Westminster
HomeThe music ministry at Westminster depends on and needs your involvement, and the choir members and I would love for you to join us this year!
The mission and structure of the music program at Westminster are intended to encourage and enable the entire church family to participate -- to serve, learn, and grow in knowledge and ability, and to have fun in fellowship. Evolving with the changing demographics of the congregation, the music program is geared toward developing and employing potential musical gifts and strengths within the membership. The choir family and I warmly welcome anyone who would like to join us in a most rewarding endeavor, and I am eager to share with you information about each choir as we begin the 2008-2009 year.
Descriptions of all of Wesminster's ensembles and their rehearsal times are given below.
Entering its twenty-sixth year, Rainbow Choir continues to be an effective and necessary primer for the choral experience at Westminster. Children around four years old through kindergarten are invited and encouraged to participate. The purpose of this group is to introduce young children to the joys of music and participation in ensemble. Activities include musical games aimed at providing a good foundation of basic music skills, teaching music reading skills, singing, listening to a wide variety of recorded and live music, instrument demonstrations, art, and our traditional Halloween party and J.S. Bach's birthday.
Please contact me at the church (584-3957, ext. 19) if you would like to involve your young person. The Rainbow Choir will meet weekly, beginning the first week of October, with the day and time to be announced after I consult with each interested family.
This choir is devoted to training young choristers, many of whom have just graduated from Rainbow Choir, in the specific areas necessary for a smooth transition into Boys' or Girls' Choir. We focus on music theory basics such as music reading and writing of notation, ear training and vocal production, and learning to be a part of a musical team, while continuing to work one-on-one very effectively in areas that need additional time. The class will meet on Tuesdays from 4:00 to 4:45 p.m. (please note the new time), beginning October 7.
The Westminster Girls' Choir is comprised of 3rd- through 8th-graders and will meet each Wednesday from 5:00 to 5:45, beginning August 27. The choir has enjoyed increasing numbers and will add several young singers this fall from last year's Young Musicians' Class, which will be exciting. The Girls' Choir will again rehearse jointly with the Boys' Choir, during which time we will work on repertoire and sightsinging, using solfege ("Do-Re-Mi"). We will continue our "Hymn of the Week" segment as it is developing each singer's knowledge of hymnody and ability to help lead the hymn singing of worship.
Combining various choirs has resulted in a number of wonderful opportunities for our young choirs over the years. The Girls' Choir has combined with the Boys' Choir to sing with the Knoxville Symphony on a number of occasions, including performances of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8, Puccini's Turandot, and Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. Projects this year include combining with the Westminster Choristers on World Communion Sunday and joining the Chancel Choir on the Agnus Dei from Paul Basler's Missa Kenya. The choir will also work on several pieces that they alone will sing, which they enjoyed doing very much last year.
As you may already know, the Westminster Boys' Choir, now in its twenty-first year, is East Tennessee's oldest boychoir. This group will also combine with other Westminster choirs on a number of different projects, including music by J.S. Bach, Benjain Britten, and C.S.Lang.
The Boys' Choir, too, has often sung repertoire with instrumental accompaniment, Iin addition to the works mentioned above with the Girls' Choir, this includes Edward Rader's Mass for World Peace, Benjamin Britten's Psalm 150, and Mahler's Symphony No. 3. A good part of this year's music will continue in this vein.
We welcome any boy in the 3rd through 8th grades with an unchanged voice to come join us. Rehearsals are on Wednesdays from 4:30 until 5:30 p.m., beginning August 27.
It continues to be very rewarding for me to guide this choir, and I am grateful for the members' ongoing devotion. There is a collective spirit that is most enjoyable! This group is comprised mostly of young people in their early high school years, who will be together for several more years, much like the recent Choristers. The musical advantages are obvious and it allows a lot of time for friendships to grow and develop.
The Westminster Choristers has a wonderful legacy, having toured Alabama, Florida, Michigan, North and South Carolina, New Jersey, Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, and St. Louis, as well as a ski trip to West Virginia and productions of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Godspell to its credit. Choristers has participated in a number of memorable projects from the classical repertoire, including singing excerpts of Handel's Messiah and the entire Mozart Requiem with the Chancel Choir and orchestra and Mahler's Symphony No. 8 with the KSO. Choristers will again join with members of the Chancel Choir to sing a number of challenging and enjoyable anthems.
Rehearsals are Tuesdays from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., beginning August 26.
