Non Nobis Domine

This Sunday marks the 18th and final year of the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) Gulf Coast residency, which has been hosted by St. John the Divine since 2021. At the 11:15 am Church service, a combined choir of female choristers aged 10-18 and adult alumni traveling from as far as Brooklyn, NY, will sing beautiful music from our Anglican choral tradition as part of a Choral Eucharist before traveling across town to offer Evensong at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church at 4 pm.

St. John the Divine Associate Director of Music Anna Teagarden, who has been involved in RSCM Gulf Coast from the beginning, recalls the program’s history and impact, saying, “I attended the first year, and I fell absolutely in love with the program. It was beyond anything I had ever done before. It was modeled after a cathedral choir school. For one week, the girls who attended got to be in the rhythm of what it would be like if you lived on cathedral grounds in a British choir school. Every day, you wake up, have morning prayer, eat breakfast, rehearse, have a snack and activity, rehearse again, eat lunch, have another activity, rehearse yet again, then close with Evensong and Compline.”

From the beginning, Anna felt the impact of the program’s ancient rhythm. “I was a better person after three days,” she recalls. “Just following that rhythm in and out and watching the girls transform showed me that it just works. It works for spiritual maturity. It works for musical maturity. It works for self-discipline and builds shared camaraderie and growth as a group. Worshiping and leading worship like that just does something to you when you do it as a group.”

"The whole course is focused on growing and working together as a community and giving all to the glory of God. And when you get in that mindset, things happen; the Holy Spirit is allowed to work."

Through the 18 years that RSCM Gulf Coast has been in Houston, it has welcomed local choristers along with choristers from Louisiana, Georgia, Virginia, Arizona, Oregon, and once, a girl from New Zealand! Participants sang under highly regarded Anglican choral conductors, who sometimes conducted their own compositions, giving the girls experience learning original Anglican choral music from living composers. One of Anna’s favorite memories of the program was when the choir learned English composer and organist Philip Moore’s All Wisdom Cometh from the Lord with Philip Moore himself. She is still struck by the poignant memory, recalling, “After conducting his piece, he turned around in tears at the rehearsal, saying, ‘That's one of the best performances I've ever heard of my piece.’”

RSCM Gulf Coast is not only a musical experience, but one that builds faith. “Several of the girls go on to major in music,” Anna states, “and they all stay active in the church.” Also, since the program is for female choristers aged 10-18, they have made a point of including female leaders throughout the program. The choristers came back as proctors or adult leaders and female organ scholars often accompanied the choir. There have also been female chaplains since St. John the Divine began hosting the RSCM Gulf Course. “Having female chaplains has been very important to us,” Anna recalls. “Louise Samuelson was our chaplain the first year I came to SJD, and Tori Gilliland was our chaplain last year and is returning this year.”

For this Sunday’s Choral Eucharist, the combined choir will be conducted by Anna and accompanied by guest organist Joe Causby from Chapel of the Cross, North Carolina. They will offer pieces from French composer Gabriel Faure’s Missa Basse and Laudamus Te, a joyful Latin song of praise by Italian composer Antoni Vivaldi among others. The Rev. Tori Gilliland, former SJD staff member and newly ordained deacon, will offer the sermon in her role as course chaplain and Associate Rector Neal McGowan will chant the entire communion prayer. Parishioners are also invited to attend Evensong at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church at 4 pm.

Both services are a fitting finale to eighteen years focused on glorifying God through the gift of music. Anna states, “The spirit behind the RSCM Gulf Coast course, which is very different than the message in our current culture, is summed up by a Latin choral piece that the choristers sing every night after dinner, Non Nobis Domine, which translates to, ‘Not unto us, Lord, not unto us, but to your name, be the glory.’ The whole course is focused on growing and working together as a community and giving all to the glory of God. And when you get in that mindset, things happen; the Holy Spirit is allowed to work.”

• A combined choir of RSCM Gulf Coast girl choristers aged 10-18 and adult alumni will offer music at a Choral Eucharist this Sunday, June 23 at the 11:15 Church service and will lead Evensong at St. Paul’s Methodist at 4 pm the same day. All are invited to attend both offerings.
• While this weekend is the finale of RSCM Gulf Coast, the spirit and education of the RSCM program continue to be interwoven in our highly successful SJD Chorister Program. Choir resumes this fall — sign up online.