Music
Open in spirit, deep in faith, rich in worship, active in service”
The music program at Chapel of Our Saviour seeks to live out this mission statement.
Music is most obviously a part of the worship services, and our goal is to be “rich in worship.”
The congregation recognizes and values the place of music in the worship service. We believe with St. Augustine that “he who sings prays twice.”
Music at present is primarily traditional and classical. Our hymns come from The Hymnal 1982, and because many in our congregation are musically literate, we are able to sing about one-third of those hymns in any given year. Also available to us is an in-house published music book of 117 songs of various styles. The choir has copies of Wonder, Love, and Praise and LEVAS II. We have a CCLI license that opens up to us a large body of contemporary music, mainly for use at the 6:30 p.m. Sunday service.
We are blessed with good acoustics in the church, which make singing, ringing, and playing a joy. Most of all, we recognize that music should always enhance our worship and not draw attention to itself, and that music-making at Our Saviour is to the glory of God.
CHOIR: We have a faithful choir of 32 singers who volunteer about four hours a week from September to May. Fortunately we have a good balance among the four parts. Some of the 2011 highlights: Palm Sunday last year when we sang in procession; of course Easter Day; our singing of Prayer for Our Time on the 10th anniversary of 9/11; Lessons and Carols on December 4; the anthem See Amid on Christmas Eve. Actually, each week seems to be special in some way! Anthems for the year are chosen in August; that list is posted on this site.
HANDBELL CHOIR: All 16 of us agree that ringing handbells is fun! We played in church six times last year in 2011 and supported various other services. Annually we attend the February city-wide Handbell Festival with over 300 ringers and brass. In May we give an outreach concert at Namaste and The Bridge. We have five octaves of Malmark handbells and a double set of three octaves; we also have four octaves of Malmark chimes. Using the double set, we are able to have beginning ringers ring next to experienced ringers.
YOUTH HANDBELLS: Youth Bells played Christmas Eve (two anthems and on hymns) and played five or six times on the closing hymns in the fall of 2011. Because our youth are active in church ministries, in school, and in other activities, we are still looking for a time and a day to have a true handbell choir. We have the leaders and the bells; we just need the kids!
CHILDREN’S CHAPEL (2-6 year olds) has music every week for 10 minutes. We sing in church at the 10:30 service for each Youth Sunday (five times per year).
CHILDREN’S CHRISTMAS EVE PAGEANT is part of music because it’s a Christmas Eve service. For December 24, 2011, we had forty-four costumed children and fourteen youth musicians for the prelude, a new record.
INSTRUMENTALISTS: We are blessed with wonderful instrumentalists in our congregation. The policy has been not to pay singers, bell ringers, or added instrumentalists, and so it is special that we have musicians willing to share their wonderful talents. We have flute and violin every Sunday for the 8:00 a.m. service, handbells on the hymns, and other string players (violin, viola, cello) who regularly volunteer their time and talents, and especially for Christmas and Easter. We also have talented youth instrumentalists who play in church and on hymns.
VISUAL ARTS: Although not music, the Music Department organizes this annually as a way to celebrate the creative talents of our parishioners. 1998 was our first festival. This arts show is a non-juried, not-for-sale display of a wide variety of art forms: photography, needlework, furniture and toy making, model ship building, sculpture, poetry, quilting, knitting, pottery, paper-making, and paintings. The Visual Arts Festival is held on the weekend of the second Sunday in March.
INSTRUMENTS: We have really fine instruments at Our Saviour: a Holtkamp organ (II/14) 1960/1992; four pianos including a Kawai and a Yamaha baby grand; a Flemish VI Zuckermann harpsichord; 5+ octaves of Malmark handbells and 4 octaves of handchimes (bought primarily by past and present parishioners).
The Music Department at Chapel of Our Saviour welcomes all who wish to share their musical talents. There is a place for you!
Our Music Director
Bonnie Linder, B. Mus cum laude, B.A., M.A., AAGO, has been Music Director at Chapel of Our Saviour since 1991. She graduated from Oberlin Conservatory of Music with a degree in Organ Performance, from Oberlin College with a B.A. in English, and from Stanford University with a Masters degree in Secondary Teaching.
In addition to music at the church, she sings with the community choir Soli Deo Gloria, rings with the Pikes Peak Ringers formerly directed by Kevin McChesney, and plays for Bible Study Fellowship. As an active member of the local chapter of American Guild of Organists, Bonnie was Director of Pipe Organ Encounter in 2011. In 2013 the Association of Anglican Musicians will have their conference in Denver, and she is helping to plan the Colorado Springs day. She helps with two annual city-wide events: the February Handbell Festival for 300+ ringers, and the annual Bach concert in March.
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