Royal Music in in America America Royal School School ofof Church Church Music Volume 5, Issue 2  Winter 2009

New Jersey RSCM Festival to be Held in February 2010

Inside this issue: RSCM Releases Latest Edition of The Chorister’s Companion

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Cynthia DeDakis to Receive 3 a Fellowship of the RSCM 2009 Voice for Life Awards Examinations

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RSCM America 2010 Summer Training Courses

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Music Reviews

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A Note from the Coordinator

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Bless O Lord, us thy servants who minister in thy temple. Grant that what we sing with our lips we may believe in our hearts, and what we believe in our hearts we may show forth in our lives, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

The first New Jersey Festival of the Royal School of Church Music will be held February 20-21, 2010 at two churches in the Episcopal Diocese of Newark. Choristers from all RSCMaffiliated churches throughout the state of New Jersey are invited to participate. “The idea behind this festival is similar to the RSCM Summer Courses, but on a weekend rather than a whole week,” said James Douglas, Organist and Director of Music at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Millington, N.J. “Our goal is to bring together RSCMAaffiliated churches…to learn and sing together on a more intimate, intermediate level.” The schedule for Saturday, February 20 includes cho-

ral rehearsals, workshops, music games, and an instructed Evensong, all held at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Essex Fells, N.J. This first day finishes with dinner and an organ recital by Adrienne M. Pavur. Sunday, February 21 features an additional rehearsal and a concluding Evensong held at Calvary Episcopal Church in Summit, N.J. Repertoire for the Sunday Evensong service will include Preces and Responses by William Smith, “Hail, gladdening light” by Charles Wood, Stanford’s Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in B-flat, and Fauré’s “Ave verum corpus” and “Cantique de Jean Racine.” A partial list of participants includes choristers from All Saints’ Episcopal Church,

Millington; St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Morristown (Brian P. Harlow, Organist and Director of Music); Grace Episcopal Church, Madison (Anne Matlack, Organist and Choirmaster); and St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Essex Fells (Andrew Krystopolski, Director of Music). For further information or to register your choir, please contact Andrew Krystopolski at [email protected]. When writing, please include the number of choristers that are interested in participating (adults and children), the choristers’ names and their voice parts. Registration costs $10 per adult participant and $5 per child participant.

Episcopal Chapel of St. John the Divine Sponsors Summer Choir Camp During the week of June 8 to 11, 2009 the Episcopal Chapel of St. John the Divine in Champaign, Illinois hosted a Choir Camp for its own “Canterbury Choristers” and choristers from Champaign’s Emmanuel Memorial Episcopal

Church. Modeled after training courses for advanced singers held by the Royal School of Church Music, the nine choristers were “in residence” for daily Evensongs, concluding the week with a sung Mass.

Ranging in age from 8 to 17, the Choristers were challenged to learn and perform different music each day. Repertoire included: a set of Preces and Responses by Stephen Darlington; Evening Canti(continued on page 5)

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Royal School of Church Music in America

RSCM Releases Latest Edition of The Chorister’s Companion The Royal School of Church Music has just launched a contemporary version of a popular reference book for those who sing in churches and cathedrals. The latest edition of The Chorister’s Companion, commended by singer and broadcaster Aled Jones, is the latest in a long line of pocket-books dating back to 1934. The RSCM Voice for Life Chorister’s Companion contains everything a new chorister needs to know in one handy pocket-sized book. Complete with color photographs and illustrations, it includes chapters on basic music notation and theory, how the voice works and how to use it properly, some background on the history of church music, a helpful glossary of musical terms, and hints and tips about being part of a musical team, namely, a choir. Written with candidates for the RSCM’s Bronze and Silver singing awards also in mind, the pocket book includes explanations of church seasons and key dates of the church year. There are also chapters on various types of church service such as Holy Communion, an illustrated guide to church architecture, and even a section on robes and liturgical colors. There’s also a chapter explaining the mechanics of a church and cathedral organ, and a comprehensive reference list (with a timeline) of key church musicians and composers.

The new publication is the latest version in a long line of revisions. The first such guide, called The Choirboy’s Pocket Book, was published in 1934, and sold a total of 140,000 copies until a major rewrite and re-naming as The Chorister’s Companion in 1980. At the time, the then Director Dr. Lionel Dakers wrote that “so much had changed in the life of the Church since the days before the Second World War when the book was first published.”

