Category: Church Music

Archives of music selections for services at Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church.

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Sunday Services 2007

June 10 – Final Choir Sunday – Summer Break
Ave Verum Corpus
Vivaldi Mass in C Major – Gloria and Close
Hymn Medley

June 3
Hymn Medley

May 27 – Pentecost Sunday
How My Soul Doth Savor – Handel
Every Time I Feel the Spirit

May 20
Children’s Service – Led by Youth
Children Sing Hosanna – Children/Glorify/Choir

May 13
Mother’s Day
Panis Angelicus

May 6
Guest Artist Stephanie Bethea
Bolling Suite for Jazz Piano and Flute

April 29
Youth Sunday
No Choir or Glorify today

April 22
There’s Room at the Cross for You – Chancel
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus – Chancel
Amazing Grace, Jesus Lover of My Soul – Glorify
Prelude – Organ Fugue in G minor – JS Bach

April 15
Guest Artist – Kathy Kahn

April 8
Crown Him With Many Crowns – Mass Choir
Holy, Holy, Holy

April 1
Untitled Hymn – Ferdinand Ortega
February 25
Now Is The Time To Worship
Better Is One Day
Come Be Here With Me

February 18
Guest Artist: Pachelbel Trio Sonata
Choir: Gloria from Vivaldi Mass

February 11
Guest Artist: Kalli Richards
Choir: Sons and Daughters of the King
Here I Am To Worship
Morning Has Broken

February 4

January 28
Lord, Guide My Feet – Chancel Choir
I Release and I Let Go – Chancel Choir with Ria Peth
Doxojazzology – Ria Peth
Come Thou Font of Every Blessing
Be Unto Your Name
In Christ Alone

January 21
Fugue in G Minor – JS Bach
Blest Are They – Chancel Choir
What a Friend We Have in Jesus – Choir SATB
Guests – Lyric Light Opera of the Northwest
O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing

January 14
Lift Every Voice and Sing
We Shall Overcome
Hear Your Praises

January 7
Pie Jesu – Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lord I Want to Be a Christian – Choir
Holy Holy Holy, Lord God Almighty
Thank You For This Day
Blessed Be Your Name
Thou Font of Every Blessing
Bach Organ Prelude and Fugue in Bb Major

Sunday Services 2006

December 31
Guest minister – Gretchen Cohan
PH28, PH59
Choir/Glorify: Lord Most High, Shout to the Lord
Hymn: PH357

December 24 – Evening Christmas Eve Service
Bach Organ Preludes and Fugues in C Major and F Major
The Birthday of a King
Gesu Bambino

December 24 – Morning Service
Where Shepherds Knelt Gently

December 17
The Jesus Gift
Children’s Service with Brass Quintet

December 10
Introit – Prepare Ye The Way of the Lord
Choir Anthem – Gesu Bambino
Come Emmanuel – PH9
Come, Now Is The Time To Worship
Better Is One Day
Shine On Us
Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus – PH2

December 3
Anthem – Come Emmanuel
Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates – PH 8
We Bring the Sacrifice of Praise – LH 59
God of Wonders
Emmanuel – LH 143
The Lord’s Prayer – sung after communion
Rejoice, Rejoice Believers – PH 15

November 26
Offertory – Sonata in C – WA Mozart
Chancel Choir: Simple Gifts
PH 151
Thank You For This Day
You Are My King
More Precious Than Silver

November 22 – Thanksgiving Eve Service

November 19
Prelude – El Shaddai – Amy Grant
Introit – Thank You For This Day
Anthem – Ave Verum Corpus – WA Mozart
Offertory – Be Thou My Vision – Louise Cheney – Violin
Postlude – Be Thou My Vision – Louise Cheney – Violin
Be Unto Your Name
We Gather Together
Come and Meet With Me

November 12
Anthem – Panis Angelicus – Cesar Franck
Organ Prelude and Fugue in G Major – JS Bach
May the Words of My Mouth
PH 485
Come and Fill Me Up
Blessed Be Your Name
November 5
Prelude – We Bow Down
Postlude – Eine Kleine Nachtmusik – WA Mozart
The Promise – Chancel Choir
The Old Rugged Cross
The River Is Here
Lord Most High
May The Words of My Mouth

October 29
Organ Postlude – Toccata and Fugue in D minor – JS Bach
What a Friend We Have In Jesus
Lord Reign In Me
We Want To See Jesus Lifted High
How Great Is Our God

