I think I remember, a very long time ago, that there was an earlier Maclaurin Chapel Choir. That isn't part of the background to this one - this is a brand new start.
The idea came from the experience of last year's Christmas event at the Chapel. That was a new activity, organised by Pauline Feltham, then a Maclaurin Chaplain, and it proved acceptable to many visitors.
As I recall the event, there was an exhibition of paintings in the hall, where there were also light refreshments. ( I think there was something else too, but I can't remember what. ) In the Chapel, there were performances by a string trio, which I think came from the music school, and a choir, I think ( again ! - I apologise for the pensive refrain, but I don't remember, and it's hardly worth finding out as it isn't germane to the story ) the Orlando Singers. People talked in the hall or drifted into and out of the chapel for the musical items if they felt so inclined, and it was all very pleasant and civilised.
I enjoyed it, but it seemed to me at the time that it was rather sad that Auckland University couldn't manage a reasonable choir from among its own inhabitants. The visitors were very good, but for what amounted to our own family Christmas celebration it would have been good to keep the music in the family too.
After Christmas, I raised the question of a chapel choir with Pauline, and she was enthusiastic. Since then, chaplains have come and gone, and Pauline is no longer with us, but the new Maclaurin chaplains also support the idea.
And that's where we are now.
The plan, insofar as there is one, is to explore the possibility of establishing a Maclaurin chapel choir, and to do so if it seems to be worthwhile.
The first step is clearly to find out whether anyone is interested, and to that end a notice will shortly appear in Next Week soliciting interest, and announcing a meeting of interested parties. ( Anyone interested but unable to get to the meeting is encouraged to tell me by E-mail at alan@cs.auckland.ac.nz or tell the Maclaurin Chapel office by telephone ( 7731 ) ).
( The choice of Next Week focuses the coverage on people employed by the university; students are of course welcome, but as the obvious first target is the chapel's Christmas event and that happens about two weeks before Christmas - provisionally on December 9th this year - there won't be many students about. I think it's sensible to concentrate on people who are likely to be around the university at that time to begin with. If it works, we can look more widely next year. )
After that, assuming that it is decided to proceed, things become less clear. The details of how the choir works will necessarily depend fairly strongly on who leads it, so I can't be dogmatic about it, further than saying that we will have to choose a leader.
But this is not a sensible place to stop, if only because it leaves things uncertain. I have paused because I'm careful; I shall continue because I'm also occasionally practical, and in this case I realise that to end with a suggestion that we might find ourselves without a leader is unhelpful. After that somewhat coy introduction, you might not be surprised to learn that I am willing to lead the choir myself if necessary.
Indeed, I wouldn't even have raised the question in the first place if it were not so. Notice, though, that my statement is not the same as saying that I am eager to lead the choir; I've done it before, and it's hard work, and if anyone else wants to do it please say so ! I therefore emphasise that what follows should be regarded as sketches of a possible future, not a foregone conclusion.
The next section is therefore a manifesto in which I set out my thoughts on how the choir might be organised. I think this serves at least three functions; as well as explaining my position, it identifies a number of topics which anyone else eager to take the lead might like to address in drawing up an alternative proposal, and it gives you something to think about which might raise questions you could ask at the meeting.
My qualifications are practical rather than academic. I have sung in choirs - mostly church choirs - for many years, though I haven't been at all active recently for a number of reasons. I led the choir of Devonport's Holy Trinity church for eight years, and I think we did not too badly - anyway, no one seemed to be urging me to leave. I eventually stopped because I went on leave to England for a year, and at that time let it be known that I wouldn't mind if someone else took up the job permanently, as I had more than enough to do at the time. Someone did.
I have precisely no formal training of any sort in music or conducting or anything else relevant to the job. ( But I've had no formal training in computing either, and I've been lecturing in it for around 30 years. ) I am now officially retired, but justify my continuing presence here by my transmogrification into an Honorary Research Fellow.
A part of my unqualified state might have some effect on the conduct of the choir : I am not able to play a piano ( or any other keyboard instrument ) well enough to accompany singing in four parts. I can manage the parts individually, and I can play them all together haltingly, which is enough but short of the ideal. All I can do about that is hope that a better pianist will magically turn up. You might interpret that either as encouragement to tell me of your pianistic abilities, or as a warning not to mention them.
I follow some principles in running a choir. The most important is that a church choir is a group of Christians who want to use their musical abilities for God, not a group of musicians who happen to find themselves in a church. It is therefore not our function to educate people in musical appreciation; it is our function to use our music to glorify God and to present the gospel of Christ.
( People who are not Christians are welcome to join us, but I would expect them to accept that we are a Christian body and that we shall occasionally do Christian things like praying. )
Standards are important. If we are to offer our performance to God, it must be as good as we can make it. At the same time, it is important that people who wish to join us should not be deterred by worries that they might not be adequate. I would therefore aim for the standard of a good four-part ( SATB ) local church choir, and praise God if we do better. This is not the Dorians !
I would hope not to hold auditions, but that the choir would be self-selecting. There are three good reasons for this policy :
In practice, my experience is that people are sensible; they don't insist on staying if it's fairly clear that they're not helping us.
My musical preferences lean towards the past; I suspect that the trick of writing music began to fade around 1800, and was almost non-existent by 1900. On the other hand, there are a number of not-very-musical compositions which can be effective, and I have an affection for Victorian hymns, particularly those connected with revival movements. ( Now perhaps you might like to reconsider your decision not to lead the choir ? )
Regular practice is important, even for ( particularly for ! ) choirs without regular Sunday commitments. I would hope to have weekly practices; experience in trying to arrange meetings at the university for groups of more than two people suggests that this will be impossible during lecturing times. We'll cross the bridge when we come to it, but it might be necessary to have two streams.
The immediate target is the Christmas event; what happens then remains to be seen, but Holy Week and Easter are obvious possibilities. I'd like to see how we get along with the Christmas material before making any decisions, but I hope that we shall be able to carry on after that in some way.
More about the Chaplaincy Network ?
Alan
Creak,
August, 1999.