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Music
“To sing is to pray twice.”
St. Augustine of Hippo
Choir
Do you love to sing – to make a joyful noise unto the Lord? Come to choir on Thursday evenings and join your voice with ours! All are welcome.
The Good Shepherd Choir is open to all adults and youth.
Our choir practices September – May on Thursday evenings. We perform four-part anthems on most Sundays and need new/more singers on all parts. Please consider joining the choir.
We are always recruiting! Invite a friend to join with you!
Bell Choir
Do you play the hand bells? Do you want to learn how? Calling all hand bell players or wannabe hand bell players – positions are open! Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys: We welcome you to join us. Our music director will teach you how to ring the bells and when to do it! Practices are usually on Sunday mornings after the service (or before church on the mornings when we perform). We have played for Christmas Eve and Lenten services and at other times during the year. The bells are waiting to be rung!
Bluegrass Band
In our congregation we are fortunate to have an abundance of musical talent. We even have a special summer service that features our in-house bluegrass group on banjo, mandolin, and guitar! The “Bluegrass Sunday” tradition at Good Shepherd began on a summer afternoon in 2008, when Rick Curtis and Dick Hickman began playing bluegrass and folk songs on their mandolin and guitar. This year Dick and Rick welcome vocalists: Sandi Bray, Maggie Southwick, and Cortes Pauls to the group.
Listen to the music: Blue Grass Band.
Guest Musicians
CHoosE: Christian ‘Hoos Exalt
Palm Sunday 2022 we welcomed CHoosE, Christian ‘Hoos Exalt, an a capella group of UVA students. Below is a description of their mission:
As members of CHoosE, we strive first and foremost to present through a cappella music and/or spoken word the Gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed through the Holy Bible. In doing so, we actively provide Christian fellowship and singing opportunities for our members, while also inviting non-Christians to critically evaluate the presence of Jesus Christ as God in their lives. Through our ministry, we aim to present the University of Virginia community with encouraging, edifying, and uplifting entertainment.
2021 Holiday Special: Jingle Singers
On the 4th Sunday of Advent, Andy Shelden’s a cappella quintet presented a musical Christmas card to our church and the community. “Welcome (back) to Christmas” featured holiday music with Andy’s own unique twist. Showcasing the talents of his friends and family in a vocal quintet dubbed “The Jingle Singers,” this year’s offering was an a cappella smorgasbord, with sacred and secular selections spanning nearly 1000 years of Christmas music. The Jingle Singers are: Diane and Madeleine Shelden, sopranos; Beryl Wilkes, alto; Andy Shelden, tenor; and Dubie Dubendorfer, bass. Listen to the Jingle Singers performance of "In the Beak Midwinter"
Resources
Our “Tracker” Organ
The Good Shepherd organ was built by the Dobson Organ Company, which is located in the small western Iowa town of Lake City.
Lynn A. Dobson, owner and artistic director of the firm, designed the case of the organ. Free-standing, the organ contains approximately one thousand pipes arranged in 17 ranks and 15 stops. The pipes, some of wood and others of a lead/tin alloy or of zinc, are played by two manual keyboards and a pedal keyboard through an entirely mechanical system of levers and rods between the keyboards and pipe valv
This system, called tracker action, is extremely long-lived and has been used in organ construction since the instrument’s invention about 2,300 years ago.
On-line Music Messages
From March 2020 to March 2021 the churches in our diocese were either closed or open with restrictions – including no choir. We thank Danny Corneliussen, our Music Director at that time, for his weekly Sunday web-site feedings of our souls with his beautiful recorded music, thoughtful personal reflections, and interesting research into the musical history of the pieces he played for us during this difficult Covid-19 time. From now on each week, with Danny’s permission, we shall continue to feature one of his timeless Music Messages created during this “year of the pandemic”. All of his recorded selections (grouped by seasons of the church year) are available below. We invite you to enjoy them on any day and at any season of the church year.
Advent Christmas Epiphany
Lent Easter Pentecost
“Music touches parts of the soul words cannot even reach.”
Plato
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