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What is RSCM? The RSCM (Royal School of Church Music) is an ecumenical and international organisation committed to enabling the best use of
music in worship, church life, and the wider community. It is an open, life-long learning organization, offering direct and indirect
education and training through its programmes, published resources, courses, and activities. With over 8,000 affiliates, members
and friends in over 40 countries it is an international network, encouraged by over 600 volunteers, and supported by a small staff
based in the UK. You can find out more about RSCM International by visiting www.rscm.com and more about the Queensland
Branch at rscmaustralia.org.au/qld.
The Queensland branch of RSCM is an active body which promotes the aims of RSCM through its diverse programme of
workshops and events as outlined in this booklet. Financial members of the local branch receive the RSCM Queensland
Newsletter, Church Music Quarterly, Sunday by Sunday (a guide to choosing music for the Sundays of the Church’s Year. This is
available only to certain membership levels on request), and discounted admission to RSCM events. Information regarding
membership of the Queensland Branch of RSCM can be found on the pack page of this booklet.
2016 Programme This booklet will outline the events that RSCM Queensland has planned for 2016. You will note that for some events exact dates,
times and places are not specified. The purpose of this booklet is more to give you a taste of RSCM’s programme generally, and
to help you identify the events in which you may be interested. If you are interested in any of our events, please get in contact
with us and express this interest, even if this is after the time specified in this booklet (we may still be able to accommodate you
in the workshop, or at least notify you when the next series of workshops is coming up). We will then aim to schedule the events
at times suitable to all participants. As details come to hand, we will post all further information on our website
rscmaustralia.org.au/qld.
The 2016 programme comprises 3 pillars: Organ, Choral and Other. The below table of contents provides a break-down of the
events to be held addressing each of these pillars.
Pillar Event Page
Organ
Intermediate/Advanced Organ Workshops for organists who already play for church
services. 3
Organ Crash Course a series designed to get pianists and other instrumentalists familiar
with the organ and playing in church 3
Pipes and Pizza organ workshops for youth to experience some of Brisbane’s landmark pipe
organs 4
Choral
Festival of Great Hymns our annual hymn festival 5
In Nomine a new RSCM-directed choir initiative for those who love to sing 6
Vocal Technique Workshops for cantors, choristers and worship leaders of all abilities 6
Other Activities
Composition an opportunity to learn about liturgical composition 7
Meet Your Church Music Neighbours networking events to get in touch with other like-
minded church musicians 7
Intermediate/Advanced Organ Workshops RSCM is committed to assisting church musicians at every level, and these
workshops are designed to equip intermediate and/or advanced organists
with skills in playing hymns and voluntaries. You will learn:
Phrasing, registration and articulation for hymn playing
Playing and practice techniques for voluntaries
Basic improvisation
Criteria for selecting suitable voluntaries
These workshops will be of interest to organists who wish to improve or
reinforce their skills. You may be renewing your acquaintance after time
away, or you may already be playing for services regularly. Ideally, you
would be at least grade 4 AMEB or equivalent (formal exam qualifications are not necessary).
Workshops will start in June 2016, and will run twice a
month until August (6 workshops in total). Participants
will get exposure to a selection of Brisbane organs.
Dr Phillip Gearing is Director of Music at St Mary’s
Anglican Church, Kangaroo Point. He has had
extensive experience in liturgical music and as a
teacher.
Organ Crash Course Have you ever wanted to learn to play the organ? It can be an intimidating thing—it’s
the largest, loudest and the most expensive instrument there is. However playing the
organ—especially in church—is incredibly engaging and rewarding. But where do you
start?
This year, RSCM Queensland offers the Organ Crash Course—a beginners guide to the
organ for people who are new to the instrument. If you can read music, you are welcome in
this course. The sessions will be taken by Adam Hoey, organ custodian at Nazareth Lutheran
Church, South Brisbane. Unlike all our other tutors, Adam is not a professional organist. He
started playing a few years ago and now plays regularly for services, amassing quite a bag of tricks
along the way.
What you will learn
Adam will teach many of the basic principles required to kick off your organ playing, including:
A brief guide to the organ
Basic organ technique and practice tips
Techniques to make hymns more playable without sacrificing the harmonic integrity of the
hymn
Registrations for hymns—getting the most out of the fewest changes in stops
Workshops will kick off in April/May 2016 at a time suitable to participants, and run every few
weeks for approximately 3 months.
Registration includes a copy of the RSCM UK Resource: The Complete Church Organist Volume 1,
valued at over $40.
