Breaking down the barriers between young singers and the Oxbridge choral scholarship system doesn't get more meaningful than this: Andrew Nethsingha, director of music at St John's College, Cambridge, has broken his journey home from holiday to stop off at St Edward's School, Oxford, and meet students who are considering applying to one of the Cambridge college choirs and are currently on one of this year's Rodolfus Foundation Senior Choral Courses.
With a group of teenagers clustered around him in a corner of the St Edward's dining hall, he provides an overview of the system and how applications work, emphasising that not all chapel choirs work in the same way and encouraging them to consider the different levels of commitment required before applying. ‘Don't be put off if you haven't done much of this sort of singing before, or if you are nervous about sight-reading,’ he says. ‘First and foremost, I'm looking for very good voices. And do email or have a Zoom call with the director of music before you put in your application; it's good to have a personal connection of some sort with the person you're going to be working with.’
After a short Q&A session, some of the students take the opportunity to sing to Nethsingha there and then and get an idea of how much work they might need to do before undertaking a formal audition. Then he continues on his journey to Cambridge, where he will direct Evensong at St John's with a different cohort of Rodolfus course participants the following day.
The Oxford contingent, meanwhile, gather at Merton College for a picnic tea in one of the ancient quadrangles before meeting director of music Benjamin Nicholas to run through a selection of music they have learned back at St Edward's under the direction of course director Simon Toyne, and then sing a candlelit service of Compline. Later in the week they will sing Evensong at Christ Church Cathedral, conducted by its director of music Stephen Grahl, and at Keble College, conducted by Toyne.
While some course members are used to singing liturgical music, familiar with all the disciplines that go with it, several hands go up when Toyne asks at the rehearsal I observe how many people have never sung a psalm before, and the convention of processing in pairs in and out of the choir stalls is also new to some of them. But they pick up the musical style and the choreography quickly, and the resulting service, open to the public, is atmospheric and impressive, featuring an introit by Matthew Martin, a Nunc dimittis by Orlando Gibbons, and a spectacular closing anthem, Jonathan Dove's Vast Ocean of Light, which gives course accompanist Dónal McCann a chance to demonstrate the capabilities of Merton's new pipe organ.
Demystifying choral scholarships
Originally founded by Ralph Allwood when he was precentor/director of music at Eton College, the Rodolfus Choral Courses now take place at a range of venues. This summer saw participants based at Uppingham School visiting Coventry Cathedral for the first time, and an inaugural three-day non-residential course in the northwest, based at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. There are also junior courses for singers aged eight to 15; the senior courses cater for singers aged 16 to 21. While an important aim is to help them prepare for choral scholarships – and especially to demystify the process and provide useful experience for young people whose schools or youth choirs do not have a history of their alumni going on to Oxbridge choirs – the courses also welcome people who simply enjoy choral singing and are keen to improve their skills. I spoke to one student whose main focus is dance, and who is about to embark on an undergraduate course at Trinity Laban, but his singing teacher had suggested he should do a Rodolfus course in 2021 just to broaden his musical experience. It was very different from anything he had been involved in before, but he had enjoyed the challenge and returned this year.
The main focus of each week is the choir, made up of all the participants, which prepares for three main performances or church services, at least one of which is recorded each year by BBC Radio 3 and broadcast in its Choral Evensong slot. Full choir rehearsals are taken by the directors of each week, who this year included Sarah MacDonald, director of music at Selwyn College and director of the girls’ choir of Ely Cathedral, and Anna Lapwood, director of music at Pembroke College Chapel, Cambridge, as well as Allwood and Toyne. They are assisted by the course accompanists and by a team of versatile musicians, most of them graduates of the courses, who take sectional rehearsals, accompany singing lessons, lend their voices and sightreading expertise to the choir in rehearsals, and help with administrative tasks and social activities.
The assistants also facilitate the consort groups that rehearse during the week, taking it in turns to sing grace for meals and performing the pieces they have learned in an end-of-course concert. This is a really important aspect of the courses, giving the participants confidence in one-to-a-part singing and introducing them to secular as well as sacred repertoire that they may not have come across. Creating the consort groups is also one of the ways in which the Rodolfus administrators encourage the students to form new friendship groups that cross independent/state school or geographical boundaries and include people who may be attending on their own. Each course is visited by a guest tutor with particular expertise in this field, such as Patrick Dunachie, the current high counter tenor of The King's Singers, who not only is a choral course alumnus but met his now wife on one, and Jonathan Pacey, a bass-baritone with Voces8.
Revelatory feedback
Dunachie's predecessor with The King's Singers, David Hurley, was one of the singing teachers on this year's Oxford course, along with Nicola-Jane Kemp and David Lowe.
Individual lessons play a very important part in the week; the students have two half-hour one-to-one sessions with one of the teachers, plus mini masterclasses in which they take it in turns to sing to a small group of fellow-students who are invited to give feedback. They can also volunteer to take part in a more public masterclass with a guest tutor, in front of all the course participants; for the Oxford week this year that was soprano Claire Booth.
The singing teachers take their role extremely seriously, writing detailed reports on each of their temporary pupils which they receive at the end of the course. For many of the participants this can be a revelation, as the Rodolfus teachers offer insights into their potential strengths that may have been unnoticed before, or solutions to technical challenges that they thought were insurmountable – although Kemp is keen to tell me that in general, they try very hard to do so without undermining the work of the students’ regular teachers. The mini masterclass situation can be a great leveller, as singers with many years of experience in choirs who find it easy to learn the notes of unfamiliar solo repertoire may struggle to memorise a whole song or to bring their own personality to a performance, whereas those who have found it hard to assimilate so much new music in the full choir rehearsals may blossom in this situation.
Simon Toyne conducting a Rodolfus course rehearsal at Selwyn College, Cambridge, 2021. © Courtesy Rodolfus Foundation
Much more to do
Time is also taken to think about wellbeing. Innovations in Oxford this year included Feldenkrais sessions, aimed at encouraging flexibility and better co-ordination of the body through mindfulness and gentle movement, led by singing teacher Anita Morrison (as an alternative to the more usual Alexander Technique which she has been providing on the courses for many years). And Marie El Khazen, a graduate in music and psychology who now runs an emotion coaching business, combined leading a consort group with the role of head of wellbeing for the course, looking out for students who needed a bit of extra support or an opportunity to talk about anything from personal issues to getting through the many challenges posed by the pandemic.
Partnerships with inner city singing projects such as Pimlico Musical Foundation, St John the Divine, Kennington and Hackney Children's Choir are helping to extend the reach of the Rodolfus Foundation and recruit young people from a wider range of backgrounds to the courses. The involvement of Simon Toyne, an early graduate of the courses himself who works in the state system as executive director of music for the David Ross Education Trust, is sowing fruitful seeds in new ground. Generous bursaries are available to help cover the cost of attending a course. The Foundation knows there is much more to do, but everyone involved believes in the power of excellent choral music and musical teamwork to inspire and change lives; they are determined to share this experience with as many young people as possible.
