For the second monthly meeting in succession there were two new faces in the audience – many thanks to local advertising! Today we had a change to the programme as Judith Roads, a regular performer, was replaced by her husband, Francis, who spoke on the subject of West Gallery Church Music. Francis holds a doctorate in music from Oxford and demonstrated remarkable expertise in church music but managed to present his talk with a refreshing sense of humour. He demonstrated the difference between hymns and metricated psalms with several recordings and explained the changes to church music during the last 300 years. That may sound rather abstruse – if not soporific – but it was so expertly explained that it gripped the attention of all those attending.
Francis is a member of the West Gallery Music Association and one of several experts who act as workshop leaders. They assist church choirs to tackle exciting and unfamiliar music which is freely available for downloading and copying on www.rodingmusic.co.uk.
