The gift is a piece of music that she is writing especially for First Reformed Church which emphasizes the musical skills of our congregation, and exemplifies the mission and atmosphere of our church. These are two events that the members of our congregation will not want to miss.

Mrs. Nelson-Wolff is a very talented musician and has been gracious enough to have sent music to us many times before. We have sung her music during the introits in Advent and Lent. It is richly melodic and written in the antiphonal style, which means that one group sings and another group responds. Finally, we will get to meet this gifted woman on September 11th in the fellowship hall of our church.

Rop tú mo baile was translated to English in 1905 by Mary Byrne, and versified in 1918 by Eleanor Hull. Then it was set to the Irish folk song, Slane, and we know it best today as the hymn, “Be Thou my Vision.” The text of the first stanza is:

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,
naught be all else to me, save that thou art;
Thou my best thought by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

Since blindness is the incapacity to perceive light, the last line magnifies the monk’s handicap. However, it incorporates the sense that God is our other senses, as well, namely, our thinking, or sense of reasoning. Most importantly, when one sings this hymn the idea is that God simply exists and that is enough, as in the second line.

The adult choir sang a very moving arrangement of this hymn in June by Philip Stopford. Ellen Hamilton provided the flute obbligato and Norma Vande Bunte sang the soprano solo. This is one of the anthems that the adult choir considers one of its “own.” We have grown to love the text, the music, and the composer. We sang it in September, but I thought that it was beautiful enough to bring it out again. Needless to say, we learned many new things about it the second time around. Needless to say, if we sing it a third time in the future, we will learn even more about its tremendously powerful and far-reaching text.

At First Reformed Church we know that God is not going to do something for us when we think we need Him to act. We must be confident that God is present in every action and every sense that we express every day. His mere presence is enough to provide the energy and senses that allow us to live every day. We can often live without seemingly essential equipment, even our sight (or smell, hearing, taste, feeling, memory, etc.). This is because we know that God is all of this equipment to us, and He exists eternally, including the present moment, and everywhere. Praise Him, and rejoice in the blessing of God’s existence.

Let Him guide all of your actions and know that His will is being executed in each moment.

Next year, we will have at least one new face in the group as Lily is leaving for college. She will be missed as she been a long member of the bell choir, she even played before with Mei Li. If all goes according to our plans we hope to play once during the summer. On August 8th a special worship service is planned to honor Marie Washington for her devotion to her faith and the many ways she expressed it over the years in a variety of ways. Since we know that she enjoys bell music, we are working on a musical piece for that worship service. After that we will take a break and start rehearsing again in September.

If you would like to be a part of the bell choir let me know! I try to accommodate as many people as I can as long as the players are committed to come to rehearsals fairly often.

Have a great summer and enjoy all the sounds of it!

In the music ministry of First Reformed Church, however, we are never complacent! We view every change of season as a new opportunity, a chance to inject our worship style with new life. For example, on May 9th, the Bell Choir played a piece to accompany the choir, Come Thou Lord, Creator Spirit. I was particularly inspired by the hard work and dedication shown by the members of the Bell Choir who participated, under the direction of Erie Beemsterboer. Do not be fooled! It is hard to imagine that those three smiling faces behind the bell table were working tirelessly to maneuver this difficult piece of music.

The adult choir continues to work hard and grow in ministry. Learning new music is no easy feat, especially for the singers in this choir, which performs a huge variety of styles, from Taizé to Buxtehude, from praise songs to High Victorian hymnody, in many languages. If you ask a singer in our church how he or she learns a new piece of music, he or she may say, “using solfège, of course!” If you don’t know what that is, you should come to choir rehearsal on Wednesday nights at 7:30 to find out.

Pentecost was a joyful occasion for music. Hartmut accompanied the congregation beautifully on his guitar in our Taiz –style opening hymn. Pam, Ashley, and Erie danced beautifully to evoke the Holy Spirit in the entire congregation, and the choir sang an anthem with the help of the congregation. See, even if you don’;t join the choir you have to participate in our music!

While rejoicing in the present moment, we always have an eye open for the future. Children’s Day is on Jun 27th, and with blessings in the form of sunshine and rain withheld, we will worship outside with our portable piano. The children will sing at that service once more before the summer, after which we will get organized again for the fall and, eventually, Advent.

We will restart singing hymns in the morning before Sunday worship services after Children’s Day. You can find more information regarding the change of worship time on the calendar.

For a number of years now, the men of the church take over the kitchen on the morning of Mother’s Day. They come in and prepare all different kinds of delicious food for everyone. One year, we had pancakes of all different ethnic backgrounds; last year, the eggs were cooked to order.

