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The music ministry at Covenant has many opportunities for you to share your musical gifts! There is a Chancel Choir, a New Day Ensemble, a High School/Adult Handbell Group, a Liturgical Dance Group, a Children's Choir, and opportunities for solo and small ensemble presentations in worship. Other opportunities include a summer Children’s musical experience/VBS, dramatic presentations in worship, graphic arts, and other visual arts. If you have a love of music and a passion for the arts, then we have a place for you to get involved at Covenant. Want to share your gifts? Contact Music Coordinator, Melissa Hinz.
Adult Chancel Choir
All are welcome! The Covenant Chancel Choir is open to anyone of high school age or older who has a desire to sing praises to the Lord! The choir practices Wednesday evenings from September through May and sings in worship three to four times per month at the 11:00am service. The choir also prepares larger works for special services several times a year, occasionally collaborating with other local churches for special services or concerts. If you have any questions, please contact Music Coordinator, Melissa Hinz.
New Day Ensemble
The New Day Ensemble is open to singers and instrumentalists alike. The group assists in leading the 9:00am service most weeks throughout the year with a mix of contemporary and traditional music. New Day practices on Wednesday evenings from September through May. Anyone is welcome to join at any time. If you think you might like to give it a try, stop by a rehearsal or speak with Ben Welch, Covenant's Contemporary Worship Music Coordinator.
Hand Bells (Middle School-Adult)
Come and try ringing a few bells and see what fun it can be! There are multiple "seasons" of Hand Bells throughout the year for different groups, each including three weeks of rehearsal followed by a Sunday of presenting in worship. Come and be a part of this ministry as we make some joyful music. Contact Melissa Hinz if you are interested or have any questions.
Children’s Celebration Choir
All Kindergarten to 5th-grade children are invited to sing with the Children's Celebration Choir! Celebration Choir meets for thirty minutes on Sunday mornings in Room B103. In choir, children learn to use their singing voices as well as instruments to praise God while learning about the fundamentals of music in a fun and engaging atmosphere. For more information, click here.
Covenant's 1997 Schoenstein Organ
The Instrument
The organ was built by the Schoenstein Organ Company of San Francisco, California specifically for Covenant Presbyterian Church. The registration of the instrument, or choice of pipes and sounds, was made by then-organist Sam Hutchison in collaboration with the builder, Jack Bethards. The purchase and installation of the organ were made possible by a generous gift of long-time members, Ray & Virginia Malmquist. The organ consists of over 2,700 pipes ranging in length from just a few inches to 16 feet. It was installed in its current location behind the front chancel area in 1997. To see the full specs of our organ click here.
The Schoenstein Organ Company
The Schoenstein Organ Company is one of the premier organ building firms in the United States and specializes in the design of instruments in the "American Symphonic" tradition. What this means for the listener is that there is an extremely wide diversity of tonal color, making this instrument very capable of playing music from different musical styles and periods. Many other modern organ builders have sought to build instruments replicating styles of organ building that were used in earlier centuries. While there are many spectacular instruments built in these styles, many suffer from the inability to perform music of later centuries very well and are less well suited to accompanying modern worship. Covenant’s Schoenstein instrument can play organ music of many centuries extremely well. The rich and varied timbre, the wide dynamic range, and the overall warm tone quality make this an outstanding instrument for accompanying choirs and solo instruments, as well as leading services of worship.
Unique Characteristics of The Instrument
For the organ enthusiast, several unique characteristics of this organ are worth highlighting. The entire instrument, with the exception of the pedal division, is under expression. This means that the pipes are located behind wooden louvers ("swell shades") that can be opened by the organist to allow more or less sound to escape. In addition, two divisions of the organ, the ethereal division in the solo, and the celestial division in the swell, are enclosed within other divisions, effectively boxes inside boxes, making it possible to have a wider degree of expression for these divisions by having two sets of swell shades controlling the sound of pipes in these divisions.
For example, the ethereal division tuba, with both expression shades open, can solo above the rest of the instrument; with one of the shades closed it can blend with the great plenum as a chorus trumpet. The assignment of the expression shades to the swell shoes can also be changed, a unique characteristic of this instrument, further enhancing its expressive capabilities. Also, several stops have been modeled after other builders. The majority of the reed stops are hooded, in the style of English 19th century builder Henry Willis. The tuba in the ethereal division was also modeled on a Willis tuba. The French horn and English horn in the solo division were modeled on stops by 20th-century American builder Ernest Skinner. The harmonic flute in the solo division was modeled in scale and design on a harmonic flute by the great 19th-century French builder Aristide Cavaille-Coll.