February (Web-only) 2001

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Cathedral choristers in a diocese in southwest England are visiting primary schools to help children discover the lost joys of singing.

Headmaster Richard White of Polwhele House, the "feeder" school for boys for the Truro cathedral choir, has become alarmed that choral singing, once common in English primary schools, is "fast becoming something of a rarity."

White believes that choral singing is being driven out by pressures to concentrate on exam subjects and by the lack of funds for specialist teachers, leaving thousands of children deprived in what he described as a vital human area.

As chairman of the Choir Schools Association, White realized that he could do something to reverse the trend. He told ENI: "I thought we should be doing more to offer the inspiration of singing to others, and I thought I'd better start at home."

The result is an outreach program in Truro diocese in which small groups of boy choristers from the cathedral visit primary schools to sing with the pupils, who are then invited to make a reciprocal visit to sing in the cathedral.

Interested children are also invited to take part in the Cornwall county junior choir, which has just been formed.

White told ENI: "It is a simple plan, and as such it has a good chance of working." He hopes that it may become the pattern for a nation-wide choral outreach program. At least two other Anglican dioceses - Canterbury and Norwich - already have their own outreach schemes in place.

The Truro plan was being actively considered by seven other Anglican dioceses, as well as the Roman Catholic diocese of Liverpool and Queen Elizabeth II's royal chapel at Windsor, White said.

"Obviously, we hope that promising boy singers may be encouraged to become cathedral choristers, but ...