Cantus Choir

This energetic and hard working group of first and second graders rehearses weekly on Wednesday afternoons during the school year. They vest, process, and sing the 9:00 service twice a month, and will sing an anthem with the Junior Choir several times a year, according to a published schedule. Other activities of the choir include singing for the Pre-School Christmas Pageant and some social events. The main purpose of this choir is to become comfortable participating in a formal Episcopal church service. They work their way through the liturgy of the Episcopal Church, learn some key Bible stories and concepts, master some service music and hymns, experience what it is like to sing as a choir, to dress up in religiously significant clothes, and come to think that it is all somehow important for their lives. Through a variety of pedagogical techniques such as eurhythmics, children learn the foundational elements of music making: rhythm, pitch, melodic singing, and some vocal technique. These skills are put into practice with the usual elements of the service and in carefully selected anthems sung with the Junior Choir. While it is hoped that children who sing in the Training Choir will eventually take their place in the Junior Choir, even if they do not they will have gained an important foundation for churchmanship, some understanding of and appreciation for music, and will be further along in the development of their Christian life. In this program the Wednesday rehearsals are all important, and choristers are expected to be regular and punctual in their attendance. Since the choir does not vest, process, and sing in services every week most of the significant work of the choir is accomplished on Wednesdays independently of the Sunday service, and without the discipline and reinforcement of weekly continuity very little can be gained from the Training Choir. Parental involvement on Wednesdays and Sundays is also a crucial factor in the success of this effort. For more information, contact Elizabeth Terry