By Jacinta Jakovcevic
Over the past 50 years, the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) Choir Camp has inspired, educated, entertained, and enabled generations of young musicians to engage with the Church through its music.
Fostering fellowship, friendship and a lifelong love of Church music worship, Choir Camp brings together young choristers from all denominations, providing them with the opportunity to sing together, train in the choral art, and discover the riches of Church music.
In 2026, the RSCM WA branch celebrates two significant milestones – the event’s 50th anniversary and the 50th camp to be held, with only one year missed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the changing landscape and various challenges facing the Church, the longevity of Choir Camp, albeit while attracting reduced participant numbers, is a significant achievement and a positive reflection on church music and the Church itself.
Early camps would readily number more than 100 participants, compared to around 30 in more recent times. Given the heritage of the RSCM, the early camps would also attract choristers mainly of the Anglican tradition. Not long after its inception however, the camp welcomed choristers of other denominations including the Catholic and Uniting Church traditions. Reflective of this, in 2026, the camp held its closing festival service at St Brigid’s Catholic Church in Midland.
Also reflective of the changing church landscape is the increasing participation by choristers who neither belong to a church community nor regularly sing in a choir.
In this way, the camp has become an important point of connection, offering these young people an opportunity to experience the richness of church music, fellowship, and shared worship.
The inclusiveness of bringing young people together through church music, all united in Christ, is heartening.
In this way, the charter of the RSCM is brought to fulfilment: enabling the flourishing of church music, thereby bringing people closer to God in worship and encouraging church communities to grow.
The Choir Camp is traditionally held in regional centres, providing choristers with the opportunity to explore different parts of Western Australia whilst experiencing the churches and local communities that host the camp.
Camp venues have included Morawa, Geraldton, Albany, Northam and Kalgoorlie. Since COVID, the camp has been held as a day-event in Perth. This year saw the re-introduction of the live-in format.
A recent initiative of the camp is the facilitation of online workshops that focus on RSCM’s Voice for Life choral education program. This allows choristers who do not have access to regular Voice for Life training, or are not members of a choir, to develop their skills throughout the year before joining their fellow choristers in person at camp. The most recent online workshop attracted choristers from Northampton, Geraldton, Perth and Augusta.
Over its half-century of history, the RSCM Choir Camp has had many well-known WA church community musicians associated with it including Dudley Bastian (Camp founder and State Chairman 1974-1983), Pam Peters, Gillian and Tom Burbidge and Ruth Styles, to name a few.
As it looks forward to the next 50 years, the Choir Camp embraces and welcomes all to participate in the spirit of the RSCM motto: Psallam spiritu et mente – “I will sing with the spirit and with the understanding also” (1 Corinthians 14:15). Drawn from the writings of St Paul, these words capture the Camp’s enduring commitment to worship that engages both the heart and mind.