Where: A selection of Brisbane organs
When: Starting in June 2016
Duration: 6 two hour sessions over 3 months
Cost: $150 ($25 per session)
RSCM members: $120 ($20/session)
Contact: [email protected]
Where: Nazareth Lutheran, Woolloongabba
When: Sessions start in April/May 2016
Duration: 6 Workshops over 3 months
Cost: $120 (just $20 per session)
RSCM members: $100 ($17/session)
Contact: [email protected]
Pipes and Pizza Pipes and Pizza is back in 2016! These sessions are aimed at getting young
people interested in the pipe organ. There are six sessions in the series over
a three month period. The sessions will be based at some of Brisbane’s
landmark pipe organs. Sessions involve:
A tour of each of the instruments. Participants get to jump behind the
impressive facades of these instruments and see just what makes them
tick.
Time for each participant to play including some tuition from session
leaders.
Pizza served at the conclusion of each session.
These sessions are for young people of all musical abilities.
Locations are to be confirmed, but should be selected from:
Want to know more about the instruments you’ll be visiting? Simply click on
each to be taken to the Organ Historic Trust’s information page on each of
them. Alternatively, go to www.ohta.org.au and find the under Queensland
Organs.
Sessions will be led by Andrej Kouznetsov, Organist of St
John’s Cathedral, Brisbane; the youngest person to have
held this position.
Families with more than one child attending may be eligible for a
discount. Please contact Phillip Gearing for details and to book.
Where: A selection of Brisbane organs
When: Commencing in the June school holidays
Duration: 6 sessions over 3 months
(2 hour sessions)
Cost: $90 (just $15 per session) with discounts for families with more than one child attending.
Contact: [email protected]
Nazareth, Woolloongabba St Mary’s, Kangaroo Point
St Augustine’s, Hamilton St John’s Cathedral
St Brigid’s, Red Hill
For more details, please see our
website.
Festival of Great Hymns Now in its sixth year, the Festival of Great Hymns
provides an opportunity to raise the roof through
singing great hymns. Think Songs of Praise live!
Under the direction of Graeme Morton, the director of
music at St John’s cathedral, you will join the cathedral
choir in this festival which guarantees an experience of
hymn singing that is truly transcendent. The power
and presence of the five manual cathedral organ,
regarded by many as one of the best liturgical
instruments in the country, will add to the thrill as we
celebrate our faith and community in song.
Here is what some attendees have said about the
festival in previous years.
“FGH was awesome, and I loved every second of
it. It was a privilege to sing in such a
magnificent sacred building with a wonderful
acoustic, and an amazing pipe organ.”
“It was a fantastic experience to sing at the FGH. Learning, rehearsing and
performing such a variety of great hymns from different Christian traditions was
very rewarding. Singing tradition favourites from my childhood was always going
to be wonderful, but the experience was enriched by the opportunity to learn
unfamiliar hymns from different traditions and Australian compositions and
arrangements. It was a great privilege to be involved under the direction of Graeme
Morton, and if the congregation enjoyed it half as much as I did, then it was a great
success!”
“It's been a long, long time since I've sung such a great bunch of
hymns - most well known, some not so well known, and some new.
It was such a great experience to be able to sing so many hymns all
together in one go. And fabulous to do it in St John's Cathedral, with
the support of a huge choir, the organ at its best echoing around the
vast space, and the delightful addition of trumpets. Where, as a
clergyperson (and one time chorister), I am often the one leading, it
was lovely to sit back and let it wash through me - I had a fabulous
time, and look forward to doing it again.”
More information will be available on the RSCM Website
closer to the festival
Where: St John’s Cathedral,
373 Ann St, Brisbane
When: Sunday, 12 June @ 2pm
Cost: Note donation
Contact: [email protected]
Vocal Technique Workshops Conducted by Dr Ron Morris and Kathryn Morton, these workshops
have been some of our most successful in previous years. Both Ron
and Kathryn are speech pathologists, but also singers, voice teachers
and teachers of the Accent Breathing technique. Ron teaches Accent
Breathing each year in the UK, where he has conducted workshops for
(amongst many others) the Royal College of Music, King’s College Cambridge,
Westminster Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. These workshops are
valuable to all – from beginners to advanced students, and are recommended for
choristers, cantors and others who want to improve their singing.
The workshops will be held at St Ignatius
Catholic Church, Toowong in the second half
of 2016. There will be three sessions in total
over 3 months, with the idea that you will
take some time to put what you’ve learned
into practice between each session. The
sessions are likely to run on weekday
evenings.
In Nomine Most choirs in Brisbane can be grouped into two categories: community
choirs, some of which sing sacred music, but are not attached to
churches, and church choirs which sing sacred music, but are bound to
the one church or parish.
RSCM constantly receives positive feedback from choristers who
participate in our festivals, and usually this positivity arises from either
the festival director, the repertoire, or the space in which it takes place.
Singers thrive as musicians when they are exposed to new directors,
new music and new spaces to sing.
In light of this, RSCM has decided to launch In Nomine in 2016, a choir designed to bridge the gap between community and
church choirs. The repertoire will be traditional sacred music from the renaissance onwards, and the choir will have the
opportunity to sing in many of the lovely churches that Brisbane has to offer.
