For the love of music

Through the ups and downs of COVID over the past year, our musicians gave of their time and talents to make our music program a success. This past summer our Adult Choir began rehearsing and resumed singing in church. Some memorable moments were the Choir’s presentation of Lessons and Carols and leading music for the Christmas Eve Service. Even though our Children’s Choir had only four kids, they sang with such enthusiasm and beauty that they were an inspiration to all that attended our Family Christmas Eve Service. Both our Adult and Children’s choirs can always use more singers, so come join us! Several new ringers have joined our Handbell Choir, and they enjoy ringing for church services. We have been blessed to have other local musicians share their talents with our congregation, including a harpist, flutist, xylophonist, brass instrumentalists and even a piano/organ duet.

There are a rather large number of guitar, mandolin, and ukulele players and singers who enjoy getting together once a month to have fun playing and singing “folk” songs. A special thanks to John Millar for spearheading and nurturing this endeavor. All are welcome to join this assemblage. The evenings start with great food and conversation and then a circle is formed where each person gets the opportunity to select a song they wish to have performed. So far, the repertoire includes music by the Sons of the Pioneers; The Beatles; John Denver; Peter, Paul and Mary and gospel style songs. One of my favorite selections is “El Paso.” Each time we sing this song, I cannot get that tune out of my head for a week! This fun new group continues to grow and is also attracting people who just want to attend and listen.

It has been a personal pleasure to have gotten to know and work with Judy Bowser, who has provided music for many years at the Chapel of the Transfiguration in the summer. Her joy of leading church music is inspiring! Also, she has graciously helped when our Handbell Choir needed an extra ringer. We are blessed to have Judy's presence in our music program.

After evaluating the needs of our aging pipe organs, we engaged the help of a ‘local’ organ building company to care for our instruments, Bigelow Organ Company, to ensure that our pipe organs will continue to serve the future needs of our congregation. Bigelow did a major tuning of our main church instrument and was instrumental in installing our new chimes. The chimes have already added much beauty to our services during the Christmas Season. I will have to be careful about not overusing this new ‘toy.’

This year we acquired a new German-made Schimmel upright piano. Ironically, the first weekend that the piano was delivered, our church Steinway piano was unplayable. This Schimmel piano has already proven to be a great help to our music program, and it will continue to benefit our congregation both in front and behind the scenes.

Also, as the director of the Jackson Hole Chorale, I would like to take this opportunity to thank St. John’s Church for making available rehearsal space. The Chorale exists to provide free choral concerts to the community. This is a non-audition choir where all who like to sing are welcome. With St. John’s help, the Chorale was able to present two concerts this past year, one in August out on our labyrinth and a Christmas Concert.

Over the past year, it has been a pleasure for me to have a live congregation singing in church. I am happy to have had the opportunity to get to know many of the wonderful members of our congregation. I am thankful to our staff who supports me in all that I do. Still being the ‘new kid on the block,’ I am impressed seeing all the love that St. John’s Church spreads throughout our community. It is a privilege for me to work as the music director here at St. John’s and I look forward to spreading the love by making beautiful music in the future!

God bless,