Our choir is taking a much-deserved rest from Wednesday night rehearsals for the month of July and part of August. We continue to sing for Sunday services, and those interested in joining us are welcome to come to our Sunday morning rehearsals at 9:15 am. We rehearse in the choir room (at the top of the stairs behind the fellowship hall), prepare an anthem, and then offer it for worship at the 10 am service.
While the choir is on rehearsal ‘vacation’, planning continues for selecting anthems for the remainder of the church year and into the Advent and Christmas seasons. We often use anthems already in our wonderful library, but sometimes a new anthem comes to our attention and is ordered. I try to order music when the music houses are offering a discounted price – this traditionally happens in the summertime as planning begins for the fall. Some music houses also offer discounted shipping if you are willing to wait a few weeks for delivery, so planning ahead helps the budgeting process. Selecting anthems brings me great pleasure. It involves looking at the lectionary readings for each Sunday, then selecting a piece of music that will enhance our worship by complementing the readings. The same process applies for choosing the instrumental music. It is a bit like putting a puzzle together and brings great joy.
~Barbara