Contact:
Calum Fraser
Email:
contact@calumfraser.co.uk
Address:
St Leonard's Church
Streatham High Road
Locality:
London
Postcode/Zip:
SW16 1HS
Musical Requirements:
St Leonard’s Church, Streatham seeks to appoint an Assistant Director of Music to further develop
and enrich the musical offering in worship.
The successful candidate will play the organ for Eucharist each Sunday morning (9.15am rehearsal for
10am service) and for Evensong on the first and third Sundays (3.15pm rehearsal for 4.30pm service).
The Assistant Director of Music would also be expected to play for all services at the major festivals
such as Christmas and Easter.
The Assistant Director of Music would be responsible for the training of the Junior Choristers (years 3
and 4) and for assisting the Director of Music with the training of all choristers. This involves a weekly
rehearsal each Thursday between 6pm and 7.15pm.
The Assistant Director of Music would also be expected to be available to accompany rehearsals with
the adult choir each Thursday between 7.30pm and 9pm. In addition, the successful candidate would
assist the Director of Music in the training of the adult choir and to deputise for him on the few
occasions when he may be unable to lead a rehearsal or a service.
In addition to these specific duties, the Assistant DoM would assist the Director of Music in overseeing
all music within the church, such as working with the teams who lead the music for services such as
Taizé Prayer and ‘Informal Worship. It is also hoped that the Assistant DoM would play for any services
in which the church choir is on tour.
The normal hours of work are a minimum of 8 hours per week, and it is expected that the Assistant
Director of Music would take annual leave for a week after Christmas, a week after Easter and through
the month of August. The successful candidate would also be able to request three further Sundays
of leave annually. The Assistant DoM may be required to work additional hours to their normal hours
per week, from time to time, with reasonable notice, to meet the needs of the organisation.
In addition, in agreement with the Director of Music and the Rector, and allowing for planned activities
occurring within the church, the appointee would be authorised to use the organ for personal
rehearsal and/or practice for teaching purposes for up to 8 hours per week.
The Assistant Director of Music will be accountable to, and line managed by the Director of Music,
who is, in turn, accountable to the Rector.
Typical Working week:
Sundays: 9.15am – 11.30am (weekly) & 3.15pm – 5.30pm (twice monthly)
Thursdays: 6pm – 9pm (weekly in term time) & 7.30pm – 9pm (during school holidays)
The successful candidate will be subject to DBS check and is required to complete Safeguarding
training provided through St Leonard’s Church.
The successful candidate will receive a salary of £7.5k per annum.
Other details:
Person specification:
• The ability to play the organ to a professional standard.
• The ability to teach primary aged children to sing and read music.
• A reliable person with a proven track record as a team player.
• A genuine enjoyment of children and the ability to communicate well with them.
• A good sense of humour.
• An appreciation of and a respect for the Christian ethos of St Leonard’s.
• Fully committed to upholding the St Leonard’s Safeguarding Policy.
About St Leonard’s:
St Leonard’s enjoys a good-sized and diverse congregation which spans all age groups and varied socio
economic and cultural backgrounds. There are around 100 children engaged in the church’s life, 25 of
whom are choristers aged between 7 and 14. Choristers were introduced at St Leonard’s in 2019 and
have become a key part of our outreach to families in the community who wouldn’t otherwise have
contact with the church. The children are drawn from a range of local schools and follow the RSCM
‘Voice for Life’ course material to help process their musicianship. The adult choir has around 20
voluntary singers, who sing alongside four choral scholars (one adult professional and three school-
aged young people).
Our churchmanship is Central/Liberal, although we have people from Evangelical and Catholic
backgrounds among our number. We are members of Inclusive Church and have a welcoming and
affirming approach to LGBTQI people. Most importantly, St Leonard’s is an extremely happy church
with a warm heart and generous community spirit.
Liturgy:
St Leonard’s has two sung Sunday services for which the Assistant DoM is required to play: Eucharist
and Evensong. At 10am on Sunday mornings we have a sung Common Worship Order. On the first
Sunday of the month, there is a less formal celebration of the Eucharist for all ages at which our
choristers sing. A communion anthem is sung at every morning service. The average 10am service has
around 120 adults and more than 20 children attending.
The evening services are varied; on the first and third Sundays of the month, we have BCP Choral
Evensong at 4.30pm, with choir-only settings of the responses and canticles, a psalm sung to Anglican
chant and an anthem. On the second Sunday, there is a candle lit Taizé service with Taizé chants,
attended by a mixed congregation who also play and sing (this is currently directed independently and
voluntarily by a member of the congregation and therefore does not necessarily require input from,
or the presence of, the Assistant DoM). On the fourth Sunday, there is an informal service at which a
small voluntary music group plays, which is led by the Church Youth Worker. Evening service
attendance is approximately 30.
Hymnody and Choral Repertoire:
In addition to the standards of the Anglican Choral Tradition, including full BCP Evensong twice a
month, we draw from a wide variety of musical resources in worship. The main hymn book is New
English Hymnal which we supplement with Hymns Ancient and Modern, Anglican Hymns Old and New.
We also occasionally use Taizé, Iona Community, worship songs from around the world and some
contemporary hymns and choruses. We like the diversity of our congregation to be reflected in our
congregational music.
The choral repertoire includes a large variety of sacred music of differing styles and periods. There is
an extensive array of anthems and motets in the choir vestry that we sing to enrich worship and we
are always trying to bring new music into the repertoire. For Evensong, there are currently around 20
sets of canticles and seven sets of responses in the repertoire.
The organ:
The original organ was destroyed in the 1975 fire but replaced with an excellent, well-equipped, two-
manual mechanical-action instrument by J.W. Walker & Sons, installed in the west end of the gallery
in 1979. It is well-maintained and regula...