Choir Report

 2021 was a wonderful year for our parish musicians!

  • We were blessed to sing for Great and Holy Pascha again, after a hiatus in 2020 due to the pandemic. There were 17 choir members (including myself) at the Paschal Liturgy! 

  • We continue to add members…and are ALWAYS open to those who can stay on pitch. You don’t even have to read music to join, as a large percentage of our choir does not read music. If singing during Liturgy brings you joy, come talk to me about how to join us (it’s sooo easy)!

  • Matthew Groh (Head Chanter) and I arranged and held a 6-week Chanter Training Course. Folks continue to show interest, and we continue to be available to help those who want to step into the role of Chanter for Vespers, Orthros, and/or the Divine Liturgy. If you’re interested, please reach out to Matt.

  • I held a music practice with many of the St. John parishioners who live in that area, to teach them a few hymns for their Reader Vespers and Typika services. There were so many participants, and it was wonderful to sing with, and teach, them! If we have more folks from this area join the parish choir, I will offer a regularly-scheduled choir practice in Killeen in 2022.

  • The choir’s repertoire grew significantly over the past 12 months! They learned multiple festal hymns this year (for Pascha, Pentecost, Dormition, Nativity, etc.), as well as new versions of the Cherubic Hymn (Let us who mystically…), Trisagion (Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal…), Megalynarion (It is Truly Meet), and Koinonikon (Clergy Communion). A small group of musicians also learned new music to support the wedding of Maximus and Julia Clark! For most of these hymns, I made recordings of each part for our musicians to practice with, available to our musicians via our private Google Drive. 

  • Some of our choir members took on the challenge of changing from melody to harmony parts. This is like redoing a very challenging task after you just completed it. This was greatly needed, to round out the sound within the growing choir.

Our musicians continue to work hard on behalf of our parish. I’m so thankful for their joyful spirits, steadfastness, and desire to serve. When you see a choir member or chanter, please tell them “thank you!” And thank you for the continued opportunity to serve as the St. John Choir Director…it is truly a blessing.

Thank you,
Karen Morgan
Choir Director

Back to top