Aled Jones writes, “The Chorister’s Companion will help you to serve your church or school commu-

nity, and to use your voice to the best of your ability. Singing is enriching and rewarding in so many ways.”

The Voice for Life Chorister’s Companion (price £7.95*) can be ordered thus: online email phone fax post

www.rscm.com [email protected]. 0845 021 7726 (option 2) 0845 021 8826 RSCM Music Direct, St Mary’s Works, St Mary’s Plain, NORWICH NR3 3BH.

* 25% discount for RSCM Affiliates and Individual Members.

In turn and thirty years on, Lindsay Gray, the present Director of the RSCM says, “the need for a total revision has never been greater. The church today is almost unrecognizable from the church served by my predecessor and founder of the RSCM, Sir Sydney Nicholson.” Tim Ruffer, the RSCM’s Head of Publishing and editor of the book, claims this latest companion is comprehensive in giving choristers (of all ages) some easily readable background material. “Whether you belong to a choir which sings in a cathedral, or in a small rural church, The Chorister’s Companion will be a valuable reference book for life! It’s been fascinating to work on this latest version for the modern-day church musician.” Commending the new publication in a Foreword, broadcaster and singer

The children’s choir of the Lamington Presbyterian Church in Bedminster, N.J. visited the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York City recently to hear the Cathedral Choristers sing an Evensong service. Pictured with the children on the cathedral steps are Alex Benestelli, Lamington’s Director of Music, and Katie Comstock, leader of the Lamington Youth Music Ministries.

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Cynthia DeDakis to Receive a Fellowship of the RSCM Cynthia DeDakis, President of the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) in America, is to receive a Fellowship of the Royal School of Church Music (FRSCM), the highest honorary award from the international charity which supports and promotes church music. Its patron is Her Majesty the Queen. Ms. DeDakis, from Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, is RSCM America’s first female President and has been active for many years

as a course manager and music director. She has also acted as a consultant for the RSCM’s Voice for Life program, a popular training scheme for singers in many churches in the US and around the world. During her presidency she has done much to change the operation and image of the RSCM in the United States, including the setting up of the RSCM America office at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. She is Minister of Music at

St. Thomas' Church, Whitemarsh, in Fort Washington and is a well-respected choral conductor and singer in her own right. She was awarded an Associateship of the RSCM in 2004. Commenting on the award, Lindsay Gray, the Director of the RSCM says, “I am delighted that Cynthia is to receive a Fellowship; she has worked tirelessly for the cause of good musicmaking in worship.” The presentation will be made either in May 2010 in the

UK, or in July when Lindsay Gray will be visiting the United States.

2009 Voice for Life Awards Examinations Results Congratulations to all of our examinees!

Gold Jenna Kay Freudenburg (with Honors): St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Kalamazoo, Mich. Emmalee Rachael Schauf: Calvary Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Silver Rachel MacIver Hicks (with Merit): St. John’s Episcopal Church, Charlotte, N.C. Henry Peyronnin (with Merit): First Presbyterian Church, Evansville, Ind. Markos Michael Simopoulos (with Merit): The Catholic Community of St. Thomas More, Chapel Hill, N.C. Ian David Sponseller (with Distinction): First Presbyterian Church, Evansville, Ind.

Bronze Abigail Fleming: First Presbyterian Church, Evansville, Ind. Joanna Fleming (with Distinction): First Presbyterian Church, Evansville, Ind. Allie Hitchcock (with Merit): First Presbyterian Church, Evansville, Ind. Katherine Hitchcock (with Merit): First Presbyterian Church, Evansville, Ind. Matthew Joshua Pahl (with Merit): St. John's Episcopal Church, Charlotte, N.C. John Charles Riddle (with Distinction): St. John's Episcopal Church, Charlotte, N.C. Ian David Sponseller (with Distinction): First Presbyterian Church, Evansville, Ind. Joshua Steinbach (with Distinction): St. Francis in the Fields Episcopal Church, Harrods Creek, Ky. Anna Weil (with Distinction): St. John's Episcopal Church, Charlotte, N.C.

