My apologies to Peter Seeger for modifying the lyrics, but the melody still works. What happened to the Westminster Choir during the pandemic? As a group we have missed a lot of time together. During normal times we would be spending 2-3 hours a week with each other, getting updates on our lives, learning new music, and worshiping every Sunday. Knowing we are in an Olympic season, musicians have some things in common with athletics. We also have parts of our bodies which we rehearse to stay in shape. Unfortunately, it quickly became clear that singing indoors was leading to the serious infections. 

We got occasional opportunities to submit video performances of a piece which were carefully joined together for Montview@Home. Thanks to the technical skills of John Goerner and Adam Waite, the pieces got rave reviews.

These pictures represent a snapshot of how we shared time together in a Zoom. Every Thursday at 8:00 pm we said good night to Ethan, Adam and Leena’s son, and checked in with each other via Zoom. Thursday nights were fun: we had frequent guests who showed up on our Zoom calls: JoFoKe (Joslyn Ford Keel), Dr. Vicki Burrichter (Boulder Chorale), Ike Sturm (Director of Jazz Ministries at St. Peter’s Church in New York City), Nancy Galbraith (composer and Adam’s professor from Carnegie Mellon), Dr. Craig Robertson (former children’s director at Montview), Cantor Arik Luck, and Mary Louise Burke. We read music which you may hear in the future. Adam crafted sessions which kept us coming back for more. We tried to sing Happy Birthday together just once, ugh! Just noise, never tried it again.

Sessions included a Gustav Holst documentary, Robert Shaw’s Carnegie Hall sessions, selections from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Cantor Arik Luck with Ernest Bloch’s Sacred Service, and vocal coaching with Mary Louise Burke. But the most enjoyable sessions were Trivia Nights. We guessed our way through previous choir concert pieces and a session on How Well Do You Know Montview? Occasionally we heard performances from our own members such as you see in this sequence of Zoom pictures. This occasion was the annual choir Christmas party done via Zoom with our own Paul and Carol Lingenfelter, Julie Davidson, Rebecca Gale, Barbara Hulac, Jim and Marilyn Craft and Jay Mead.

Our choir community can’t wait to get back at work bringing you spiritual inspiration each Sunday morning.

– Submitted By Dennis Cole