The Need
Since 1996, Ripon Cathedral has operated separate top lines of boy and girl choristers. Between 1960 and 2012, its boy choristers were educated at the Cathedral Choir School. Since the closure of the choir school, all choristers have been drawn from a number of schools in the area. Following the pandemic, numbers, particularly in the boys’ choir, began to fall, eventually reducing to such an extent that it became necessary temporarily to combine the top lines. Unwilling to continue with this situation for the longer term, the Cathedral planned a recruitment drive.
BEFORE PROJECT PHOENIX: THE MUSIC DEPARTMENT IN 2021/22
Boy choristers
Girl choristers
Choral Scholars
Lay Clerks
Music Department Staff
The Process
With a population of just 16,000, the city is one of the smallest in the UK, so it’s not realistic to recruit solely from within Ripon. To increase numbers, it was necessary to interest children and families from primary schools in the surrounding villages.
According to Director of Music, Dr Ronny Krippner, a beautiful voice isn’t all you need to be a chorister – dedication, commitment and behaviour are just as important and at Ripon the process has several stages to help achieve this, ensuring that those who are recruited are the right fit. Expectations are made clear from the beginning, including attendance at morning rehearsals from 7.40-8.20am on weekdays, and this ‘hard sell’ helps to attract the right people.
The process begins with school assemblies, where children are shown a video before the Director of Music talks to them for a few minutes about what it means to be a chorister, including the perks like pay and trips, but without shying away from the commitment. Interested children are invited to stay behind to sing a broken triad to him, which is rehearsed with the group before each child sings individually.
Being a chorister is about more than singing
‘It’s about achieving extraordinary things, even when you are feeling a little tired.’
‘It’s about thinking fast and taking risks.’
‘It’s about friendships and excellence in what you do.’
This is the video which kickstarted Project Phoenix, aimed at parents of prospective choristers and highlights some of the benefits of choristership. More recently, the Cathedral has also developed shorter versions for social media (one of which can be viewed further down this page) and a video aimed at children which is shown in schools.
The parents of children who have the potential to be choristers are invited to a specific Sunday morning service. The invitation includes a deadline to reply, and an information booklet setting out the schedule and expectations of choristers and parents. Parents who take up the invitation meet with the Director of Music after the service, where they discuss what being in the choir would mean and the child sings again, in front of their parents. This stage helps both the cathedral and the prospective chorister family assess whether a choristership is right for the child. Parents then have a few days to decide whether to continue with the process.
It is only at this point that potential choristers are invited to voice trials, which are not publicly advertised. These are usually held toward the end of term and involve a 20-minute audition, for which the child prepares a song of their choice. The day also provides an opportunity for choristers and their families to meet some other members of the Cathedral team.
The Process in Numbers
Radius for school visits
Schools visited each year
Children auditioned each year
The Impact
The recruitment drive was so successful in in the first year that the choir was oversubscribed, and now has a full complement of choristers in each top line. Retention rates are high. This may be thanks to the layered recruitment process which ensures everyone knows what they are committing to before signing up to be a chorister. The Cathedral also offers bursaries for instrumental tuition and support for travel.
The choristers themselves value the opportunity and the experiences it gives them, from the musical education and trips to making friends and building confidence. For parents, the musical education is an opportunity they might not otherwise be able to afford and is well worth the time and commitment for them. They also see benefits for their children beyond this, in terms of building resilience, broadening their perspectives, and future opportunities.
It seems that at times the strength of the choristers pushes the back row to achieve more, and there is a sense that the reinvigoration of music has been good for the Cathedral’s reputation, quite possibly contributing to the 16% growth in congregation numbers in 2023-24. Midweek evensongs often feel fuller thanks to chorister parents attending, especially when there is a medal being awarded.
It’s a bigger musical opportunity than I could ever afford to give my child.
AFTER PROJECT PHOENIX: THE MUSIC DEPARTMENT NOW
Boy choristers
Girl choristers
Choral Scholars
Lay clerks
Music department staff
Lessons Learned
Some immediate practical challenges arose from the increase in chorister numbers. When the two top lines sang together, there weren’t enough cassocks for everyone, often not enough copies of sheet music, and the logistics of having to fit almost 70 singers in a small rehearsal space requires careful co-ordination. Extra choir chaperones were needed to fulfil safeguarding responsibilities, and they have found an administrator essential to keep up with the paperwork. Many of these factors require financial investment so it’s been important that Chapter is on board and willing and able to commit resources to music. Cathedral Music Trust was able to offer support toward some of the additional costs at Ripon Cathedral, including the administrator’s salary in 2023-4 and a number of activities including singing lessons, visits and additional chaperones in 2024-6.
Where next?
While the overall number of children auditioned usually increases each year, there are always challenges to overcome. Recruitment still takes a significant amount of time and energy each year, and the Director of Music identifies particular challenges around recruiting boys. This is an issue right from the beginning of the process: the number of boys staying to sing after school assemblies is always much smaller than the number of girls, although the reasons for this are unclear. The Music Department has found that boys can need more support and the team manages this by having an extra rehearsal each week for the boys choir. The department is continuing to look at different ways to attract and support boy choristers, feeling that this work is an important investment in the back rows of the future.
LEARNING POINTS
Look Further
Think about whether you need to look beyond your immediate area to interest enough children.
Consider carefully how far parents can reasonably be expected to travel, and what support you can provide.
If you don’t have the budget to offer financial support, are there other ways you can help, such as providing administrative support to organise taxis or lift sharing?
Set Expectations
Ensure children and parents understand what to expect if they are offered a choristership from the very beginning of the process.
Helping parents decide whether the commitment is manageable early on may help with retention.
Think about the best way to share this information with parents. A PDF booklet? A handout at the end of a chorister experience day?
Layer the Process
Consider how you might adapt your recruitment process to go beyond the purely musical in assessing whether a choristership is the right fit for a child.
Investing more time at an early stage may be worthwhile if it means the children you recruit stay in the choir for the long term.
What non-musical attributes are important in a chorister? Can you add a step to your recruitment process to allow you to observe these?
Further Reading and Resources
Images
Header: Lennart Preiss
After Project Phoenix: Bethany Clarke
Impact: Brian Swan