The choristers of an Anglican church are on duty oftener than singers of most other churches. They must expect to be present for services on Christmas Day, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Ascension Day, and perhaps at other services besides those of Sundays. Furthermore, they must be regular in attendance at rehearsals, for in most Anglican churches at least part of the service is always sung whether there is to be any "special" music or not. Even an experienced choir becomes slovenly unless the sung parts of the service are practiced at frequent intervals.
Perhaps the first qualification for a choir prospect, then, after an ability to sing or some promise of becoming a singer, is reliability.
There is an unhappy tendency towards "big" choirs whether they are efficient or not; and in some churches, both the rector and the choirmaster are more concerned about adding members to the choir than they are about the quality of the music. Excellent work can be done with a small, interested group: no progress at all can be made with a choir, large or small, whose members are irregular in attendance.
In considering a candidate for the choir, it is well to make some quiet inquiries concerning him. If he is an habitual "joiner" who holds membership in several organizations and is loyal to none, he will probably be of no assistance to the choir. He will neglect services and practices for anything else that turns up.
Admittedly, people who can be relied upon to place their duty to the choir before other considerations are few; and when the choir is small, there is a temptation to relax the attendance rules in order to obtain the occasional services of a good singer. It is unwise to do so. It is unfair to the reliable choristers to tolerate members who are irregular; and the crowning insult is to postpone the singing of an anthem, which has been practiced diligently by the majority of the choir, because two or three irresponsible ones have been absent from rehearsal.
One other important qualification for a chorister is the willingness to sink his own personality - to regard himself as part of the whole choir rather than as an individual. The Anglican church choir is no place for the "star soloist." Indeed, solos are not the general rule except when they occur in anthems, and even then the soloist sings as a voice in the choir.
One of the most important duties of a choirmaster is the careful planning of rehearsals. The choir should be kept busy to avoid talking and inattention. Variety and some new music aid in maintaining interest.
In fairness to his choristers (as well as to the church and to himself) the choirmaster should put new music into practice far enough in advance to insure a good performance. Choristers should not be asked to sing anything that they do not know thoroughly; and they can learn their parts thoroughly only if ample time is allowed for rehearsal. In some cases it may be advisable to begin practising Christmas music as early as October, Easter music soon after the Epiphany, and Harvest Festival anthems before the summer vacation. By so spreading out the work, routine music from Sunday to Sunday need not be neglected, and the festival music is well prepared. It is much better to have festival music ready two or three weeks before it is required that to find it necessary to call extra last-minute rehearsals which are more likely to upset than reassure those concerned. This policy of preparedness should be extended to everything that is sung by the choir in order that they may always perform their duties with confidence (although not with complacency, of course)!
In smaller places where voices are untrained, knowledge of music slight, and singers hard to obtain, the choirmaster will require a tremendous amount of patience, courage, ambition and determination. Yet it is astonishing what can be done with unpromising material by a an who resolves t make the most of and improve his resources. The choirmaster should never adopt, or allow his choristers to adopt the attitude that "ours is only a village choir, after all, and not much can be expected of us." The ultimate objective of every choir should be a cathedral choir standard; and, while that objective may never be reached, the striving for it will result in noticeable improvement.
Fortunately, much good church music is simple. Anthems and services in unison and in two or three parts are available for choirs which do not include four parts. It is well to choose music to suit the capabilities of one's choir, postponing the introduction of more ambitious music until such time as the choir is prepared for it.
Sometimes men with good voices are unable to read music. It is a good policy to divide such men into small groups and train them in sight-sining. The ability to sing the tenor or bass of a few hymn tunes will give them a great deal of confidence and satisfaction, and their development will be a grand experience for the man who trains them.
The inclusion of boys in the choir is traditional in the Anglican church, and the choirmaster whose soprano section does not consist partly or wholly of boys is neglecting his opportunities. In a small choir of from twelve to twenty members, ever four or five boys will add much. They learn quickly, as a rule, and, in a choir where four parts are not available, they lend variety and beauty to the music by the singing of descants. Whether or not boys only are used in the soprano section depends upon the preference of the choirmaster and the material available.
In smaller parishes, the choirmaster cannot afford to be too particular about his voices, and he will sometimes make excellent choristers of boys whom the cathedral choirmaster would have rejected as beneath his notice. It must not be imagined, however, that one need only to have a boy soprano section. Nature endows most young boys with good voices, but the ability to use those voices must be acquired and cultivated if they are to be of any value.
There are man good books on the subject of training boys' voices, and there is no reason why lads in a little parish church should not have as good training and contribute as much to the service of the church as boys in a cathedral choir.
By starting in a modest way, overlooking no opportunities to add to his resources, and working out a well-defined, progressive programme, the right sort of man can raise the standard of music in a small church to a degree that was previously undreamed of. True, he will have to work harder than his colleagues in larger parishes, but he will be rewarded with more thrills and satisfaction. Only by putting his very best into the work, and by seeing that his choristers are rewarded with pleasure and some training can he expect his choir to be loyal and faithful servants of the church.