PARISH MUSIC, CHANGING TIMES

MEL PLUMLEY, UK

I was first engaged to play for church services in 1970. It was a Roman Catholic church, coming to grips with music under Vatican II and I was a teenage Anglican and a member of the local organists’ association. Almost all of its members were elderly men. Half a century later, many organists’ groups still seem comprised mostly of elderly men so what’s new? In 1970 most churches with music groups that led singing had an SATB choir with organ accompaniment. Today a large number of churches of all denominations have lost SATB choirs. Those that existed at the start of 2020 have had to adjust to the damage done when singers were excluded from services during plague lockdowns. Church finances that funded organ maintenance have also come under stress.