When life returns to normalcy, there will be a new location for choir rehearsal, and a new beginning for the parish music program! With easy access to rooms that can be used for sectionals, and good pianos that will help choir members to learn notes, the potential of the space is encouraging. The kitchen has filtered water to keep our singers hydrated, and an oven that can be used to bake well-deserved choir treats! Some members will appreciate the reduced need to climb the stairs to the choir loft. Rehearsal will likely take place in the choir loft before the 10:30 service on Sunday mornings.
This week, choir member Ron Hitchcock helped move music from the choir loft to a new location in the parish hall. (Thanks, Ron! Harmony is built from the ground up, and your full, healthy, bass-baritone voice will supply a resonant foundation for the beautiful sonorities that we hope to create!)
Join the Choir!
As we draw closer to in-person gatherings, please consider joining the momentum of this new music program! You provide an interest in learning more about music, a desire to learn a new skill, a drive to have new experiences, and I’ll help you to be successful. I will always encourage you to be the best that you can be. I will never waste your time, but will schedule and rehearse so that goals are comfortably reached. A commitment to weekly choir rehearsals may not be for everyone, so there is also the possibility of participating on a more limited basis. Interested singers and instrumentalists let me know who you are, and I’ll make it work for you! There are also the children of the parish, and with Liza Goodner’s counsel, I intend on providing them with ongoing musical opportunities.
Some people think that because they don’t read music, they can’t sing in a choir. I’d invite these people to google “famous musicians who don’t read music.” They will find names such as Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, and yes – members of the Beatles. The composers of “I want to hold your hand” and “Yesterday” did not “read” music. “In a 1980 interview, John Lennon said, “None of us could read music… None of us can write it. [none of us have any facility with music notation] But as pure musicians, as inspired humans to make the noise, they [Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr] are as good as anybody.”
See you there!
Joe Henry,
Organist/Choir Director
To join the choir, or to get more information, please email Joe Henry at joe.henry@stmartininthefields.org