This year, Gary Bernhofer is organizing this event again. Breakfast will be served from 9:30 a.m. If you want to help or supply any kind of food, please let Gary know or email him at JRTPals@aol.com.

There will be a basket for donations; this year the donation will go to the Worship and Music committee to help offset the programs and activities they organize.

The musicians are flutist Kevin Willois, clarinetist Kenneth Ellison, and pianist Lynda Sapaonara, pianist. Some of you will remember Kenneth Ellison’s performance of a Brahms clarinet quintet when the Franklin Strings Plus One performed on the series and will enjoy hearing him again in a very different ensemble.

The April recitals — one of music for cello and piano and one of songs for soprano, baritone, and piano — brought great pleasure to those who heard them.

The April recitals will bring excellent classical chamber music. On April 14th, Elizabeth Thompson, cellist, and Phyllis Alpert Lehrer, pianist, will perform music by Lucas Foss and Samuel Barber. It may be Chopin’s 200th birthday, but it’s Barber’s 100th this year and hearing some of his gorgeous music will be a treat.

On April 28th, Li-Chan Chen and John Maxham will return. Li-Chan has performed on the recital series before, and once again brings David Iskowitz as collaborating pianist, but some readers will also remember that the Maxhams had roles in our church’s production of Amahl and the Night Visitors. They will perform songs by Schumann, Mendelssohn, Quilter and Romberg, composer of The Student Prince.

Then came Mother Nature! After giving us more snow than many of us can remember, at least in one winter and in such a short time, she decided that more water was needed, so down it came. And it was more than enough for most rivers and stream to overflow. And the Raritan River was no exception!

For the Bell Choir it meant that all of a sudden some players were stuck at home with flooded basements, power outages, and what else comes with flooding. Other players did make it to church but only just in time. The piece was played, not with all positions filled, but it was not that noticeable. Many thanks to my Bell Choir and substitute players for their perseverance! Everybody played very well! Unfortunately, not many people could hear us play this beautiful song, so we will keep it in our repertoire and play it again sometime later this year, hopefully in less challenging circumstances!

On rainy March 14th, the Adult Choir convened in the Randolph Room for our first annual Choral Rehearsal Retreat. We enjoyed the fellowship of our choir over a delicious lunch prepared by many different hands.

Mark A. Boyle, the music director of Emanuel Lutheran Church in New Brunswick and a candidate for a Doctorate of Music at Rutgers University, led us in nearly three hours of singing to prepare for Holy Week, Easter, and beyond. We are blessed to be in a town where many musicians flourish. Further, we are lucky to be in a society of interconnected houses of worship that come together to develop ways to be more aware of New Brunswick’s extreme diversity.

Starting on March 14th, the children of our church began to rehearse music for the Easter Musical Revue, an idea hatched by the church’s Education committee. The Musical Revue Society for Children (“Mrs. C”) will make its performance debut on Easter, singing hymns about the resurrection and acting out the drama of that miraculous moment in history.

As we progress toward Easter and reflect upon Lent, let us consider what we have learned about ourselves through Lenten reflection. Eyes may be the windows to the soul, but music is the door to it. There is no greater presence of the Holy Spirit as when the sounds of music fill our venerable buildings. Like the sunlight streaming through the dreary clouds on a cold winter day, music rejuvenates and enlivens us, and reminds us of the spring days, of the days of our new life in Christ, that are oh so near.

On Mar 14th, the adult choir is going on ‘retreat’ to the Van Wickle House to continue to grow as a ministry. Our special guest is soon-to-be Dr. Mark A. Boyle, the Choir Director at Emanuel Lutheran Church in New Brunswick. He will lead us in a three-hour rehearsal to help us prepare for Holy Week, Easter, and beyond.

As we continue to grow in Love, we are learning that the harmony of music is as mysteriously beautiful and difficult to execute as any of the challenges of all of the ministries of our church.

With the short rehearsal time we have, the whole choir is very grateful that every week Norma comes a little bit early so the bells are all out and ready for us to play when we come to the music room. Thank you, Norma, for doing this every week for us!

March 24 Chris Brown Trio, a saxophone, bass, and piano trio performing jazz pieces that Brown and pianist Alex Collins have composed or arranged. Alex Rodriguez is the bassist.

April 14 Cellist Elizabeth Thompson and pianist Phyllis Alpert Lehrer will perform works by Lucas Foss and Samuel Barber in this Barber centenary year.

April 28 Returning performers Li-Chan Chen Maxham and pianist David Iskowitz will be joined by baritone John Maxham in a program of songs by Schumann, Mendelssohn, Quilter, and Romberg.

May 12 Trio21 will perform a varied program of 21st century works ranging from children’s pieces to impressionist musical poems. The group includes flutist Kevin Willois, clarinetist Kenneth Ellison, and pianist Lynda Saponara.

