Edward Higginbottom back in Oxonian harness

[Finzi4ever]

At the end of Hilary Term (Sat 9th, just gone) Jeremy Summerly stepped down as Director of Music at St Peter's, Oxford. Edward has been appointed to take up the post next Michaelmas, with 2 former organ scholars running the show over the Trinity Term.

[ardcarp]

Good! St Peter's choir has (obviously) been in expert hands for a while. (I remember Jeremy's superb stewardship of Schola Cantorum.)

On a wider issue, there used to be many Oxbridge chapel choirs run solely by a couple of organ scholars. I wonder if they are a dying breed? I've no recent knowledge of the situation, so maybe someone who has would like to comment.

[mopsus]

Certainly there has been a trend to appoint at least a part-time professional Director of Music in many places. These posts are not necessarily very prestigious and can be used by early-career musicians as a way of supplementing income for a year or two until something else comes up. The post at my Cambridge College (Corpus) was for a time a bit like being Defence against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts - held by five different people in as many years!

[Caussade]

At the end of Hilary Term (Sat 9th, just gone) Jeremy Summerly stepped down as Director of Music at St Peter's, Oxford. Edward has been appointed to take up the post next Michaelmas, with 2 former organ scholars running the show over the Trinity Term.

He's only doing it for one academic year, presumably while they sort out a longer-term appointment.

[Wolsey]

On a wider issue, there used to be many Oxbridge chapel choirs run solely by a couple of organ scholars. I wonder if they are a dying breed? I've no recent knowledge of the situation, so maybe someone who has would like to comment.

The position at Downing (Cambridge) is unique. David Lowe was appointed as the College's first Director of College and Chapel Music last October. In this role, he acts as a mentor to the student directors of the Chapel choir, following on the pioneering work of Christopher Robinson who held the position there as Mentor to the Organ Scholars for three years prior to David's appointment. This is a Facebook link of that process in practice.

[subcontrabass]

On a wider issue, there used to be many Oxbridge chapel choirs run solely by a couple of organ scholars. I wonder if they are a dying breed? I've no recent knowledge of the situation, so maybe someone who has would like to comment.

When I started as an organ scholar in Oxford in 1965 most organ scholars were single handed. My college started electing an organ scholar every two years from 1967 (so that in alternate years there would be two) and now has two all the time.

[Keraulophone]

mentor to the student directors of the Chapel choir

What a very good idea: an organ scholar being trained on the job rather than having to pick up choir-training techniques from watching the ‘master’ or accompanying his or her choir, as if by osmosis. The effectiveness of this type of tuition must depend, to a large degree, on the versatility and experience of the mentor. Clearly, the two you mention would be ideal, though tutors of that calibre who are prepared to do the relatively unglamorous job are probably in short supply.

[Caussade]

What a very good idea: an organ scholar being trained on the job rather than having to pick up choir-training techniques from watching the ‘master’ or accompanying his or her choir, as if by osmosis. The effectiveness of this type of tuition must depend, to a large degree, on the versatility and experience of the mentor. Clearly, the two you mention would be ideal, though tutors of that calibre who are prepared to do the relatively unglamorous job are probably in short supply.

And also on the receptiveness to advice of the mentee, don't forget that bit. You'd be amazed at how dim some students can be when it comes to this kind of thing.

[Keraulophone]

And also on the receptiveness to advice of the mentee, don't forget that bit. You'd be amazed at how dim some students can be when it comes to this kind of thing.

If students are unable or unwilling to absorb best practice from an experienced mentor, then clearly very little progress can be made. The tutor for admissions and/or other appropriate person(s) may have made an error of judgement by offering an organ scholarship to what turned out to be a ‘dim’ student, but one would like to think that the student would come round to their mentor’s approach to learning within two or three weeks of starting term. If not, they should probably request a different tutor or a transfer. An organ scholar’s first steps at a prestigious Oxbridge college must involve one of the most exponential learning curves in all education, even as the junior of two organ scholars. The Senior OS at a famous foundation unexpectedly allocated the Duruflé Requiem to his junior, who presumably had to spend many hours practising the difficult organ accompaniment while coping with his regular workflow. In a perfect scenario, a tutor would be sufficiently sensitive to a student’s potential rate of progress in order to set appropriately demanding challenges, and not, for instance, give an OS whose transposition skills are weak, fifteen minutes’ notice to transpose the organ accompaniment of Wesley’s The Wilderness, particularly if the choir is also thereby made to feel uncomfortable. (The performance sounded odd to my ears, even though I don’t have perfect pitch, and the nervous organist made quite a few errors).

[subcontrabass]

You assume that there’s always the luxury of choice when it comes to the selection of organ scholars. It’s increasingly a case of my deal or no deal - most years there are fewer able applicants than places on offer, so people have to take the applicant who best fits the Venn diagram of academic and musical requirements.

Has it ever been different in the past? In my year there were 12 candidates in total for 11 organ scholarships and exhibitions at different colleges in Oxford. One candidate failed to turn up for the practical exam. I was the only candidate for the award at my college, and I know that my second choice college was after me if my first choice turned me down.