Category: Music

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Handbells Ring on Sunday May 21

Handbell quartet: Hyosang Park, Bill Gardner, Curt Hillegas, Robert Scheffler. Photo by Charles Phillips

If you loved the handbell concert on May 7, here is good news.  The handbell quartet will play for both services on Sunday, May 21 (that’s the Sunday Rev. Don Brash will preach). Also that day Hyosang Park will give a solo concert at Hillsborough Reformed Church at 4 p.m. That’s Sunday, May 21, at 4 p.m.

If you have always wanted to try handbells, come to the “handbell open houses” after the Here is Hyosang Park’s bell solo “It’s a Wonderful World.”

And, on the Facebook page for Princeton UMC, here is the familiar Mallotte version of the Lord’s Prayer. 

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Handbells: May 7

“How can I keep from singing,” a concert at Princeton United Methodist Church on Sunday, May 7, at 5 p.m., might well be entitled “How can I keep from ringing” because the musicians are handbell artists. Hyosang Park will direct the handbell choir and ensembles. With pianist Julia Hanna, she will also be featured as a solo handbell artist. The concert is free, and donations will benefit the Appalachia Service Project mission team.

The handbell choir plays at the 9:30 and 11 a.m. services on third Sundays including Easter Sunday, April 16.

Handbell concerts are rare, and even rarer are solo artists — fewer than a dozen concertize with four octaves of handbells in the Eastern United States. “We aim, not only to bring the sound of handbells to a wider public, but to also enable nonprofit organizations help those who are in need,” says Park. As the director of music at Princeton United Methodist Church, she has master’s degrees in both sacred music and piano performance from Westminster Choir College of Rider University. She has private piano students and also teaches at St. Jerome Catholic School in West Long Branch.

For 40 years Princeton United Methodist Church has sent teen and adult volunteers to the Appalachia Service Project (ASP) to make homes warmer, safer, and drier. ASP is a Christian ministry, but it is open to those of any faith. It aims to inspire hope and service — instilling compassion for other people and a fresh appreciation for one’s place and purpose in the world.

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Learning from Children and Trees

 

Tom Shelton and the Children’s Choirs prepare to sing on Palm Sunday

The Children’s Choirs will present their musical, The Tale of Three Trees, on Sunday, April 23, at 9:30 and 11 a.m.  Written by Allen Pote and Tom Lang, and directed by Tom Shelton, this musical brings to life the traditional story of some trees with a dream and God with a plan.

The Youth Choir will present a series of skits, vignettes, solos, and anthems for Youth Sunday, April 30. Because of Communiversity there will be one service that day, at 9:30 a.m. Both choirs will reprise their musicals for Communiversity at 2 p.m.

The children’s musical follows the adventures of three trees — bringing to life the traditional story of some trees with a dream and God with a plan. The first tree dreams of holding great treasure; the second tree longs to become a mighty ship, and the third tree just wants to stay in the forest and point people to God. Told through story and song, the congregation is reminded that even when we can’t see the forest for the trees, there is no prayer that is too small for God.

It’s a good story but trees can’t possibly have social relationships, right? We grownups would scoff at that idea and say merely that this musical is an imaginative way to present Christian truths.

Yet in “The Hidden Life of Trees,” an international bestseller, forester and author Peter Wohlleben convincingly makes the case that, yes, the forest is a social network. He draws on groundbreaking scientific discoveries to describe how trees are like human families: tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, support them as they grow, share nutrients with those who are sick or struggling, and even warn each other of impending dangers.

As we learn more about our world, we learn that God has amazing plans. We look forward to April 23, when the children will teach us about God.

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Organ and Trumpet: This Joyful Eastertide

Christopher McWilliams , with guest artist Michael Carl Green, will present This Joyful Eastertide — a joyous selection of works for organ –– on Sunday, April 23 at 2 p.m.  at Princeton United Methodist Church. The concert is free, and an offering will be taken to benefit the Appalachia Service Project.

The program spans four centuries of music for trumpet and organ. It includes The  Trumpet Tune No. 1 in C major by Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1751),  Sarabande (For the morning of Easter) by Herbert Howells from Six Pieces for Organ (1892-1983), Sinfonia from Cantata No. 29 “Wir Danken Dir, Gott, Wir Danken Dir”  by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) arranged by Alexandre Guilmant, Alléluias sereins d’une âme qui desire le ciel  (Serene Alleluias from a soul longing for Heaven)  by  Olivier Messiaen  (1908-1992), Sonata for Trumpet and Organ in F major by George Friedrich Handel,  Partita on Duke Street by Charles Callahan, and Trumpet Tune on “This Joyful Eastertide” for organ by David Lasky (1979-).

Both McWilliams and Green are on the faculty at Westminster Conservatory of Music.  A Vermont native, McWilliams has a Bachelor of Music in Piano and Organ Performance and a Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy and Performance from Westminster Choir College of Rider University, where he studied with Phyllis Lehrer, Matthew Lewis, and Kenneth Cowan. He teaches private lessons in piano at the Westminster Conservatory of  Music, at PUMC, and in students’ homes, and is a frequent accompanist at the Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church.

Michael Carl Green

As a composer and arranger, Green orchestrated a Broadway show and co-wrote and performed on the score for documentary films. A pianist as well as a trumpet player, he plays in area orchestras, chamber and jazz ensembles, concert and brass bands, and pit orchestras.

For 40 years Princeton United Methodist Church has sent teen and adult volunteers to the Appalachia Service Project (ASP) to make homes warmer, safer, and drier. ASP is a Christian ministry, but it is open to those of any faith. It aims to inspire hope and service — instilling compassion for other people and a fresh appreciation for one’s place and purpose in the world.