October 22
The Holy City – Solo Iva Rauch
Prelude – The Old Hundredth
PH464 – Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee
How Great Is Our God
Above All
Anthem – O Lord Hear My Prayer
Amazing Grace
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October 15
Robes – Yes
Prelude – Nobilis Humilis – Christy Swartz – Harp
Offering – Con Te Partirò – Christy Swartz Harp
Choir Anthem – Sing a New Song – Michael Haydn (1737-1806)
All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name (Glorify)
Come Thou Font of Every Blessing (Glorify)
We Want to See Jesus Lifted High (Glorify)
Here Our Praises (Glorify)

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October 8
Robes – Yes
Choir Anthem – Leaning On the Everlasting Arms
Great is Thy Faithfulness
God of Wonders
Blessed Be Your Name
Prelude – Call to Worship (Organ)
Postlude – Improvisation on Great Is Thy Faithfulness (Organ)

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October 1
Robes – No
Preludes – I’ll Walk With God, Prelude in G Major (JS Bach)
Postlude – Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
If I Could Go Anywhere – Choirs and Ria Peth
Glorify Songs:
Praise to the Lord Almighty
Better Is One Day
Come, Now Is The Time to Worship

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September 24
Robes – No
Prelude – I Allegro – Concerto In E Flat Major, K 447 – WA Mozart (Jim Gaudette – French Horn)
Hymns of Praise:
PH 151 – Crown Him With Many Crowns v 1, 2, 4
My Redeemer Lives
Songs of Adoration:
You Are My All In All
PH 306 – Fairest Lord Jesus – v1, 2
Preparation for Prayer – II Romance: Larghetto – Concerto In E Flat Major, K 447 WA Mozart (Jim Gaudette – French Horn)
Anthem – Spirit Most Holy – Chancel Choir
Offertory – God of Wonders (Glorify)
Postlude – III Allegro – Concerto In E Flat Major, K 447 – WA Mozart (Jim Gaudette – French Horn)

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September 17
Prelude, Preparation for Prayer and Postlude:
Poulence Suite (Organ)
GLORIFY SONGS
PH467 – How Great Thou Art
LH 120 – Lamb of God – V1 and 3
Open the Eyes of My Heart – Paul Baloche
PH 391 – Take My Life – V1, 3, 5
Offertory – Choir – Praise the King
Ending Song: No Other Gods – Brian Doerksen

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September 10
Preludes
I’m So Lonely I Could Cry – Hank Williams
Somebody Bigger Than You and I – Johnny Lange
Opening worship songs – Glorify:
Refiner’s Fire – Brian Doerksen
Meet With Me – Lamont Hiebert
Choir

I was going through music selecting repertoire for a piano student and this picture fell out of a book. The picture is from 1983 (I was 17 years old). Pictured from left to right is Christopher Possanza (Synthesizer), Doug deBruyn (Upright Bass) and Conrad Askland (Harpsichord).

This photo was taken in the sanctuary of St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Bellevue, WA – 1983. We were preparing to play a Purcell Trumpet Voluntary as special music for a Sunday church service. Chris and Doug were two of my best friends in High School. I haven’t spoken with Doug since High School and only once with Chris in the last 20 years via email.

The three of us took music theory classes together at Interlake High School. Doug and I played together in the jazz band and marching bands. We also attended music composition seminars and did all the fun crazy things that should be done in high school, most of which are not appropriate to blog publicly about (which means it was very, very fun.)

Chris Possanza was lead singer for the Seattle band “This Busy Monster”, and is also one of the founders of Barsuk Records in Seattle, WA. His label is best known for producing the Seattle band “Death Cab for Cutie”. I’m sure both of them have had many more adventures the past twenty years, but those are the only ones I know of.

Of course this picture has a story to it. Originally we had a trumpet player to play the Purcell piece for that Sunday’s service. A couple days before Sunday, the trumpet player cancelled out on us. If I remember right he had never been in a church before and the thought of playing in a sanctuary really freaked him out.

Some things never change, of course the performance of this piece was the entire world to me and had to happen. So I called my friend Chris who owned a Prophet V Synthesizer to play the trumpet part. Back in 1983 synthesizers were pretty rare, especially the Prophet V. It was kind of like having the first tv set in the neighborhood. We spent many hours at Chris’ house experimenting with sounds and wishing we had done what Walter Carlos had accomplished with Switched on Bach (ok, I’m dating myself now.)