The choir will be directed by Charles Clark ARSCM, former director of music at Holy Trinity,
Fortitude Valley and former RSCM Chairperson. Rehearsals will be predominately during
the week rather than evenings or weekends as is the case with many other choirs.
Perhaps you already sing in a church or community choir? Perhaps your church choir is
no longer viable, but you would like to keep singing? Perhaps you’d like to be in a
choir, but are busy on weeknights and weekends? If so, why not join this new
venture by the RSCM in Brisbane?
Are you interested in being part of this exciting new group? If so, please indicate this interest (and any questions you may have) by emailing Charles on [email protected]
Where: St Ignatius Catholic Church
30 Kensington Terrace, Toowong
When: Second half of 2016
Cost: Non-members: $20 per session
RSCM –members: $15 per session
Contact: [email protected]
Meet your Church Music Neighbours Now in its fourth year, Meet your Church Music Neighbours provides for attendees a
fabulous networking opportunity with church musicians in their local area.
On Sundays, church musicians play or sing in their own churches (and often at the same
time as each other) but we know nothing of what goes on musically in other churches,
and nothing about the musicians in each church. Meet your Church Music Neighbours is
intended to be a warm, friendly occasion which gives all of us an opportunity to meet our
church music neighbours.
Morning/afternoon tea and refreshments are provided,
but most importantly the opportunity to talk—about your
musical programs, successes, problems, the things you do
in church and so on.
Perhaps you will meet people from a church nearby that
you could collaborate with for your church’s next big
event? Perhaps you have some good recommendations
for simple service music that you’d like to share? Maybe
your church is talking about purchasing a new organ or
keyboard and another attendee could offer invaluable
advice? Please stay tuned (via the website) for dates, times and locations as they are confirmed.
Composition with Keren Terpstra Calling all those who have some musicianship skills but would like to learn to
compose church music! Over a course of three sessions spaced over six months,
try your hand at writing a hymn, an anthem, a motet, or even a mass setting.
Polish your music under the guidance of the Reverend Keren Terpstra, composer
turned Anglican priest. Please note that this course can be undertaken by
correspondence using email, phone and Skype.
Keren completed her Master of Music in Composition at the University of
Sydney, studying with Anne Boyd, Ian Shanahan, and Ross Edwards. Most of her writing has been for church choirs and the places
where they sing, her approach influenced by a wide range of sources: Clare Maclean, Bach, Queen, the minimalism of mid-
twentienth century Australian composition, and the music of Star Trek.
The course will consist of three group sessions beginning in April 2016, with individual one-on-one contact in the intervening
months. At the conclusion of the course, works composed by course participants will be performed in
a masterclass-style workshop. Places are strictly limited, so register early!
Want to hear one of Keren’s
compositions? Either click here or
search “Terpstra Veni Veni” on
Youtube. This piece was
premiered by the Canticum
Chamber Singers in St John’s
Cathedral on 31 August 2014.
Where: Sessions at All Saints Booval
When: Sessions start in April 2016
Duration: 3 group sessions over 6 months, with individual supervision in between
Cost: $120 (just $20 per session)
RSCM Members: $100
Contact: [email protected]
Where: See website for details as they are released
When: Usually Saturday mornings, or
Saturday and Sunday afternoons
Cost: Free
Is there a big event coming up at your church? Does your choir have a concert coming
up? If so, why not help get word out and possibly boost attendance through publicising
your events through RSCM?
Our website is frequently visited by hundreds of people interested in church music—
there is no other media as targeted and relevant to your cause. And best of all,
advertisement on RSCM’s website is free for RSCM members. If you aren’t a member,
you are still welcome to advertise for a nominal fee (upon application).
Depending on the nature of the event and the timing, your event may also be
publicised in the RSCM Queensland Newsletter, which is distributed to our
membership base both in print and electronically.
To explore the possibilities of publicity through RSCM Queensland, please email
[email protected] for further information.
Many not-for-profit organisations promote membership by stating the various benefits that are made available to members. Their
aim is to clearly demonstrate to potential members that the benefits they can derive exceed the cost of their annual membership.
RSCM approaches the subject of membership differently. RSCM is about:
We ask that if you care about church music, then this is
the reason why you contribute to our organisation by
either signing up or renewing your membership. This
ensures that we can continue carrying out the above
goals and ensure quality sacred music for future
generations.
Having made this decision, you will receive a number of
benefits depending on the category of membership you
select.
Church Music Quarterly is a full-length church music
magazine that is produced by the RSCM in the UK. Also
produced by RSCM UK, Sunday by Sunday is a worship
planning resource which follows the readings in several
Lectionaries.
Preserving the role of quality sacred music in Christian church services of all styles and standards
Promoting the creation of new quality sacred music
Supporting, inspiring and educating church musicians at all stages of their musical journey
Encouraging involvement of clergy, church leaders and congregations in quality church music
Fostering friendship amongst church musicians from different denominations and countries
