Music Director

Music Ministry

JANE SHELLY, MUSIC DIRECTOR

2021 saw the music ministry navigating all the ins and outs of Covid protocols as we continued to provide service music for the congregation.

We started the year hopeful that “in no time at all”, we would be back in person able to sing in church, perhaps even maskless…… right…..

My underlying mantra for 2021 has been gratitude that we developed the hybrid service model and did not let it go even when it looked like we would be back. Under Pastor John’s leadership, we navigated the waters while allowing everyone to gauge their own comfort level and following county guidelines.

The Choir continued to make Acapella recordings. We performed anthems during Lent and for Easter and then one more in April. We reconvened in the fall, hoping to be able to sing in person. The first couple of rehearsals, we met outside – many thanks to Homer for donating the keyboard. Then it got too cold and too dark so we moved indoors. We sang live on a monthly basis until Advent, at which time we sang weekly through Christmas Eve.

We have six stalwart members to whom I am extremely grateful.

The Worship Ensemble sang each week that enough of us were available. Many thanks to Shawn Dooley, Dan Ellecamp and Grete Hansen for stepping up and performing with us when you were available or needed.

Jenny and I continued to make recordings of the hymns to be sung. Even when Jenny was back in the church playing the hymns live, we continued to pre-

record and broadcast to the folks on zoom since the sound quality of the screen share is far superior to the live broadcast.

Looking forward – so now what? What can we look forward to in 2022. We of course do not know what 2022 has in store for us but we are determined that we will continue moving forward.

Choir – Our small but mighty cohort will continue rehearsing with the plan to perform once a month during regular seasons and weekly during Lent and Easter, Advent and Christmas. Jenny records the parts for the anthems for choristers to rehearse on their own. We have shorter rehearsals (about an hour) on Wednesday evenings and a quick run through in the morning of the days we sing. We are hoping that if and when the protocols allow for maskless singing that our numbers will grow!

Worship Ensemble – We will continue to sing as many Sundays as we can/are needed. We rehearse for about 15 minutes on the Sundays we are singing.

Bell Choir – we are going to restart the bell choir. We have 9 people signed up as of January 23 and could use one more. We will start rehearsing in February, meeting for about 30 minutes after church twice a month. If you would like to be a regular member or a substitute player, please let me know!

Special Music – To help the music ministry provide music when the choir is not singing, we will be establishing a special music offering during the anthem time. We have also been using the prelude time to offer special music – many thanks to Bob Heyman for his steel drum performances.

2021 has been a year of much struggle and joy in music making. We shall see what 2022 shall bring!