Robert Paterson's Weblog

How can a choir become a Social Object?

This is a story about using "Story". The challenge was this. A small team of Alumni and from WDAV a Public Radio station in Charlotte NC had organized a tour for the Choir of the Cathedral from my old college at Oxford, Christ Church. We of course wanted full houses. We did  not have the money to do PR in the old way. How then could we use the web instead?

How could we make the choir into a "Social Object"?

This is how we pulled this off with the help of Tom King our wonderful web guru and ex chorister himself. 

The web is more than the tools and technology. We love stories about people. We love to have our say. We love to go behind the scenes. The community knows more than any expert. An engaged community can do far more than the hardest working individual. The web can unlock these forces. 

Using this context, we set out to use the web to tell a story and so engage a community. For we knew that more than 60 million people sing or have sung in a choir in America. Could we tap into this? Could they do the work?

At the outset we set the context. Before the tour began, we produced a deep background series on the Choir itself. Here is one of the videos about the choir. What was our history, who were the people and what was their life like. Here is an amazing interview with 2 choristers.  Here is a piece on the Choristers.

 

We did the same for the music. We have to care about that too before we hear it. Here is Christ Church rehearsing in Toronto with their Host Choir from Grace Church. 

We have to care also about the places. Every host had their own space too where we made it easy for their local community to know what would happen and how to get tickets. Here at Grace Church on the Hill in Toronto is how we supported every venue. 

By the time the choir boarded the plane, the world of the tour had been vividly drawn and a community of support had been brought to life. 

We then set up a process and the rules for how all those who were directly involved in the tour could tell their own story. Singers, radio stations, hosts, parents, friends and family took up their cameras and pens and covered every moment of the tour. We used facebook and people also sent Tom and I material that we put onto the site daily. Here we are in New York. The story unfolded like a Dickens book in daily chapters that were as novel to the author as to the reader. So all was fresh and exciting.

We got what we wanted - full houses and standing ovations all the way.

And as a result, we saw something new and unexpected. Firstly, we could see that the Cathedral is no longer bounded by its walls. We can implant the cathedral in the hearts of people. Secondly, we could see that we at the centre do not have to do all the work. We are no longer constrained by our own limited resources. With the right invitation, the community will do the work. 

We know now that the future of the choir is now tied into the web in this way. Is it not for you too?

The full web story is here.

The Choristers:: USA Canada Tour 2011 – Christ Church Cathedral Choir

Stephen Darlington and the Choristers talk about the demands of a choir boy’s life.

via usa2011.chchchoir.org

Boys are in trouble today. They don't seem to cope well at school and so get lost later in life. Why might this be?

I think that when I watched this video this morning, I could see a reason.

These boys are not lost at all. They are confronted with a huge challenge. They are in effect professional musicians in an elite body that performs in public all the time. They are also at school. They also have families.

And the so the difference is the culture of challenge. These boys are faced with a huge challenge.

But what about normal school? What about your sons? I think that above all boys need to be challenged. But our PC view seeks to take challenge and risk away.

Boys thrive on risk and challenge. Try giving some back please.

No sullen teen boys here - 

 

Memories of Oxford

What do you remember of your Oxford experience?

This Oxford Promo video is a typical promo – but it did bring back to me, glimpses of Christ Church, the beauty of the city, the life of the student and sense of academic awe that I had when I first arrived.

How did you feel when you first arrived? I was terrified that I would be the stupid one. I also only knew 2 people when I arrived and wondered how I would fit in socially as well.

I regret that I was a bit of a hearty philistine – Yes I have “swum” in Mercury. The Bulldogs knew me well. I was fortunate to have Charles Stuart as my Moral Tutor and as a regular Tutor. He more than anyone taught me how to think.

I did next to no work for my first 2 years but then knuckled down and in effect did all of the 3 years in one at the end. I only stopped having nightmares about finals a few years back!

I wish that I had participated more broadly at the time. But I did have the time of my life and made the best friends of my life too. More than anything these friendship have and still do sustain me. We have all had our ups and downs – buried our parents – been god parents to our children – and now get old together. I can’t imagine my life without them.

I can rarely go back either to see my friends or Christ Church. This is why I am so excited about bringing some of this here to where I live. I am also making amends I hope for my very uncivilized escapades. No fire extinguisher left unused on my staircase in Peck!

Wishing you too great memories and great friends

via usa2011.chchchoir.org

Have you sung in a choir? What piece do you love the most?

I have not sung in a choir for many years. But as a boy I too was a chorister and sung in services very day and twice on Sunday with lots of rehearsal as well. Singing in the choir was a formative part of me. I am told by Ben Roe that 65 million Americans have sung in a choir. That makes for a huge part of the nation.

So here is my question to you – what was the piece that you sung early that meant the most to you?

Mine was In the Bleak Mid Winter. Christmas was the centre of our year. And this one carol brings it all back to me. I am a boy again with all my life ahead of me – in a magical moment at a magical time that I seem to have lost forever – for we can’t go back.