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Royal School of Church Music in America

RSCM America 2010 Summer Training Courses GULF COAST COURSE Participants: 20 girls, age 10–18, and 10 adults Dates: June 14–20, 2010 Music Director: Garmon Ashby Residential Venue: University of St. Thomas, Houston, Tex. Concerts/Services Venues: Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church, the Chapel of St. Basil and St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Houston Course Fees: $495. RSCM members receive a $30 discount Contact: Courtney Daniell-Knapp, Course Manager, [email protected]

WESTMINSTER CHOIR COLLEGE/RSCM COURSE Participants: Rising high school juniors & seniors, college students, and adult observers Dates: June 27–July 4, 2010 Music Director: Joe Miller Organist: Ken Cowan Residential Venues: Westminster Choir College, Princeton, N.J., and New York City Concerts/Services Venues: The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City Course Fees: $750 for participants, $225 for adult observers. RSCM members receive a $25 discount. 2 graduate credits are also available for an additional $500 Contact: Kevin Radtke, Coordinator of RSCM America and Sacred Music at Westminster, 609.921.7100 ext. 8277 or [email protected]

ST. LOUIS COURSE Participants: 25 girls, 25 boys, 25 adults, and 1 organ scholar Dates: July 5-11, 2010 Music Director: Simon Lole Residential Venue: Todd Hall Retreat Center, Columbia, Ill. Concerts/Services Venues: Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis and Grace Episcopal Church, Kirkwood, Mo. Course Fees: $525. RSCM members receive a $25 discount Contact: Phillip Brunswick, Course Manager, [email protected]

CAROLINA COURSE Participants: 40 girls, age 10–18, and 25 adults Dates: July 12–18, 2010 Music Director: Michael Kleinschmidt Residential Venue: Saint Mary’s School, Raleigh, N.C. Concerts/Services Venues: Various churches in the Raleigh area

Course Fees: $550. RSCM members receive a $25 discount. $100 deposit due April 1, balance due June 1. Contact: Nancy Hendricks, Course Manager 843.889.0428 or [email protected] More Information: www.carolinarscm.org

TULSA COURSE Participants: 40 boys, age 10–18, and 15 adults Dates: July 12–18, 2010 Music Director: Bruce Neswick Organist: Casey Cantwell Residential Venue: University of Tulsa, Okla. Concerts/Services Venues: Trinity Episcopal Church, Tulsa Course Fees: $525 resident, $350 commuter. RSCM members receive a $25 discount Contact: Sara Arnold, Course Manager 918.640.4274 or [email protected]; Casey Cantwell, Course Manager 918.582.4128 or [email protected] More Information: www.rscmtulsa.org

CHARLOTTE COURSE Participants: 60 young singers age 10–18, 30 adults, and 2 organ scholars Dates: July 19–25, 2010 Music Director: Richard Webster Organist: Marilyn Keiser Residential Venue: Queens University of Charlotte, N.C. Concerts/Services Venues: St. John’s Episcopal Church and Myers Park Baptist Church, Charlotte Course Fees: $495 before April 1, $525 after April 1. RSCM members receive a $25 discount Contact: Alan Reed, Course Manager 704.408.7489 or [email protected]; Tracy Reed, Course Manager 704.849.9791 More Information: www.saintjohns-charlotte.org/rscm

KING’S COLLEGE COURSE Participants: 60 girls, 40 boys, 30 teens/young adults, 20 adults, and 2 organ scholars Dates: July 26–August 1, 2010 Music Director: Barry Rose Organist: Mark Laubach Residential Venue: The Campus of King’s College, WilkesBarre, Pa. Concerts/Services Venues: St. Stephen’s ProCathedral, Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Course Fees: $525. RSCM members receive a $25 discount Contact: Rev. Linda Rosengren, Course Manager, [email protected] More Information: www.kingscollegecourse.com

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RSCM America 2010 Summer Training Courses WASHINGTON COURSE FOR ADVANCED TREBLES Participants: 8 boys and 22 girls of advanced ability (red or yellow ribbon, or equivalent) Dates: July 26–August 1, 2010 Music Director: David Ogden Residential Venue: St. Albans School, Washington, D.C. Concerts/Services Venues: Resident choir at Washington National Cathedral Course Fees: $625 for trebles in residence, $375 for adult day observers. RSCM members receive a $25 discount Contact: RSCM America Office, 609.921.3012 or [email protected]

RHODE ISLAND COURSE AT NEWPORT Participants: Boys and girls, age 9-17 Dates: August 2–8, 2010 Music Director: Ben Hutto Residential Venue: Salve Regina University, Newport

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Concerts/Services Venue: Emmanuel Church, Newport Course Fees: $575, not including music. RSCM members receive a $25 discount Contact: Priscilla Rigg, Course Manager, or Allen J. Hill, Registrar, [email protected] Also in North America:

