Close Harmony continued.. Organist Mervyn Cousins has had plenty of experience running outreach programmes – first while director of music at St Edmundsbury Cathedral, second at Liverpool Metropolitan (RC) Cathedral. With a background as a schoolteacher, he easily adapted to visiting classrooms and coping with very mixed abilities. After success in Bury St Edmunds, he developed a scheme at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral.

‘At the Met I established links with Liverpool schools and formed a junior boys' choir, which met once a week,' he explains. ‘There was definitely a need for it.' His work in primary schools encompassed everything. One school required him to build up an existing choir and work with teachers who played guitar but not piano. Another – a Catholic primary school in Toxteth – required well-known songs to begin with. Eventually, they visited the cathedral and sang a private service in the lady chapel.

‘Five schools of completely different types joined forces for a Christmas concert,' says Cousins, ‘while in the most musical schools I coached individual pupils. The work was very varied.'
Yet such a mixture of abilities appealed to Cousins. ‘Yes – it was what I wanted. There was a danger that cathedral musicians can be regarded by the uninitiated as elitist – something the children can't get on with.

That's a barrier that the CSA outreach has broken down from the word go – because it works in partnership with primary schools.' Clearly, with little or no music provision, there is a gulf between many of the children's abilities and the standard required to become a chorister for those interested. Yet it is the children's musical potential which is paramount, Cousins explains:
‘Often I would find children with a great natural musical ability, and a strong voice, who simply hadn't had the opportunity to discover their gifts. Working with these children, covering a lot of theory, either after audition or within the junior choir, means taking the raw talent of six- and seven-year-olds and helping them grow.'

While many boys are happy to remain in the junior choir as an end in itself, an increasing number year on year make it into the cathedral stalls.

The cathedral musicians involved in similar projects around the country are likewise thrilled with the results. In the case of Truro , actively recruiting choristers has become a thing of the past as applications each year are higher than they have been for decades. The figures speak volumes. In Liverpool , the Anglican cathedral also draws its own catch of talented boys. Before the outreach scheme began at the Met, there were 12 applicants for six choristerships. Last year, 51 boys competed. Six became choristers at the cathedral and a further 16 gained places in the junior choir.

One of the Liverpool schools that Mervyn Cousins visited was St Matthew's Primary School in Queen's Drive, situated in a deprived area of the city with few cultural opportunities. Forty-two per cent of its pupils receive free school meals.

Headteacher Veronica McDonnell is full of praise for what Cousins achieved in the short time he spent there, inspiring pupils and staff alike. ‘We've always followed the national curriculum in terms of music as far as we can,' says McDonnell, ‘but now we can genuinely call ourselves a musical school. We have choir at key stage 1 and 2, which takes part in festivals and services at the parish church. Mervyn can so easily adapt to different types and abilities of child; they really look forward to his visits.

‘The link with the cathedral choir has been wonderful too. In the past five years, two of our boys became cathedral choristers and another two are currently probationers. Others have attended the junior choir. ‘Many of our parents would never have thought of taking their children along for a cathedral audition, but now it's a real option. It does mean that we lose some of the boys to the cathedral, but it's well worth it.'

The fruit borne by the Choir Schools' Association outreach programme is already substantial, even though the scheme is still in its infancy. There is scope for three times as much involvement from the UK 's cathedrals, and with more substantial funding music could one day become the staple in a child's early education that it once was.
‘I would encourage anyone to explore the possibilities,' reflects McDonnell. ‘We never dreamt that our school would produce so much music so well.'

History of the Choir Schools' Association

Founded in 1918. By 1928 its 32 member schools represented 1,373 children, of whom 782 were choristers. Today its 47 member schools represent 21,000 children, of whom 1,200 are choristers. The CSA's newly expanded membership now also includes some choral foundations without their own choir schools.

Girl choristers (from Salisbury) were first admitted in 1990. Opportunities for girl choristers continue to grow and nearly 250 girls are currently educated in CSA schools.