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 2007-2008 year.
(A special note: It has been a privilege for me to make music with and teach alongside Karen Dhyanchand for many years here at Westminster. She and her husband, CD, and their two children have been a blessing to Westminster in so many ways, including their involvement not only in music but also in drama and Christian education. They will be moving from Knoxville very soon, and we all will miss them terribly. Scores of Westminster and Knoxville children have benefited from Karen's vast expertise and experience with young voices and choirs, and for this our whole community is most grateful.)
Descriptions of all of Wesminster's ensembles and their rehearsal times are given below.
Entering its twenty-fifth 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 to participate. The purpose of this group is to further introduce young children to the joys of art and music and participation in ensemble. Included in each afternoon's activities are musical games aimed at providing each child with a good foundation of basic music skills, the teaching of music reading skills, art activities, singing, Orff instrument ensembles, music appreciation (listening to a wide range of recorded and live music), instrument demonstrations, and even parties on such occasions as Halloween and J.S. Bach's birthday. An emphasis is placed on "comfortable" one-on-one teaching, which helps this be a very effective learning environment.
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 family. Please contact me at the church (584-3957, ext. 19) if you would like to involve your child.
This choir, formerly known as the First and Second Grade Music Group, 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 working on being part of a musical team. Joining me again this year will be Kathryn Schilling-Oakes, teaching art. She brings such expertise and skill to the teaching team, and I am delighted she can continue to be a part! She and I are totally devoted to offering each child our very best in music and art education, and wholeheartedly believe that these are essentail to each person's long-term well-being. The class will meet on Tuesdays from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., beginning October 2.
The Westminster Girls' Choir is comprised of 3rd- through 8th-graders and will meet each Wednesday from 5:00 to 5:45, beginning August 29. The Girls' Choir will again rehearse jointly with the Boys' Choir, during which time we will work on sightsinging, using solfege ("Do-Re-Mi"), as well as developing each child's ability to sings in parts. Our "Hymn of the Week" segment develops each member's knowledge of hymnody and ability to help lead the hymn singing of worship.
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.
The Girls' Choir has also enjoyed some purely social time together, too, highlighted by trips to Six Flags Over Georgia, Callaway Gardens, and Dollywood. This year I will again be organizing several social outings (hopefully with parents' help!) to give the girls a chance to enjoy each other outside of rehearsal.
The Westminster Boys' Choir, now in its twentieth year, is East Tennessee's oldest boychoir. This year the group will again sing a lot of great music, includings works with the Girls' Choir and the Men of the Chancel Choir as well as their own repertoire. We will build on the exciting accomplishments of the last several years, which include singing in different languages (this year including French and Hebrew), developing the ability to sing harmony in three parts, making a great deal of progress in solfege and sightsinging, and increasing the ability of each singer to sing independently with confidence.
Repertoire sung with instrumental accompaniment (in addition to the works mentioned above with the Girls' Choir) include Edward Rader's Mass for World Peace, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, Benjamin Britten's Psalm 150 (with the Girls' Choir and Women of the Chancel Choir for Westminster's 25th Anniversary celebration), and Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 3 (four years ago, with the KSO, the trebles of the Westminster Choristers, and the Knoxville Children's Choir). The choir also sang with the Men of the Chancel Choir, soloists, and strings in "A Festival of English Choral Music" at Westminster in 1995.
The choir's fellowship outings in the past have included trips to Cincinnati and Atlanta to catch ballgames, and several outings are planned for this year too.
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 5:45 p.m., beginning August 29.
It continues to be very rewarding for me to guide this choir, and I am grateful for the members' ongoing devotion. Though hard hit by the past several graduations, the group continues to regenerate and serve Westminster well.
The Westminster Choristers has a wonderful legacy, having toured Alabama, Florida, Michigan, North and South Carolina (which also included a terrific work camp!), New Jersey, Chicago, and St. Louis, and a ski trip to West Virginia, as well as productions of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Godspell to its credit. The group has also 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. The trebles of the Choristers joined the Boys' and Girls' Choirs in the KSO's performances of Puccini's Turandot mentioned earlier.
Recent musical accomplishments include the trebles singing several carols (with harp accompaniment) from A Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten, and the men joining our men of the Chancel Choir to sing a work by the Renaissance master Jacob Handl in an Advent evensong. In addition, they have sung demanding a cappella works by Aguiar, Amner, Costeley, Hassler, Praetorius, and Sedio.
This year I will again give the choir sophisticated music of all styles. I urge all senior highs to come join us. This is a particularly great group of people and musicians -- don't miss it! Rehearsals are Tuesdays from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., beginning August 28.
The Handbell Choir has also toured and reached many musical milestones. This group has performed some of the most demanding works written for a three-octave choir, such as 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). It commissioned and premiered "Prayer" by the noted American carillonneur John Gouwens
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, thanks in part to the fact that in assigning bells, I can take into account each person's experience and development. In our choir we have parts from those involving one or two bells to those requiring a technique known as four-in-hand ringing (two or even three bells in each hand!).
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 13.
This group began work in the summer of 1982 and has been an integral part of worship and the music program ever since. It has performed music by such composers as Johann Pezel, Gottfried Reiche, J.S. Bach, W. A. Mozart, Samuel Scheidt, Richard Strauss, and Walter Hartley. Highlights from this past year included the group playing the cycle of four canzonas for four instruments by Giovanni Gabrieli. What a wonderful gift this choir has given the church!
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 chorales (some performed outdoors, in the manner in which they often were heard in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Germany) to twentieth-century American music. In June 2004 the group joined the Westminster Choristers on their Chicago trip. This past year the group performed some of the most demanding repertoire to date, including Richard Wagner's "An Webers Grabe," Felix Mendelssosoh's Equale No. 3, and Daniel Speer's sonata.
The choir is open to players in high school and beyond. The rehearsal schedule will be determined after our first rehearsal (TBA).
The Westminster Chancel Choir is an intensely devoted group of hardworking musicians committed to the highest form of music-making and to this church. This group is for anyone with an interest in singing and making a commitment to the ministry of music in the church. The choir has always had members of every level of ability and development, all sharing a will to continue to learn and grow as musicians. We are dedicated to singing fine sacred music to the very best of our abilities.
The Chancel Choir frequently sings with orchestral accompaniment provided by members of the Knoxville Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. In June 1999 the choir sang W.A. Mozart's Mass in C, K. 259 ("Organ Solo"), during morning worship for the Region IV Convention of the American Guild of Organists. They also sang with orchestra for the American Choral Directors Association Southeast Regional Convention in 1994. Major choral/orchestral works by such composers as J. S. Bach, Britten, Fauré, Handel, Schubert, Vaughan Williams, Brahms, Schütz, and Vivaldi have been sung by the choir for worship and in concert. 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 year we will be performing Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, with orchestra, in the early spring of 2008.
Rehearsals are Wednesdays from 8:00 to 9:30 p.m., beginning August 22. The choir sings on most Sundays, as well as on the Westminster Concert Series. Come make a musical journey with us!
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 eighth season will again bring to the church some of the world's preeminent organists. Our first recital of the season, by the Dutch concert organist Sietze de Vries, will be on Friday, October 26, 2007, at 8:00 p.m. The second recital, on Friday, May 9, 2008, will feature Annette Richards, Professor of Music and University Organist at Cornell University.
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 9/21/2007