Christopher Walker is an internationally known lecturer, composer and conductor whose works encompass children's music for liturgy and catechetics plus a wealth of material for all liturgical celebrations. His works appear in many of the St. Thomas More Group's American collections.
The St. Thomas More Group burst upon the American liturgical consciousness in one unforgettable hour at the 1985 NPM Convention in Cincinnati. Walker remembers, "The people all processed out singing "Paschal Procession" in parts, and kept singing all the way into the street!" Afterwards, he recalls, "Owen Alstott invited us for a drink; that was the beginning of our long association with OCP."
Walker was born June 9, 1947, in London. When he was four, his family moved to Bristol, the site of the only hospital in England that could treat his paralyzed father.
Money was tight. Although his parents weren't churchgoers, becoming a boy chorister at Bristol Cathedral (Anglican) meant a free education. "I was eight and a half, and the other boys were eleven. It was a Damascus moment: I loved it. When I had a solo, my voice was echoing where nine hundred years of singing had been going on...."
Another Damascus moment: "When I was 12, I had the flu. One Thursday morning (it was pouring rain), I looked at the beat-up piano in my bedroom, got out a piece of paper, drew five lines on it -- and was instantly hooked. That first piece had the left hand in E major and the right hand in A flat; I thought bi-tonally from the beginning. I wanted to sound completely original, not like anyone else. Now I deliberately tone it down to be of service to as many people as possible."
At 13, he was asked to write music for a BBC religious program. At 15, he wrote the score for a prizewinning film. Other BBC radio plays and film scores followed, including one for which he had a single day to write all the incidental music. "I'm helpless without deadlines."
His piano teacher, Geoffrey Mendham, said, "Get a music degree!" Walker received a master's degree in composition at Bristol University. When Clifton Cathedral was being built, he "wasn't Catholic; I never believed I was capable of being a cathedral director of music. I was at home when the priest came and said, 'Get in the car; you're going for your interview.' There I was, in my paint-spattered jeans, with eight or nine people asking me questions. I ended up with the job. The first year's salary was 200 pounds ($300 at that time). It taught me humility."
He served both as Director of Music at Clifton Cathedral in Bristol and as Director of Music for the Clifton Diocese.
"The first year, I did a hopelessly godawful job. I thought we must have a choir for people to listen to. Not a soul sang. I started doing Anglican hymns that went up to top F's and E's. No one sang. So in 1973, I started writing responsorial music: a short phrase for the cantor, to be repeated by the people—and the people sang."
"It's easy to get sucked into the 'star' mentality. When it rubs off in church as well, it's a red flag to me. I consider myself fortunate to be useful -- now, today, to be useful!"
In 1977, Walker took the Bristol and Clifton cathedral choirs to India for ten days -- and another Damascus experience. A year later, he returned to Calcutta, at the Prem Ananda Leper Hospital daily, tearing up donated sheets into strips for bandaging lepers' wounds. "Sister Florence, who put me to work, was my secret inspiration. A trained nurse, she lived with no running water and no panes of glass in her windows. I last saw her in 1998, when she was 94; she died in 2004."
During the '70s and '80s, Walker was part of the composers' group of the Society of St. Gregory, along with Paul Inwood, Bernadette Farrell, Ernie Sands and many others. "We were brutal criticizing each other's music—but we learned our craft!"
By 1989, Walker was coming to the U.S. so often that "it wasn't fair to the cathedral. In 1990, an opening came up in Los Angeles at St. Paul the Apostle in Westwood; I've been there ever since."
Walker had worked with the North American Forum for the Catechumenate since 1982. "We introduced the RCIA in Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei. There was very little music out there that was useful for the rite" -- hence Christ We Proclaim (11293TL).
On a flight returning to California from the East Coast, he felt around in his bag for a crossword puzzle -- but there was no puzzle." He started thinking about Holy Week, wondering how to keep the second reading of the Passion from feeling like "We've heard this already."
"I thought, 'Jesus has to sing.' I developed three little phrases that fit everything, simple enough so that the priest could sing them easily. Jesus sings; the narrator speaks; the organ pulls everything together. The assembly, like a Greek chorus, comments on and intensifies what has happened in little Taize-like phrases. The choral parts are for the average good parish choir: mostly two parts, in octaves." By the time the plane touched down in Los Angeles, Walker had written all the choir parts and most of the 'Jesus' parts for The Passion of Christ According to St. John.
