Day of organist training at Gloucester Cathedral with a morning masterclass in hymn accompaniment and leadership and an afternoon hymn-singing workshop with a volunteer congregation.
Jonathan Hope is leading a workshop on hymn accompaniment and leadership at Gloucester Cathedral on Saturday 7 November, a full day run by the Gloucester Cathedral Organ Academy. It's aimed at parish organists from across the county and the diocese, so if you're playing in a local church, this is right up your street.
The day is split into two distinct halves. The morning session, from 10.30am to 12noon, is a masterclass in hymn accompaniment and leadership. That's the technical side of things: how to support a congregation, how to lead from the organ loft, and the practicalities of getting a room full of people to sing together in time and in tune. It's the kind of thing you usually pick up by trial and error over years, so having it laid out in a few hours is a handy shortcut.
Then there's a break for lunch, and the afternoon session runs from 1.30pm to 3pm. This is where the morning's theory gets put into practice: participants lead hymns with a volunteer congregation. It's one thing to talk about accompaniment in a vacuum; it's another to actually do it with real voices in front of you. That's the whole point of the day—you spend the morning learning the ropes and the afternoon testing them out in the real world.
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Both sessions take place in the Nave of Gloucester Cathedral, 12 College Green, GL1 2LX. The masterclass runs 10.30am to 12noon, and the congregational hymn-singing workshop follows from 1.30pm to 3pm.
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