Our music ministry is such a vital part of the St Margaret’s community. With singing being described as a “super-spreader” of the Coronavirus, our vocal music has been mostly silenced. Like countless music programs in churches, schools and communities around the world, we have been left to consider, “how can we have choir rehearsals without singing?” “How can I keep singers engaged virtually or minimally in person?” “How would this be accomplished with only so many resources?”
Currently our music ministry at St Margaret’s has two adult choirs, a K-12 chorister program (K-2, 3-5, 6-12), and a contemporary music ensemble. In the fall, because of logistics and guidelines given by the Diocese of Maryland, the Third Sunday Band will go on brief hiatus for indoor worship, but will continue to offer prerecorded music and hopefully music for any planned outdoor worship. They continue to make music within their own “cohort”, having recently provided music for several online Celtic services at First Presbyterian Church, Annapolis and the Annapolis Pride Service we hosted back in June.
Our vocal ensembles and chorister program will not rehearse or sing in church for the foreseeable future, though if the health guidelines ease, smaller groups wearing masked may gather outside weather permitting to do some limited singing and to enjoy the fellowship we have all missed over these many months. We will shift our focus a bit to things that don’t require singing, both in person and virtually, including some basic music theory, sight-singing, aural training, music history/appreciation, and the like.
In addition to cantors, we hope to have parishioners who play non-wind instruments offer music before, during and after worship on some Sundays to fill the void left by no choral and congregational singing.
-Jim Douglas, Director of Music