T
he appointment of a new Director of Music in November, 2009, signalled the start of an ambitious plan to reinvigorate and sustain the church's musical tradition.
Additional choirmembers are extremely welcome in all voice parts, particularly gentlemen. Music reading skills aren't essential, but a willingness to learn is! If you read music, this is an added bonus and good sight readers are just as welcome!
The Vicar of St. Andrew's, the Revd. Simon Tatton-Brown and members of the Parochial Church Council are keen to encourage an active programme of music making at the church.
"If you want to be sure that a lad will mature into a truly redoubtable pillar of the male community, you need to put him in the church choir... If you think choirboys are soft, you obviously never met any. You certainly didn't call our head boy names, otherwise you wouldn't have such a symmetrical face. As a choirboy, you were required to prove yourself." - James May, presenter of Top Gear and motoring journalist
"The discipline given to choristers and the professional approach to beautiful music made a wonderful grounding for success in later life." - Peter Boizot, founder of Pizza Express and Peterborough United Football Club
Other well-known former choristers include broadcaster Jon Snow, Gareth Gates, MPs Michael Mates, Robert Key, John Wilkinson and Simon Hughes, wine expert Oz Clarke, Clive Mantle (Mike in Casualty), and Rodney Galpin, chairman of Standard Chartered Bank and a Bank of England director, who writes that "the qualities of discipline, intelligence and communication help choristers to distinction in later life."
The mixed voice full choir sings at the 10am Parish Eucharist on Sundays and other services as listed on Music Schemes - including a monthly BCP Choral Evensong (a BCP ferial Evensong is sung on most Sundays of the year). Worship is in the liberal Catholic tradition, with a vibrant liturgy, and excellent preaching. The music is very much traditional in style using a sung mass setting and regular anthems and motets. There are no plans to change this.
A monthly All Age Eucharist allows the full choir a service away from the choir stalls, and music is provided by a voluntary choral group, the St Andrew's Singers. More modern music, as well as traditional hymnody is used in this service. A new chamber choir, the Schola, has recently been formed to explore music from mediaeval times to the twenty-first century, and to sing in a stylistically appropriate way. Entry to this group is by audition. If you are interested in joining Schola, please contact the Director of Music in the first instance.
Anyone - adults, children, young people - is welcome to enquire about joining the robed choir and/or St Andrew's Singers and the Director of Music is keen to hear from the parents of prospective junior choristers.
In addition to the liturgical music programme, the church is used as a concert venue by a number of orchestras and choirs based in the locality, and from further afield. It is also the venue for a well-established annual series of lunchtime concerts, organised by the Friends of St Andrew's on behalf of the music team, and is entitled 'Music Unlimited'
Please consider joining us - you can download (in pdf format) a brochure about the music at the parish church by clicking here.
