On Friday during half term we went ten pin bowling with choir. Craig, Tom, Adam, Joe, Dean and myself all enjoyed our time. We had some funny moments like when Joe bowled the ball right half way down our lane and then the ball bounced into the lane next, we all laughed Joe was very embarrassed Also when I picked up the ball I swung my arm forward then backward and the ball came out my hand in the direction of Peter and the boys.
Next cheating!! When it was Craig’s turn, Craig and Tom both picked up a ball and Tom took Craig’s go with him, no wonder he got two strikes. This put his score higher than Joe’s, so he wasn’t very happy. Afterwards we went to Frankie and Benny’s for tea, the waitress gave us children’s menus, Adam and Dean wanted a full rack of ribs! But my favourite part was inhaling the helium out of the balloons, we all sounded funny. Dean filled a balloon with coca cola and we all started playing football with this balloon, and someone kicked the balloon into the back of a big car, we thought it would pop in the car and cola would be everywhere all sticky. We eventually retrieved the balloon, but it popped on the bushes.
We all enjoyed the day the bowling was a lot of fun and the meal was lovely. We would all like to thank Win Pemberton for giving the choir the money towards the day.
Daniel Mansfield.
We are looking for more choir boys!
Peter Miller recently visited St. Mary’s School and auditioned a number of boys, some of whom have been offered places in the choir. The parents of these boys have been invited to a meeting in the Millennium Centre on Wednesday 5th September at 7.00 pm when, over a glass (or two) of wine, the commitment required of choristers will be explained and parents will be given an opportunity to ask questions and look a little further into the commitment required of our choir boys.
It may be that other boys would like to join the choir as probationers – no commitment at first, just an exploratory period!
Anyone who has a son aged between six and ten, and who would like to learn more about choir membership is welcome to attend the meeting. Just come along, or mention it to Peter or Jenny beforehand. A simple audition to judge suitability is necessary at some stage – singing a few notes and a simple hymn usually suffices.
Peter Miller 226 4273 / 07753 258 504 pmiller1946@hotmail.co.uk
…well, two early mornings, actually.
The first was a Saturday, 12th May, and the culmination of weeks (if not years) of preparation, when seven of our choir boys trouped down to Liverpool Cathedral at 8.30 in the morning to be put to the test – the infamous Bishop’s and Dean’s awards.
Tom was first. His examination began at 8.45 am in the Cathedral Song Room. Half an hour in which he was subjected to a series of musical tests, sight reading, key signatures, time signatures, Italian musical terms, vocal exercises, questions about religion, church worship, the liturgy, and the relevance of music in worship – and solo performances of a hymn (one verse unaccompanied, eight-line verses) and an anthem, prepared in advance, together with eight verses of a psalm, singing at sight.
Then followed Mark and Craig – half an hour for each of them too! These were the Bishop’s Award candidates. All three already hold the Dean’s Award.
The Dean’s Award candidates were Gareth, Adam, Daniel and Bryn. Their examinations were slightly shorter – only twenty-five minutes – and, again, individual examinations. But the hymn is simpler (four line verses) and the psalm has been prepared in advance as well.
There were two examiners for each boy, Ian Wells (Deputy Organist at Liverpool Cathedral) and Stephen Derringer (Head of Music at St. Margaret’s School).
A gruelling session completed by midday!
The boys did well! All passed!! They have now received written reports on how they performed. Craig, for instance, one of our Head Choristers, passed with merit – “A very confident performance. You sang well in your prepared items, with good breath and tone control…answers to aural tests were good.”
These are Royal School of Church Music Awards, moderated internationally, and they will be formally presented at a special service to be held in September at Prescot Parish Church in early September. However the boys are permitted now to wear the special medallions, (purple for the Bishop’s Choristers and green for the Dean’s Choristers) and we will present these at The Parish Eucharist in St. Mary’s.
Nine of our choir boys now hold these awards, as Sam Wass (Head Chorister Cantoris) and Jonathan Stewart are already Dean’s Choristers. Aren’t we doing well?
Peter Miller.
The members of the Choir have been kept very busy recently. During Lent we managed to sing Choral Evensong every Sunday – and this involves quite a lot of music, with a different setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis every Sunday, as well as an introit and an anthem.
The men sang Compline every Tuesday evening; this (a further commitment) was well attended, not only by the choristers but also by the members of Gerwyn’s study group. Compline is one of the ancient monastic services sung entirely to plainchant and based around the appointed psalms. The chancel was dimly lit by candle light and subtle use of the church’s electric lighting – as subtle as we could get it, anyway! The calm, peaceful atmosphere was much appreciated and allowed moments for reflection and prayer. The choristers then processed to the Halton Castle for light refreshment – some good real ales – and participated in the weekly quiz which, on one occasion, they won!!
The choir men also enjoyed, one Friday evening, a visit to one of Liverpool’s unique and legendary pubs, full of character and an interesting clientele – Peter Cavanagh’s, in Catherine Street – where they were well looked after by the landlord and enjoyed a good variety of bitter beers.
