Music Program

Holy Week, starting with Palm Sunday and ending with Easter, is filled with meaningful presentations involving the choirs, Brass Ensemble, Children's Choirs and Chantry Ringers.

Palm Sunday the children's choirs will sing with the Chancel Choir, accompanied by piano, organ, bells and trumpet.  The Brass Ensemble will play the Prelude and Postlude.

Maundy Thursday will be a Communion Service by intinction with music by a small Children's ensemble, Diane Daly singing a moving solo surrounding the events that Jesus suffered that night, and the Chancel Choir singing a Benediction that sets the mood for Good Friday.

This year we will host the Good Friday 12:00 noon Service for the Community.  Music will be provided with a solo by Grace Hood.   At 7:00 pm Good Friday night we will be giving a moving presentation of the Passion of Christ done in a very unique way.  Many of you have asked to see the presentation of The Passion of Jesus Christ that Greg Telthorster has shown during Lent for several years.  Greg has compiled 200 pictures done by the Great Master Painters that depicts Jesus' ride into Jerusalem and takes us to the Last Supper, Crucifixion, and Resurrection.

What an exciting time in the life of our church. At this writing we have just looked at the Sanctuary and the carpet is being laid. With our larger chancel we will have beauty instead of chaos and the choir is anxiously waiting to sing in that acoustically glorious setting.

Martha Lockard has done a mammoth job in measuring, getting figures together from contributions and having the choir pick from several samples the color for our New Choir Robes, for the children's choirs and the adult choir. The order has been placed and the new robes will go with the décor of the Sanctuary. Our gray robes just didn't go, color wise, at all.

All of this should be ready for the Christmas Season. As usual we will have two services, 5:00 PM Children's Service when the children's choirs will sing under the leadership of Diane Daly. This is always a very popular Service so we suggest coming early to get the seat you want. There will be a 10:00 PM Service with the Anemos Woodwind Quintet playing at 9:30 PM. Again, come early to hear this lovely Christmas music and get the seat you want.
We all survived the Fellowship Hall "Sanctuary" but hearing the music from a beautiful Sanctuary with the proper lighting and sound will make everyone much happier. It's been a long process with many people putting in countless hours but you will see that it has paid off when you see and hear the new surroundings.

Exciting things are happening in our Church and with our music programs.  The Church is being renovated after a very long time of waiting and anticipation.  The Sound Engineer who worked on our Fellowship Hall did a fabulous job with the acoustics and we all sound better than ever! Grace Hood has been working hard with our new "sound board" which can adjust mics for speaking and singing which makes everyone sound better!  Andrew Valko is our real technical guy and he is always there to assist and train willing volunteers.  A BIG thanks to all who have been working on these improvements.

By now most of you know that the choir rooms have relocated so that our youth groups can have the big space the choir had occupied.  When Bill Kerber had asked us what we thought of changing rooms (the choir using the two rooms the youth had been using) we were thrilled to give our rooms to them.  We would be able to rehearse in the renovated Sanctuary (which will have more space) and the youth groups now have fabulous rooms that have been renovated by Bill and his "gang."   Kudos to Bill and these young people.

On Saturday, May 9th our choir was a part of a Consortium of Music in Worship Choir. This Consortium is the American Choral Directors Association which is a nonprofit music-education organization whose central purpose is to promote excellence in choral music through performance, composition, publication, research and teaching. Jenny Klenk received this invitation to participate and passed it on to us.

Rene Clausen, a well known composer of sacred and secular music, was to be the Presenter and we were to sing his World Premier of Sing to the Lord a New Song, commissioned for this event. There were 10 choirs attending and we were asked to also sing an anthem of our own of which 4 of us participated. Our choir of 24 voices did a great job and was well received.

We are fast approaching the most sacred time of the year; Good Friday when Jesus gave his life to redeem our sin, and Easter, the day of rejoicing and hope.  This is also a time when church musicians try to convey, through music, the emotions that this season evokes in us.

