THE picture that emerged from the first conference for church musicians and clergy at the inaugural Major Churches Music Conference has led its organisers to speak of the beginning of a renaissance in church music.

The conference was organised by the Major Churches Network and Great St Mary’s, Cambridge. The Network includes 300 churches, and clergy and musicians from these and other churches gathered at Great St Mary’s for a day of discussion and workshops on the recruitment of choristers and adult singers, fund-raising and grant applications, and vocal health, and to consider forming a representative group.

The choir trainer and organist Carl Jackson, formerly director of music at Croydon Minster and the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court, described the Major Churches, in a keynote address, as “the bedrock of the C of E”. They were “spaces which are very much alive in the use of music, a powerful form of cultural expression, of imagination, of beauty, of our artistic endeavour, and the use of our musical gifts in worship”.

He acknowledged the financial pressures threatening the sustainability of choirs and music departments, and the challenges in maintaining equitable access to training and in safeguarding the pipeline of choristers and skilled practitioners.

Music in these churches mattered, “because people go there to worship Almighty God”, Mr Jackson said. “Through our music, we aim to provide the context by which worship can happen, so that those who are present may have an encounter with the living God. It’s a terrific responsibility, and so worth taking on.”

There was currently no regional network that met the needs of musicians in the major churches, Alex Berry, director of music at Great St Mary’s, said. “There was a great appetite to do more to represent this area of music.

“So many of the musicians are in the only church in that town or city which is doing serious choral music, and one of the lovely things was just the ability to share good practice. A lot of these musicians are very high-calibre people, well-trained and invested — not just as musicians or educationists, but as people of great faith, who really care about what they do.”

The conference heard practical contributions from Simon Toyne, David Fawcett, Tom Daggett, Hugh Morris, Helen Groves, Ruth Massey and Graham Robinson.

“It felt very much like the right thing to do at the right time and incredibly hopeful,” Mr Berry said.