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overview of the music at the Chapel of the Cross overview of the music at the Chapel of the Cross overview of the music at the Chapel of the Cross overview of the music at the Chapel of the Cross

Cantus Choir

We are pleased to have secured a Director for the Cantus Choir for the 2008-2009 season. Further information will be posted on this site by August 25. Information will be mailed to parents of first and second graders who are members of the parish. All children are welcome in our choirs, and if you would like to receive information about the program for the year, please contact us.

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 Cantus 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, and will have found their "voice." 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 Cantus Choir. Parental involvement on Wednesdays and Sundays is also a crucial factor in the success of this effort. The Cantus Choir rehearses on Wednesday afternoons at 4:00 p.m.

If you have questions please contactDr. Quinn.