ST CPRIAN CHOIR

“Where melodies are born”

ABOUT ST CYPRIAN CHOIR

St Cyprian choir is a no-profit catholic choir in Matugga parish, Uganda that came into existence
with an aim of ministering choristers and the congregation through music and helping to bring all
people closer to God.

HISTORY

It was an idea of Rev.Fr. Adam Mutebi who saw the need of a choir at the parish so as to
minister in mass during the tough COVID 19 period. He shared his idea to a one Benna Sanyu
who put it into action by reaching out to fellow youth and several directors so as to form a choir.
This was the same period that the catholic church in Uganda lost a Kampala archdiocese
archbishop, the late Dr, Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, hence the formation of st Cyprian choir in 2022
not only to serve at the parish in mass but also named Cyprian in commemoration of the work
done by the late towards Matugga parish

Currently, st Cyprian choir is steadily growing with a total number of 30 chorister both male and
female, old, young and youth.

VISION

Through singing, training and support, we lead the congregation to the kingdom of GOD

St Cyprian choir is the place to come to for all choristers and congregation who want to progress
in faith through singing. We want to be a pulpit, where people with one voice and love to sing
can join in our catholic church irrespective of their backgrounds

MISSION

To promote church music, develop music talents and set a platform that will lead many
Catholics to strengthen their faith

Our mission is to ensure that we explore all church music irrespective of the language, to make
known both, old and new church songs to the congregation, to support both old and our
upcoming catholic music composers and sing in a harmonic way that heals, and nourishes the
congregation hearts throughout Mass

To achieve our mission we are:

1. Having consistent trainings, in order to develop talents of our choristers and to sing
well in mass, we ensure that at least every month we get a trainer(at a fee) who refreshes
our vocals and we sing harmoniously
2. Carrying out music research, in order to promote our catholic church music, we use all
platforms that is media, consultations and Google for new catholic songs and we make
them known to the congregation through singing them consistently in mass
3. Registering and hunting for catholic choristers, through meet and greet, we
outreach to many choristers out there in church to join the choir so as to improve on
our singing
4. Setting up projects and saving groups for sustainability, we ensure that we set up
projects to support our activities and needs as a choir in order not to strain choir members
and to financially support all activities for example, the ST Cyprian choir saving group,

MOTTO

‘Where melodies are born’

OUR CORE VALUES

Prayer. St Cyprian choir respects and always puts god first in all that we do and that is why we
begin all our practices with a prayer and end with a prayer

Excellence. We believe in always giving out our best in singing and improve on our voices
always

Respect. We value everyone in our choir and we don’t take each and everyone’s advice and
opinion for granted.

Compassion. We care for one another both in good and difficult times and we look out for each
and every choir member and know their whereabouts

Teamwork. We believe in one another’s integrity, character and capability.We are team-players,
always collaborative with one another.

Integrity. We are action based choir members we always collaborate and participate in all choir
programs

Optimism. We always choose to have a positive outlook, which allows us to persist, to be

resilient, and to inspire those around us.
Creativity. We are always on lookout to how or what we can add to our singing to make it fun
and at the same time capturing and organizing the congregation all throughout mass

MEMBERSHIP

Any individual who wishes to be a member of St Cyprian choir can join provided he or she
meets the following requirements.

 He/she must be respectful to themselves and all other choir members and their opinions
 He/she must respect st Cyprian choir uniform and no use it for other personal issues
 He/she must be decently dressed most especially during mass.
 He/she must be respectful to all our trainers and trustees.
 He/she must ready to attend our choir practices.
 He/she must be exemplary most especially in our church environment.

He/she must be willing to learn and take the initiative to master the voice as trained.

Rules and Regulations

Commitment

1. Members of St Cyprian choir must be committed to their respective role as choir

members through attending choir practices and singing harmoniously in mass.

Meetings, & Scheduled Engagements

1. Members of St Cyprian choir are expected to attend all meetings, practices and other
choir programs as organized.(It does not make sense to miss practice and then expect to
be fully prepared to sing in mass.).
2. If a member is not present for practice without an excused absence, he/she WILL NOT be
allowed to sing in mass
3. If you know you are to miss any meetings, practice and any other event, he/she has to
inform our journalist about their absenture so that we prepare accordingly
4. Members should keep time for our choir practices, meetings and events, anyone who
comes 5 minutes and above late in mass shall not be allowed to sing that day.

Attire/Wardrobe

1. All choir members should be decently dressed when coming for practices and Mass
(clothes that cover knees), no trousers for girls on Sundays during mass and no shorts for
boys on Sundays during mass.
2. Choir members should be smartly dressed in clean well ironed choir uniforms during
mass., choir members without uniforms should endeavor to get one failure to do so, one
may miss most choir events
3. No choir member should be taking off their choir uniforms before the end of Mass. they
should remain on until we get out of church. We must keep in mind that being on the
 pulpit is not a stage for fashion show, but a privilege to be able to honor God with your
special gifts and lead others into His presence.

LEADERSHIP

All st Cyprian choir leaders are volunteers and they are selected by the entire choir

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Board Roles and Responsibilities

The board of trustees is entrusted with the work to steer the choir towards a sustainable future by
ensuring sound and ethical governance and financing practices with adequate recourses to
accomplish the choir mission.

