Solange De Santis

Christopher Dawes

Canada’s venerable Summer Institute of Church Music is branching out into the rest of the year with a new program aimed at developing an individual congregation’s musical life – an engaging, humourous evening that’s both seminar and concert.

Called Holy Song, the program is led by Toronto musician Christopher Dawes, who has been director of the institute for three years.

“One of our board members, Angela Wakeford, organist at the (Anglican) Church of the Ascension in Port Perry (Ont.), was thinking of how to extend the institute,” Mr. Dawes said. He subsequently developed the idea of a two-hour evening that would include some interesting hymn history (such as the efforts to ban in Britain the patriotic hymn I Vow to Thee My Country) coupled with congregational singing.

“My concept is a stop on a congregation’s hymn-singing journey. Most churches use only about 30 per cent of their hymnal. I would like to open people to the riches of their hymn book in a setting not quite as loaded with formality as a Sunday service,” he said in an interview.

Half a dozen churches across a broad spectrum – Lutheran, United, Anglican and Baptist – have expressed interest in the program, which Mr. Dawes, best known as an Anglican organist and music director, first presented last April at St. Stephen’s Presbyterian church in Ottawa. A fee pays the institute and Mr. Dawes, and proceeds from ticket sales go to the sponsoring church.

The structure of the evening is quite flexible, he said, explaining that he customizes it for each church. “St. Stephen’s brought in some young musicians. Some churches want to involve their choirs and sing a big anthem. One church said they would like to have people submit requests for hymns that might be favourites but aren’t sung much any more,” he said.

Mr. Dawes traces the history of congregational singing from the beginning of the Western tradition to modern songs and chants associated with the Taize and Iona communities that are in, respectively, France and Scotland.

He also noted that hymn-singing can be “a highly politicized activity.” A song such as Onward Christian Soldiers, beloved by some can be troubling to others due to its “militant imagery.” Some viewed I Vow to Thee My Country as an offensively militant form of patriotism.

Mr. Dawes said he can structure the program to include local musicians, but generally accompanies his talk on the church’s piano or organ. An instrumentalist of considerable reputation, Mr. Dawes spent 12 years at Toronto’s St. James (Anglican) Cathedral, eight as assistant organist and four as organist and music director. He is currently music director at the Anglican church of St. George the Martyr in Toronto and freelances on a number of projects, including the summer institute and a summer music program located in Stratford, Ont.

The summer institute, which completed its 38th session last June, is a five-day program located at Trafalgar Castle School in Whitby, Ont., about 60 km east of Toronto. Its seminars and workshops explore many facets of church music and feature renowed teachers and instrumentalists. Sessions include piano, organ and choral music and a community choral concert. The institute also administers the Osborne Organ Competition for Canadian organists under the age of 30.

In the past, Mr. Dawes said, “the institute has been a tool kit – learn to play the organ better, find out about new anthems – but recently, we have focused on an individual’s church music journey, while we work on skills and resources. We have offered medical sessions on injuries and playing safely and sessions on understanding leadership. This year, we did a panel discussion on musical creation – not simply writing but creating as a collaborative process.”

The institute allows church musicians to take a break from a job that can be high-profile, vulnerable, subject to criticism and politicized. “We have chapel worship each day and a chaplain. Church musicians can seldom just sit in a pew without worrying about the next anthem, etc. The institute allows them to actively pursue their faith in a non-distracted way,” said Mr. Dawes. Attendance is currently about 60 people, but could expand further, he added.

Further information is available at orgalt.com/sicm/help_sicm/holysong.html