During Holy Week the choir sang at the daily Eucharists, beginning the week with a performance of Malcolm Williamson’s exciting “Procession of Palms” and ending with a vibrant Solemn Evensong and Procession on Easter Day itself, when C.S. Lang’s exciting setting of “Christ the Lord hath risen!” was the anthem. This Easter evensong, the last of the ten choral services of Holy Week, was attended by the Bishop of Warrington, who spoke, in his sermon, of the special place of Choral Evensong in the worship of the Church of England – and noted with pleasure that the service continues to be sung in St. Mary’s every week. The Bishop took part in the solemn “figure of eight” procession, and censed the high altar during the singing of the Magnificat to Stanford’s wonderfully pompous setting in C. The attendance of choir members at the various Holy Week services was excellent – and much time was spent, not only singing at the services themselves, but also rehearsing the music. Many thanks to them!
Daniel Mansfield, Dean Murray and Craig Thompson (Head Chorister) attended all the choral services and choir practices in Lent, Holy Week and Easter, between 21st February (Ash Wednesday) and 8th April (Easter Day) – [28 attendances in 47 days] a marvellous record! Our regular core of men all rallied round and supported the choir with their usual loyalty. Kevin Mulcahy played the organ for all the choral services in Holy Week and on Easter Day with his usual flair and brilliance, and sensitive, supportive accompaniments.
The senior choir boys enjoyed an “up and down the towers tour” one day in Holy Week and caused quite a disturbance on the way! Aided and abetted by Gerwyn and myself, we first of all clambered around the organ, reaching those parts which others (except the tuner) seldom see, including the first floor where the pipes are, with its interior view of those ugly bricked- up windows. We visited the underground chamber which contains the blower, clambered up the tower stairs to the clock chamber, peered precariously down into the chancel, emerged at the top of the tower and visited the bell chamber on our descent – which is why some older locals might have thought the Germans had, at last, landed. Then, having seen the cathedral tower from the top of St. Mary’s tower, we went into Liverpool and made an ascent of the Cathedral Tower and were able to look across the miles to West Derby and glimpse our own little church tower on the hazy horizon. The afternoon concluded with afternoon tea in the cathedral gallery café…and back to St. Mary’s for more singing.
Peter Miller, April 2007.
Interesting reading in my bank holiday Telegraph….Fewer and fewer boys are applying for places in schools attached to cathedrals, churches and university college chapels. The chief reason for this fall is the reluctance of parents to commit their children to the demands it makes on their time, whether it be daily evensong or Sunday services.
The shortage is having a knock-on effect by depleting the pool from which lay clerks - adult male singers - are largely drawn, threatening the future of a musical tradition that has existed for more than a thousand years.
The Master of the Music at York Minster, Philip Moore, said numbers had also been hit by the decline of parish church choirs, a recruiting ground for the boy choristers needed to produce the distinctively pure sound of English cathedral choirs.
Church choirs themselves have also been hit by evangelical clergy who have introduced "happy clappy" worship with guitars and drums.
The Daily Telegraph comments: "The music performed in our cathedrals, churches and chapels, ad majorem Dei gloriam, is one of the pinnacles of our culture. Singing services is both physically demanding and aesthetically satisfying, and often held in a ravishing architectural setting. Far from being reluctant to commit their children, parents should be encouraging them to volunteer for an experience that will enrich the rest of their lives.
Here in West Derby we still manage to maintain a choir of men and boys - though, just like Paul Hale, the Rector Chori at Southwell Minster, the author of this article also occasionally "wakes up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night" worrying about the future of the choir and its members!
Saint Mary's has the only traditional Anglican Church choir of men and boys in the Liverpool area, apart from the two cathedrals. There has been such a choir in Saint Mary's from the very beginning. Our predecessors, men and local boys, sang at the laying of the foundation stone in 1853 when, with ceremonial trowel, the Earl of Sefton descended into an excavation and put the stone in its place.
The choir has always enjoyed a good reputation. Currently we have eighteen boys in the choir who work very hard to perform a variety of choral music at our services - two sung services every Sunday at least, and at least two weekday practices every week as well! In Holy Week (which I count as lasting for ten days, Friday to Easter Day, 7th to 16th April) the boys attended every day, often twice a day, for practices and services. There were never fewer than twelve boys at a service, usually more - a fantastic record! They sang about twenty different pieces of music - not including all the different settings, psalms and hymns. And, of course, the boys' parents spent much time ferrying, fetching and carrying the boys around, washing surplices, and cleaning black shoes and grimy faces.
Our loyal group of men (all ex-choir boys from somewhere or other!) supported the boys superbly, again attending extra practices and singing at daily services - quite unique for a parish church choir, and a considerable achievement. It was good to welcome back once more Adam Price, Gerard Thompson and Jonathan Yates from university.
We need more choir boys now. Please have a word with me if you know of a boy who might be interested in joining the choir. A short, simple audition will be arranged. We practise every Monday and Friday. The boys meet for football at about 6.15 pm (either in the Millennium Centre or on our own pitch!) and this is followed by drinks before the practice proper begins at 7.00 pm.
We also urgently need men to sing alto, tenor or bass. It helps if you can read music and, again, a short audition will be arranged. Please ask if you want to know more. We will share our mints with you and might buy you a pint after choir practice - on the first occasion!
Peter Miller