A New Endeavor

I am in the middle of week three! Week three of what?

I am a candidate for the Master of Arts in Church Music degree at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, OH.

The best thing about this program is that I don’t have to quit the job I have, or even take a leave of absence, to complete the program.  Students come to the campus for three weeks in the summer to take courses on site.  My classes this session include: Systematic Theology, Liturgical Choir, Vocal Solutions for Choral Directors, Leading the Church’s Song, Conducting, and Music Technology.  Only the first two are three-week courses.  The others only last for a week, but they are 2 – 3 hours long and they meet each day.  (The middle week, last week, was brutal because I had classes from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm.) The three weeks I am gone are covered by my two weeks of continuing education time and one week of vacation.

During the regular year, students take applied music courses (private lessons) and electives at local colleges or universities.  There is also the option to take some Trinity courses on line.

It wasn’t just the short sessions that attracted me, but also the fact that several theology courses are required. I have always wanted to take some theology courses.

Schenck Chapel

Liturgical Choir meets each day at 10:20 and rehearses for the worship service at 10:45.  Worship takes many forms: Morning Prayer, Eucharist, Taizé services, and more.  Students take turns at various tasks: playing the liturgy on the organ, conducting choral anthems and psalmody, taking the role of cantor in song leading, and we all sing in the choir.  This is really fun, but it can be a bit challenging when there are 10 directors in the same room! Still, we have managed to pull it all together and lead some really fine worship in the Gloria Dei Worship Center and Schenck Chapel.

A Window in Schenck Chapel

The dorms are better than any dorms I have ever been in! They are actually efficiency apartments so I have my own restroom and kitchenette with a microwave and an under the counter refrigerator. I’m also getting some exercise by hiking up to the third floor several times a day!

The seminary campus is lovely and in the middle of a really nice section of Bexley, Ohio.  There are several restaurants within walking distance – I’ve tried most of them. Another nice thing about this area – they seem to have ice cream shops on every corner.

The weather has been gorgeous and I enjoy the courtyard so much that I have sat outside reading my  textbooks as late at 9:00 p.m.

This program will take about 5 years to complete.  Please keep me in your prayers as I begin this new endeavor!

The courtyard

An Expanded Organ for St. Mark's

Music is about color.  The color of a sound helps us determine whether a soprano is singing or a baritone.  It lets us know if the solo instrument in a concerto is a piano or a harpsichord.  Timbre is the word that musicians use to describe an instrument’s color.

Instruments and voices also have registers – high notes and low notes.  When a harp plays in its lower register, you can still tell that it’s a harp.  In a piano concerto, the piano is also discernible whether it plays in the very depths of the keyboard or high on the other end. So, each instrument has its own timbre.

The organ is different from most instruments in that it plays many timbres depending on what the organist chooses to use.  There are basic classes of organ sounds: foundation, flute, string, and reeds.  Even within these four categories there can be many different colors – an example would be flutes with woody sounds and flutes with metal sounds. It’s also important to know that these sounds are imitative organ sounds and not replacements for instruments by the same name.  If you have a viola stop (and we do!) it is not a replacement for an actual viola.

In 1984 Lydia Krueger donated money to secure a pipe organ for St. Mark’s new nave.  It was installed by the Zimmer pipe organ builders and served our congregation well for many years.  Mrs. Krueger’s gift is still with us today.  The pipes that she gave provide the basis for the expanded instrument.  Thanks to R. A. Colby and the Walker Technical Company, we have added many layers of color.  An apt analogy would be to say we have gone from a box of eight crayons to a box of twenty-four.  We have added everything from shimmering strings to a robust festival trumpet!  All of these additions made a new console necessary.  I hope that you will come up and take a look at it some time.  You are even allowed to play it!

By now you have noticed the visual component that was also added. The facade pipes have been rearranged to follow the arms of the Christus Victor statue.  The rectangular grid pipe shades have been replaced with a grapevine motif that is carried up from the altar. A new center tower covered with a dark brown grille cloth highlights the statue in the center. The Celebrate Team spent much time choosing a look that would highlight the statue rather than overshadow it with a new organ design.

