National Network of Pastoral Musicians Summer Conference

Jul 31st, 2016

Bill Tamblyn and Christopher Walker

When I was growing up in Chiswick RC parish in West London I was fortunate that the parish had a fantastic choir led by the inspirational choirmaster and composer Bill Tamblyn. I joined at age 11 and had a rich exposure to plain chant and polyphonic motets which gave an excellent musical training. It also brought me into serious and life-long involvement in parish liturgy and I absolutely loved Thursdays and Sundays - rehearsal day and Mass day. Young people like me were made to feel welcome and valued for our contributions to the parish and I have been involved in parish music ever since, although the repertoire is now a Folk Mass programme in my current parish.

Well, I was delighted to attend this weekend's conference of the National Network of Pastoral Musicians, especially when I discovered that Bill Tamblyn was leading both a workshop and a 'Big Sing'. These days he focuses on music from the world church, and it was fantastic to be competently singing new songs from scratch and taught ways to introduce them to children. By the way, I loved the bongos and tambourine accompaniment! In the 'Big Sing', men who were unsure of holding a line sat near to Martin Foster of the Liturgy Office of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales who is a strong tenor, and all managed to enjoy part singing.

And Bill Tamblyn wasn't the only hero of liturgical music to attend the conference, which had the title, 'Nurturing a new generation of liturgical musicians' and has taken place every two years for the last 20 years. Stephen Dean, the Suffolk-based President of the NNPM was there. He is editor and publisher of Laudate, a successful hymnal which since 1999 has established a leading position in Britain and is used weekly in my own parish.

There was Christopher Walker, a former Director of Music at Clifton Cathedral who is now based in the United States. Compositions of his that many of us know well include 'The Lord is my Light' and the 'Celtic Alleluia', but he has published many collections for children, which I used all the time when I ran a children's Mass. The children in my parish absolutely loved his song, 'We are the Church, happy to be the children in God's family' and now that I've been reminded of it the song will be in my head all week! The workshops all these musicians run from time to time are packed and it is clear that people of all ages feel a connection with their music and a desire to use it in their parishes and schools. It is not just music, the words reflect the 'signs of our times' and help people too see the relevance of their faith to the modern world.

Christopher Walker was one of the two keynote speakers; the other being Tom Daggett, the Organ Outreach fellow at St Paul's Cathedral who has extensive experience in working with young people in East London, developing community music. He felt, "music is as relevant to young people as ever" and spoke about workshops he has run with schools, such as St Saviour's CofE primary school in Poplar, which aim to create a lifelong love of music. He urged that, "we must create a budget for children's ministry". All the musicians at the conference had an energy and commitment that was very engaging.

There was a call to respect the various musical traditions in our churches and, indeed, respect the dedication of all Church musicians. Other musicians running workshops included Richard and Wendy Hubbard (Pilgrimage of Song), Julie McCann (Taize and the Young) and Frances Novillo (Music for all ages). We left inspired to try and nurture the next generation of liturgical musicians. This might be urgent for me. My elderly mother expressed great surprise recently to hear that I was still playing the guitar in my parish folk Mass. "Aren't you a bit old for that" she said!

The NNPM magazine Accord is published three times a year and includes information on all the events which are happening around the country for all denominations. All subscribers to the NNPM (£10 for two years) receive Accord free of charge while they are members.