Children's Music Ministry: Our children begin their musical education during Covenant's Wednesday evening programming. They learn songs we sing every week in church like the Doxology and Gloria Patri and learn several major hymns of the faith every year, in addition to singing fun songs that coordinate with their educational curriculum. The children begin to learn about music notation and rhythm as we play with Orff instruments, desk bells, and other fun musical instruments. Older children will have an opportunity to try out tone chimes, which are a little too heavy for our youngest musicians.
Adult Music Ministry: There are two major opportunities for adults to participate in music-making at Covenant. The Crescendo Bell Choir plays a three-octave set of Schulmerick hand bells and tone chimes. The Bell Choir plays once a month from October through April, with additional music scheduled for both the Advent season and Eastertide. Bell Choir practices every Wednesday evening during our regular program year, from 6:30-7:15 PM.
The Chancel Choir practices weekly on Wednesdays from 7:30 - 8:15 PM. We sing a wide range of music, from traditional to contemporary, including some foreign-language and African-American music. Music is accessible and easy to learn, as we keep very busy singing three Sundays of each month! This year our new music will focus on the English choral tradition from composers such as John Rutter, Timothy Dudley Smith, and Brian Wren.
Other music classes will be offered to adults from time to time based on a variety of musical topics, including discussions of both traditional hymnody and contemporary sacred music. The hymnal we use at Covenant is the Presbyterian Hymnal of 1990, along with the more recent hymn supplement The Faith We Sing. Hymnody and contemporary hymn writing can be fascinating topics of study, even for those who don't consider music one of their gifts. What we sing says a lot about who we are as Christians, and it can be very interesting to trace the creation of particular hymns and parallel that with what was going on historically at the time.
At Covenant we try to have a good blend of theologically sound music that includes both great hymns of the faith and more recently created hymns. Someday some of the best of the more recent hymns will take their place with other great Christian standards, and we want to give everyone a chance to try something new, fresh, and thought-provoking from time to time. Sometimes you will like the new music, and other times you won't. But you'll never be bored singing the same three hymns every week!
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