Page 82 - Final_RPS Awards 2020 Media Coverage Book

ingenuity crept into the sessions. Meanwhile, we moved all 18 of our after-school choirs onto live

online rehearsals - at the time I don’t think we realised the social impact on the children, otherwise
receiving very little face to face tuition or activity.

Despite the limitations of the platforms, we were determined to keep these sessions musically
productive, producing virtual choir recordings for focus and adapting our pedagogy to replicate the

precious sense of shared endeavour and community. In particular we had to adapt to ensure the
youngest members of the choirs – so often relying on older members for musical modelling and

support – remained engaged. Small group sessions, informal individual performances, quizzes,
treasure hunts and a predictably disastrous attempt at allowing them to annotate music shared on

screen made sure that online rehearsal wasn’t a one-way process. Our Keyboard Studies
Programme was similarly busy, running over 50 organ, piano and accordion lessons every week to

choir members and producing Leeds International Organ Festival’s virtual recital series.

The diversity, inclusion and ultimately outstanding standards that our programme strives to

achieve come from building the widest possible foundations; without sustained work in inner-city
state primary schools our reach and impact would be hugely reduced. As I assembled Taverner’s

motet Quemadmodum from 30 or so individual phone recordings I could reflect on the musical
journey these choristers have made, from taking part in whole class singing sessions, then joining

our Children’s and Junior Choirs, before moving on to the Senior Cathedral Choirs. This realisation
of potential, trust in the ability of children, has to be served by excellence during this crisis – that
many of the children we work with would have had little or no access to music during lockdown

pushed us through the late nights, the tears and frustrations. Gramophone readers will enjoy the
highest standards of choral music – it’s our job to make sure the opportunities to create this are

open to as many young people as possible.

Find out more about the Diocese of Leeds Schools Singing Programme