ROYAL SCHOOL OF CHURCH MUSIC

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27896, 18 February 1956, Page 2

ROYAL SCHOOL OF CHURCH MUSIC

GROWTH SINCE 1927 4400 AFFILIATED CHOIRS From small beginnings in 1927 the Royal School of Church Music had grown until today it had nearly 4403 affiliated choirs in every continent of the world, said the director of the school, Mr Gerald H. Knight, in Christchurch last evening. Sixty-one of these choirs are located In New Zealand, and during a sevenweeks stay in the country Mr Kmghi will be meeting and listening to some of them. Mr Knight said the Royal School of Church Music had been started in 1927 by Sir Sydney Nicholson, organist at Westminster Abbey, to improve the standard of music in Anglican churches. It had begun in a small way with a training centre for organists and choirmasters at Chislehurst, outside London. He had been a student at that college. Very soon, however. Sir Sydney Nicholson had been asked if he could help the choirs in England, and so a system had been devised whereby, in return for payment of an annual fee, the Royal School gave assistance to choirs. One of the ways this help was given was through an expert who visited the choirs in their owe. churches, heard them, and gave criticism and advice. Other Functions Outlining other functions of the Royal School of Church Music, Mr Knight said it published music for use of choirs, and in that work it sought to encourage people to compose music for church choirs. A recent development, at the suggestion of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Geoffrey Fisher, was the association of free church choirs which enabled the choirs of nonconformist churches to benefit from jpome of the work being done by the Royal School of Church Music. The present headquarters of the Royal School of Church Music was in Addington Palace. Croydon, a former home of Archbishops of Canterbury, he said. During a world tour, Mr Knight has already visited eight Asian countries. He has been in Australia for a month and will return there for three months at the end of his stay in New Zealand. Subsequently, he will visit Suva, the United States, and Canada on his way back to Britain.