By the time you read this we will be in Lent where we choose anthems that convey reflection on what is to come.  On Sunday morning, March 29th, at the 9:00 am Service we are presenting a 10 minute "Anthem" entitled, Hear My Prayer, by Felix Mendelssohn.  This mini Cantata written for a Soprano solo and choir expresses the pathos of pleading to God to listen to our pain and save us from our enemies.  The second part of the Cantata is beautifully portrayed with the words, "O for the wings of a dove" where we could fly away from this pain and remain forever in God's care.  Our soprano soloist will be Anna Kroszner from our choir.

When you read this note the hustle and bustle of Christmas will be over.  For some in our church it was a difficult time of grieving; for some it was a beautiful and meaningful time with the many Services where we could worship and experience, again, the beauty of a baby being born who would change the whole world.  For many of our children it was an exciting time where they could participate in worship services through singing and drama.

For those of us who were heavily involved in creating worship services that would inspire and draw the listener into experiencing the true meaning of Christmas there was a feeling of satisfaction that everything went so well, and thankfulness to the many people who put long hours into giving their talents to those worship services.  All of us are grateful to them.

By the time you read this note the choirs will have been in full swing.   A new Youth Choir, directed by Jenny Klenk, will begin later this fall and will meet Monday evenings from 6:30 pm to 7:15 pm. This choir will be for Grades 7 - 10.  More information to follow.

If you wish to be in a choir and you are 11th - 12th grade see me about joining the Chancel Choir.  It is not too late to join any of the choirs so come if you like to sing.

We are now "on line" with our own computer system. Our e-mail address is: music@lvpcchurch.org.   We are very grateful to Bette Jack who heard our need for a printer and donated a new one for our use. Thank you, Bette.

Since many of you have wanted a "Hymn Sing" in our Church we are answering your request by taking 15 minutes before the Service on the last Sunday of the month to sing your favorites from our Hymn Books.   This means that if you want to join us come to Worship at 8:45 am those Sundays.  We are going to try this for awhile and if there is enough interest we'll continue this schedule.

On October 12^th we celebrated the Music Ministry of our Church by rededicating our lives to serving God through music.  At this Service the Children’s Choirs sang for the first time this new choir year. We listed all members of the Chancel Choir (43), all members of the two children’s choirs, the New Song Service Team, the Chantry Ringers, and the Brass Ensemble.  The total number of people giving their time and talent to the music ministry is 105, not counting audio/video team members and substitute vocalists for the New Song Service..  We’ve added new voices to the Chancel Choir and the Children’s Choirs and feel blessed that so many people want to share their time and talent in this manner. 

There is a real need for more “Team Members” in the New Song Service as well as substitutes. Voices are needed as well as some more instrumental players.  Rehearsals for this group are every Monday evening at 7:30 pm in the Sanctuary.  The New Song Service starts at 10:45 am every Sunday.  If you feel led to give your time and talent to this very important ministry please contact Lynne Schneer through the Church Office. 

Diane Daly (Miss Diane) directs the Children’s Choirs and not too many people know a lot about her.  She has been directing the choirs for 4 years and we have watched her get “the most” out of the children when they sing. The children are one of her passions and she has done a remarkable job with decorating their choir room (new decorations every year) and at her own expense carpeting the floor with a bright blue rug that is wonderful to sit on. If you haven’t seen the children’s choir room, take a walk to the basement and see where these children practice each week. 

We have many volunteers who do so much for our Church and Diane is one of them.  At her own expense she took a seminar down south last year on children’s choirs.  The church paid her tuition but her travel and accommodations were on her. Not many churches have volunteers do that. This coming summer she plans a week long seminar on children’s choirs, again in the south, and all but the tuition will be on her. 

Christmas is almost here and the Children’s Choirs have been working very hard on a Christmas musical entitled “The Tiniest Christmas Star.” They will be presenting this musical, which is about 15 minutes long, at the 5:00 pm Christmas Eve Family Service. The music is lively and the story is about the stars in the heavens on the night Jesus was born.  Of course each star thinks they will be chosen to be the star to lead the shepherds to the manager but one little star, the tiniest star, is glum because he’s so small he knows he will never be chosen. Some of the “characters” include a “Western Cowboy” Star, a “Sergeant” star, and numerous other heavenly stars.  This musical is suitable for all ages, kindergarten to 90 year olds.  Bring your whole family to this Worship Service as we imagine what it would be like to be chosen as the star with a most important assignment. Diane Daly is the Director and Jennifer Klenk the accompanist.

