Guild of Church Musicians Inc
ABN 66 581 261 630
GCM in Australia NEWSLETTER
No. 1
Dear Members of the Guild in
Australia,
This is the first issue of what we
hope will be a regular newsletter
newsletter,
published after each Australian
Council meeting as a way of
keeping members directly and
more frequently informed of
matters considered at each meeting. We also hope it
will encourage members to provide their views and
feedback on various issues to the Council.
uncil.
This issue follows the Annual General Meeting on
19 April 2016 and Council meeting immediately after.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Members will have received the full AGM agenda,
together with the previous years annual accounts,
prior to the meeting.. The income and expenditure
budget, also distributed, was the first prepared since
the (renamed) Australian Council began managing the
activities and financial affairs of the Guild in Australia
independently of the UK Guild Council. A summary of
the main business covered at the AGM follows.
Composition of the Australian Council
As noted in the agenda, the Guild Council in the UK
reappointed The Rt Revd Richard Hurford OAM as the
Australian Subwarden and he in turn re re-appointed me
as the AC Chair. Bishop p Richard and I announced the
following jointly-made
made appointments at the AGM AGM:
Director of Studies: Dr Brett McKern
Examinations Secretary: Andrew Davidson
Australian Correspondent: Neville Olliffe
The revised constitution provides for a Council of ten
councillors. The following people were declared
elected to the five electable Council positions
positions:
Phillip Bongers, Dr Philip Matthias, Ian McLeod
McLeod,
Robin Ruys and Don Yorath
Yorath.
Retirements from Council
This year we farewell James Peet and Dr Keith Murree
Murree-
Allen OAM as they retire from Council.. Both are long-
term AAC/AC members and office bearers
bearers. Neither,
however, is lost to usJim remains onon call
call to the
Council while enjoying retirement from the workforce
Sub Warden: Bishop Richard Hurford OAM CStJ
PO Box 420 Gordon NSW 2072
secretary@guildofchurchmusicians.org.au
www.guildofchurchmusicians.org.au
June 2016
in the NSW Southern rn Highlands, while Keith remains
involved as a representative
tative in the Newcastle region.
Revised Constitution of the Guild in Australia
The special resolution to adopt the revised constitution
was passed at the AGM.. The AC thanks the members
for supporting the resolution, and believes the new
constitution is a good foundation for the greater
g
autonomous management of the Guild in Australia.
AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL MEETING
Election of Office-bearers
The remaining three office bearers elected from within
the AC at the Council meeting following the AGM are:
Vice-Chair: Philip Matthias
Treasurer: Phillip Bongers
Officer) Don Yorath
Secretary (and Public Officer):
The Guilds Annual Festival Service 2016
This artwork by John Coburn, the Backdrop for World Council of Churches
Churches
7th Assembly, Convention Centre, Canberra, February 1999, now hanging in
All Saints Cathedral, Bathurst, was used (with permission)
per on the front
cover of the service booklet for the 2015 Festival Service.
Planning for the Annual Festival Service starts early and
is a permanent AC meeting agenda item year-round.
year
Planning for the 2016 AFS began in February. The 2015
service had to be held on a Saturday, but following that
experience and feedback, the 2016 service reverts to a
Sunday afternoon 3 pm on 23 October at the Guild
Church, the Anglican Church of St John the Evangelist
in the Sydney suburb of Gordon. Former AAC member
The Revd Dr Daniel Dries, now Rector of Christ Church
St Laurence at Railway Square in the Sydney CBD, has
accepted Councilss invitation to convene the service.
Fr Daniel and I are about to begin detailed preparation.
Other permanent agenda items at AC meetings
include reports from the Chair, Treasurer and Director
of Studies, and the subjects of Guild membership,
library, website and current administrative matters.
Australian Council Chair: Madeleine Rowles
Membership. Council is conscious that the member-
ship is concentrated in NSW and that the Guild is not
represented in WA, NT, or Tasmania. We are consider-
ing options for promoting the Guild and our study
courses among Australian Christian church communi-
ties. We welcome members ideas for attracting indi-
vidual or corporate members and potential students.