MONTREAL COURSE – 50th Anniversary Year! Participants: 40 boys, age 10–18, and 25 adults Dates: August 1–8, 2010 Music Director: Malcolm Archer Organist: Patrick Wedd Residential Venue: Sedbergh School, Montebello, Quebec, Canada Concerts/Services Venue: Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal, Quebec Course Fees: $690, American or Canadian. Includes an anniversary polo shirt Contact: Larry Tremsky, Executive Director, 516.746.2956 ext. 18 or [email protected] More Information: www.mbcc.ca

Episcopal Chapel of St. John the Divine Sponsors Summer Choir Camp cles in G Major by John Wood and Herbert Sumsion; a set by David Hogan entitled “Washington”; two settings of the Phos Hilaron by Richard Proulx and David Hogan; “Hail, gladdening light” by C. S. Lang, enhanced by the addition of the “vicars choral” – a.k.a. “The Chorister Dads”; plainsong chanting of the daily psalms; “How Like an Angel I Came Down” by Malcolm Archer; “Hebe deine Augen auf” (“Lift thine eyes” sung in German from Elijah) by Felix Mendelssohn; and “Give us the wings of faith” by Mark Blatchly. The last day featured the Missa Brevis by Benjamin Britten on the feast of St. Barnabas. The group of 9 young choristers accomplished a great deal in four days!

The Canterbury Choristers and Choristers of Emmanuel Parish are: Katherine Buzard, Emma Lloyd, Elizabeth Russell, Ethan Russell, Abigail Shelato, Emily Warren, Sam Warren, Samantha Wells and Celia Williams. Keith Williams, Organist and Music Director of St. John’s Lutheran Church, Champaign, assisted in the organ-playing duties for the Mass. The Episcopal Chapel of St. John the Divine is the Campus Ministry at the University of Illinois, whose parish is comprised of students, faculty, staff, and area residents, located in the heart of the campus. The Chapel has a fine musical tradition, including an RSCMaffiliated chorister program

that integrates the choristers into the adult choir. Recently expanded and completed in its Perpendicular Gothic style, the Chapel’s reverberant acoustics have been enhanced, making it a won-

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derful room for choral singing. Submitted by Linda Buzard, Organist and Choirmaster, The Episcopal Chapel of St. John the Divine

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Royal School of Church Music in America

Music Reviews: Winter 2009 By Ray Urwin Josef Rheinberger: 12 Monologues, Op. 162. Amadeus, BP 2592; 12 Fughetten strengen Stils fur de Orgel, Op. 123A, 123B [two volumes]. Carus Verlag. I use all three of these volumes very frequently (especially the Monologues) for weddings, funerals, summer voluntaries, etc., as they are short, easy, and appealing to listeners. The fugues, while not overtly dramatic (the drama is in the musical architecture), are more substantial music than both the Monologues and the typical flashy toccatas often used as postludes. Each volume includes 12 fugues (24 in all), thus either or both volumes are a bargain, especially if one uses many or most of the pieces. While those in Op. 123B are somewhat more adventurous, only two or three pieces over all three volumes are of any real difficulty: the pieces are not for sight-reading, but the vast majority can be quickly learned. Average length is only two pages, with each fugue about 3 to 3.5 minutes long. I highly recommend all three books. David Cherwein: Postludes on Well known Hymns. Augsburg Fortress, 1110795. Cherwein is a fine arranger and composer, and does a good job with this volume. While the music itself is

very good, another virtue of this book is the scarcity of other organ settings (good or otherwise) for most of these tunes. Tunes set include Ode to Joy, St. Anne, Lobet den Herren, Nun danket alle Gott, and Sine Nomine. The Lobet setting is for me a bit too academically Baroque, but the rest do not suffer from this, and are fine and exuberant settings, though they are not for beginners and will take some serious practicing (the setting of Nun danket, for example, is double-pedal!) My own favorite is Sine Nomine, and I use this setting (inspired by stz. 7 and perhaps the best piece in the volume) as the prelude on All Saints Sunday every year. Highly recommended. Organ Music based on ‘Adoro te devote,’ Ubi caritas et amor,’ and ‘O filii et filiae.’ Adoro te devote (Hymn 314) is one of the best known, best loved, and most frequently used of plainsongs, and Ubi caritas (Hymn 606) is for me one of the most beautiful of all chants in both words and theology. And, in terms of service planning, for many years the great tune O filii et filiae always caught me by surprise on the Sunday after Easter – when I was too exhausted to learn much if any new organ music! I have always wished there were more organ settings especially of Ubi caritas, and have found a surprising lack of settings for all three of these great