Summer has quickly passed and the fall season is upon us.  The following is the schedule for the Children and Adult choirs:

Thursday September 4th Chancel Choir - 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm 

Thursday September 11th Joyful Noise for ages 3 to 5 from 6:00 - 6:30 pm

Jubilant Singers for Grades 1 from 6:30 - 7:15 pm

All rehearsals are held downstairs in the Children's Choir room and the Adult Choir room.  We welcome new voices for all choirs.  Any child who loves to sing is welcome.  The same is true for the Chancel Choir. We have new music to learn and a full schedule of singing at Worship Services.

Our music season for the choirs is winding down with the children's choirs having finished the middle of May and the Chancel Choir ending June 15th. It has been a busy year but a very rewarding year.

We are indebted to Diane Daly and her devotion to the Children's choirs. She freely gives of her time and we can see the results through the growth of the two younger choirs. Her choice of music has made the children enthusiastic about learning to sing and we have all heard the results. Thank you, Diane!

Jenny Klenk has worked very hard with our older youth choir but time constraints due to conflicting schedules has prevented this group from growing the way we anticipated it would grow. In spite of that problem, Jenny has brought the best out of these voices and they have loved working with her.

Our Church has been incredibly fortunate to have two very talented student musicians on our staff.  One of these musicians is Matthew Samson, (Matt) who is our lead Bass.  He is a Sophomore at Westminster Choir College of Rider University having graduated from Central Bucks West in 2006.

In the fall of 2006 we were told the Session had approved monies for hiring a Bass, desperately needed for our choir.  Dr. Joseph Ohrt, Choral Director at CB West, highly endorsed hiring Matt, "one of the finest musicians to have graduated from CB West."  We soon learned that to be true, not only for his voice but also for his amazing talent for composing music, which he has been doing since 2004.

Matt's music has been performed across the United States, and in such notable places as Chicago's Symphony Hall, The Pentagon, The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, The Toronto Center for the Performing Arts, and the White House.  Matt's latest work, a Mass in C# minor in six parts, for countertenor solo, Organ and Strings was performed at St. Matthew's Cathedral, Washington, D.C. This is an outstanding work and has impressed those of us who have heard part of the work after a recent choir rehearsal.

We are in the second half of our Choir year and looking forward to many exciting things happening.  Reflecting over the first half of the year we have seen our children's choirs grow dramatically and the addition of a new Youth Choir.  More adults have joined the Chancel Choir, some of whom have also joined the Church. It was a great September through December, and we look forward to an even greater second half of the year. 

Looking ahead we have a Cantata, The Seven Last Words by DuBois, which the Chancel Choir will sing at the Good Friday Tenabrae Service. We welcome people who can't normally commit to every Thursday or Sunday to join us. We will announce any special rehearsals in the March Newsletter but if you would like to sing please call me at 215-340-7053 and we'll give you a better idea on when to come to rehearsals.  We're trying to keep them to Thursday evenings. If you are interested in joining the Chancel Choir just come out Thursday evenings at 7:30 PM.

Christmas is such a beautiful and meaningful time of the year although many of us also find it a stressful time of the year.  As Christians we look to the Church for inspiration through the spoken word and the music we hear.  A Carol, Scripture verse, wreaths and candles, and the mystical feeling of Christmas Eve brings back memories of special Christmases.  In our younger years we would participate in the 11:00 PM Service and then invite friends for a "supper" and get to bed around 3:00 AM for a few hours sleep before the kids awoke, refreshed and anxiously awaiting to see what Santa brought them.

Christmas Eve was one of our really special times.  When we lived in the Poconos we would have a 7:00 PM Christmas Eve Service and then drive 120 miles "home" to Doylestown.  Most people were in their homes for the night and when we'd have snow on the ground we'd see the beautiful lights reflecting on the snow and wonder what was happening in the homes in preparation for the next day.