“Music touches parts of the soul words cannot even reach.” – Plato

“To sing is to pray twice.” – St. Augustine

A Texas clergyman writes: “You should join the choir: it really is the answer … read more.

“You’re invited to participate in music ensembles at Good Shepherd. Come join us!” – Andy Shelden

For more details on the opportunities below, please see Andy after church at the organ or during the fellowship period in the parish hall or email him: Music Director, Andy Shelden at info@goodshepherdrichmond.org or ajshelden.music@gmail.com.

Choir

Why now is the perfect time to join the Choir:

1. Same day rehearsals. No evenings practices (at least through the end of Summer). Rehearsals start at 8:30am on Sunday morning.

2.  No long-term commitment. If you like to sing, come try it out! We’d like it if you could stay, but we won’t bar the door.

3. Friendly people. We’ll be happy to see you, and to have you sing with us.

4. Enhance your vocal technique for free! Some vocal coaches will charge you vast sums of money to learn proper vocal technique. There’s no fee for choir!

5. Advanced look at new hymns. You like new songs, right? Sing in choir! We’ll help you learn!

6. Early arrival = better parking spot. Try it! It works!

7. Acquire a deeper appreciation of the history of hymns. Our hymnals are chock-full of hymns spanning over 600 years of church and music history!

8. Learn to Sing in Parts! Vocal harmonies stir our very souls. We’ll help you develop into a part singer.

9. Help lead your fellow parishioner in worship! Make a joyful noise to the Lord! Sing his praise in the congregation!

10. Lean what St. Augustine meant when he wrote: “The one who sings prays twice.”

Come try us out! 8:30 a.m. every Sunday morning in the choir room. Everyone is welcome!

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!

Blue Grass 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.

“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 Danny Corneliussen (former Music Director)

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, who was 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