Music Ministry
A strong and vibrant music ministry is integral to the character of our parish. During the self-studies of the 2009 visioning process and the current transition period, the congregation identified the music program as one of its greatest strengths. Not only is music the handmaiden of the liturgy: it is an integral agent for Christian formation within the context of the Anglican tradition.
The Choirs
The adult choir sings at the major Sunday Eucharist; a small children's choir sings with it, each child paired with an adult mentor; and the Schola Cantorum, a men's group, sing mainly at the monthly Evensong service. The main choir's membership comprises a steady fifty to sixty singers, with long-time participants and newer members, including university students. Some members are just learning to sing; others are professionally trained musicians or students in the university music department. At present, the choir is entirely volunteer. Occasionally, paid section leaders are engaged.
The congregation enjoys not only the traditional sacred choral music of centuries past, but also that of contemporary composers and of different cultural and ethnic heritages. Many from the surrounding communities are drawn by special services during the year, such as the annual service of Lessons and Carols (started in the early 1940s), the two annual Music Memorial Sundays, and a choral requiem mass on All Souls' Day.
The Evensong service is sung on second Sundays of each month from September through June by the Schola Cantorum. The liturgy precedes an organ recital, which is followed by a festive reception. The recital series, which just completed its twenty-fifth season, draws artists from North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. This dual musical offering attracts many from neighboring communities.
Formation, Evangelism, Inter-Faith, Pastoral Care
In addition to providing formative liturgical music, the choir may be considered an evangelism tool, as an appealing entry to membership in the church, especially for young people and university students. It may also be described as an inter-faith outreach. Through our music director's concurrent position as organist and choir director at Temple Sinai in Oakland, the choir sings combined special services with the temple choir, including the Chichester Psalms in 2009. The choir has recently developed a new area of music ministry in pastoral care by organizing small groups to visit ill, housebound or terminally ill parishioners, singing that person's favorite hymns and other pieces.
The St. Mark's choir and the choir from Temple Sinai warming up to sing Berstein's Chichester Psalms. The following week they sang the Bernstein at Temple Sinai.
Choir Tours to England
Choir on trip to England
Another compelling component of musical life here are the tours to English cathedrals. The third tour, in July, 2011, saw (and heard!) the choir singing for a week at Salisbury Cathedral and a second week at Truro. In 2003, the choir sang at St. George's, Windsor; Chichester, Bury-St. Edmund's; Clare College, Cambridge; and Gloucester. In 2007, it sang for a week in Lincoln and for two Evensongs in Durham. These tours have challenged members to work hard at their musicianship and fundraising, and have further honed their sense of music as a way to communicate the Gospel among strangers, as well as at home. Choristers have found the tours rewarding on many fronts, including a deepening of a sense of prayer, encountering the power of praying the Daily Office.
The Choir Association
The music ministry benefits from the leadership of the Choir Association, whose volunteers help organize many of the parish's musical offerings, pastoral care visits, and the like. Other sponsored past events have included stage performances such as H.M.S. Pinafore and Trial by Jury, and a musical review for a stewardship evening.
The association is a parish organization that operates under the authority of the vestry; in accordance with diocesan guidelines, it is considered a subsidiary organization that conducts its financial operations under the parish's 501(c)3 designation. On behalf on the parish, it receives direct contributions to help sustain the music ministry, and it has overseen fundraising for such projects as the organ additions, Second Sunday evensong and organ recital series, the Williams memorial harpsichord, Music Memorial Sundays, and England tour scholarships. (See the 2010 Annual Report for the Choir Association's finances.)
The Instruments
The tracker organ in the nave was installed initially in 1971 by Flentrop Orgelbouw, one of the world's premier organ builders. Fundraising efforts begun in 1987 permitted the addition, again installed by Flentrop, of four ranks of pipes, completing the Pedal division in a handsome new case. The Second Sunday organ recitals have drawn national and even international acclaim to this noteworthy instrument.
St. Mark's Flentrop organ
In 2008, a bequest from the Venerable Frederic Williams (author of the Collect for Church Musicians and Artists in the BCP), a former music director, enabled us to commission the construction of a two-manual harpsichord by Kevin Fryer, a well-known harpsichord builder in San Francisco. He expects to complete the instrument within the next year. The parish has also benefited from gifts of two tympani, three octaves of Whitechapel hand bells, and Whitechapel rack bells. Other musical instruments include three grand pianos, a pump organ in the chapel, a set of bongo drums, and other percussion instruments.
"Music helps enable the heart of the human soul to connect with the heart of the Eternal … Music is powerful, for it is yet another way to find God and be found by God, and is thus an instrument to help repair the world."
— G. A. Emblom, Music Director