RSCM Annual Lecture 2024

An Evening with John Bell

The limitless resources of local church music

Now available to stream or download! The RSCM’s Annual Lecture 2024 – recorded live on 18th September 2024 in St Thomas’s Church, Salisbury.

The tendency to suspect scarcity rather than surfeit runs deep in church music. Where there is no permanent musician, few music readers or an ‘ageing’ congregation, pessimism regarding the future often runs deeper than hope. In this lecture, John Bell challenges such negativity, drawing on the experience of the Iona Community of which he is a member, and local churches throughout the world who have moved from scarcity to surfeit.

John Bell is a minister of the Church of Scotland and a Fellow of the RSCM. Most of his working life, he and colleagues in the Iona Community have develop innovative strategies in music and worship for a wide range of churches. He has co-authored over fifteen volumes of hymns and songs, several collections of choral music, and numerous liturgical publications.

An Evening with John Bell: The limitless resources of local church music

£10 – Stream/Download – Vimeo

Buy Here

RSCM Annual Lecture 2023

A Passion for the People:

John Stainer’s The Crucifixion

Now available to stream or download! The RSCM’s Annual Lecture 2023 – recorded live on 27th May 2023 in St Marylebone Parish Church, London.

A fascinating lecture on John Stainer’s The Crucifixion given by Professor Jeremy Dibble, leading Stainer expert and editor of the RSCM’s new Critical Edition of this much-loved work. Professor Dibble’s research for the new edition included access to the original manuscript. As well as examining the history, content structure and performance questions of Stainer’s most famous work, Professor Dibble attempts to sum up the reasons for its extraordinary and enduring popularity.

A Passion for the People: John Stainer's 'The Crucifixion'

£10 – Stream/Download – Vimeo

Buy here