The value of choir schools

Kings College Choir (Photo: Geoffrey Robinson)

It was a timely conjunction that I came to read the article on Sing Up by Baz Chapman in the June issue of Music Journal on the day following our end of year Choir Schools Outreach concert in King’s College Chapel. We have just completed our second year in this new scheme. Our choristers have supported Lyn Alcantara, our vocal animateur, in school visits, and sang in the recent concert with children from the participating primary schools, many of the children having joined the Saturday morning choir that Lyn directs, King’s Junior Voices (to be distinguished from King’s Voices, the mixed undergraduate and graduate choir at King's, which, among other things, sings in Chapel on Mondays).

I very much liked Baz’s idea of the pyramid (or series of pyramids) in which 'access for all children and young people to musical opportunity' can lead from a broadly based basic musical training to the possibility of being inspired for life by music and, for some, to aspire to one of the many different kinds of success in music, be it as composer, performer or teacher, amateur or professional.

Baz cites Mike Brewer's superb National Youth Choir of Great Britain (the National Youth Orchestra of GB is its orchestral counterpart), as an aspirational peak for young singers. I believe that the cathedral and collegiate choral foundations provide another high point, but I will not be alone among my colleagues in finding that the pillars (to change the pyramid image) which support this unique British tradition are becoming less secure. There is increasingly a dearth of music in schools, churches and the home (not a situation confined to the UK).

We may berate successive governments for having allowed the provision of music in schools to decline, criticise the clergy for presiding over, and in some cases actively promoting, the demise of church choirs, and lament the widespread disappearance of domestic music making. But simply to observe these things and to complain quickly breeds a negative outlook. We can, of course, seek to reverse some of these trends.

The government, for example, could transform the future musical life of the country by revitalising musical provision in our teacher-training colleges, with the aim of providing a music specialist in every primary school. This would not be achieved by spin and short-term window-dressing, but by serious engagement and commitment into the medium and long term. In the present financial circumstances, it seems unlikely that such an enlightened policy will be implemented, and so we must concentrate on maintaining and expanding the many estimable organisations which exist to promote singing for the young, and develop new initiatives. Our choral foundations already fulfil an important function in this connection and have potential to do more, the Outreach Project being a good example of a recent development.

After these general observations I shall now make some remarks about what the choral foundations have to offer. I shall necessarily talk about King’s, but what I say is applicable throughout the system. It is important to remember that the choir schools are not, in the main, specialist music schools, so that even though choristers spend quite a lot of time with music - singing, instrumental work (each of ours learns an orchestral instrument and the piano) theory and composition, they also follow the normal academic curriculum, as well as playing sport. This makes for a busy but stimulating life for the child who is ready to thrive on it. There are many beneficial interactions - engagement with music is known to improve academic performance; singing helps instrumental playing and vice-versa; physical fitness raises the level of our daily work in every sphere.

Singing in the Chapel Choir, playing in one of the school orchestras and in chamber groups (some 80% of the children in King's College School learn an instrument), provides not only an extremely sound basis for a future in the musical profession for our young singers and players, and thus contributes to the next generation of professional musicians; it also nurtures informed audiences for the future. For the individuals concerned, it instils in them many qualities which are invaluable in life’s journey, be it a musical one or not, such as social awareness, motivation, care with detail, a desire to see a job well done. And there are many unknowns too: how can one know the inner feelings of a young chorister who experiences Bach’s St John Passion or Handel’s Messiah (both works we have performed this year) for the first time? Touring is a very popular aspect of the chorister’s life, not only for the opportunity it gives to sing in some of the great cathedrals and concert halls of the world, but also for its educational value and ‘fun’ content - going up the Empire State Building, taking a boat trip around the Sydney Harbour, walking in the Vatican gardens, or even, dare it be admitted, visiting Disneyland in Paris.

It is tempting to dwell on these extras, but at the centre of a chorister’s life are the immediate surroundings and the daily routine - singing a hugely varied repertoire in an inspiring architectural and liturgical setting, in a friendly supportive and pastorally aware environment. For our choral and organ scholars, too, the benefits are no less rewarding; the life of the Choir forms one of the main strands in their journey through University.

Organists and directors of music are always very pleased to receive enquiries from teachers, parents or friends, of children who might stand to benefit from a choir school education, and particularly to explain how it all works to those who are unfamiliar with it.

We all share the wish to encourage existing enterprises and new initiatives in musical education. The choral foundations provide a wonderful pathway to musical success and fulfilment; not the only path, but a very good one. Let us make their value as widely-known as possible.

Stephen Cleobury has been Director of Music at King’s College Cambridge for twenty years. He is also conductor of Cambridge University Musical Society (CUMS) and was Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers from 1995-2007. He is now their Conductor Laureate.

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