One of the most important responsibilities of the Board is to contract with our trainers and
Director to ensure that they are fully catered for so as to produce great results. Given our limited
resources, st Cyprian choir has to cater for all its trainers, director, organists and all other needs
of the choir as they may rise. The Board therefore takes on many operational and management
duties to support the choir and its vision. Board members are involved with grant writing,
budgeting and fundraising to ensure that the choir has the resources required to succeed.

In summary, the board of trustees has a duty to;

 Take care of the choir physically, spiritually, morally, and financially,

 Make technical decisions for example in fundraisings, who to be our guest of honor,
 Acting as ambassadors of the choir, hence reaching out to potential prospects to finance
the choir
 Teaching the choir about the roles and responsibilities of the board,
 Involving in all choir activities as may be designed in the work plan,
 Advising the choir and bringing it back in shape if gone astray

ST CYPRIAN CHOIR LEADERSHIP

These leaders include: Director, choir master/ mistress, chair person, coordinator, Secretary,
Treasurer, speaker, journalist, displinarian, vocal leaders and welfare whose duties are listed
below;

Director

Duties of the choir director include but are not limited to:

 Direct, administer, coordinate, and implement musical programming and performances

 Work in collaboration with the choir committee, the musicians,
  Motivate, observe & monitor spiritual growth of choir members while demonstrating
personal spiritual growth
 Provide spiritual leadership, inspiration, and assistance to the choir members
 Seek and obtain new music
 Order necessary resources such as songbooks, soundtracks, sheet music, etc.
 Teach songs and build vocal capability
 Keep a record of all songs the choir is taught and when they are sung
 He/she must be knowledgeable of music and vocal techniques

Chairperson

Duties of the president include but are not limited to:

 Enforces the rules of the choir

 Encourage the choir members to attend rehearsals, learn music, and keep their
commitment(s)
 Direct and manage the choir committee meetings
 Sits as a secretary in our board of trustees meeting and brings feedback to choristers
 Is a signatory on all choir paperwork
 Works hand in hand with the rest of the committee to schedule meetings.

Secretary

Duties of the secretary include but are not limited to:

 Maintains all records of rehearsals, attendance, invitations, agendas, minutes and any
other documents for the ministry
 Is responsible for all administrative duties of the choir including writing letters, checking
e-mail, making necessary phone calls, etc.
 Responsible for report writing and submissions to our chairperson and all respective
people

Treasurer

Duties of the treasurer include but are not limited to:

 Keeping financial records of the choir including receipts, invoices, checks, etc.
 Making sure all choir members are consistent in their financial obligations
 Develop financial reports for choir committee meetings
 Works in collaboration with the church finance ministry
 Is a signatory on all our financial requests and proposals as may be designed
 Is responsible for collecting all choir money both physical, bank and mobile money and
pledges unless she/ he delegates a person with a written and signed letter of delegation

Vocal leaders (One individual from each vocal section)

Duties of the vocal leaders include but are not limited to:

 Ensure that their voices have all resources including sheet music, tapes, CDs, etc.
 Schedule and run rehearsals with their voices to ensure they have learned the songs to the
best of their ability
 Work in collaboration with the director to make sure the songs are taught correctly
 Communicate to their sections about rehearsals, events, special announcements via phone
calls, e-mail, text messaging, etc.

Journalist/ mobilizer

Duties of journalist/ mobilizer are as follows

 Ensures that choir members are updated all the time at all our media channels as
far as mass and functions are concerned
 Reports to the choristers all the members that are sick, have problems or have
different functions
 Ensures that all our social media platforms are active
 Registers all new members on our social media platforms
 Works hand in hand with the treasurer and the rest of the committee to coordinate
transportation of choir members to and from different persons

Disciplinarian

Duties of a disciplinarian

 Watch out and take action of all choir members discipline that is respect for one
another, respect for choir property, and any other that falls under discipline
 Ensures choir members are behaving well most especially around church premises
 Ensures that all choir members are descent most especially in practice and in mass
 Works hand in hand with the welfare in charge to ensure that all choristers are
living in a healthy and peaceful life

Speaker

Duties of a speaker are as follows

 Introduces the chairperson speech in functions

 Chairs choir meetings and gives opportunity to who should speak after who in the
meeting
 Works hand in hand with the choristers, and the committee to organize
fundraising events for the choir
 Carries out all other duties concerning speaking as assigned by the choir
 Attends board meetings in absence of the chairperson and the coordinator
  Works as a public relations officer for the choir

Choir master/ mistress

Duties of a choir master/ mistress are as follows

 Responsible for all choir conductors, voice leaders and organists during and after mass
 Works hand in hand with the choir director to ensure a proper tone voice balancing and
harmony of all choir members while singing
 Organizes music/ songs that are to be played on the piano
 Organizes choir members according to their voices
 Works hand in hand with the disciplinarian to ensure all choir members are well dressed
and settled before mass

Coordinator

 Sits on board as a mobilizer

 Works hand in hand with the journalist and the speaker to inform the choir of any
meeting that involves them and the board
 Develop plans for the choir in partnership with choir members
 Ensure safe, supportive and welcoming rehearsals for all choir members

Welfare

 Maintains contact with choir members who are sick or absent from the choir
 Conducts assessments and identifies individuals who may need assistance in
daily life
 Ensuring that the choristers have been catered for most especially on invited
functions
 Responsible for collecting welfare money and forward it to the treasurer
 Responsible for gifts and appreciation tokens as organized by the choir