The Handbell Choir also has quite a legacy., having performed a number of demanding works, including Percival Price's Peal for Handbells, Gail Kubik's Music for Bells, Philip Baker's Morning Carillon, Philip Young's Litany of Joy, Jean Langlais' Carillon, and Daniel Pinkham's A Song for the Bells (a carillon work transcribed for handbells). The choir commissioned and premiered Prayer by the noted American carillonneur John Gouwens.
This year the choir will combine with the Chancel Choir on several anthems and play music by J.S. Bach and Debussy, among others. They will also join us in worship more often, playing hymn introductions and other service music.
Ringing handbells is a lot of fun and is the type of musical activity that meets each person at his or her own level of proficiency. In our choir we have parts involving one or two bells to those requiring a technique known as four-in-hand ringing.
Membership in this choir is open to anyone, middle-school age and older, with a piano background. Rehearsals are Thursdays from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., beginning September 11.
Founded in 1982, the Brass Choir is an integral part of worship and the music program. It has performed music by such composers as Giovanni Gabrieli, Johann Pezel, Gottfried Reiche, J.S. Bach, W. A. Mozart, Samuel Scheidt, Richard Strauss, and Walter Hartley.
This will be an exciting year for the choir as they will prepare a program, as well as repertoire for brass and organ. They will also accompany the Chancel Choir on several occasions.
All interested advanced brass players are encouraged to join. The group usually rehearses on a weekday evening, but is flexible to accommodate the players' schedules. Rehearsals are therefore always TBA.
The Westminster Trombone Choir has performed a unique part of the brass literature that is not often heard outside of an academic setting, ranging from madrigals to choral motets to twentieth-century American music. Recently the group's repertoire expanded to include Ludwig van Beethoven's Three Equali, Richard Wagner's An Webers Grabe, Felix Mendelssohn's Equale No. 3, and the Daniel Speer Sonata.
The choir is currently a subgroup of the Brass Choir ans works in conjunction with that ensemble. The rehearsal schedule is flexible and based on the needs of upcoming repertoire.
The Westminster Chancel Choir is an intensely devoted group of hardworking musicians committed to the highest form of music-making and to every aspect of this church. This group is for anyone with an interest in singing and making a commitment to the ministry of music in the church. We are dedicated to singing fine sacred music to the very best of our abilities.
The Chancel Choir has sung major works by such composers as J. S. Bach, Britten, Fauré, Handel, Schubert, Vaughan Williams, and Vivaldi. In November 2002 the choir formed the chorus of shepherds and villagers for Westminster's production of Amahl and the Night Visitors by Gian-Carlo Menotti. In 2005 the Chancel Choir was joined by the Choristers in performing the Mozart Requiem. This past March the choir, with outstanding soloists from within and three wonderful trebles from our Boys' Choir, was privileged to sing Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, with orchestra, for evensong.
This year we will enjoy exploring some music new to us, including works by Bairstow, Barber, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Palestrina, and Wood, to mention only a few. Rehearsals are Wednesdays from 8:00 to 9:30 p.m., beginning August 20. Please speak to Peter Van Eenam if you are interested in joining.
We are very fortunate in having two fine organs at Westminster: the Richards, Fowkes Opus 7 in the new sanctuary and the Lunsford organ in the chapel.
Westminster hosts an annual series of organ recitals, Musica Organi, on the Richards, Fowkes instrument (the inaugural season was 2000-2001). Our ninth season will begin on Friday evening, September 12, at 8:00 p.m., as we welcome back Annette Richards, Professor of Music and University Organist at Cornell University, whose program last spring was interrupted by a dramatic hail storm and ensuing power outage! She is an outstanding organist- you'll not want to miss this event, which will be cosponsored by the Knoxville Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
Established by the Session in 1981 to augment the Worship, Music, and the Arts portion of Westminster's operating budget, the Friends of Music of Westminster Church has remained an account funded by unsolicited gifts from members and friends and by freewill offerings at Concert Series events. The Friends of Music account is the sole source of funding for choir concerts and special music events. Expenses for these frequently include hiring orchestral players and soloists, as well as printing programs. Occasionally, Friends of Music helps fund music presented during worship, such as when the choirs perform an extended orchestral/choral work (operating budget funding is too limited for the sizable expenses involved in this type of offering).
Many, many thanks to everyone who over these past twenty-five years has helped support Friends of Music and its worthy goals of nurturing fellowship and providing outreach through music!
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I hope that the information here has given those of you not familiar with the music program and its goals an idea of what this ministry is about. Westminster's music program is intended to nurture the entire church family and to give us all a means of contributing to worship, outreach, and praise as well as an opportunity for personal growth and enjoyment.
Peter J. Van Eenam, Organist and Choirmaster
Updated 8-13-08