Choristerships

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The Choir > Choristerships

At the end of a rehearsal in the Song Room

There has been an unbroken line of choristers singing in New College since the late 14th century when the college began. Its founder, William of Wykeham, made provision for 16 choristers to sing the daily services in chapel, and they are truly ‘members’ of the Foundation – as much a part of the college as the Warden, Scholars and Fellows. In the Middle Ages choristers not only sang, but waited in Hall, fetching beer for the students. However, today their duties are purely musical. They are boys from the local area aged between 7 and 13, who attend New College School, who undertake a special musical training, and who become regular members of the College Choir, singing services, participating in concerts and tours, and making recordings. In return for these duties, they receive substantial bursaries, and go on to win music scholarships to a variety of secondary schools, building on the unique musical training a choristership provides.

Parents interested in the opportunities at New College for their sons are encouraged to be in touch with the Director of Music, Edward Higginbottom. They may find the College publication Questions and Answers, which is available on request, a useful introduction to the life of a chorister. The choir holds an annual Open Day in the summer which acts as an information fair for potential choristers, but informal enquires are always welcome.

Auditions are held each January for boys in school Year 2 (aged between six and seven), for entry as probationers in Year 3. Full details and instructions on how to register may be found on our Upcoming Events page under 'Chorister Auditions' in the months preceeding.

Former chorister Robert Brooks (2002-2006), treble soloist on The Art of the Chorister and Messiah, writes:

Of all the places and experiences that I enjoyed during my time in the choir, it is the day to day rehearsals in the song room that I think form some of the most pleasurable memories. This was true throughout all of my five years, but perhaps especially so as my own development and contribution to the choir increased. Outside of university term, for instance, without the immediate pressure of an evensong, I looked forward to singing pieces that I loved, which, although part of a future project, I could enjoy as simply making good music for its own sake.

The tours and concerts I was lucky enough to be included in, which took me to many places I would never otherwise have been, were of course both exhilarating and fantastically enriching opportunities (from Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam to the Suntory hall in Tokyo), but for me it was the personal, joyful atmosphere of a lunch-time song room rehearsal that stands equally cherished.

Former chorister Henry Jenkinson (2002-2006), treble soloist on Messiah, writes:

Being in the choir was an invaluable experience and one that I will never forget, and I have many fond memories of from those years. So many of the skills which I learned during my time with the choir I have carried forward and put into practice in other areas

Former chorister Humphrey Thompson (2004-2008) writes:

A chorister’s experience will happen largely in the Song Room. Yes the tours are fantastic, yes, the recordings are exciting, yes, Friday chorister tea in Hall is scrumptious. But I found the Song Room rehearsal one of the most enjoyable times while in the choir. The musical education that one receives in there is one that cannot ever be repeated at any other point in your life. You learn from someone with an exceptionally profound and understanding grasp of all music, whether it is the challengingly polyphonic textures of Ludford or the Donkey Carol. Each Chorister comes away with favourite memories where perhaps the word painting of Purcell’s Funeral Sentences was being analysed, or maybe the imitative counterpoint of Bach’s Singet dem Herrn needed some sectional work.

I also cannot remember laughing so hard as I did in the Song Room. I have heard the term “Song Room banter” flying around and it can only be verified. Rehearsing there was always fun in some way, (I am sure many of the Professor’s more crafted asides flew right over our heads) at the heart of it in every boy a real passion for the repertoire and a sense of expectancy.

There is nothing that compares to a coach full of exhilarated choristers shortly leaving for The United States to sing in the national cathedral, or to Germany to participate in the Anniversary of the Second World War by singing Britten’s War Requiem. Given the opportunity, I would do it all again.

The following text is an extract from the booklet accompanying the CD The Art of the Chorister written by Edward Higginbottom, and giving a flavour of his approach to training young boys to sing:

This recital provides a snapshot of New College trebles in the year 2005/06, all sixteen of them - in fact only fifteen, because Matthew had early voice-change. That’s the way it is with boys, which might make you think that training boys’ voices was a pointless exercise: clearly no future in it. Exactly the reverse is true. Training boys to sing is one of the most rewarding jobs you can have, though time is not on your side: if all goes well, after three to four years you can expect to have a young musician able to perform alongside adults without feeling the need to compensate for youth and inexperience, as you might do in an orchestral environment, and certainly would do in a premier-league football team. And then in less than two years it’s all over. Experience, of course, is the one thing a chorister doesn’t lack, given that he sings in public several times a week (five evenings a week at New College). Nor does he lack flexibility and the ease to move around a vast repertory (what other musician by the age of thirteen has performed, to concert standard, several hundred works ranging across five centuries?). Part of the joy of leading children on this journey of discovery is that it offers such riches; also such a training in discernment: the ability to tell the moderately good from the good, and the good from the amazing. Without any prompting on my part, choristers naturally prefer to sing Bach and Mozart, raising a cheer when we get out their music. They are of course right; children do not need to be served pap in order to enjoy themselves. But to possess this music they must be able to sing it well, and that doesn’t mean simply accurately; it means with a vocal technique and musicianship that conveys the score’s beauty. Individualising this process is crucial. Choristers may look as though they are singing as a pack, but they are singing as individuals, as soloists, some of them already confidently self-reliant, others (the younger ones) having that ambition. They must also be fluent sight-readers. This skill emerges as a result of constantly singing different music (in a week at least ten different works). Choristers are the exact opposite of puppets on strings: they know how to do the job themselves, and they need to be able to do precisely that, with freedoms that are sometimes dangerous, but always exhilarating. The adage of technique giving freedom could not be truer. What continues to astonish me in my work is that a child can teach us adults how to energise our work, commit ourselves to a task, and succeed. This doesn’t mean that New College choristers are prematurely aged, or have been deprived of their childhood. What it does mean is that our ideas of childhood and the talents that children can cultivate can be hopelessly limited. The chorister experience brings with it immense educational advantages, balances both sides of the brain, introduces children to beauty, teaches discipline and commitment, and assists in keeping in good health.

I can’t think why we are not all doing this, even those who might prefer to kick a football around, something our choristers are also doing a lot of the time.

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