12. Connecting to the Bigger Picture
With relatively few churches nowadays maintaining choirs involving children in large numbers, it would be easy for your young musicians to feel isolated.
You can show them that they are part of something much bigger by connecting to church music events beyond your church’s walls, and can encourage them to feel positive about the role they are playing in the current widespread resurgence in young people’s involvement.
Local and regional events
Take part in any regional festivals and workshop days organised by the RSCM, its members or others such as your diocese or cathedral. Find ways of linking up with other groups in your vicinity which involve children and young people in church music, or use your own local networks to organise joint events with another church that is trying to do something similar to your own.
National and international events
As your children and young people grow in skills and experience, enrol them in national activities which will bring them together with other young musicians, aiming for high standards and gaining experiences which are not available to them at home. Consider sending them on one of the RSCM’s residential courses for up to 100 young people, currently offered in Bath and Beverley. The RSCM is at the start of an exciting process of bringing together the regional Voices Choirs and their professional directors with local junior choirs so we can better encourage, resource, and inspire our young church musicians. Prepare your older, more experienced choristers to audition for the RSCM Youth Choir. Mark the RSCM International Chorister Day each year, and make sure your whole church is aware of this and uses the opportunity to celebrate your young people’s achievements.