Christmas Eve was a magical worship service with a mighty choral presence and the delicate soloing of Lillian Kramer-Mills. The Beemsterboer family played beautifully their violins during Silent Night, and Hartmut Kramer-Mills accompanied us expertly during our Hiram Square Christmas Caroling event before the service.

On Jan 3rd, the Adult Choir led the worship service at the Reformed Church Home. Pastor Samir welcomed us into his house of worship and many, many people were touched by our music, our preaching, and especially Pastor Hartmut’s leadership of the hymns on his horn.

We are glad to welcome two recent new members to the Adult Choir: Allison Weaver and Heather Epstein. May the whole world sing in exultation, always glorifying God’s name.

Now that the bells are shiny again, we have started to work on two new music pieces. In addition, we are looking towards Easter for some more music.

When: February 6th, 2010
At 6:00 PM

Cost: $8.00 Per Person $20.00 Family

-proceeds to go toward the women’s bathroom renovation -

There will be prizes for the 1st, 2nd and, 3rd place

Contestants should bring at least a gallon pot of his or her chili to be judged and eat for free!

Cornbread, Rice, cheese, sour cream, Salad, dessert and water and Lemonade will be provided.

Hot dogs for kids, who don’t like chili

Dan Epstein’s Jazz Band will provide entertainment afterwards (A free will offering can be made in order to defer costs for this)

Thank you Ben, for finding “Joy in the morning” for all of us!

The next time the bells were used was at Christmas Eve. I hope those of you who got to ring a bell enjoyed doing so.

Now it is time to get all the bells shining again. They are really in need of a good cleaning. So on Jan 9th at 9.30 a.m., we will gather in the Fellowship Hall for this job. It is important that we do this, as it is a major part of the upkeep of our bells. I will make sure that all the supplies are there, so just let me know that you will be helping me with this task.

While attending an event at the Commission’s office in New Brunswick, Janet and I met Ravi Swamy from the Academy of Indian Music (AIM) in South Plainfield. The three of us realized quickly that, despite our diverse backgrounds, our interest in authentic classical music was the same. So we arranged for a concert of the Indian ensemble SAPTASUR in our church.

How interesting an event this was! The musicians, Manoj Govindraj (baritone and harmonium) and Shripad Jail (tabla drums), sat on the rug in the Randolph Room, enchanting us from the first moment to the last with the wonder of their music. Did you know that music can go in a circle, returning to its point of origin? In Hindustani classical music, this seems to be a foundational structure. Each time the circle reached completion, the musicians looked at each other, smiled, and received applause. While this took place, I realized how temporary much of our striving and ambitious goal orientation really is.

The circular shape of the music did not hinder it from being connected with the surrounding world. During the discussion after the concert we learned, for example, that Hindustani music assigns the melodic scales to certain time periods during the day. The music of the morning is characterized by softer notes. As the day proceeds, the notes become sharper.

It was a most interesting event and very well attended. We wish to thank the musicians, as well as Ravi Swamy and Uma Narasimhan, the Director of AIM, who also attended the concert. If you are interested, check out the Academy’s website at www.aimarts.org.

What a truly anticipatory time! Traditionally, we wait for the coming of Christ. I will tell you something else you can expect: a very eclectic Christmas Eve music program on December 24 . The adult choir th and the bell choir have been working tirelessly to provide a meaningful set of music to the congregation.

On Christmas Eve, you will see and hear the space in the sanctuary being used to its fullest potential. There will be virtuosic displays by soloists, intensely devotional hymns by the choir, and joyous music heralding the coming of the Son of God.

Everyone is welcome to sing in the adult choir. Our practices are Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m. Christmas is the perfect season to join, and we are more than glad to include you. The more the merrier! And the merrier the choir, the merrier the Christmas! So let’s have a very merry Christmas.

We are delighted that they are coming again as a group.

The recitals are a half hour in length (12:15-12:45 p.m.) and are followed by a light lunch. There is no charge for the recital (thanks to Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission) or for the lunch (thanks to members of our church). Dates for the other three recitals are October 14th (a piano recital), October 28th (a brass quintet recital), and November 11th (vocalist and tabla: traditional Indian music).

In addition to the choir, our summer music enjoyed a number of special contributions. There were Sundays when John Coakley played the clarinet, Erie Beemsterboer the bass recorder, Ellen Hamilton the flute, and Stef Beemsterboer the violin during the Warwick service. We also had special hymn singing occasions prior to each summer worship service. Ben Berman, our organist and choir director, enhanced these sessions with little presentations on the content of particular hymns or information on the biographies of various composers. Now we have quite a repertoire of newly studied hymns. We can look forward to seeing them employed in our worship life this fall.