Kilburn Children's Choir

The Kilburn Children’s Choir, supported by St Mary and St James, has been started to introduce music to children in an engaging way through traditional and global choral songs. We will meet each Sunday 4:30-6pm, with opportunities to sing in mass once a month, and in community events once a semester, for those who have attended 75% of the rehearsals.

The schedule for each rehearsal will be roughly:

4:30-4:50 Musical games and vocal warmups

4:50-5:10 Review of known songs

5:10-5:40 Learning new songs

5:40-5:50 Recap linking the songs to core musical concepts

5:50-6 food and fun / help and questions for those studying accompanying music theory

To start, we would like to try opening rehearsals to any children 5-15 years old, and we ask that you include the ages of your children when you sign up. Depending on the number of children who attend, and their ages and musical experience, we expect that some of the rehearsal will be all ages together, and some in groups, so that younger children can receive enough attention and support while still having fun, and older children and youth can go into further depth on the musical aspects.We may need to be flexible about whether this approach will work for everyone, so we may need to ask parents of children under 7 to remain to help with younger children, or we may adjust the timings slightly, and we may decide at some point to narrow the ages for participation.

The goal initially is to gauge interest and test out the format, and identify what is appealing to those of you who sign up so that we can build up towards a choir that best serves the community. Initially, we are depending on the links to St Mary’s and St James, but we’re very open to any children who want to sing, whether in church or not. The first week we will learn two songs: We are marching in the light of God is translated from a traditional Zulu song: Siyahamba, this song has long been used not only in churches, but also in protest marches by those opposing apartheid with Nelson Mandela in South Africa to social justice advocates like Oscar Romero in Latin America. Dona Nobis Pacem is a traditional song in Latin from the 16th century which is part of the “Agnus Dei” (Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world… grant us peace”) which we sing each week in the mass. Many people also use it outside of churches to pray for peace and unity. When you sign up, please share the age of your child/children, and if you aren't sure if this is right for you, please get in touch, and we're happy to answer any questions you may have.

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Host or Publisher St Mary's, Kilburn and St James', West Hampstead churches