The Church of St Peter, Great Berkhamsted

The Choir

the choir

At St Peter’s Berkhamsted we have a thriving church choir of children and adults. The choir leads morning worship every Sunday at 9:30am, with Choral Evensong once a month.

The choir also sings at a number of other important services during the year such as during Holy Week and at Christmas.

When is Choir Practice?

choir robes hanging in the vestry

We normally rehearse during the week as shown below. Once a month we sing Choral Evensong and we have an extra rehearsal on Sunday afternoon before the service.

Choir practice is very important – just like a football club we work together as a team. We need to learn music and improve our skills together, and so we ask all our singers to come to rehearsals. Although we work hard, the choir is a welcoming group and a great way to make friends.

If you cannot come to a practice or to a church service, please let the Director of Music know.

Choir practice times
Tuesday 5.15 pm - 6.15 pm Children only diary
Download the
Choir Diary
Friday 7:00-8:30pm Children
  7:30-8:30pm Adults
Sunday 4:30pm
Evensong days only 		 

The music team:

Can I join the Choir?

We welcome new singers, and accept both girls and boys on the soprano line, as well as adult singers on the other parts. If you are interested in singing with us, or if you'd like your child to take part, please get in touch with one of the music team – we'd love to hear from you.

What kind of music do you sing?

the choir

Our repertoire draws on the rich and varied Anglican repertoire of hymns, responses, canticles and anthems. We sing a wide range of music by composers from the Renaissance, Victorian and modern periods, including Tallis, Palestrina, Gibbons, Stainer, Vaughan Williams, Stanford, Howells and Purcell, as well as new works specially written for the choir.

Listen to St Peter's Choir singing:

Recorded in the Stephansdom, Vienna, May 28 2011

How can Children take part?

RSCM Gold Award recipoents 2011

We are especially keen to develop the skills of young choristers. St Peter's Church Choir actively involves young people in choral worship and provides an excellent musical education to children from all backgrounds. Children can join the choir any time after their sixth birthday.

We encourage our choristers to work towards Royal School of Church Music Chorister Awards and children who reach each level in the scheme are awarded a ribbon badge in recognition of their achievement.

By joining in with the other children in the choir, your son or daughter can make new friends, gain an appreciation of a beautiful musical tradition and develop musical abilities that will be with them for life.

What else does the Choir do?

RSCM Gold Award recipoents 2011

The choir periodically go on tour, singing in famous churches and cathedrals in other European countries.We had highly successful concert tours to Venice in 2009, and to Vienna in 2011. You can read an article about the Vienna tour in the August 2011 issue of the parish magazine, Your Berkhamsted.

Several members of the choir also sing with the RSCM Cathedral Singers at various cathedrals in the UK throughout the year.

In 2011 St Peter's Choir recorded a CD which sold out quickly – find out how to order a copy.

 

 

Choir Programme

 

 

 

Resources for Singers

 

 

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 Choristers’ Prayer