by

Alan Thurlow

Master of the Music, Chichester Cathedral

There are a number of organisations founded to support Church Music. In most cases the purpose of a particular organisation is clear from the title - e.g. The Royal College of Organists, The Royal School of Church Music, the Friends of Cathedral Music. However, although people have come to associate the CMS with publishing, the real purpose of the Society does not appear to be clearly defined. Is the member’s subscription a contribution towards publishing costs? If not, what other purpose does it serve?

CMS membership has held up remarkably well in recent years despite the increase in subscription, but the roll is nevertheless shorter than it was forty years ago. Do our members know what they are supporting, and would more people join if the Society’s role were clarified and re-stated? The CMS must surely soon take a decision on its future direction. It could either become a private trust devoted to publishing or, as its title implies, become a wider society devoted to the promotion of Church Music in its fullest sense.

Because of what it does in terms of publishing, the CMS has always been aimed directly at, and associated with, choirs. The post-war years have seen an enormous erosion of the choral tradition of this country, but who is there to champion the cause of the choir, especially with the clergy?

Could the CMS expand its role to offer services which would complement those offered by bodies such as the RSCM and the RCO? Such activities might comprise a programme of lectures and / or courses - and with our distinguished membership we surely have the means to offer something attractive and stimulating. While, for example, it would not be practicable to run an in-house publications service for music by other publishers it might be possible to arrange a special discount rate, and a ‘members’ service, through the agency of a willing firm.

Specifically, the CMS could develop and offer courses and activities encompassing liturgical planning; compositional techniques; choir recruitment and management; the role of the choir: achieving a balance in worship; rehearsal techniques and planning; teaching music reading skills; and how to incorporate vocal training into rehearsal schedules.

The CMS could aim to promote membership among those churches which still maintain a choral tradition (the choir, perhaps, rather than the church, becoming the affiliated member). We could possibly publish a booklet from time to time listing such churches and giving brief details of choral services in the same way as the FCM publication ‘Singing in Cathedrals’. Given enough suitably qualified and willing members, with the right geographical spread, the CMS might be also able to offer an occasional ‘assessment visit’ to individual churches to help choirs and organists monitor standards.

Such an exercise would be aimed at identifying, encouraging, supporting and promoting churches where music of the sort published by the CMS is still offered as part of worship. It should not be seen as being in competition with the work done by the RSCM but rather offering additional support and encouragement for what is (to us) a very important sector of traditional Church Music.

Wearing my FCM chairman’s hat, the FCM is seriously worried at the erosion of Church Music at the parish level. As a charity, of course, the FCM has no brief to become involved in the music of parish churches, but we fear that if the choral heritage dies in churches it will become increasingly hard in the long term to sustain it in Cathedrals.

We should be under no illusion: ‘traditional’ worship as we know and love it is under threat (not just musically but in every sense). The situation is delicate: change is often brought about with the best of motives by those who believe that they are simply removing barriers of exclusivity and thereby making the Church more sympathetic towards and accessible to the community at large. But if no organisation is prepared to become identified with and to champion the cause of ‘good’ music in worship and the maintenance of a choral tradition we will have only ourselves to blame if the children of future generations do not have access to what has inspired us.

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