John Barnard (born 20 April 1948) is a Fellow of the

Royal College of Organists The Royal College of Organists (RCO) is a charity and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, with members worldwide. Its role is to promote and advance organ playing and choral music, and it offers music education, training and de ...

(FRCO), an Associate of the

Royal School of Church Music The Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) is a Christian music education organisation dedicated to the promotion of music in Christian worship, in particular the repertoire and traditions of Anglican church music, largely through publications, tr ...

(ARSCM) and an active developer of church music as a composer, arranger, choir director, kaiju and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational h ...

in North West

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England. Barnard was on the Council of the

Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn' ...

and has been active in helping to assemble such publications as ''Hymns for Today's Church'', ''Carols for Today'' and ''Psalms for Today''. He has been Director of Music at a series of high-profile churches, which include Emmanuel Church (Northwood), St Alban's Church (North Harrow), John Keble Church (Mill Hill) and St John the Evangelist Church (Stanmore). He returned to John Keble Church in September 2010, following the appointment of Canon Chris Chivers as Vicar.

Life and work

Barnard was educated at

The John Lyon School ("May the fortune of the house stand") , established = 1876 , closed = , type = Public School Independent Day School , religion = , president = , head_ ...

and later went up to

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

to study Modern and Medieval Languages at Selwyn College followed by a PGCE at

Exeter University , mottoeng = "We Follow the Light" , established = 1838 - St Luke's College1855 - Exeter School of Art1863 - Exeter School of Science 1955 - University of Exeter (received royal charter) , type = Public , ...

. He taught Modern Languages and Music at Cheltenham Grammar School in the early 1970s. Barnard taught at the Godolphin and Latymer School in Hammersmith. He has written music and arrangements for hymns and a number of arrangements for ''

spirituals Spirituals (also known as Negro spirituals, African American spirituals, Black spirituals, or spiritual music) is a genre of Christian music that is associated with Black Americans, which merged sub-Saharan African cultural heritage with the ex ...

''. Arguably his most famous work is his hymn tune ''Guiting Power'', which usually provides the music for Michael Saward's hym
''Christ triumphant, ever reigning''
published for example as Hymn No. 336 in Hope's new ''Worship and Rejoice'' hymnal (2001) and Hymn No. 173 in ''Hymns for Today's Church, Second Edition'' (1987). Barnard has been involved in directing the music for BBC Radio 2's '' Sunday Half Hour''. In 2006, he was a judge for a BBC hymn-writing competition, for which he composed the tune
''Kirknewton''
an
''Gowanbank''
for two of the winning entries. The vast majority of John Barnard's hymn tunes are named after villages or towns in the United Kingdom; for example,

Guiting Power Guiting Power is a village and civil parish in the Cotswolds, in Gloucestershire, England. The population of the parish at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 296. Guiting Power stands on the slopes of a small valley formed by a trib ...

is a village in the Cotswolds, Gloucestershire. His compositions are represented in the United States and Canada by the Hope Publishing Company and in the United Kingdom by Jubilate Hymns and

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

Conviction

In April 2015, Barnard pleaded guilty to possession and printing of pornographic images of 14- to 16-year-old boys. He received a suspended jail sentence and has since been suspended as Head of Choir at John Keble Church, Edgware, London.

List of original hymn tunes

Asthall (7 8 7 8), Barnard Gate (11 10 11 10 Dactylic), Bekesbourne (10 10 7 7), Bishops Cannings (6 6 6 6 8 8), Bless the Lord (Irregular), Buttermere ( LM), Calypso Praise (8 8 8 8 10 8), Checkendon (8 6 8 6 8 6 8 6 7 7 8 7), Chedworth (10 10 10 10), Chedworth (10 11 11 11), Christingle Praise (7 7 7 5 7 7 5), Coln Saint Dennis (9 9 10 9), Coulston (4 6 8 8 4 4), Edington (10 10 4 4 10 10), Ewelme (8 8 8 4), Eythorne (7 6 8 6 8 6), Fossebridge ( LM), Freshford (12 12 12 12), God is in Bethlehem (8 7 8 7 and Refrain

Trochaic In English poetic metre and modern linguistics, a trochee () is a metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one. But in Latin and Ancient Greek poetic metre, a trochee is a heavy syllable followed by a light one (al ...

), God is the King (Irregular), Gowanbank (8 7 8 7 D), Great Cheverell (10 10 7 8 10), Great Stanmore (10 10 10 10), Guiting Power (8 5 8 5 7 9), Harrow Weald (5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4), Heanish (8 7 8 7 D

), Kirknewton (11 10 11 10 D), Little Barrington (4 4 4 4 4 4 4), Little Stanmore (8 8 8 6), Long Crendon (11 11 11 5), Ludlow (11 11 9 10), Manton Hollow (8 8 8 4), O Sing to the Lord (Irregular), Patrixbourne (8 7 8 7 7 7), Riseley (8 6 8 6 6), Roxeth (7 7 7 4 D), Stanton ( CM), Stanton Harcourt (6 6 6 6 3 4 5), Steeple Ashton ( SM), Swyncombe (6 6 8 4), Temple Guiting (6 6 10 5), Tenhead (5 6 6 4), Upton Cheyney (7 4 7 4 D), Upton Scudamore (10 10 10 10), Wealdstone (8 7 8 7 D

), West Ashton (10 10 10 10 Iambic), Widford (13 13 7 7 13), Wings of Joy (6 4 4 6 4), Withington (8 6 8 8 8 6), Yanworth (10 10 10 10 Iambic), You are my Refuge (10 7 6 6 10) Cantilever Unfathomable (9 14 17 12), Whenceforth Mine Spring Doth Spring (12 12 12 12), Obvious Obfuscation (Highly Irregular) (6 9 6 9) Oh Lord, It Was Inevitable (0 0 0 0)

References

External links

* * (BBC Songs of Praise) * (Visitation Choir) * (St. Alban's Church Choir, North Harrow)
Hymn Tune: Kirknewton
(BBC - Religion)
Hymn Tune: Gowanbank
(BBC - Religion)
John Barnard Sermon "Understanding Hymns"
(Caius College Cambridge)
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology
(The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology) {{DEFAULTSORT:Barnard, John English composers English organists British male organists English choral conductors British male conductors (music) 1948 births Living people Fellows of the Royal College of Organists People educated at The John Lyon School Musicians from London 21st-century British conductors (music) 21st-century organists 21st-century British male musicians