Cambridge, shaken, starts new vocal course
NewsRattled by the dismemberment of St John’s Voices at St John’s College, the University of Cambridge has created and inter-collegial Choral
Foundation Scheme – ‘a one-year training programme which will equip students who have had limited access to musical opportunity… with the skills and experience required to join a college choir’.
Here’s the blurb:
Participants will develop their singing technique and musicianship through weekly rehearsals and free fortnightly one-to-one singing lessons, and they will sing twice-termly services of Choral Evensong or Compline alongside college choirs. In 2024-25 the scheme will be co-directed by Louisa Denby, Director of Music at Downing College and St Edmund’s College, and James Potter, Precentor and Director of Music at MagdaleneCollege.
It is hoped that the scheme will provide a pathway for enthusiastic singers who wish to go on to sing in college choirs to develop the experience and skills necessary to do so. Centre for Music Performance Director Simon Fairclough commented “Cambridge has a thriving tradition of excellence in choral music, with most colleges maintaining professionally-led college choirs. But the great majority of students arrive at the University without having had the opportunity to experience this sort of singing earlier in life. We are thrilled to open the world of choral singing to a wider range of students through the launch of this new scheme.”
Louisa Denby added “This is an amazing opportunity for students who have not had access to musical education. Singing in a choir is such a good thing for anyone to do, and I’m so pleased that the Scheme has finally come to fruition and we can offer this as part of the University experience.” The Choral Foundation Scheme has been fully funded for 2024-25 thanks to generous philanthropic support from John Osborn CBE.
Okay, great – but the dismemberment of St. John’s Voices has once again reduced the performance opportunities for accomplished adult female singers (sopranos, in particular).
Why oh why when Oxbridge already has far too many choirs desperate to sing chapel services hardly any non singing students or university staff attend?
Surely a secular choir would have been more useful to home choral skills rather than another choir singing in a fledging non attending church?
Have the organisers and D list choral conductors keen to promote their chapels, made mention on the blurb that to get any choral scholarship of any sort in any college, you need top grade A levels for University entry? This is crucial even on a Foundation Course and needs to be addressed.
Or is this another waste of resources and sour grapes to those who just aren’t competent enough to get into the far too many college chapel choirs already in Oxbridge a tiny few of which will gain any employment as a choral singer when this country has a handful of professional choirs anyhow?
What is it with this Oxbridge obsession to sing Evensong??
There are 15 current college chapels offering the same format, different menus each day in term time.
Who attends, other than those performing?
What is the point?
It’s not an act of worship, but a chance for the musicians to show off, dress up and have a show
You have clearly not seen the queues at places like Kings and Johns, New Coll. etc. The aim is not to produce professional singers, but we will have a good body of highly skilled musicians.
You will be surprised how many singers are employed to sing liturgically at churches around England. These are good full-time jobs and reasonably well paid. And these kind of church services are actually some of the most well attended and popular types if worship in the traditional churches.
Unlike many other types of musical training, there are actually good employment prospects for those who are trained to sing the liturgy.
Interesting to see that St John’s College has somehow neglected to take control of SJV’s YouTube channel. All the other social media accounts have been frozen including TikTok where the choir had 60,000 followers. So much for warm words about welcoming new choir.
A really positive initiative (and more than the occasional lip-service) from Louisa Denby and James Potter. Meanwhile some of their colleagues seem content just to moan that state-educated undergraduates are ruining their choirs…