st martins killara

MUSIC AT SAINT MARTINS

 
Saint Martin’s was established as a separate Parish in May 1909 and the first service held in the new church on 10 February 1911. From the outset, music in worship was important and we learn that from as early as the first service, music was provided by a foot pumped harmonium. This was replaced in 1926 by a two manual and pedal pipe organ of 12 speaking stops, by the Adelaide builder Josiah Eustace Dodd, as a war memorial. This organ was rebuilt and electrified in 1960 by the Sydney builder Sidney Thomas Noad, with less than satisfactory results. This organ lasted until 1988 when it was replaced with a digital electronic organ of English manufacture, which gave good service for 15 years, until it in turn required refurbishment, at considerable expense. Instead, it was replaced with the present Wilkinson pipe organ in 2007, which is giving outstanding service.

From the beginning there was a choir and it is recorded that as at 1940, the choir numbered some 17 singers, mainly children and women. Serious choral music commenced in 1961 when the choir was amalgamated with the Royal School of Church Music and the choir grew to number over 40, including a boys choir of 25 choristers and probationers, with a waiting list! This situation prevailed for some 20 years until, with the general down-turn in church attendance, the choir similarly shrank to half a dozen singers. Today, it consists of a well-balanced four-part ensemble of 14 voices.

From the 1960s, the choral repertoire has spanned from the 16th century to the present century, with music from many countries, but especially from England, both a cappella and accompanied.

The choir was the first on the North Shore of Sydney to provide a Kings College Christmas Carol Service, a tradition which has continued unbroken for 50 years, gave the first Australian performance of the Malcolm Williamson Te Deum in C, and is even recorded on a commercial disc of pop music!

In order to ensure a full complement of singers, the choir no longer sings weekly, but provides a Choral Eucharist on the first Sunday of each month (except January) at 8.30 am, with a rehearsal the preceding Thursday and at 7.30 am on the Sunday, and of course at Easter and Christmas in addition. Our hymnal is “Common Praise”, the successor to “Hymns Ancient and Modern” and full use is made of this wonderful resource.

The worship of God demands the best that we are capable of, not the most convenient or easy and the choir has always presented serious music, performed seriously. That is its credo, the more so in this post modern, third Christian millennium, which challenges the protocols of the recent past and supports a return to a more educated, enlightened approach.

New choir members are always most welcome!

DAVID W ALEXANDER 15 April 2009

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