What’s this?
It’s a section of this Substack containing videos of my choir’s anthems, along with my comments. A longer description can be found on the About page. If you subscribe to this Substack but don’t wish to receive notifications for this section, select Manage Subscription from the upper-right menu and turn it off there.
Call to Worship Anthem: The Name of Jesus
By Craig Courtney. Lyricist: John Newton / Edward Perronet.
From the distributor’s page:
John Newton's beloved hymn text All Hail the Power of Jesus Name just dances off the page in this inventive setting … . … A marvelous and creative musical experience on a well-known hymn.
This is one of the more unusual anthems we have sung in my time with this choir. I didn’t quite know what to think at first, but once we got the hang of it, well, like it said above, marvelous and creative!
Accompaniments were available for clapping groups or hand drum. We had the bell chorus this day and, percussionists that they are, they clapped for us.
Offering Music Anthem: Be Gone, Unbelief
By Wesley Peters.
From the publisher’s page:1
[A] wonderfully catchy sea-shanty-inspired setting of John Newton text: "Be gone, unbelief, my Savior is near....with Christ in the vessel, I smile at the storm."
As we began rehearsing and learning this anthem, it felt a little like being on a rocking boat. It took some doing to learn, but was quite enjoyable to sing before the congregation.
Closing Anthem: O Sacred Head
By Mary McDonald.
From the Publisher’s Page:
The captivating lyrics of the 17th century Passion Chorale still resonate today as we reflect on the somber final moments prior to Jesus’ death. Paired in this setting with the minor tonalities of the tune PROMISED LAND, along with an original refrain, the depth of emotions are effectively conveyed in both word and song.
This anthem looks forward to Good Friday (when the choir will not be singing). While it doesn’t show in the video—the cameras compensate for it—for contrast, the house lights were blacked out (there are skylights and windows), and the chancel lights were adjusted to highlight the choir.
Behind the Scenes
What goes on behind the scenes for a day like this is weeks of rehearsal and refinement. And there’s more coming for Easter, when we have services Saturday evening and Sunday morning.
As I mentioned earlier, there was a lighting change for the final anthem. Being the lighting person as well as a choir member, I was surprised to learn about this just a few days beforehand. It was a simple transition, fading out the house lights at the beginning and re-balancing the chancel lights to favor just the choir.
I didn’t have enough time in advance to set up and test a programmed sequence, so I set up the alternate pattern on the individual manual faders instead and had the screens operator bring down all four of the regular preset faders when we began the scene, leaving just the manual faders active so that they showed through. It’s simpler than it sounds, and that’s what I told her.
It is simple in principle, but I had to get up unusually early (4 AM) and come in and work out the alternate pattern by trial and error before the bells and choir arrived for the pre-service run-through. This required balancing four channels of dimmable electric lighting against the skylight, stained glass rear window light, and fixed stage lights (non-dimmable), to achieve a pattern that would appear as even on camera while ensuring that all the choir members could see their music clearly. Simple, but not so simple. It seems to have worked.
I finished this post except for final edits on Sunday afternoon while still recuperating from the day but before I could publish, the day caught up with me and I dozed off at the keyboard for a long, long time. But this is what can happen when your work chair is a nice, comfy recliner.
Recorded at Christ Community Church, Carmichael, California, April 13, 2025.
Excerpted from this livestream.
Oops, the publisher’s page link was missing. Fixed now, but better no link than the wrong link, I guess.