Although none of its activities may have engendered quite the same flurry of excitement and anxious anticipation as the establishment in the province of an all-party government, the Ulster Society of Organists and Choirmasters did nonetheless enjoy in 1999 another eventful and successful year. Let me remind you of what was done.
FEBRUARY
In February the Society visited Knock Methodist Church in Belfast where Stephen Preston and his clearly enthusiastic and versatile choir, with John Boal at the organ, presented a programme designed to show the wide variety of music used at this church. It ranged from Mozart and Charles Wood to contemporary music in the light, rhythmic style now popular. During the session Mr Preston also gave a brief demonstration of his approach to choir rehearsals. At this church they are obviously enjoyed.
MARCH
For its March meeting Andrew Johnstone from Dublin had been invited to present a lecture/demonstration on the art of organ transcription but this unfortunately had to be cancelled at short notice. Instead, the Society's President, Timothy Allen, addressed members on the same subject using recordings to compare organ transcriptions with the music's original orchestral format. Good organists, he said, were musicians first, and organists second. This meeting was held at Belmont Presbyterian Church in Belfast.
APRIL
At the Annual Members Concert the accent this year was on youth and featured six of the Society's youngest members: Claire Cousens, Darren Hargan, Jonathan Hardy, Ian Keatley, Ian Mills and Peter Thompson. Any doubts one might have entertained about the wisdom of presenting a programme played entirely by youthful performers were soon dispelled by the high standards of competence they displayed in music which ranged from Bach and Buxtehude to Vierne and Stanford. One of the six - Jonathan Hardy - has since gained an ARCO diploma.
MAY
For many years the Society's overseas spring tour has been a particularly memorable highlight of the annual programme, and this year's trip to Lancashire and Yorkshire was one of the best. Based on a comfortable hotel in York the itinerary included visits to no fewer than twelve venues during the three-day tour. These included the Royal Northern College of Music, the town halls of Huddersfield, Rochdale and Leeds, the parish churches of Leeds and Hull, Beverley Minster, Selby Abbey, Huddersfield University and York Minster where a Sunday morning service was attended.
The 31 participants are indebted to James Little who with the Honorary Secretary made all the arrangements, and to David Drinkell who provided a marvellously detailed and nicely printed guide to all the places visited. A truly wonderful weekend.
JUNE
In June a visit was made to Lisburn Cathedral where its Director of Music, David Brattle, talked about the new style of music the church is now using. This has had the effect, he claimed, of attracting to the cathedral people who had no previous experience of church worship, and who found the popular idiom more appealing than traditional church music. Although some doubts were expressed, in the discussion which followed, about the intrinsic quality - both musical and literary - of some of the music favoured by Mr Brattle, his sincerity and conviction were not in doubt.
SEPTEMBER
In September members travelled south of the border to Mullingar and Tullamore. At Mullingar, where an overnight stop had been arranged, visits were made to St Finian's College and the Cathedral; at both venues Shane Brennan (Head of the College's Music Department) played the organs - a small but pleasantly voiced two-manual Spath at the College, and the large three-manual Compton, recently restored by J W Walker's, at the very handsome Cathedral.
At Tullamore Parish Church, Ireland's only Frobenius organ was played by John O'Keefe; fire had seriously gutted the church a few years ago but it has been splendidly restored and the organ acquired as a gift from the Danish church in which it had been originally installed. Both visually and aurally it is an impressive instrument enhanced by the rebuilt church's helpful acoustics.
OCTOBER
In October an organ workshop arranged in conjunction with the Royal College of Organists was held at Ravenhill Presbyterian Church, Belfast, with sessions both morning and afternoon, conducted by James Parsons. Although this event was of particular value to the eight young students who were given tuition, Mr Parsons struck a happy balance between directing constructive comments to the students and addressing those attending as observers.
For all involved this was a particularly instructive and useful session and the Society is grateful to the RCO for its generous contribution to its funding. Further events in co-operation with the College are being planned for the future.
