Why choristers are important
The end of term; all the ‘goodbyes' are done and the last chorister has been packed into their parent's car. The Cathedral somehow seems empty and yet there is the sense that these children have left something behind.
Exeter Cathedral has countless memorials around its walls and on its floor; they are memorials to the great and the good (and sometimes the ‘not-so-good') and tell something of the story of people's lives and the communities from which they came. Amid all the great memorials there are the secret ones; carved initials behind the Medieval Cathedral clock, or high in the Triforium or Towers and even in the balustrade to the organ loft - the graffiti that brings other people's stories to live among the famous. Many of them are the initials and names of the choristers who have sung in the Cathedral for hundreds of years. Matthew Locke, a chorister in the 17th century carved his name with great care near the organ where he learned his skill and became renowned throughout England for his keyboard works. Others are less known but are somehow bound up with the very fabric of the place. Romantic? Yes, but also a testament to the real lives that have touched this place.
Unique among the Cathedrals of Western Europe, all of the 42 English Cathedrals still involve children in the provision of music for the liturgy of the Church. What has, in most countries, become just a memory is very much alive in England and is the envy of many throughout the world. What is it that makes the presence of choristers in the Cathedral so important? Clearly, there is something wonderful about children feeling that this priceless historic gem of a building is, somehow, theirs; their home, albeit for only a few years, but for such formative years of their lives. This is attested to by Exeter having the most active Old Choristers Association of any Cathedral and attracting hundreds of former choristers to join the choir on Easter Monday each year for a reunion. Feeling at home; that is the crucial difference between being a chorister and learning to sing in even a specialist academy. The Cathedral takes its name from the Bishop's chair or Cathedra (to use the Greek word) which is not just a sign of the Bishop's authority but of his particular teaching ministry. As successor to the Apostles the Bishop is charged with keeping alive the stories of faith and handing them down as authentic and trustworthy. The choristers of the Cathedral are part of that story-telling and bind their individual stories with those of the bible, history and, indeed, the future. But more than that, they sing the story. The American Roman Catholic Musician, Marty Haugen, says this:
"We sing to remember who and whose we are. The leader of prayer, the one who reads, and especially the one who sings, must know more than the notes. She must know the stories of our faith as well as the stories of her own community, and she must know how they are brought together in worship."
She must know more than the notes: In many cultures, song and especially community song, is part of the fabric of being a community. We all have a hazy understanding of the importance of folk songs in Britain and Ireland but few of us would actually be able to sing them from memory. In some cultures, singing is an essential way of passing on the story of the community, of dealing with disaster or death or celebrating new birth and new relationships. The Government's ‘Music Manifesto' is a daring attempt to recover the voice of the nation through singing. What has become so rare in many schools is now being encouraged and the Cathedral Choir Schools are seen as part of that initiative to give children what is, in many ways, a fundamental right to be able to sing and to be able to sing confidently and skilfully. This later point is important because it is only through regular and sustained practice and performance that children as young as 8 can become as proficient as professional adult singers. There are some that might suspect that being a chorister is somehow ‘elitist' - nothing could be further from the truth; there is a difference between a privilege offered to a few because of their status, class or financial means and an offer to children, regardless of their background, ethnicity or social status to become part of a tradition that has been almost unbroken since the Exeter Cathedral was founded in 1050. Thus, Exeter has drawn children from all over the country and from all backgrounds. Specifically, the Cathedral has become a place of nurture and support for those who have been disadvantaged from early years; several children have come from some of the most disadvantaged parts of London Boroughs; one boy came when his father tragically committed suicide and, since, his two brothers have also become part of the choir; one family of two boys and a girl came from a Devon Farm that had suffered so much from Foot and Mouth that all their livestock was lost; another brother and sister came while their mother was being treated for the second time for an advanced cancer. Choristers have come from broken homes, from families where there is little money or where there has been other tragedy. The story of these children becomes part, then, of the greater story of Exeter Cathedral. Every chorister has something particular to say about their time here; all of them attest to the way it has transformed their lives. In some cases it has led to a dramatic turning around - as a former parish priest in the East End, and knowing some of the streets where our choristers were born I can confidently say that, had they remained in those places, they would most certainly have not reached their full potential and some would probably have discovered a life of crime or addiction.
Choristers take with them something of this place. They clearly take the disciplines and regimes of music making to a professional level; they also take a commitment to go that bit further and push themselves in a world where often people want it easy. Many choristers have a very deep commitment to the environment and global issues; they are concerned about the big questions of world debt, of pollution and economic growth in the developing world; they are also concerned with issues of justice nearer to home and many are actively involved in projects that alleviate poverty or give a quality of life to children. Ask any chorister what they wish to do with their ‘gap year' before university and one hears stories of choristers wanting to give back something of what they think they received when at Exeter. That is the kind of Value Added that it is difficult to quantify; it is more of a state of mind that has changed these children into caring and responsible citizens wanting to play a full and active part in shaping the lives of their community and their country.
"Has being a chorister changed you?" I asked a group of choristers one day. There were lots of answers but the one that they all agreed on was "Music is part of who I am." And their music-making is what makes the Cathedral more than simply a museum and more of a home where all can find a place to belong.
Canon Carl Turner, Precentor
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