music: Maurice Greene (1696-1755), words Psalm 65, vv9,12 This article was written for the October issue of our parish magazine. About a year ago, in the autumn of 2020 we had endured a full national lockdown, a summer of somewhat eased restrictions, and were entering a time of less-than-clear tiered restrictions. If memory serves, that … More Thou Visitest the Earth
As it happened, the first anniversary of the Manchester Arena bombing fell on a Tuesday, the day on which the Chorale meets to rehearse each week. May of us would like to have been in St Anne’s Square that evening taking part in the commemorations, but we were committed to our rehearsals. Instead we began with this song, then held a minute silence … More A Flower Remembered (Rutter – words and music, 1945-present)
As regular readers will know, during May and June 2021 Rev Deborah and I ran the Royal School of Church Music’s course, “Inspiring Music in Worship”, during which we decided to hold a special service on our patronal festival to celebrate music and its place in worship in our church. That was on 18 July, and you will have read about it in previous month’s magazine articles and blog posts … More St Margaret’s Patronal Festival Medley (arr. Dalton & Porter, 2021)
2018 has been a year of remembrance with concerts to commemorate the centenary of the ending of the Great War reaching their climax in November … More We Shall Walk Through the Valley in Peace – trad spiritual, arr. Hogan (1957-2003)
Regular readers will know how important music is to me, and much has been said about the importance of music in worship over recent weeks – in a weekly course, in our church services and in magazine articles. It has been all the more poignant for the long absence of music from our worship, and its reintroduction at the end of July … More When is a ‘Performance’ not a ‘Performance’?
In January 2017 I had the enormous good fortune to witness the Northern Lights not just once, but on three consecutive nights. I was in Saariselka, Lapland, deep inside the Arctic Circle … More Northern Lights (Ola Gjeilo, 1978-present)
Have you noticed that during June and into July Maggie’s Music Makers treated you to several instances of communion setting contrafactum? All were taken from “Hymns Old and New” (HON) – our trusty orange hymn book … More Communion Settings
Today (July 25th) was a very exciting day. We re-introduced singing for the first time in well over a year. It was the first Sunday after the lifting of lockdown restrictions. What a difference music and singing make, especially having been deprived of singing for so long … More Let the Music Play!
I think most readers of these articles know that for me, music is a key component of worship. This came up in a recent Bible Study discussion about worship, and I commented how frustrating it is when congregants complain that they didn’t know all the hymns … More When all else fails, Listen
Good morning and a very warm welcome to our service of Holy Communion, celebrating our patron saint, St Margaret of Antioch. We also celebrate music! Despite Covid regulations still restricting singing during worship, today we share with you all we recently learned during the “Inspiring Music in Worship” course attended by many of our music group, Maggie’s Music Makers. Rev Sue will preside, Rev Deborah will preach, and Reader Christine will share with us the reasons behind each hymn choice … More The Importance of Music in Worship
St Margaret's Church Prestwich 