Choir Schedules
All Choirs will break for the summer and resume practice in August - watch for updates or call the church office at 823-2484.
Chancel Choir
Thursday Evenings at 7:15 PM
The adult Chancel Choir will meet for practice on Thursday nights at 7:15 PM in the Choir Room and you are invited to join. Just stop by on Thursdays at 7:15 PM or give Brian Plaugher, Director of Music Ministries a call at 823-2484 ext 11.
Handbell Choir
Wednesday Evenings at 7:30
Handbell Director Karna Roa invites you to try your hand at ringing the bells. They practice on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 PM in the church sanctuary. If you have any questions, please call Karna or Linda Roa.
Brass Choir
Thursdays at 6:00 PM
The
Brass Choir practices on Thursday evenings at 6:00 PM in Fellowship Hall. Did you
play in your school band? Are you wanting to get out that horn again and
show off your skills? Call the church office at 823-2484 and find out how
you can share your talents.
Children’s Choir
Sunday Mornings at 9:30 AM
The Children’s Choir will meet on Sunday mornings at 9:30 AM. All children ages 4-10 are invited to join us for practice and sing in worship about once a month. Call Andy DelMonte if you have any questions or the church office at 823-2484.
Folk & Acoustic Group
This year, the Community Church Folk & Acoustic Group plans to have regular, semi-monthly rehearsals to be best prepared to play some great folk-based worship music on several Sundays throughout the year. If you play an acoustic instrument that lends itself to folk and bluegrass styles (banjo, guitar, mandolin, fiddle, stand-up bass, etc), and you’d like to rehearse and play, please contact Jan Kahdeman for more information
Something new in choirs! Check out the YAP Choir
Why I am Not Calling It “Dixieland” Any More
Brian Plaugher
Director of Music Ministries
The first form of that great American music called ‘jazz’ originated in the South, and had its epicenter in New Orleans. It was the sound of freedom: often with a peppy tempo, always with a jaunty syncopated rhythm and marked above all else, with boundless improvisation. It arose in the African American community, just a generation removed from slavery. But upon this liberating, lively music, this sound of freedom, was imposed the label of “Dixie.”
To look back to “old black Joe pickin’ cotton” may be a treasured history for some in the South, but it was not a treasured history for our Black brothers and sisters. Dixie was the opposite of freedom for them, and not at all what this new music was about.
I have not meant any harm, and few of us in these parts do, by using that label, but I am not going to use it any more. I had a friend some years ago who proudly displayed a Confederate flag. He claimed it was a symbol of Southern culture, not of racism. I am sure that was true for him. But the Confederacy, or Dixie, or whatever name we want to call the antebellum South, all carry the tragic stain of human bondage.
So I am calling it New Orleans Jazz, or Traditional Jazz. We will be playing it in church on November 1, and you are invited to come to worship and enjoy the music.
