Sacred music has long been a central part of Episcopal worship services, and St. Andrew’s parish continues to uphold that tradition in our weekly services. Our services begin with a processional hymn, sung by the choir and congregation. Hymns are also sung at the gospel procession, during communion and at the procession at the end of the service.
The Choir
The choir at St. Andrew’s serves to lead congregational singing and helping to introduce new music on occasions. The choir is open to all singers who enjoy learning and singing anthems for our services. There are no auditions for the choir which rehearses on Wednesday evening from 7:15 until 8:30 p.m.
While the anthems and hymns you will hear at St. Andrew’s tend to be traditional in nature, we also use music such as American spirituals and other modern forms from time to time. In recent years, for contemplative worship we have used the music from the Taize´ community, supported by several talented stringed instrumentalists from our parish.
Our Minister of Music, Ann Doyle
St. Andrew’s is fortunate and blessed to have Ann Doyle join us as Minister of Music. Ann is the Founder and Artistic Director for the Greensboro Youth Chorus. For 24 years, GYC choirs have participated in local, regional and international choral events including music conventions, camps and vocal method presentations. Ann is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with post graduate work at Memphis State University.
Ann’s responsibilities include directing the choir, playing the organ for our main worship service, and planning and growing a music program for children and older youth. If you like to sing and have ever thought about singing in a choir, you will find Ann a wonderful and inspirational director under whom you can learn and grow as a singer. We always welcome new singers to our choir (no auditions required).
The Sanctuary Organ
Music for our worship services is supported by the three manual,90 rank/80 voice Johannus organ that was installed in November, 2010. This instrument was made possible by the generous gift of approximately fifty members of St. Andrew’s and other friends of the parish. Andrew O’Connor played the organ at the dedication service while the congregation sang “Now Thank We All Our God.”
