Monday, August 5, 2013

Choir Season is upon Us!


So, the choir season is starting up again and we will be back at it with a vengeance.  This is a big year for the choir for two reasons, robes and a Vespers series.
 
You have seen my writing about Vespers being the third Sunday of each month: September 15, October 20, November 17 and December 15.  We certainly hope that you can make it to all of them.
 
Our new robes will be here in September and this will be an exciting new change for us too.
 
What other goals do I have in mind for this choir season?
 
More interesting, intentional, intelligent psalm singing-- this is something that is ignored in too many liturgical churches.  The psalms are the prayer book/hymnal of the Jewish people and we have adopted them as an essential part of our liturgy.  This is a part of the service in which a choir can be very creative and we hope to bring some intentional singing to the psalm this choir season.
 
Singing more Bach chorales-- Chorale (kor-all) is another word for hymn, but it refers to hymns of the German Lutheran tradition.  Bach harmonized hundreds of these suckers and we hope to sing more of his music in this way.  It makes us stronger choir.  It highlights hymns that are often forgotten.  It expands our repertory.
 
Continue expanding repertory-- In the two years that I have been at Good Shepherd, we have expanded our library by about an average of 30 new anthems a year.  This is huge and speaks more to the level of commitment that the choir brings than anything that I do.  I hope to keep expanding our "choral vocabulary" this fall.  It's good for us and keeps us fresh and moving ahead.  Though, I often bring back "staples" to be repeated so that we can further engrain them into our repertory.
 
Things are exciting and I hope that you can join us on Sunday morning in worship, but also on our Vespers Sundays.  Go ahead and mark your calendar!