Essex Organists’ Association

for Organists and Organ Enthusiasts

​Formerly the Chelmsford and District Organists’ Association
Affiliated to The Incorporated Association of Organists

Education

Education is at the heart of what the Association has to offer. We offer events and classes to cater for organists’ needs at every level.

THE ESSEX ORGAN ACADEMY

Your committee are delighted to announce yet another dimension to the Association’s work in that we have founded the Essex Organ Academy, to specifically help and support church organists with their playing throughout our area. The Academy will function as a sub-committee of the Association, but with its own set of joint events organised in conjunction with other organisations, such as our two local cathedrals at Brentwood and Chelmsford, as well as the local branch of RSCM-EEL. Some events will be open to everyone, others to specific groups of people, e.g under 18s, but we hope that this will promote our educational role and support existing and new organists of all ages and standards. We were very pleased to launch the Academy in December 2021, in a joint event with Brentwood Cathedral, to introduce and encourage parish organists and pianists from within the Diocese of Brentwood. On 6th March, a “Playing for Parish Worship” event was held at St James the Great, East Hill, Colchester, where players received expert tuition in a masterclass format on many aspects of service accompaniment from tutors Philip Prior and Hilary Punnett.

For further details about the Essex Organ Academy, click here. Please see our Events page for details of future Essex Organ Academy events.

We can also offer friendly and helpful advice on taking ‘the next step’, whether it be searching for an appropriate teacher, looking for a full or part-time organist post, funding for related materials (music, organ shoes), or applying for study at conservatoire level. Please continue reading for some links to useful websites.

Organ tuition

  • Professional organ tuition is available through the Royal College of Organists Academy Organ School. Click here for more information.
  • There may be other opportunities for private organ tuition throughout the county. Please contact us for further information.
  • Various courses are on offer for organists of all ages and abilities. The Royal College of Organists offer many courses, including the renowned RCO Summer Course. Oundle for Organists offer a variety of residential courses for aspiring young organists. Please click here for more information. Bursaries are available.

Foundation, Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses are available at the UK’s main conservatoires.​

  • Royal Academy of Music. Click here.
  • Royal College of Music. Click here.
  • Birmingham Conservatoire. Click here.

Funding

There are a number of organisations that offer funding for study, organ related materials and other projects.

  • The Eric Thompson Trust. Click here.
  • The Royal College of Organists. Click here.
  • The Royal School of Church Music have a page dedicated to choral and organ scholarships. Click here.

The EOA will be launching its own fund for organists in January 2017.

Royal College of Organists’ ‘CAM’ scheme

Details of the Royal College of Organists’ ‘Certificate of Accredited Membership’ scheme can be found here.

Organ Scholarships

St Thomas, Brentwood. Details here.

Chelmsford Cathedral. Details here.

St Nicolas, Witham. Details here.

St Laurence, Upminster. Details here.

St Mary, Saffron Walden. Details here.

Details of other organ and choral scholarships around the UK can be found here.

Details of an event for prospective Oxbridge organ scholars can be found here and here.

EOA events

Details of EOA classes and the organ competition can be found on the events page of the website. Details here.