Guildford 2001

Guildford Deanery Shares the Light

On 11 February 2001, Education Sunday, there was a Guildford Deanery workshop for parish and school musicians, supported by the Arundel & Brighton liturgical music committee. The event was held at St Peter’s Catholic Comprehensive School, Merrow and included children from three of its feeder schools: St Cuthbert Mayne, Cranleigh: St Joseph’s, Guildford; and St Thomas of Canterbury, Merrow; and choirs from six of the 12 parishes in the Deanery.

Guildford 2001

The theme of the day was “Share the Light though Music”, based on Bernadette Farrell’s music Share the Light. The purpose was to encourage parish and school musicians to learn and share repertoire that can be used in both parish and school liturgies with the following benefits:

	participation should make services more interesting for young musicians;
	adults and children will have interesting/inspiring music incorporated into their liturgies;
	parents may be encouraged to attend Sunday Mass more regularly with their musician children, some may even join the choir or play;
	young musicians will improve their skills by exercising them more often; and
	parish musicians will be able to enjoy a wider selection of music styles.

A major problem had been finding a day to suit all the participants and a format to meet the various needs. This was achieved by meeting the various groups whose cooperation was vital.

Having obtained the blessing of my own parish’s liturgy committee (St Pius X, Merrow & St Mary of Pity, Burpham), I approached Chris Richardson, the head of St Peter’s, the deanery secondary school. He was very supportive and invited me to meet the primary school heads to discuss the proposition at one of their regular meetings. The heads were very supportive and we brain stormed about the format of the day and when it would best fit in with other school activities.

We decided on a plan based on Education Sunday, 11 February 2001. The schools would rehearse early in the winter term which would avoid the preparations for end of term concerts. The day would commence at 11.00 am for parish choirs and instrumentalists. The primary schools could then join the Music Day in mid-afternoon for a final joint rehearsal before a late afternoon (Sunday) Mass to which parents and parishioners would be invited. A meeting would be arranged with nominated teachers to agree the music content for the liturgy.

I met the priests of Guildford Deanery when I presented the proposals from the school heads. Again I received good support from the parish priests who promised to help encourage their parish musicians to participate.

The A&B Liturgical Music Committee had kindly agreed to support the event with the active participation of John Lillis and Peter Olsen to lead the music on the day provided I did all the organising. We agreed that we should have one meeting with the schools to finalise the music for the Mass. This we could not arrange until the second week in January 2001 so e-mails were used to settle on a preferred list of music to take to the meeting.

Using the Share the Light book together with the CD and CD-ROM, which contains demonstrations of British Sign Language for each song, the three of the schools were able to prepare a small choir in advance of the day and learn the Share the Light music and signing for the Mass to be celebrated at the end of the day. Some instrumentalists from the schools also participated.

Parish musicians, singers and instrumentalists arrived at 11.00 am for workshops led by John Lillis and Peter Olsen. They prepared the music for the Mass including Eucharistic Acclamations and a Psalm. The schools arrived mid afternoon for a final joint rehearsal. Parents, friends and parishoners attended the 4.30 pm Mass, celebrated by Fr Michael McGlade, which concluded the day.

The following items of music were used:

You Have Called Us

God Of Mercy

Listen To Jesus

God's Greatest Gift

The Wonders I See

Share the Light

Mass of Hope

God Beyond All Names

Gloria No 2

Teach me, O God

Behold the Lamb of God

Workshop sheets were produced that included four part “descants” specially written by John Lillis to give the adults the role of enhancing the basic melodies learnt by the children.

The day was considered most enjoyable and a great success by all.

Neville Vincent

(Guildford Deanery)