Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Music Ministry Musings at St. Andrew's
Happy New Year!
The Sanctuary Choir have returned to rehearsals and Sunday morning services. There are a lot of wonderful anthems to prepare for the upcoming season.
January Sundays include the music: “This Is My Son” for Baptism, “Walk in the Light” and “Shout to the North”.
February is Black History month, and following a long-standing tradition, the choir anthems in February will be honouring the legacy of Black music, music that has enriched us and our worship since the first Black immigrants came to Canada two hundred years ago. The Sanctuary Choir will also be singing an arrangement of the Lord’s Prayer by African American musician Harry Thacker Burleigh (1866-1949). Burleigh was instrumental in popularizing African American music in Canada and the US in the 1910’s and 1920’s. Burleigh’s quiet setting of the Lord’s Prayer was written for Trinity Episcopal Church of Oak Bluffs Massachusetts in 1920 and contributes a special spiritual dimension to the ancient prayer.
Anthems for services in February are arrangements of traditional spirituals: “Wade in the Water”, arranged by Larry Shackley; “Every Time I Feel the Spirit”, arranged by Earlene Rentz; “Deep River” perhaps the most popular of Harry Burleigh’s spiritual arrangements; and for the last Sunday in February, which is also the first Sunday of Lent, an anthem that combines two spirituals, “Down to the River to Pray” and “Shall We Gather at the River”, arranged by Pepper Choplin.
A preview to upcoming music, the Sanctuary Choir has started to work on the Good Friday Service “Road to Calvary”.
In February, the choral scholars will be singing solos during the offertory. Songs featured will be “I Stood On The River Of Jordan”, “There Is A Balm In Gilead” and “Give Me Jesus”.
The Handbell Ringers will be playing on Sunday, February 15th. There will be two selections: “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel”, and of course the handbells cannot say the words, but most know the repeated question "And why not every man?", that suggests that God's saving power extends to all oppressed people. “Chatter With the Angels” is a well-known children's folk song from the African American tradition; it has been familiar to children of all cultural backgrounds for at least a hundred years. This peppy tune is easily learned and fun to sing and ring.
If you are interested in singing in the sanctuary choir; now is your chance. Black History Month is a great time to try choral singing.
“"Through all these songs there breathes a hope, a faith in the ultimate justice and brotherhood of man… The message is ever manifest that eventually deliverance from all that hinders and oppresses the soul will come, and man—every man—will be free."
~~~Harry Thacker Burleigh~~~
Ann-Marie MacDairmid
Director of Music