Music at St. George’s

Our musical director and organist is Phil Williams, who has a lot of experience leading church choirs and running other musical groups.  At present he is expanding our musical repertoire and helping new singers to grow in confidence and to enjoy singing.  He is involved in the planning for a regular children’s choir.

Phil’s Vision

I feel that it is so important for the music to lead and inspire the congregation. In doing this, careful consideration is given to the choice of music, its style and its integration into the service. The liturgy, as used at St. George’s, presents the use of a mixture of styles from the Book of Common Prayer including psalms and other traditional items, as well as more modern choices… giving options for responsorial psalms and new Mass settings.

The Choir

We are always ready to welcome anyone who is interested to try being a member with us. If you can read music that would be wonderful, but we can teach people by ear to sing parts.  The main thing is to have a real desire to sing and we can work with that!  We strongly value our ability to lead and inspire through four-part anthems; this is often without organ accompaniment, as our organist is also our leading bass.  We value the enjoyment singing together brings as well as friendly interaction between members.

If you are interested in joining why not come along on Thursday night before practice starts at 6:30pm and chat with Phil.

The Organ

The organ is an example of a Dalladay instrument, built in Hastings for a large private home. It is interesting that the pedals have a device to make it sound like the pedals are being played when they are not, but the facility is so ineffective, it is never used by the current organist.

The registrations are:

Usual couplers and a ‘trigger’ swell pedal.

The photograph shows St George’s Choir in the 1960s.  Luckily the ladies do not have to wear hats now!