 He was assistant organist of St John's College, Cambridge, 1951–53; organist and choirmaster, St Mary's Church, Nottingham, 1954–56; and director of music and "rector chori", Southwell Minster, 1956–59.In 1956 he took his PhD, with a dissertation on Elizabethan lute music, a subject on which the "Oxford Dictionary of Music" ranks him as an authority.Following his church career, Lumsden became fellow and organist of New College, Oxford and lecturer in the faculty of music, University of Oxford 1959–76; "Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians" says of his time there, "He inherited … a choir of high reputation and added to its lustre, as was evidenced by the choir's unusually diverse repertory, its recordings and its impact on audiences during two tours of the USA (1973 and 1975)".