MUSIC
Music holds an integral place within the liturgy: It unifies and heightens our communal prayer and offers an opportunity to lift our voices and spirits together in ways that words alone cannot express.
We sing music from a variety of periods and styles, but at our Principal Service, our core repertoire is from the Anglican Choral Tradition and The Hymnal 1982, the primary hymnal of the Episcopal Church. We include other diverse resources on special feasts and also seek to find new expressions of our faith in song as we live out our lives as people who are followers of the Jesus Movement. Ultimately, we bring the Gospel to life in a palpable and transcendent way. We become instruments through which God moves and speaks.
We encourage every person to participate in singing at SJOTM, whether in the choir,
or as a member of the assembly.
The Choir of St. John on the Mountain
The Choir of St. John on the Mountain is a, vital and vibrant part of our parish community. The Choir is intergenerational and includes professionals, semi-professionals, and talented volunteer singers who contribute 4-55 volunteer hours weekly to our parish, sharing their talents in ways that uplift, unite, and make transcendent our common prayer.
The Choir sings weekly at the 10:00 a.m. Sunday Eucharist, for special feast days throughout the year, and at occasional services of Choral Evensong as announced. Rehearsal is on Wednesday nights. Membership is open to all members of the community through interview with the Director of Music.
Choir of Boys & Girls
The children of our Sunday School learn a new song each month. Every five or six weeks, the bravest of our bunch share that song with the parish at the end of the Liturgy.
Our Director of music (Christopher Harlow-Jennings) and our Director of Christian Education & Youth (Lynn Mitchell) work together to make sure that this is a stress-free, positive and voluntary experience for our children.
The Organs
The organ in the church is a three-manual, 44 rank, 50 stop instrument. Originally built in 1967 by the M.P. Moeller Company, it was rebuilt and redesigned by Petty-Madden in 1996. Then-organist John Baldwin desired
it to be designed in the French style.
The chapel organ is a 9 stop mechanical action instrument built by C.B. Fisk of Gloucester, MA, and formerly housed at Boston College. The Fisk organ was refurbished in 2000.