But maybe in a way we can when we are with others who are at that time in their lives. So here is the Christ Church Choir singing In the Bleak Winter outside in the real snow. I hope you enjoy this. Please let me know what piece does this for you too.

via usa2011.chchchoir.org

If you live in Charlotte NC, Washington, New York, Boston or Toronto you can experience the Christ Church Choir yourself this March/April. Check out the site for details.

Do you love Music? Are you an Oxford Grad? Then please have a look here.

If you live in America or Canada, and you are like me an Alumnus of Christ Church or of any college at Oxford, you can’t easily take a day trip down to Oxford to see the place or spend and evening with old friends. You can’t take your spouse or children there easily either. Oxford fades away. As I get older, I feel more cut off from this special time in my life. I feel sad that I have not been able to share this place and experience with those closest to me. As I get older I want to get that feeling again and I want to share it with people that are important to me.

If you are one of the 65 million people in America that either sing in a choir today, or have sung in a choir, you can’t easily get personal exposure to one of the great English Male Choirs. Yes of course you can hear their music or see them on video but how often can you hear them in person? Or even better, how often can you go behind the scenes and be with them as they practice? Or even better how often can you meet them and talk with them about what it is like to be a professional musician aged 9? What would it be like for you to be part of such a musical experience not only to be present for a performance but to get involved directly?

This then is the context for our tour.

We will do our best to bring your experience of Christ Church, or Oxford itself, to you so that you can  have a moment when you are taken back there. When you might be able to offer a glimpse to those you love and care for of the essence of the spirit of that place.

We will do our best to bring a full choral and musical experience to those of you that love choral music. In each place we perform, we will have an open rehearsal designed to enable you to have the maximum exposure and contact behind the scenes. And of course we bring one of the world’s great choirs who will be singing some of the finest choral music ever written. Here are a few of our programs – Here - Here – Here

If you live in North Carolina, Washington DC, New York, Boston or Toronto – we are going to bring all of this to you in late March and early April.

Before we arrive Tom King, our brilliant web master, videographer and I will do our best to introduce the choir to you. We will post videos of all the participants – the boys, the men singers, organists, the place, the music, the history – we plan to bring as much of the humanity of this great body to you. As I write these words the irony of what I say leaps out. For here is a choir that is 500 years old, formed at the time of Henry VIII, using Social Media to help you find out more about us.

I have myself many stories about my own love of this kind of music. I too was a Boy Chorister – not at Christ Church I regret. But Tom was a chorister. There is something about singing in a choir that is life enhancing. So that we can tell these stories to each other and learn more about how to attend and how to help persuade your friends to join you – Tom and I have set up a FaceBook Group here as well.

Welcome to this special world that is the Christ Church Choir. Tom and I look forward to getting to know you.

via usa2011.chchchoir.org

6 months ago Chris Rocker from Christ Church Development and I met for coffee in Halifax. Chris had a problem. How could he link Christ Church Grads who lived in North America more closely to the House and to each other? In the UK it is easy. We get invited to spend the night and have a grand dinner. Or we can just go there and see the place. Or we can see our friends who live in the UK.

But what about those of us who live so far away from both Oxford and each other? I flew to England last year to have my 60th birthday with my close friends from my years there. It was the best evening of my life after my wedding night - no don't go there! It's hard to stay connected over here.

So we came up with this "Evil Plan" (HT Hugh McLeod) why don't we take Christ Church and Oxford to them? Take Oxford to America and to Canada?

Make it an experience. Do more and be more than just a concert.

We hope that we can offer Grads an experience that will take them back as it were - even if only for 2 hours. We hope that this wil ba chance to not only to experience the essence of our time at Oxford but to be part of this and to meet each other.

We also know that millions love choral music. We also asked ourselves if we could also offer you more than just a performance - could we set it up so that choral fans could get behind the scenes? We have done that too.

For those of you for whom this kind of choir is new - here are a few tips as it were.

At the heart of this kind of choir are the trebles/sopranos who are all boys aged 8 -13. They go to a school that is yards away from the cathedral and there are in effect professional musicians. They are as to a local church child's choir as a formula one racing car is to my Toyota Echo. If you can imagine it - I was a boy chorister once too. I will open a window into their lives in the next few weeks. You will see them at work and at school.

The alto parts are sung by men as are all the other traditional parts. You will meet some of them too and find out what it is like to be part of this. I will introduce you to all the key players in fact and to this most magical of places, my college, The House know to all else as Christ Church.

This choir was founded 500 years ago. If you have watched the Tudors - Christ Church was founded by Cardinal Wolsey. The choir therefore has a long and great tradition.

I am biased of course as a grad myself, but I think that this choir is easily in the top 10 in the world today - so if you live in Charlotte NC, Washington, New York, Boston or Toronto and you love music - this is a treat.

Over the next 3 months I will be taking you behind the scenes as this great choir gets ready and then goes on tour. I hope that you will enjoy the story as it unfolds.