Thank you to those who served on our organ committee: Jane Daugherty, Bill Ahrens, and Pastor Hanson.  Thank you to the Celebrate Team and last year’s Council for approving this project – especially Bernie Giancola (property chair) who oversaw the new electrical needs. Thank you to R. A. Colby and Associates for their very fine work – especially Brad, Sam, and Nick who spent about 5 days here on site.  Thank you to Bob Walker of Walker Technical Company who spent the better part of two days working on the tonal finishing.  Thank you to John Parkyn whose expertise was invaluable from the very beginning.  Finally, thank you to the people of St. Mark’s and all who have contributed financially to the organ.  This organ will support the church’s song at St. Mark’s for many years to come!

Find more photos of the installation process on our Facebook album titled Organ Refurbishment April 2013 at https://www.facebook.com/stmarksjax.  If you're on Facebook, please like us while you're there!

This short video shows off the new Festival Trumpet!

Photos: 1) The original Zimmer console  2) The facade of the organ  3) Our happy organ builders from R. A. Colby, Inc. L to R: Nick, Brad, Sam  4) The new console was wheeled down London Road and taken through the back gate into the nave  5)  Pipes coming down for the facade rebuild  6) Before and After shots of the facade.

Choir Reunion For October, 2013

St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (Jacksonville) is looking for former choir members!  As part of the 75^th anniversary celebration, there will be a choir reunion party with a catered dinner in the fellowship hall on Saturday, October 26^th.  Dinner will be followed by a rehearsal in the music suite.  We will prepare and sing together at the 11:00 worship service on Sunday morning, October 27^th, which is also Reformation Sunday!

Reservations for dinner will be required, but even if you can’t come for dinner, you are welcome to attend the rehearsal and Sunday morning worship.  Whether you sang in the choir for a few months or many years, we look forward to seeing you! You are also welcome to come only for the dinner if you can’t attend on Sunday morning.

  

We are in the process of collecting names and contact information for past members.  If you would like to receive updates about this event, please contact the current music director, Tony Cruz, at vespers@comcast.net. You may also call the church at 904-396-9608 x21.

The top picture is from 1942 and we have already located 2 people in this photo!  The bottom photo (by Bill Daugherty) is from 2007.

Lighting the Advent Candles

The Advent wreath is a symbol that we are well acquainted with at St. Mark’s.  Each year we can be sure that it will appear in its designated place with the correct amount of candles in the proper colors.  Many of us remember seeing Advent wreaths our entire lives and so we suppose the symbol’s origins to be shrouded in ancient secrecy, perhaps even something to be taken for granted – but just how ancient is the wreath?

According to Wikipedia, the symbol is not as ancient as we might think.  The evergreen wreath itself is ancient since we know it was used in northern Europe long before the arrival of Christianity. The circle told of the cycle of seasons while the pine boughs spoke of the persistence of life through difficult winters.

Somewhere along the way, it was reinterpreted as a Christian symbol.  Candles were not added to form the Advent wreath we know until the 16^th century.  Wikipedia credits Lutherans with establishing the tradition, but not everything you read on the internet is true!  The article goes on to say that Advent wreaths didn’t appear in American churches until the 1930’s.

This year the Advent wreath at St. Mark’s will take on a different appearance all together.  The wreath will include us inside its circle.  We are using the festival stands appropriately adorned with advent colors and symbols.  Evan H. will be in charge of this work.  The lighting ritual will include the reading of the gospel and the singing of an Advent song by Daniel E. Schwandt – “Many Will Come.”  This is an unpublished piece which the composer has granted us permission to use. Schwandt is the Cantor at Augustana Lutheran Church (Hyde Park, Illinois) and the Staff Musician at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.

Whatever form the wreath takes, Advent’s two-fold message is a powerful one for Christians: Christ has come and he is coming again!

A Hymn Festival Celebrating the Continuing Reformation of the Church Sunday, November 11th at 5:00 P.M.

LutherCountry is a name for the combined German states of Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. This is the area where Martin Luther lived and did his world-changing work. Since one year is not enough to commemorate this work, LutherCountry instituted the “Luther Decade” which began in 2007. When it culminates in 2017, we will observe the 500th anniversary of the events that started a reformation.

