On Saturday 12<sup>th</sup> February 2022, Bradford Cathedral will be holding its fifth annual ‘Cathedral Sing!’ event, where children from local schools are invited along to discover more about the choir and singing at Bradford Cathedral.
Ahead of this, the Music Department at Bradford Cathedral have been visiting local primary schools in the city.
Throughout January they have visited Swain House Primary, Blakehill Primary, Wycliffe CE Primary, Hill Top CE Primary, Myrtle Park Primary, Idle CE Primary, Appleton Academy, Beckfoot Priestthorpe and Woodside Academy.
At each school they have run special inclusive singing workshops with school children in different years. These workshops include how to work on singing technique, and they practise singing rounds and how to sing in harmony.
Alexander Berry, Director of Music at Bradford Cathedral, says of the workshops:
“At the workshops we explain about the choir and at the end all the children who have taken part in the workshop get the opportunity to sing to us in small groups, and those who we think are really promising will be given a Golden Ticket to take home at the end of school.”
The Golden Tickets are a special invitation to the ‘Cathedral Sing!’ event held at Bradford Cathedral on Saturday 12<sup>th</sup> February 2022, a morning where the child can come in with their parents to take part in some singing workshops with the music department staff.
As well as the recruitment through the schools, you can contact Bradford Cathedral if you know of any other children who would like to get involved.
Alexander Berry:
“We also speak to their parents and explain what it is to be a chorister and they get to observe a chorister singing lesson and choir practice.”
The Saturday workshop also includes a short service and, at the end, refreshments. The children also get the chance to sign up for the ‘Grace Notes’ choir, who meet every week, as the first step on the journey to becoming a full member of the choir.
Alexander Berry:
We first ran Cathedral Sing! in 2018. It's such a lively and joyous event, and is a really important way for us to recruit children to the choir. After two years of pandemic restrictions, we're delighted Cathedral Sing! is back.
We spoke to some of the choir members who came through previous Golden Ticket schemes, about their experiences.
“We did singing tests to find out if we could be part of the choir. I got my golden ticket by reading a short story.”
“I got my Golden Ticket as we were doing class-by-class singing. We were in groups of four and sang part of the song.”
And was it a fun experience?
“It’s been really good! They should really look forward to becoming part of the choir.”
‘Cathedral Sing!’ takes place on Saturday 12th February 2022 from 10am - 12.30pm. This ‘Be a Chorister for a Morning’ event is where children across Bradford are invited to sing with the Bradford Cathedral choristers. If you know any children who would love to be involved please contact the Bradford Cathedral Music Administrator Naomi Reiss on [email protected] before Wednesday 9th February 2022.