Located at the corner of Nassau Street and Vandeventer Avenue, PUMC is a diverse congregation, whose members come from many surrounding communities, backgrounds, and faith histories. Parking is free on Sundays, and the church is wheelchair accessible. For further information, call 609-924-2613, email office@princetonumc.org, or visit http://www.princetonumc.org/

 

 

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Listening to Holy Week

Joyful music begins the Easter season at Princeton United Methodist Church  on Palm Sunday, April 9, at the 9:30 and 11 a.m. services. Tom Shelton directs the children’s choir at the 9:30 service.

For Holy Thursday Communion, April 13, at 7:30 p.m., a sextet will sing works by Byrd, Lassus, and Victoria. On Good Friday, an excerpt from Pergolesi’s “Stabat Mater” will be sung at the noon service, and Hyosang Park will direct Anton Bruckner’s Requiem with soloists, choir, and chamber ensemble at 7:30 p.m.

Easter Sunday, April 16, begins with a sunrise service at 6:30 a.m. on the lawn, followed by a continental breakfast. At 9:30 and 11 a.m. traditional Services of the Resurrection feature the Chancel and Handbell Choirs and a brass quartet.

On April 23, Tom Shelton directs the Children’s Choirs in “The Tale of the Three Trees” musical at the 9:30 and 11 a.m. service and Christopher McWilliams presents a free organ concert “This Joyful Eastertide” at 2 p.m. An offering will be taken.

On April 30, Communiversity Sunday, Tom Shelton directs the Youth Choir in a musical at 9:30 a.m. There is no 11 a.m. service that day, but at 2 p.m. the children and youth present their musicals inside the sanctuary.

As composer Nico Muhly says, church choir singing is  “meant for worship…to be heard in a state of quiet meditation.. to guide the mind out of the building into unseen heights and depths.”

 

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Singing joy from around the world: Feb 19

A choir from Sumatera Utara, Indonesia will sing in a free concert at Princeton United Methodist Church on Sunday, February 19, at 3 p.m.

Building bridges through choral music…..Princeton and Westminster Choir College of Rider University welcome more than 800 choral singers from four nations and seven states to participate in “Sing ‘N Joy,” a choral festival and competition sponsored by Interkultur.

Everyone is invited to observe competition sessions, lectures and Friendship Concerts at no charge.  Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Many of the events take place at Princeton High’s performing arts center.

On Sunday, February 19 at 3 p.m. Princeton United Methodist Church will host a friendship concert featuring these choruses: 

• ChildrenSong of New Jersey (Haddonfield, NJ, USA)
• Paduan Suara El-Shaddai Universitas Sumatera Utara (Sumatera Utara, Indonesia)
• Liberty North High School Choir (Liberty, MO, USA)
• Shanghai Jiao Tong University Choir (Shanghai, China)
• Vassar College Majors (Poughkeepsie, NY, USA)

Join the Joy!

 

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Meet Our New Music Intern

By Hyosang Park

Marisa Curcio, a student from Westminster Choir College of Rider University is joining our staff to service the Lord with Princeton UMC congregation. She is currently a senior majoring in Church Music and Music Education. She has an exceptionally exquisitely soaring soprano voice that can be heard from miles away and make people turn their heads because of its beauty. She has her senior recital scheduled in March. Please don’t miss an opportunity to hear and be embraced in such a stunning voice. Details be will announced in the February issue, so stay tuned. She already has sung with Chancel Choir at our annual Christmas Concert and during our Longest Night service. She has an outgoing personality and is eager to meet everyone at PUMC. I hope you will all get to meet and know her in 2017.

Isabella Dougan

 

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Jesus mine, in me shine

led-white-bright-moravian-star-1912

Morning star, o cheering sight, ere thou camst how dark earth’s light. Jesus mine, in me shine, fill my heart with light divine…

These are the words of “Morning Star” sung responsively — in Moravian churches around the world. Layers of tradition surround this song. It brings many memories, because our family used to belong to a Moravian church.

The Chancel Choir at Princeton United Methodist Church sang “Morning Star” in an arrangement by Helen Kemp on Sunday, December 11.  That night, following the children’s musical ‘Twas the Light Before Christmas, Fellowship Hall will be transformed into a magical starry night for the Advent Night dinner. And the choir will reprise ‘Morning Star at a concert on December 18 at 5 p.m. with Jie Hayes and Christine Green as soloists.  The concert is entitled — “A Shining Star.”

Thy glad beams, thou Morning Star, cheer the nations near and far, Lord alone, thee we own, thou great Savior, God’s dear son.

signed …. Barbara Fox

 

 

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Caroling on December 11

2016-december-umm-preferred-karen-zumbrunnChristians sing more than any other religion, especially at Christmas time when carols tell the joy of Christ’s birth. And on Sunday, December 11, our carols will ring out throughout the day.

In the morning Dr. Karen Fanta Zumbrunn will give the background of some carols from England, France, and America — and we will sing them at the breakfast served by the United Methodist Men. Learn about the band of English singers called “waits” and the surprising background of O, Holy Night. We’ll conclude with a spirited Afro American favorite, “Go Tell it on the Mountain.”

Everyone is welcome to enjoy the hot and tasty breakfast at 8 a.m., and Karen’s program is at 8;30 a.m. A $5 donation is requested.

In the evening, following the children’s musical and dinner, she will lead our traditional carol sing. It will include the always uproarious “The 12 Days of Christmas” as well as Silent Night and other favorites.

“When we sing carols we are remembering about a life of faith that began in a crib,” says Karen. “These little gems of music paint word pictures that tell of the birth of Jesus.” Let us join in song during this festive season!