Tower and Town, February 2020

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The Junior Georgians

The Children’s Choir of St George’s Church, Preshute

Singing is one of the greatest sounds of human expression, and the sound of children singing is a supreme moment of making music, working together and having fun. Anyone who has seen the film The Chorus knows the change that came over the school once the children started to sing. We both discovered the joy of singing at a young age and have made the most of opportunities to join choirs ever since.

Seven years ago, with the encouragement of our musical vicar at the time, we formed the Junior Georgians choir for boys and girls aged 7-12, together with accompanist Heather Croucher. Thanks to an upbeat article in the Gazette & Herald, six enthusiastic singers signed up, and Harvest Sunday 2013 saw us singing in church for the first time on our pattern of four main services a year.

St Augustine famously said: “To sing is to pray twice” - to which we would add: “…and have a lot of fun praising God.” Having fun perhaps comes top of the list. We always start with warm ups which get the body and the vocal cords into action. Singing rounds is a great way to learn about holding a vocal line and singing in harmony with others around you. As we rehearse the service music the children also learn about singing techniques of breathing, phrasing, dynamic range and so on, as well as music theory such as symbols, note values and expression markings. It’s designed to open minds to, we hope, a lifetime of enjoyable and knowledgeable music making.

Over the past seven years, 45 children have sung in Junior Georgians. With the choir averaging about 12 singers, there is plenty of exciting repertoire that we have built up, as well as new pieces to explore. On Christmas Eve, for example, we sang a modern two-part harmony round Natus est Immanuel from memory, as well as Rutter’s beautiful Angels’ Carol. There is no charge for being part of the choir, and we always welcome new singers. Junior Georgians will be singing next on Mothering Sunday (22 March), with Sunday late afternoon rehearsals starting on 1 March.

If your child or grandchild loves singing and would like to join, please do contact us. amandabrown46@hotmail.co.uk

Andrew and Amanda Brown