hymns. So this issue’s music reviews are settings of these which I have found over many years. While I am of course partial to some of these more than others, I have used all of them at least twice (and most of them much more) over the years. Though it can take some work and advance planning, some inspiring as well as unified services can be put together around some hymns, especially as here with a rather day-specific tune such as O filii. And music based on the other two chants is of course applicable most of the Church year. Best of all, I have done this digging work for you! In fact, I keep copies of my settings for the first of these chants together in an “Adoro te” folder rather than in their normal place in my organ library, for ease of planning and retrieval. One might profitably compile several such folders of music, for tunes such as Lobet den Herren, Ode to Joy, Hyfrydol, Amazing grace, etc., perhaps using copies rather than originals if in collections. I highly recommend this, as it makes effective planning so much easier and faster. I hope you will learn some of the pieces here, and plan some services around them. You could even try to get your clergy to give that day’s sermon on the chosen tune as well – they might even be sung, with commentary, during the sermon time. One caveat: give yourself enough time

to do justice to some of the more ambitious settings here. I would start learning some of the O filii settings the previous summer or fall, to avoid the rush! Jean Langlais: Improvisation (Elevation) from Suite Medievale en forme de Messe Basse. Editions Salabert (1950). The third movement of this famous suite briefly uses the Adoro chant. It is the easiest, but also the shortest, of the movements reviewed here; if not used as a regular service voluntary it might be used as an introduction, interlude, or coda to singing the hymn during Communion. The 4th movement, Meditation, uses the Ubi caritas chant (Hymn 606) – but is also much more difficult than this movement! Hermann Schroeder: Hymni ad Communionem fur Orgel. Musikverlag Alfred Coppenrath (1980). Fine settings (likely originating as improvisations) of Lauda Sion and Pange lingua as well as Adoro. Raymond Weidner: Seven Liturgical Preludes. Paraclete Press, PPM 00127 (2001). Fine and easy setting of Adoro. Other settings include Conditor alme siderum, Divinum mysterium, Vexilla Regis, Te Deum, Veni creator Spiritus, and O lux beata trinitas. (continued on page 7)

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Music Reviews: Winter 2009 Sam Batt Owens: Adoro te devote (No. 5), from Six Meditations on Plainsong Melodies. Morning Star, MSM-10-531 (1999). Other settings: Conditor alme siderum, Divinum, In paradisum, Pange lingua, and Stabat mater dolorosa. Gerald Near: St. Augustine’s Organ Book: ten preludes on Gregorian Chant Melodies. Aureole, AE 86 (1996). This volume has settings of both Adoro and Ubi. Both are equally fine. Adoro is set as a theme and variations, which can be done alone or alternating with choir, and is probably my personal favorite and the one I use most frequently. The setting of Ubi includes gently undulating syncopations and interesting modulations, and I often use it on Maundy Thursday. The book has several other beautiful and useful settings of other chants. None of the pieces are difficult. I highly recommend this remarkable collection. Arthur Hutchings: Seasonal Preludes for Organ. Novello, 01 0188 05 (1984). This is a fine collection of music on commonly used hymn tunes for which there are not many organ settings, including Irby and Sine Nomine as well as Adoro te and O filii. Adoro te devote is a softly bubbling trio. Though the texture is exposed and the music does go a bit far afield, the tempo is slow, so all is still well! O filii et

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filiae is a rollicking gigue but not technically difficult, and is the setting I usually use on Easter 2. The Irby setting is a meditation rather than the usual straight-through-the-tune setting, with bits of various phrases appearing (not necessarily in order!), sometimes combined with each other, or in a quasicanon. While this is perhaps the most musically interesting piece in the volume, it is not as technically difficult as my description may have made it sound! The setting of Sine Nomine is the best short organ setting of this tune I have seen. It is to the point, short, simple, but interesting, and I use it as the Postlude on almost every All Saints Sunday. Highly recommended. Jeanne Demessieux: Twelve Choral Preludes. Summy-Birchard/Warner Bros. This excellent collection has beautiful but not easy settings of both Ubi and O filii et filiae. It also has splendid settings of Attende Domine for Lent, Adeste fideles, and an especially fine setting of the Veni Creator which I usually use as my closing voluntary on Pentecost. One could also play some of these excellent service pieces as a small group on recitals. Leo Sowerby: O filii et filiae (Postludium), from Advent to Whitsuntide: Organ Music for the Church year based on Six Hymns for the great Festivals.

