HELP is at hand for churches wanting to establish, strengthen, or rebuild a junior choir. The latest Young Voices Toolkit, from the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM), is a step-by-step guide to involving children and young people in leading music in worship: a way of engagement, it believes, to which they readily respond.
“Do we’ve to show off our personal music devices?”
“Music has that unique power,” the director of the RSCM, Hugh Morris, said. “We can harness this to bring a latest generation into the lifetime of the Church and ensure a shiny future for church music. Many churches are currently experiencing a resurgence here, driven by latest ways of working, and there are many good examples and success stories within the Toolkit to encourage us all.”
The kit, which RSCM members can download, draws on the experience of others who’ve built junior choirs of their churches, and comprises case studies and practical guidance on recruiting, retaining, and developing young singers. It has been created by David Fawcett, a composer, and the assistant director of music at St Mary the Virgin, Swanage, in Dorset; and the RSCM’s Junior Choirs Project Officer, Oliver Walker.
Mr Fawcett began his own junior church choir after Covid lockdowns in 2022. It now has 16 members, singing alongside the adult choir in two choral services every month. “For an extended time, I believed it was too difficult to involve children and young people in my church choir,” he said. “But then I saw that others were succeeding, and I made a decision to learn what I could from their work and experience.”
The RSCM will rejoice its centenary in 2027. Taking the view that relatively few primary schools are equipped to deliver musical experiences and pathways into a lifetime of music-making, it’s investing in the present generation. “While the challenges can seem daunting, with fresh considering it is feasible to place children and young people back at the center of music ministry,” Mr Morris believes.
