Historically, Wigan had a ‘cathedral’ style choir of boys and men, and it’s reputation spread far and wide. It was probably Sir Edward Bairstow who lifted the standard of music from enthusiastic, to that of any cathedral choir in the country at the time. He was known as a hard taskmaster and didn’t make apologies for his bluntness when expecting people to work hard. His reputation as a composer was also developing as the musical life here climbed to greater heights; Wigan was always going to be a stepping-stone onto his eventual home of York Minster. Following Bairstow, a string of famous musicians held the post (following recommendation from people such as Sydney Nicholson) and then went onto cathedral jobs elsewhere.
However, by the 1970’s, church attendance was beginning to decline which was reflected by challenges in recruiting boys for choirs. The 1990’s saw the choir recruitment falter completely and the inevitable end of a male only choir at Wigan. After some stuttering starts, we now have a choir again, and although only 1 or 2 voices per part, still manager to contribute a full musical life to the church. We would like to do more, but for that we need more voices: if you have a good ear and have a basic ability to read music (which is especially important if singing alto, tenor or bass) and have a good ear then come along to choir practice and give it a go. We meet before evensong every Sunday at 5.30pm to practice the music for the week ahead. In the run-up to major feasts such as Easter, Christmas and Advent we have the occasional additional practice to practice the additional music.
Music has been an integral part of worship in churches for millennia, and now it comes in many forms. Drums and guitars, organs and choirs, folk groups, orchestras, and everything in between. St Augustine of Hippo said that he who sings [once] prays twice. Music communicates to people in many different ways: it transcends cultural and linguistic barriers, and expresses meaning that words often fail to convey. Much sacred music is inextricably inspired by the words and the words are often conveyed by the music. When he was composing, the greatest musician produced by England, William Byrd, said that (and I’m paraphrasing here) one merely has to ponder on the words and the music simply flows from the words. And that, ie the words or liturgical theme of the day, is our starting point when we meet to discuss the music for the weeks ahead. We are mindful of course, that it is not always easy to hear exactly what is being sung (especially if it is in Latin), and as listening is playing an active part in music-making, we will attempt to publish in the parish magazine the words of the music for that particular month. We hope that this will be an aid to worship as the music is sung.