Text Box: Page # Text Box: The Trinity Press Text Box: Music Notes People of Holy Trinity, SEPTEMBER, 2007 Text Box: First, I want to thank every single one of you for making Brett and I feel so welcome over the past eight months. It has truly been a pleasure attending parties, eating dinners, and chatting about interesting things over coffee! The best thing has been the large number of personal friendships that we have gained since January. We have truly grown to love Holy Trinity and could not imagine life without you. I am so excited that September is right around the corner! Over the past few weeks I have been familiarizing myself with the Episcopal liturgy and planning music for fall. I will have subbed for Edward at Trinity Long Green twice, and attended services at Christ Church, Philadelphia and The Cathedral of the Incarnation in Baltimore. At the end of this month, I will be attending a Music Ministries Retreat at The Bishop Claggett Center in Buckeystown, MD (which I will report on in the October newsletter). All of this is so that I can do a better job of enhancing our worship at Holy Trinity! There are things each of you can do to help to take our worship to the next level as well. First, sing the hymns on Sunday! Eric and I both expect everyone to at least try singing the hymns! Don’t be surprised if one of us starts over if we catch some of you sleeping instead of singing! I do my best to choose hymns that are somewhat familiar, and fairly easy to sing. On special church days, however, there may be a more difficult hymn that is appropriate to the lessons. On these days, we will likely practice the hymn immediately before the prelude. If you have time, read the hymns before church. I guarantee that each of you will find something meaningful in at least one of the hymn texts every week. The second thing that I am asking each of you to consider is to support your choir! We currently have four or five brave, dedicated souls that are there every week giving back to God. That is outstanding, but I would love to see four or five or ten more of you up front on Sundays! It is very difficult to Text Box: choose choral music that works for four or five people. With only a few more, our capabilities would be increased tremendously. There are no requirements for joining the choir except that you come willing to learn! Rehearsals will be from 12:15-1:00 (or shortly after) on Sunday afternoons. I am currently planning on having the choir provide special music two to three Sundays a month. On those days, we will also rehearse promptly at 9:00 so that we can finish by 9:30 in order to allow for prayerful meditation. Finally, I would like to ask for your quiet reflection during preludes and postludes. These are part of the service, and I have a large repertoire of music to introduce you to over the coming months. Please remember that you will not always like every single piece of music that you hear in church. One might be too loud or too soft, another too slow or too fast. Some may be too contemporary, or too sad or jazzy for your tastes. But, I try to provide a variety in order to help you find a song with which you can identify and find spiritual meaning. Music can help us experience the excitement of God within one’s life, and I welcome any comments or suggestions about how I can do my job better! Please contact me anytime at holytrinitysingers@verizon.net or 410-254-3453. Hallelujah! Sing to the Lord a new song; sing his praise in the congregation of the faithful. Psalm 149:1 Jason E. Kamrath Organist and Choirmaster Reminder – Choir Rehearsal Begins 9/9 @ 12:15

I would love to see four or five or ten more of you up front on Sundays!  It is very difficult to choose choral music that works for four or five people.  With only a few more, our capabilities would be increased tremendously.