What Does It Take to Get Involved in Music Around Here?
Music Notes by Brian Plaugher, Director of Music Ministries
Music at the Community Church comes in assorted sizes and flavors. One of the ways to get involved is to join a choir. The choirs we have are the most organized way to get involved in music, and they are the groups we hear most often in worship.
Our Adult Choir is also called the Chancel Choir. If you grew up in church, like I did, you will probably be used to hearing the front part of the church’s interior called the “chancel”. If not, you may be wondering why it’s called that instead of a stage. I wondered myself, until I googled it and found that it came from a Latin word for a little screen, as back in the day the principal altar and officiants were screened off from the remainder of the church.
But no screens for us! You need to be an adult to be in the adult choir (as in high school at least). Almost all the current choir members can read music, though if you love to sing and can’t read, we can teach you. This is our most frequently heard group in worship, appearing on just about every Sunday from mid-September to June unless another choir or somebody else is helping lead music. Except sometimes we sing in combination with or in addition to other musicians. It works out to be about three times a month. Practice is Thursdays at 7:30.
Adult choir is not a lifetime commitment, or even for a whole year necessarily. We are very open to people joining the choir for a season or special event. Since we learn the music over the course of several weeks, it would be good to be part of things at least for several weeks running. The choir is also a community of mutual care and support, or prayer, and of fun.
To be part of the brass choir, no ifs ands or buts, you need to read music. You need to play a brass instrument, too. We set the bar pretty high on this one. Appearances are seasonal, as are the Thursday 7:15 rehearsals. Careful readers will have noticed that it is difficult to be in the adult choir and brass choir. I did it, before I was directing the choir. I’d rehearse with the brass, then scoot on over for the later part of the adult choir. Being the director, though, the singers expect you to be there from the start.
The Youth Choir, aka Kid’s Choir, Children’s Choir and maybe some other aliases, is for young persons from the first grade on up who want to sing. You don’t need to read music to take part. We usually practice around noon on Sundays, after worship. Youth Choir performs around once a month or a little less.
The Handbell Choir rehearses on Wednesday evenings, and is heard in worship about once a month during the September-June season. You don’t need to read music for this choir, but you do need to be able to count.
Most third Sundays of the month are led musically by Andy DelMonte, who offers an eclectic blend of bluegrass, jazz, folk, rock, or occasionally an all-women choir ensemble.
Men In Black is our all-male male vocal ensemble which sings sporadically throughout the year, including summer. Summer is also the time when we have a sort of “open mic” during worship: solos, duets or other ensembles, vocal or instrumental are all heard during these months.
The most important way to get involved in music is to come on Sunday morning and sing and listen. But if you want to do more, these are some of the ways to be more involved in music at the Community Church.