So Chris played the trumpet parts on his Prophet V synth along with a real upright bass, and a real harpsichord (which I got to tune, that was very fun.) The piece was played well and embellishments were executed properly for the Baroque style.

It was not intentional, but it may be one of the earliest uses of the Prophet V synthesizer in a liturgical setting. If memory serves me correctly there were a few people that did not feel a synthesizer was appropriate in church under any conditions. But overall it was received well.

You can make fun of my pink shirt. You can make fun of the animal prints on my sweater. But we give you fair warning not to question the reverence of our synthesizer patches. We are armed with MIDI. We will win.

Con Anima, a vocal group from St. Petersburg Russia, will perform at Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church on Saturday March 3rd, 2007 at 7pm. The concert is free. Read more information about the Con Anima Russian choir.

Douglas Cleveland is music director of Plymouth Congregational Church in Seattle, WA. He was our guide for the 2007 Augsburg Fortress music seminar. Mr. Cleveland is a master concert organist and played very difficult pipe organ music with ease. We picked up quite a bit of choral and pipe organ music and are currently integrating it into our worship services at Mt. Vernon Presbyterian Church.

Mr. Cleveland was an excellent host for this event and made our reading through the music an enjoyable experience. As an added bonus I got to hear original organ music by Kenneth DeJong, currently music director of the church I was confirmed at as a boy – St. Andrews Lutheran Church, Bellevue, WA.

Buxtehude Organ Sample – .wma

Douglas Cleveland – Biography

Douglas Cleveland began his tenure as Director of Music at Plymouth Congregational Church, Seattle in September of 2004. At Plymouth he directs three choirs and oversees a fine arts series.

A native of Washington State, Mr. Cleveland began his organ studies with Jane Edge in Olympia and continued his study in high school with Edward A. Hansen at the University of Puget Sound’s Community Music School. In 1986 he entered the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester where he earned the Bachelor of Music degree in 1990. While at Eastman, he served as Director of Music at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection. As an undergraduate at Eastman, he won first prize in several organ competitions including The Westminster Choir College Graduate Competition, The Luther Place Memorial National Organ Competition in Washington, D.C., The Scarritt Undergraduate Competition in Nashville, Tennessee and the AGO Region VIII Competition in Seattle. He was also a finalist in the 1990 Grand Prix de Chartre, France and the Calgary International Organ Competition. Mr. Cleveland received the Master of Music degree in 1994 from Indiana University, Bloomington.

While at Indiana University, he served as assistant organist and choirmaster at Christ Church Episcopal Cathedral in Indianapolis, where he frequently directed the famed choir of men and boys and began the volunteer choir program. He also won first prize in the American Guild of Organists National Young Artists Competition in Dallas and the Ft. Wayne National Organ Competition.

Since winning these prizes, he has performed in 48 of the United States, as well as such venues as Westminster Abbey, Notre-Dame Cathedral, The Cathedral of Berlin, St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne, The Moscow Conservatory, and the Minato Mirai Concert Hall in Yokohama, Japan. He has performed with several symphony orchestras including the National Symphony at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Mr. Cleveland served as Assistant Professor of Organ and Church Music at Northwestern University from 1999 to 2004. While on the faculty of Northwestern, he received the Searle Fellowship for teaching excellence. He served as a visiting faculty member at St. Olaf College in 1997. Mr. Cleveland has recorded three CD’s which have received critical acclaim in Fanfare, The American Record Guide, The Organists Review, The American Organist, The Diapason, the Association of Anglican Musicians and the Living Church Magazine.

Current as of September 2006

Pipe Organ at Plymouth Congregational Church
Seattle, WA

Douglas Cleveland CD Recording Covers

I have received many questions about the proper use of various Ave Maria songs during Catholic church services and weddings. Not being Catholic, I am an inappropriate resource to provide specific and accurate information. However, a reader today kindly submitted detailed musical and theological information that applies specifically to the Ave Maria lyrics in a Catholic setting.

You can read my original Ave Maria post on the background of Schubert’s Ave Maria, then follow up and Read the Ave Maria Catholic perspective by clicking here. The original post was specifically about Schubert’s original Ave Maria and the subsequent Latin lyrics that were transposed upon it for use in sacred settings. The follow up comments are about using any version of the Ave Maria in Catholic sacred settings.