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Robert Barney, Music Director Music as Part of Our Worship Choral Evensong Music as Performance Choir Program Music Education Instrumental and Vocal Solos  |
2009/2010 MUSIC EVENTSOctober 18 @ 5:00 PM |
Music as Part of our Worship
Music plays an important role in our Liturgy. Throughout the year, Hymns, Psalms, Canticles and Anthems are sung with choir and organ every Sunday at the 10:00 am Eucharist Service, even in the summer. Vocal solos and instrumental music are included regularly in worship services.
Music is prominent at weddings, funerals and other special services. The choirs sing a Service of Lessons and Carols at Epiphany and sing Choral Evensong five times during the year
Choral Evensong
The Service of Choral Evensong is a dialogue that has been given life by singers and composers since 1549, when Archbishop Thomas Cranmer organized our liturgies into The Book of Common Prayer. As the beauty of this experience has continued for centuries, it has fostered the creation of an immense body of music written solely for this service. A first-time participant may feel as if he or she has joined in a conversation already begun; but eventually the wash of music and liturgy carries one into a new sense of God’s presence in daily life. Choral Evensong is sung daily in many cathedrals and parish churches in England and through-out the Anglican Communion. Consider the possibility that at any given moment, somewhere on the earth, someone, in some language, is offering up a voice of sung prayer as this miraculous conversation continues between the Creator and the created.
Music as Performance
Recognizing
the contribution that live music offers to the life of a community,
Trinity Episcopal Church presents various individuals and groups as
part of our worship or as events by themselves. Groups as varied
and diverse as early music ensembles, The American Boy Choir and the
Boston Gay Men’s Chorus have performed here. Trinity is home to two
Ensembles in Residence: Concordia Consort (Recorders) and BALA (Brass).
The church also provides regular workshop and rehearsal space to
Recorders/ Early Music West, and Concord Women’s Chorus. Concord
Chorus, Concord Chamber Music Society and Boston Symphony Orchestra
Ensembles use Trinity’s facilities often for performances.
The Choir Program The Choir Program at Trinity Episcopal Church recognizes the contributions of musicians of all ages and provides an opportunity for singers from second grade through adulthood. The Church is affiliated with the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) and the music program reflects the varied traditions of the Episcopal Church. A strong emphasis is placed on the quality of the music making in an environment of joy and fellowship.
The Parish Choir
for adults and high school students, sings at the 10:00 am Liturgy
throughout the year, and rehearses on Thursday nights, September
through June. They sing Choral Evensong at least 3 times each
year. This group of over forty members has a great spirit of
commitment and takes pleasure in their music making, with the feeling
that hard work can be fun while producing exciting results. The
choir has traveled to Grace Episcopal Church in New York City, and St.
Paul’s Cathedral, Burlington, Vermont.
The Youth Choir
for singers in grade 4 to High School participates every Sunday in the
10:00 am Liturgy (October-June). They sing an anthem on the first
Sunday of each month and for special services at Christmas, Easter and
other occasions, as well as singing the Service of Choral Evensong
twice each year. The Thursday rehearsals are designed around the
RSCM program, teaching musical skills and singing technique in the
context of our Liturgical tradition. The group frequently has lively
discussions on the meaning of the texts.
The Junior Choir
for beginning singers (grades 2-4) in its Thursday rehearsals, learns
about singing and reading music and the traditions of the church,
serving as a preparatory experience for the Youth Choir. This
group sings in the 10:00 am Liturgy, when ready, on the first Sunday of
each month (October-June) and for special services such as Christmas
and Easter.
Music Education
The
Music Program is aligned with the Church School program to emphasize
learning about liturgy and music. Music and visual arts are also
featured in many Adult Education programs here at Trinity. The
educational structure of the Royal School of Church Music Chorister
Training Program, with its emphasis on individual achievement, forms
the basis of the Youth and Junior choir program.
Instrumental and Vocal Solos
Although congregational singing led by organ and choir forms the foundation of our worship music, instrumental and vocal soloists participate regularly in our worship life, offering selections as preludes, postludes and music at communion as well as accompaniment to choir anthems and hymns. Several professional musicians who are members of the parish participate as soloists, along with students and hired professionals.
Robert
Barney, Music Director
came to Trinity in 1994. In addition, he teaches private lessons
in piano, voice and organ; as well as Liturgy and Hymnody courses for
LPM. Robert is heard regularly in solo performances as an organist, harpsichordist and singer.
Robert was Music Director for the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus from 1985 to 1997, which, under his baton, released two critically acclaimed Compact Disc record-ings on the AFKA label: one of new music for men’s voices and another, a live recording of their 1995 Holiday concert in Jordan Hall.
After five years as Associate Conductor of the Treble Chorus of New England, a community choir program for young singers age 6-18, he led the organization as Interim Artistic Director from 2004 to 2006.
Robert has performed solo recitals in the U.S. and Europe and for the American Guild of Organists (AGO), the Organ Historical Society (OHS) and the Associa-tion of Anglican Musicians (AAM). Several documentary recordings of the OHS include his playing and he has been featured in the nationally syndicated radio program Pipedreams, and the AGO broadcast heard on WCRB FM 99.5 Sunday Mornings.