Hinrichsen, H. E. No. 743b. This interesting collection, published in 1963, was an effort by established by older composers to write suitable but modern music for the less Romantic, “leaner and meaner” instruments being built, and each volume was available for either manuals only or manuals and pedal. Volume 1 was by Hendrik Andriessen, Vol. 2 by Gordon Phillips, and Vol. 4 was by Sowerby. His setting of the Easter tune is fine, if still somewhat overblown. The other settings in this volume are Veni Emmanuel, In dulci jubilo, Heinlein (Forty days and Forty nights), O sacred Head, and Veni Creator. Although I find Heinlein similarly too overblown, all the others are very good music and well worth learning (I have used this setting of In dulci jubilo most years, and have used it in recitals as well), thus making the whole collection well worth having. Includes interesting historical notes on the tunes by the late Erik Routley. Emma Lou Diemer: O filii et filiae, from Communion Hymns for Organ: Music of Celebration and Introspection. Sacred Music Press, 70/1106S. Sometimes serendipity is the best guide. One would not associate this Easter tune with Communion (at least in the Episcopal Church), and I confess I only found this setting of O filii having bought the volume for an-

other piece! No matter - it’s a fine setting, with the tune (rhythmic version) accompanied with a syncopated, quasi-pizzicato pedal and running eight-note chords or scales in the left hand. Other equally fine settings in this volume include Rendez a Dieu, Afron, O Lamm Gottes, and Salzburg. Ray Urwin: Three Chorale Preludes. St. James Music Press, 1998. I hope I won’t be accused too much of blowing my own horn by reviewing these little pieces here. Settings of O filii et filiae and Wie schoen leuchtet der Morgenstern, they were commissioned by the Sewanee Conference in 1998, when I served on the faculty there. So far, they are my only organ music. Dedicated to my teacher Charles Krigbaum, they were written with the von Beckerath instrument in Yale’s Dwight Chapel in mind, especially its 16’ Rankett. Since O filii is a French tune, I gave it a French Classical treatment in terms of the registration - set as a trio, with the tune in the pedal. There are actually two settings in the volume, corresponding to the two settings in the Hymnal 1982 (Hymns and 203). The subtitle for them is “with apologies to JSB,” because the right hand uses the melody of the Bach Minuet in G (in minor) against the hymn tune! Wie schoen is more difficult, and might best be described as an irascible trio.

Royal School of Church Music in America Westminster Choir College 101 Walnut Lane Princeton, NJ 08540 Email: [email protected] Tel: 609-921-3012 Website: www.rscmamerica.org

RSCM America Board of Directors Cynthia DeDakis, ARSCM President Enid Oberholtzer, HonRSCM President-elect Ernest Plunkett Secretary/Treasurer Lori Muller Training Courses Committee Representative Garmon Ashby Frank Boles Karen Knowles Andrew Sheranian Randel L. Wolfe Ex Officio members of the Board: Kevin Radtke Coordinator, RSCM America The Rev. Edmund Pickup Pastoral Advisor/Chaplain

A Note from the Coordinator Greetings to all from the RSCM America office. I’d like to use this space to briefly remind you about RSCM America’s involvement with GoodSearch.com. GoodSearch.com is a Yahoopowered search engine that donates half of its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. RSCM America has been a registered charity with GoodSearch.com since 2007. This means, of course, that you can help our organization to earn donations by using GoodSearch.com each time you want to search the Internet. Simply visit www.goodsearch.com, enter “RSCM” into the “Who do you GoodSearch for?” box,

click “Verify”, and search as usual. You’ll receive excellent Yahoo-powered search results, and RSCM America will receive about one cent! At the time of this writing, RSCM America’s supporters have performed 3,575 searches in two-and-a-half years, earning RSCM America no less than $44.29. Thank you! Here is an amazing statistic, however: if each of our 600 members performed just 2 searches per day on GoodSearch.com, RSCM America would earn $4,380 in one year. It goes without saying that RSCM America’s many educational and train-

ing opportunities, resources and publications – and by extension you, your choristers and your programs! – would benefit immensely from that a donation of that size. To all those who continue to GoodSearch for RSCM America, thank you. To all those who haven’t yet started, we can’t wait to thank you! We invite you to search at www.goodsearch.com today. A blessed Advent and Christmas to all, Kevin Radtke Coordinator RSCM America