The School of English Church Music

On the initiative of Sir Sydney Nicholson, then organist of Westminster Abbey, the School of English Church Music (SECM) was inaugurated at a meeting in the Jerusalem Chamber of Westminster Abbey held on 6 December 1927, the feast of St Nicolas. It was to consist of a training college for church musicians (the College of St Nicolas), and an association of affiliated churches who committed themselves to attaining high standards.

The School was housed at Buller’s Wood in Chislehurst, Kent. The college opened there in 1929 and continued until closure was forced at the outbreak of war in 1939 when most students were called up for military service. During those first ten years major choral festivals were held triennially in London (1930 at the Royal Albert Hall, 1933 and 1936 at the Crystal Palace) and the number of affiliated churches rose to 1300 worldwide. Throughout the war Sir Sydney continued his itinerant teaching at diocesan and parish level from a base at St Michael’s College, Tenbury, and then from Leamington Spa.

The Royal School of Church Music

In 1945, by command of King George VI, the SECM became the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM). Canterbury Cathedral allowed the school to function within the precincts of the cathedral, and the College of St Nicolas re-opened there in January 1946. By 1952 over 3000 churches were affiliated.

RSCM has grown to become an international and ecumenical organisation, with more the 11,000 affiliates in the UK, North America, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and throughout Europe.

The RSCM supports a world-wide network of 9,000 churches, schools and individuals. We are committed to achieving the best use of good music in worship – whatever the resources, whatever the style. Through education, training, publications, advice and encouragement, we aim to support church music today and to invest in church music for the future.

The RSCM is an ecumenical Christian charity.

The core purpose of the RSCM is education.

Through its educational mission the RSCM aims to encourage and inspire:

*good use of music, above all in Christian worship;
*the highest standards appropriate to each individual church and community, taking into account resources and circumstances;
* a culture of learning through practice, experience and reflection, leading to the development of both skills and understanding;
*individuals to engage in education and training in order to serve their church or community, and to fulfill the RSCM’s mission at a local level.

The Royal School of Church Music

Patron Her Majesty the Queen

President His Grace the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury

Chairman Mr Mark Williams

Director General Mr Lindsay Gray
Registered charity: 312828

Registered in London as a company limited by guarantee: 250031

The RSCM as an Organisation

The RSCM consists of an international network of affiliated groups and individual members, co-ordinated nationally and/or regionally through voluntary committees, guided, enabled and supported by an administrative staff, with an administrative centre at Sarum College, Salisbury, Wiltshire. Common to everyone in the RSCM is the belief that music, and specifically music in worship, matters.

RSCM Governance

The RSCM is governed and guided by three bodies: a council, an advisory board, and an association. The RSCM is both a registered charity and a registered company limited by guarantee.

The RSCM Council

The RSCM Council consists of the Trustees of the charity – a chairman and 12 members. They take responsibility internationally for the good name of the RSCM, granted by Royal Charter, and its good standing. They are accountable to the membership of the RSCM Association. Council is responsible for the policies of the RSCM. Council meets five or six times each year, and as necessary in smaller ad hoc groups.

The RSCM Advisory Board

The RSCM Advisory Board offers advice and support to, and is available for consultation by Council and the Director General. The Board has up to 35 members, including all members of Council. Of the 35, seven are elected by the members of the Association.

The RSCM Association

The RSCM Association consists of all Individual Members and all Area and National Chairmen and Secretaries. Members of the Association are the members of the company limited by guarantee, of whom the Trustees are the directors, and the Director General is the chief executive.

Chairman of Council Mark Williams

Company Secretary Julia Harrison Place

RSCM Staff

The principal functions of the RSCM staff are administration and management – guiding, enabling and supporting the membership and voluntary networks. All RSCM staff have a primary responsibility to the membership.

The work of the RSCM is co-ordinated and overseen by the Director General. As principal officer, the Director General is accountable to the RSCM Council for the vision, strategy, leadership and operation of the RSCM.

The administration and management of the RSCM falls into five principal portfolios:

*Operation and Finance (The Bursary);
*Education and Training (The Wardenry);
* Volunteers and Committees (RSCM Voluntary Networks); *Resources (RSCM Press and RSCM Music Direct);
*Fund-raising, Marketing and Public Relations (RSCM Development Office).

Each portfolio is administered and managed by a Senior Executive Officer.

Director General
Mr Lindsay Gray

Bursar
Julia Harrison Place

Director, RSCM Voluntary Networks (Based in Ripon)
Gordon Appleton

Head of Education
Sue Snell

Head of Publishing
Tim Ruffer

Marketing and Business adviser
Alan Mitchell

The RSCM Motto

Psallam spiritu et mente

With spirit and understanding

This verse comes from St Paul's 1st Letter to the Church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 14: 15). As with all scripture, we need to read this verse in context. The website Bible Gateway gives us an opportunity to read this text in several different versions (and languages), and so help us to understand what the author meant.

Online Shop

The new RSCM online shop launched at 5pm on Monday 6 September.

The online shop offers all the items from the RSCM stock list except RSCM medals, ribbons, badges, folders and organ boxes. To order these items and other items not on the stock list, please email, telephone or fax your order to us in the usual way and we will process it as quickly as possible.

We regret that we are currently unable to deliver goods to the following countries due to insurance issues: Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia - Herzegovina, Burundi, Colombia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Haiti, Iraq, Liberia, Montenegro, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Chechnya, Rwanda, Serbia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Zaire

UK affiliates

UK affiliates can take advantage of their Music Direct credit account by logging in. The prices shown after logging in are inclusive of any applicable member’s discounts.

Overseas affiliates

Overseas affiliates may log in using their Member Key as both the username and password. Logging in ensures that any applicable discounts are applied, but you will need to have your credit card handy to pay for the transaction. We regret that we are unable to extend credit to our overseas affiliates at the present time.

Other RSCM members and private customers

All other members are invited to shop as private customers and to do this you are not required to log in. Simply browse the catalogue, place items into your shopping basket and enter your credit card details when you checkout.

We cannot offer individual members their usual 25% discount on individual RSCM-published items purchased via the website. To take advantage of your discount, mail or telephone us with your order, which we will process as quickly as possible. We hope to be able to include individual member discounts online later.

The RSCM International Organisation

The RSCM consists of an international network of affiliated groups and individual members. These are co-ordinated nationally or regionally through voluntary committees. National and regional committees are guided, enabled and supported by the RSCM administrative staff, whose administrative centre is at Sarum College, Salisbury, England. Common to everyone in the RSCM is the belief that music, and specifically music in worship, matters.