Administration. An ongoing administrative matter is
development of an AC Operating Manual giving
information, policies, procedures, position descrip-
tions and duty lists, for AC members reference. This
manual also documents the Annual Festival Service
planning process, tasks and timetable. The draft was
well advanced under previous governance, but with
the advent of greater autonomy was set aside until the
Constitution was updated. It will now be updated to
suit the new Constitution. These two documents
contain the rules and regs for the Guild in Australia
and guidance for their practical application. The
Manual, unlike the Constitution, is a living document
that will be updated frequently, particularly in regard
to the Annual Festival Service as we gain further
experience each year of what works and what doesnt.
WARDENS VISIT
The Revd Canon Jeremy
Haselock HonFGCM, Guild
Warden since 2011, planned
to visit us in October last year
at the ACs invitation, but had
to postpone when planned
surgery was rescheduled.
At this stage, Fr Jeremy, with possibly one other
member of the UK Guild Council, plans to visit around
the same time this year and, if all falls into place, he
will be with us at the Annual Festival Service. The
previous visit from UK Guild Council members was in
2003, and as most key personnel on the UK Council
have changed since then, it will be good for Fr Jeremy
to have the opportunity to meet Australian members
and to discuss issues of local concern.
Much as we would prefer otherwise, Fr Jeremy may
not be able to travel much further than Sydney and
Newcastle, because of time and local budget. We do
have tentative plans to optimise opportunities for
members elsewhere to spend time with the Warden.
We hope the visit will also, particularly for regional
members able and willing to travel to Sydney or
Newcastle, provide opportunity for potential and
existing Guild study candidates to hear more about the
courses and to discuss them in person with Director of
Studies Brett and Exam Secretary Andrew.
Subsequent newsletters will provide further details as
plans for the visit take shape.
MEMBERS FEEDBACK
Feedback from members is always welcome, especially
from regional and interstate members with no
opportunity to meet in person with members of the AC
which, for practical reasons at present, is Sydney-
centric. Please send the Council your questions and
comments at the post box address or secretarys email
address provided in the letterhead.
The next AC meeting will take place on 21 June 2016.
Madeleine
Madeleine Rowles
GUILD STUDY COURSES
Many Australian Guild
members and of Guild
corporate members
have successfully
gained Guild awards.
Thus far, the Arch-
bishops Preliminary
Certificate and the
Archbishops Certificate in Church Music (ACertCM)
have been the most popular in Australia and NZ.
Others are the Archbishops Certificate in Public
Worship (ACertPW, for leaders of worship, lay and
ordained), and the Fellowship of the Guild of Church
Musicians (FGCM, a high-level diploma of postgraduate
level).
Some syllabus changes will be of interest to members.
1. The Preliminary Certificate course consists of
playing or singing 2 pieces, a viva voce, simple
sight-reading and ear tests, and an assignment of
1500-3000 words depending on age. The assign-
ment task will be updated to offer the alternative
of a presentation or composition. This may appeal
to people who havent studied for some time, or
have never studied music formally. The standard
relates to the candidates church work, and is
assessed in that context.
2. The second exciting development is the new
diploma of Licentiate of the Guild of Church
Musicians (LGCM). This award comprises the first
part of the two parts of the Fellowship diploma.
3. While its not new, remember parts A-C of the five
parts of ACertCM may be taken as a separate
award: the Archbishops Award in Church Music,
with study concluded then, or continued later.
So to summarise, the Guild now has six awards:

Preliminary Certificate
Archbishops Award

ACertCM
ACertPW
LGCM
FGCM
Many members of the Guild and those affiliated with a
corporate member have undertaken these awards,
from small children and choirboys and choirgirls, to
adults from 18 to over 80. All have said that there was
something useful in the process and material for them.
I can confirm that accolade! I encourage all Guild
members to consider study, and to consider who they
know that may like to become a candidate.
Dr
Dr Brett McKern
Director of Studies
Study course details and email addresses for Director of Studies and
Examinations Secretary are on the Guilds website (please see letterhead).