Music Making
Music… will help dissolve your perplexities and purify your character and sensibilities,
and in time of care and sorrow, will keep a fountain of joy alive in you.~Dietrich Bonhoeffer
At Christ Lutheran we strive to fill our worship services with vocal, instrumental and congregational music of the highest quality in a diversity of styles. We regularly use musical settings of the liturgy from Evangelical Lutheran Worship, All Creation Sings and Of the Land and Seasons.
The CLC Choir leads the music for worship on Sundays at 10:00 am and rehearses on Thursday evenings 7:30 to 9 pm, September through May. There is no audition, and while previous singing experience is helpful, it is not required for membership. Optional sessions in vocal training and sight reading are offered each week before the regular rehearsals. Contact Tom Berryman for information about the CLC Choir.
- Access our 2021-22 season repertoire
- Access our recording of Bach’s “Was Gott Tut” BWV 99
- Access our recording of “By grace, as one, we gather now”
The World Band is an ad-hoc, intergenerational ensemble that was formed to accompany our newer hymns that originated in folk traditions from countries outside of Europe. In the spirit of traditional music-making, we generally do not use sheet music—instrument parts are created during two rehearsals before each service we lead. We tailor the accompaniment to the available musicians and instruments–lead sheets and part cards for guitar and percussion, and the hymnal page for those playing melody, like violin and flute. Contact Gail Weston-Roberts ([email protected]) if you’re interested or have questions. At this point, all percussion instruments are supplied by the ensemble director – but if you have your own, by all means bring it!
Our two CLC Handbell Choirs perform regularly for Sunday worship and special events. One rehearses Wednesday evenings, the other Saturday afternoons. We use a fine three octave set of Malmark Handbells and a set of Malmark chimes. While music reading familiarity is helpful, emerging musicians are supported and encouraged. High school aged players and older are welcome to join the Handbell Choirs. Please contact Kim Petot ([email protected]) with any questions or for more information.
Silent Movies
Our most recent Silent Movie Night featured Charlie Chaplin’s THE KID with pianist Rob Humphreville improvising the score. With this showing, we honored and remembered Harold Lohr, a regular attender of these events, who was known to respond to the question “Has anyone in the audience seen tonight’s film before?” with “Yes, I saw it when it first came out!”
THE KID premiered in 1921 as a silent film starring Chaplin (the Tramp) and Jackie Coogan (the Kid). Chaplin later re-released the film with a musical score. We will, of course be relying on Rob to provide a live soundtrack. Be sure to visit https://www.charliechaplin.com/en/films/1-the-kid for complete details of Chaplin’s original movie.
Rob Humphreville is a freelance pianist and organist. For the past thirty-five years, he has accompanied silent movies on piano and organ all over New England, and the Boston Globe has praised him for his inventive improvisations. A composer of independent film scores, he has also been active in the music programs of Brooks School in North Andover; Buckingham, Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge; Bethany Convent in Arlington; the Apollo Club in Boston; the Society of St. John the Evangelist monastery in Cambridge; and Temple Isaiah in Lexington. He graduated from Harvard College in 1980 and splits his time between New London, Conn., and Cambridge.
Our Silent Movie Night is offered to all at no charge. Donations are gratefully received for the Metrowest Asylee Family Coalition, a faith-based organization formed in 2021 to accompany asylees by providing support for food, clothing, housing, medical care, legal services, transportation and incidentals. Coalition congregations include Christ the King Lutheran Church (Holliston) Peace Lutheran Church (Wayland) Christ Lutheran Church (Natick) UU Area Church (Sherborn) Wellesley Village Church and UU Wellesley Hills.
The Organ
The Christ Lutheran Chuch organ was built by the Johnson and Son Organ Company of Westfield MA in 1874, their Opus 401. The instrument was rebuilt by the Andover Organ Company of Methuen, MA and installed at Christ Lutheran in 1977.
Jazz
A fine professional trio brings a fresh sonority to three Sunday worship services each year through their artful improvisations on the liturgy and hymns and in their performance of some great classics from jazz traditions.
Of the Land and Seasons
We regularly include Of the Land and Seasons, a folksong paraphrase setting of the Holy Communion service, three times annually: Winter, Summer and Fall. Even though we are a suburban congregation, Christ Lutheran celebrates and honors the contributions of those who plant, nurture and harvest and those who conserve and preserve the natural resources on which we all depend.
