A Youth Bank grant of £2,100 from the Staffordshire Youth Service to the young people of Lichfield Cathedral heralds an exciting new music initiative that promises to be a national first.

The grant enables a Music Terminal to be placed in Lichfield Cathedral that will let young visitors download music to iPods, and other MP3 players for free. It will also provide the equipment to allow the young singers and musicians of the Cathedral to develop and record their performances to share on the Terminal.

Lichfield Cathedral has a long tradition of music making (about 1200 years!) and each year a group of Choral Scholars, aged between 17 and 25, join the Cathedral Choir to gain musical experience. This year’s four Scholars have got together with other young performers from the Cathedral Community to form The Cathedral Youth Consort, to explore their own music making. Their musical interests range from monastic Meditative Chant and traditional Choral works to contemporary Electronic Groove, Jazz, and Rock. When the Music Terminal is launched in June it is planned that its content will reflect this eclectic range of styles, and demonstrate the depth and skill of this young creative community.

In addition to the many tourists and pilgrims of all ages and religions that visit, the Cathedral is a popular destination for visual arts students, and school and youth groups. Many visitors already carry music players of some kind or other and the music available from the Terminal will be recorded and chosen by The Cathedral Youth Consort to enhance their experience of being in this ancient place of spirituality and creativity. For those fascinated by its rich history, it will also feature a variety of downloadable guides and commentaries specially written and recorded by the Cathedral Youth Church to appeal to their own age group.

The facilitator of the project, Glenn McKenzie, commented that “A Cathedral is often stereotyped as an out-of-touch leftover from a past age, but this project will reveal the relevance and vigour of creative life that it houses today.”

The photo of the Consort – At the back, left to right Benedict Taylor, and Ben Stevens. In front, left to right Michael Duffy, Ben Edmonds, Anna Ambrose.