St. Bartholomew's Choir Camp: a brief report

Over lunch with Fr. Daniel on Friday I learned something I had not known before, which is that pretty much every church that has either a boys' or girls' choir has a summer choir camp. (From what I've seen already, may we someday be one of those churches blessed with both types! I have never been in a church that had either, so this is a new bit of knowledge.) This is apparently necessary for continued training over the hit-and-miss practices the rest of the year, if I remember correctly.

Courtesy of Fr. Daniel, a report on the Choir Camp. I have exercised editorial privilege so any errors are probably mine:

St. Bartholomew’s 3-day Girls Choir Camp has concluded and we are breathing a collective sigh of relief that all went quite well. Since this was our first camp it was also a great learning experience, and we will be able to improve the camp for next time.

We were blessed with a lively and intelligent group of eleven Girl Choristers, between the ages of 10-15, including some new girls from the community whom we hope to bring back again to sing when possible.

We had a very good team of teachers who put a lot of thought and effort into preparing worthwhile classes: Rhonda P. taught an Arts/Crafts class that had the girls producing their own candles, pottery and bead jewelry; Josette led a Dance Class which was a great favorite of everyone; Josephine taught Music Literacy, and Fr. Daniel taught Choral/Vocal Technique.

The musical instruction of the Camp centered upon the Royal School of Church Music’s Voice for Life curriculum. Fr. Daniel and Josephine together led a highly focused repertoire rehearsal each afternoon.

Each day began with Morning Prayer in the Nave of the Church and concluded with sung Evensong in the Parish Hall (where it was cool in the afternoon). The Parish Hall is not arranged for worship ordinarily, so we improvised an Altar with cross and candles and seated the Choristers on folding chairs in collegiate style, facing one another.

Another component to the choir camp was our team of devoted “Choir Mothers” (Mary Ellen, Nancy J. and Barbara), who provided a quality adult presence and assisted with meal and snack preparation.

The cost of the camp was around $500, which mostly came from the prize money our parish won in the APCK Junior Writers' Contest this year.

The focus of the camp was on learning but it was also a great time for the Choristers and the adults to bond and form friendships, to have fun, and to worship the Most Holy Trinity, One God.

The choristers learned how to sing Evensong, using the Ferial Preces from the Hymnal (601), the Suffrages after the Creed (601, cont’d), a plainsong Canticle, Magnificat (746), and a new (for us) Evening Hymn, “O Brightness of the Immortal Father’s Face” with a tune by Gerald Near (768). They also learned a very beautiful and charming Communion Service from the Hymnal, the Fifth Communion Service (747-749) by Dr. Leo Sowerby, to which we added the Gloria in excelsis by Dr. T. Tertius Noble (738).

I am really looking forward to hearing the Girls' Choir after this. Sometime I hope to be able to make a recording to post on the blog: Fr. Daniel and Josephine have a gift of teaching music/choirs. (Maybe someday they can teach this old frog to sing, but I'll spare you all the results of that!)