Each year has a theme and the theme for 2012 is “Reformation and Music.” The Reformation didn’t only affect singing in the home and church, but it influenced the work of composers like Telemann, Handel, and J. S. Bach.

Donald L. Armitage, a noteworthy Lutheran church musician from North Carolina, and Susan Palo Cherwien, a gifted Lutheran poet and hymn writer, have teamed up to create A Hymn Festival Celebrating the Ongoing Reformation of the Church. This festival celebrates the reformative work of Martin Luther as it is expressed in his hymns and tunes, and in the hymns and tunes from Christian peoples around the world in the centuries since. This hymn festival will be sung at St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church on Sunday, November 11th, at 5:00 p.m. Tony Cruz will serve as the organist and a choir will help lead the congregational singing.

Admission is free. An offering will be taken to benefit the expansion of St. Mark’s 1984 Zimmer pipe organ which is expected to be completed in early 2013.

Come Sing in One of Our Choirs!

In a Lutheran understanding of worship, the role of solo voices, choir, organ and other instruments is to enhance the musical participation by the congregation. This is accomplished by supporting and enriching the singing of congregational hymns; bringing richness and variety to worship as portions of the liturgy are entrusted to those who have rehearsed on behalf of the congregation; and presenting attendant music as appropriate and possible. (From the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians Statement on Worship and Music

The Festival Choir prepares hymns, liturgical music, and various musical offerings to enhance worship at St. Mark’s. We are ever mindful that the music we prepare serves to worship God as we sing Lutheran chorales, plainsong, polyphony, spirituals, and more. We sing music written by composers long dead and those who are writing today. Some of our music requires many weeks of intense practice and some is ready after only a rehearsal or two.

We are always looking for new singers, but have a particular need for basses right now. There is no audition, but some experience singing in a choir is preferred. The ability to read music is not required, but it is helpful. Through hard work and practice, you’ll be reading music before you know it. The Festival choir sings at the 11:00 service on Sunday morning and at other liturgical observances (Epiphany and Ascension, for example) throughout the year. Rehearsals are on Wednesday evening in the music suite 7:30 – 9:00 p.m. We also rehearse on Sunday morning (during the regular year) at 10:30.

The Matins Choir is a smaller group, providing musical leadership at the 8:30 service. These singers meet on Sunday morning at 8:00 to rehearse service music for the day and to learn an easy musical offering. Members of this group often sing with the Festival Choir for larger events. If you like to sing, but cannot attend a midweek rehearsal, we would love to have you join us.

This year the Kingdom Choir will transform into a robed choir! Rather than coming forward to sing a musical offering, they will wear robes and help lead the full liturgy once each month. Membership in this group is open to all children in grades 1 through 6. The choir rehearses on Sunday morning after the 11:00 service for about 1 hour. There is no audition and church membership is not a requirement to sing! Contact Tony Cruz, or any choir member, if you have any questions.

The Psalms Come to Life In Anne Coyle's "David and the Psalms."

Jacksonville composer Anne Coyle says that on April, 7, 2011 she was inspired to set all 150 psalms to music by writing one psalm per day - a task that would take about 5 months to complete.

She completed the task, but that wasn't the end of it! Anne has selected several of these psalms and combined them with drama, the San Jose Dancers, singing by the choir of San Jose Catholic Church, colorful banners, and an Ark of the Covenant procession. Anne says that the last piece was added to highlight the importance of the Levites in Hebrew worship.

Paul Burns helped with the writing of the script.

Anne has a tie to St. Mark's - she is the mother of John Coyle, a former member here.

When she reached her eighties, Anne's thinking was, "Well, it's about over." The Lord, she says, had other plans. She says she's in good company since Moses didn't start until he was 80. Read more about Anne's journey and hear some of her music at www.psalmbird.net.

St. Mark's will host this production on Sunday, July 29th, at 6:00 p.m. in the nave. All are welcome. There is no admission fee, but the gift of a non-perishable food item (to be shared with Lutheran Social Services and Catholic Charities is requested.