Cathedral Isle of Man’s director of music, Dr Peter Litman, has devised a way of continuing chorister development despite the lockdown.

Dr Litman, like so many of us have had to at this difficult time, has taken to sharing documents and video conferencing to teach three classes a week.

Broken into three levels, he is teaching junior choristers working towards their Light Blue, Dark Blue and Red RSCM Ribbons.

There are two sizes of choristers’ medals established by the Royal School of Church Music, the Voice for Life and the Junior medals.

The RSCM website states: ’The medals with appropriately coloured ribbon are awarded to mark your achievement as you progress through the Voice for Life training scheme.’

Dr Litman’s sessions consist of vocal work, rhythm exercises, interval recognition and sight singing examples, with bespoke material created each week based on the continuing assessment of the individual choristers in each level group.

He said: ’The pedagogy sessions end with study of the same piece of music across all ribbon levels, so that when the choir meet again after the lockdown, they have a base of a new repertoire they can sing together.

’In addition choristers can opt to attend a weekly ’drop in’ social half-hour conference where they can chat with each other under supervised conditions, aiding wellbeing and continuing a general esprit de corps.’

Attendance at the classes are voluntary. Dr Litman reports that he has seen 62.5% take up of the total choristers attending.

Depending on the length of time the lockdown continues, Dr Litman hopes to develop an additional session to ensure the recruitment of new children for the future.