NOVEMBER
In November the Society met at May Street Presbyterian Church in Belfast where a programme of organ and choral music composed by members was presented. This was, in fact, the third meeting of this kind arranged in recent years and yet again revealed the wealth of creative talent which exists within the Society. On this occasion the choral music composed by David Drinkell, Christopher Boodle, John McDonald, John Crothers, Harold Carson, Ronald Porter and Rodney Bambrick was sensitively sung by the youthful Grosvenor Chorale directed by USOC member Edward Craig. Timothy Allen played an intriguing 'Kleine Chromatische Fuge' by Christopher Boodle (now resident in Gloucester) and two other organ pieces were played by their composers, John McDonald and Harold Carson.
This meeting also provided an opportunity of hearing the church's Binns organ, recently and very effectively restored by Philip Prosser.
SPRING INTO SUMMER
In addition to its regular monthly meetings the Society again promoted a series of three Spring Into Summer concerts during May and June at each of which a programme of organ and choral music was presented for the general public.
The first at Down Cathedral featured Martin Baker and the Choir of St George's Church, Belfast, directed by Nigel McClintock, the second at St Brigid's Church, Belfast, featured Gerard Gillen and the Choir of St Anne's Cathedral directed by David Drinkell, and the third at Armagh Anglican Cathedral featured Christopher Boodle and the Chamber Choir of Methodist College Belfast directed by Joe McKee. Most of the work of organising the concerts was undertaken by James Little to whom the Society is indebted, not least because the profits realised enabled a donation to be made to each church and a sum of just over £300.00 to be paid to the Society.
A WIDER VIEW
Nineteen ninety nine was of course the last year of the 20th century and for most of it the Ulster Society of Organists and Choirmasters, founded in 1918, has been in existence. The writer joined the Society over fifty years ago and has had the honour for almost half that time of serving as its Honorary Secretary. Glancing back over the years it is interesting to note some of the ways in which the Society has changed.
In its earlier days only four meetings a year were held and members seldom ventured far from Belfast. The concept of democratic accountability had not yet emerged and for most of the 20s, 30s and 40s Captain Charles Brennan, Belfast City Organist and Director of Music at the city's Anglican Cathedral, reigned benignly over the Society's affairs.
Social occasions were confined to an afternoon tea served at a distinctly down-market café where weary looking sandwiches and sticky little buns adorned with luridly tinted icing provided the sole sustenance. This exciting repast usually followed the Annual Members Recital held almost invariably at St Anne's Cathedral.
One feature, however, of the Society's life in those early days whose disappearance one must now regret was the annual interchange of visits with the Leinster Society of Organists, held in Dublin and Belfast on alternate years. This happy piece of reciprocity came to an end when the Leinster Society dissolved about twenty years ago.
In more recent times several developments have transformed the Society into a more vigorous, less inward-looking organisation. In 1974 a new constitution clearly defined the Society's aims and made the presidency a two-year appointment. Since then the number of meetings each year has been increased to nine, and a greater effort made to visit every part of the province. The Society's calender of events now includes an Annual Dinner and in spring each year an overseas weekend. Recognition of the importance of encouraging young members has led to their increasing involvement in the Society's activities and in the establishment of a student fund to assist those who would benefit from assistance in order to participate in the Society's overseas tours or to attend tutorial courses.
Another welcome change in the Society's complexion has been a gradual increase in the number of female members. Fifty years ago there were three; the total now is almost thirty - out of a total membership of 151.
While all this is undoubtedly encouraging, astute members are nonetheless uncomfortably aware of the fact that the Society's membership represents a mere fraction of the province's total stock of church musicians and this is an issue currently under examination. The recent appointment of a Publicity Officer whose task will be to make the Society's affairs more widely known and thus hopefully attract new members, is one indication of the committee's awareness of this persistent problem.
Although the future of church worship in general, and church music in particular, is far from clear, I believe that the Society can and will face the challenges of the new century with imagination and confidence.
RODNEY BAMBRICK
Honorary Secretary
January 2000
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