-1915) wrote over 8000 hymns and gospel songs. I think there are probably only half-a-dozen which are still current...
Charles Wesley (1707-1788) wrote about 6500, though I guess a good few more than half-a-dozen are still popular...
Take SS Wesley for example, Blessed Be and Ascribe got plenty of airtime, as is still the case. James Kent meanwhile was sung all over the place, but who bothers with him today? Gibbons on the other hand seems to have been known back then as a one-hit wonder for Hosanna, his other works perhaps not being regarded as inferior, but rather languishing unregarded on dusty shelves.
I'm sure there is plenty in the back catalogue from many composers that would be appreciated today if only someone dusted it off. Likewise there will be some popular frequently programmed things today, that like Prince Albert's Te Deum in C, will cease being regularly sung as soon as a convenient excuse arises.
For the life of me, I can't remember the names of any of the composers, though doubtless some were (and still are) well-known.
Yes, it's not only contemporary songs etc. that are ephemeral.
In more recent times, a few years before his death in 2013, our Cathedral commissioned a choral item from Sir John Tavener to mark the dedication of a certain new piece of art. It was sung publicly at Evensong the previous week, as a trial run, and then again at the dedication service proper a week later. Whether or not it's been sung since, I couldn't say, but AFAIK it's not part of Tavener's published work.
I think I've mentioned here that I help out in the band for some charismatic RCs, despite being neither. The main man who picks the music - who is a good friend and (IMV) very good at leading folks in worship - seems to pick new ones on purpose, and the congregations seem to respond. It seems this music is meant to be disposable, which I guess might not be surprising given the pop genre from which it is derived. I suppose if I wanted to knock it I might say there's nothing too much there to get your teeth into, once you've sung it (and sung it, and sung it) a few times - but it helps people, and that's great.
I'm going to be the last man standing who finds 'will your anchor hold' moving - but so be it. My kids humour me
Wouldn't bank on it. A lot of crofters are Boy's Brigade alumni and hardy folk.
No paywall but need to register for free to read full article.
It sounds as if there might be possibilities for other Sheffield churches to enjoy choral music - of various types! - on an occasional basis, perhaps on special days such as Patronal Festivals etc. etc.?
A real belter, indeed, and one of our organist's favourites!
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/sep/20/unholy-row-as-leading-london-church-axes-musicians-using-covid-as-a-cover
As one would expect from the press, the church is almost bound to be cast as the villain of the piece, but I suspect there may be more here (as usual in these cases) than meets the eye.
Caveat Lector! (Let the reader beware!)
A general reminder (i.e. not apropos of any specific posts) that any discussion of the newly referenced choral contexts must, as with discussion of Sheffield, avoid accusations, confidentiality breaches et cetera
/Hosting
(PS ... I simply avoid cathedrals and choirs, these days, instead)
The Master of Music, Martin Baker left "by mutual consent" in January after the head of the Choir School got his way and reduced boarding, so wiping out 2 of the choristers' sung services at a stroke: appeals to Cardinal Vincent Nichols fell on deaf ears.
Since the March lockdown all the adult singers have been furloughed and there is no sign of them going back.
Latest news is that the cathedral music department's administrator has now resigned, saying her position is untenable and that the very existence of this formerly world-class choir is now under threat.
For the first time in over 30 years no Organ Scholar was appointed to start this September so it will be interesting to see if the post is revived in 2021.
You can read more in The Times or on Norman Lebrecht's Slipped Disc.
At the moment there are no choral services at Westminster ...
What a shame. Westminster Cathedral offered (at least until recently) a quite different sound to English Cathedral singing, which was very beautiful, in my opinion. And I do enjoy the 'usual' sound a lot.
Link to download the Administrators resignation letter.
https://ssg.org.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2103
Fair to say she doesnt hold back at all.
https://slippedisc.com/2020/09/music-at-westminster-cathedral-is-untenable/#comments/627370
Sorry. Members only.
My mistake.
Try here
https://twitter.com/holysmoke/status/1303751344445161475
The same applies to ALL musicians, orchestras, bands, choirs etc. it seems, whether amateur or professional. Our organist runs an amateur choir, with some 60+ members in happier times, and she is worried that they will never be able to pick up from where they left off.
She is by profession a music teacher - the recorder is 'her' instrument, so to speak - but she plays the piano well, whilst admitting that she doesn't feel quite at ease with the church organ! At least she is able to play the piano or the organ during Sunday Mass, which is a small start, I suppose.
