"In quires and places where they sing..."

Choral music has been at the heart of Anglican worship for the last five centuries. A tradition which began in English cathedrals which began with the music of composers such as Thomas Tallis and William Byrd continues to the present day, and has been maintained throughout that time by world-famous foundations such as King's College, Cambridge, Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral.

Whilst there have been many changes in the style of worship over the centuries, particularly in the last couple of decades, the traditional forms of service with their strong musical content remain an important part of Anglican worship. These are still to be found in most English cathedrals but are more rare in parish churches.

St John's offers a wide range of services within the mainstream Anglican tradition, including BCP Mattins, Evensong and Eucharist alongside the modern Common Worship services. The Church draws on its strong musical and choral tradition to enhance the worship.

St John's is one of the few parish churches (and the only one in the diocese) which also continues the tradition of having an all-male Parish Choir with boy trebles and gentleman altos, tenors and basses. The value of singing in such a choir to boys is immense and it is tragic that there are so few such choirs left in parish churches in England. St John's does, however, cater for the fairer sex in its expert mixed-voice Chamber Choir. 

One of the distinctive features of choral worship is that parts of the service are often sung by the choir on behalf of the congregation. We are all invited to make our own offering of worship in every part of the service, but sometimes this is in a spirit of quiet reflection or joyful contemplation, when the choir sings on our behalf - such as during the responses, canticles or the anthem - depending on their special contribution to the service on that particular Sunday. The congregation says the said parts of the service printed in bold and as a musical contribution always joins in singing the hymns.