The church choir is now able to sing in church, a maximum of 8, though it has been 6 or 4 so far. We learned new material via Zoom over the summer which sounded good when put together in Real Life.
The community choir has kept together socially online over the summer and has put a distance learning programme in place via our website and Youtube. The IT person has worked really hard on this, but even so it is not very inspiring.
My auditioned choir has done least over the summer but now meets on Zoom, with snippets of various pieces to sing or improve. Last week was the first of four sessions with a vocal coach, thus providing useful tuition as well as some income for her.( baked beans as well as toast).
Still, the ingenious ways in which people are adapting are Legion - though it must be proportionately harder for the professionals, or semi-professionals, such as cathedral choirs.
Speaking as someone who went to boarding school, I think boarding children is something that should be avoided where possible. I invite you to take a look at this newspaper article: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/08/boarding-school-syndrome-joy-schaverien-review
We spend a massive amount of time and money trying to keep people out of institutional care as long as possible, and we recognise the damage done to children by the process of removing them from their families and placing them in care - even when those families are unsafe. Why then send children away from their families who do not need to leave ?
Music is not a good enough reason.
The key issue at Westminster is the palpable hostility towards the cathedral choir from the choir school, as shown by three things.
1. Pulling the choristers out of a recording week at the end of a school year - result, they were dropped by their recording company.
2. Deciding that a parent governor's decision not to go on a choir tour to the USA meant the boys couldn't go. Pulling out of a tour that had taken 2+ years to organise with only a few weeks notice not only lost the choir it's agent, and they haven't been picked-up by another, but damaged the choir's reputation with concert halls and hosting churches and cathedrals.
3. The insistence on boys being collected from school mid-afternoon on a Friday and being brought back by 9am on a Sunday has effectively closed choristership to all boys except those living inside the M25, preferably in or close to central London. This at a time when all other cathedrals are trying to cast the net for recruitment as wide as possible shows a disturbing lack of interest in keeping choristership open to all, regardless of parental income.
With all of that it might be hoped that the "cathedral authorities" - which in this case means the Cardinal Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster - would step in and offer support. Instead he has been found missing-in-action hiding behind a "review" that seems likely to preserve the unsatisfactory status quo (at best) or to lead to the dissolution of one of the world's great choirs.
It is that, it is fundamentally damaging to be separated from your key attachment figures in early / middle childhood. It is also the case that living in a total institution (by which I mean a place where you work rest and play in the same place, usually communally) has well recognised and profound effects on the mind and personality. It can be very difficult to adapt when you leave, giving rise to the idea of people being “institutionalised”.
This is not exclusive to boarding schools, similar effects in people leaving long term hospital care, the army, prison etc
(The most well known text capturing this in the 20th century was Erving Goffman’s Asylums https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/erving-goffmans-asylums-50-years-on/06DC5E0BDB27D28C29BB0BEA3A31C03A/core-reader )
When the Butler Education Act was being put together after WW2 apparently Churchill wanted to abolish Public Schools (in the UK theese are private, elite, fee-paying mainly boarding schools) on the grounds that they had failed to do what they were supposed to do which was to provide the country with excellent leaders. His Conservative Party was having none of it. We are suffering the effects of their failure to act today.
What remains of the church, if and when we get through the crisis, may well have different priorities, and music-making will probably have to a take a different form.
I often hear it said by former choristers and people who know more about chorister boarding than me, that they often thrive with boarding because of the structure, teamwork and devotion to music which they love, whereas boarders who aren't choristers may not have such an easy time.
I certainly wouldn't make an assertion that the experience is fundamentally damaging to them based on research not conducted on modern-day choristers
There is some interesting discussion here https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-29/june-2016/effects-boarding-school
The Labour Government of 1945 to 51 had 3 big failures. Failure to abolish Private Schools, failure to prevent private medical practice and failure to close a private club (House of Lords). The inequalities of today's UK society are the result.
But - I agree...
(Mind you, that Labour government probably achieved far more in the way of Good Things than any other government in the last 200 years).
With all due respect, the *church* has perhaps more important priorities, although I would expect some immediate pastoral care to be shown to any choir members/families who are in financial or health-related difficulties...
Fretting about when Choral Evensong can be resumed is not IMHO one of those priorities, however much one might love and value that service. There are (believe it or not!) viable alternatives...
🤣 IME the notion of pastoral care towards musicians is something entirely alien to many clergy.
The bigger and more professional the musical set-up the less they seem to be seen as a part of the "parish."