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Grace |
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Grace |
Cherub
¤ Schola ¤ Madrigals ¤ Adult Choir ¤ Movement Choir
Sponsored by Grace Episcopal Church
Oak Park, Illinois
Grace Children's Choirs
consists of three choirs for young voices:
The Cherub Choir is for parishioners between the ages of 18
months and 6 years, accompanied by a parent. This program uses
the methods of Orff, Kodaly and Jacques-Dalcroze to teach music
literacy. Cherubs sing at worship services several times per
year.
The Schola Choir is open to parishioners and community children in grades 2-8. It is a competency-based,
Kodaly-oriented choir whose members are taught sight-reading,
sight-singing, and solfege. Rehearsals are held Wednesdays 3:30 - 5:00 pm. The Schola sings in worship approximately six Sundays per year.
The Madrigals is a high-school-age ensemble of singers who present an annual Boar's Head Feast and sing
regularly at Mass at Grace and elsewhere.
Grace Children's Choirs,
sponsored by Oak Park's Grace Episcopal Church, brings
quality music education and performance opportunities to young
singers from Oak Park and surrounding communities.
“They are so cute! And they are having
such fun!!!”
The
Cherub program at Grace
Church is designed to leave a lasting impression on our youngest parishioners.
Designed for children age one to six, and intended to involve the parent
with the young singer, the Cherub choir is both educational and fun.
Imagine an activity that unites parent and child as the earliest memory
of church will foster memories of togetherness in musical activities.
Each
and every week important
musical concepts are presented in a sequential manner.
Music educators largely agree that the presenting pairs of musical ideas, clarifies the attributes of each term.
For example: slow is not fast. Musical
concepts to which your child will be exposed includes:
| Pitch | Rhythm | Musical Terms |
| high/low | fast/slow | piano/forte |
| sol/mi | steady beat | phrase |
| diastematic heightening | ta/ti-ti | legato/staccatto |
| Curwen hand signs | sound/silence | |
| Tonic solfa |
And
many, many others!
The Schola Choir of Grace
Click here for the Schola Choir Schedule
Artistic Director:
Dr. Dennis
E. Northway
Schola Choir Administrator:
Randi Ravitts Woodworth
Now
celebrating its twelfth season under Artistic Director Dr. Dennis
Northway and Schola Choir Administrator Randi Ravitts Woodworth, the Schola Choir
and Scholars Program is open to children in grades 2-8. It is a competency-based, Kodaly-oriented choir whose
members are taught sight-reading, sight-singing, and solfege.
Repertoire includes sacred and secular music, as well as indigenous folk songs from the world repertoire. In addition to singing six Sundays per year at worship services alternating between Grace and St. Christopher's Churches of Oak Park, the Schola Choir performs annually at Symphony Center in Chicago, and at Oak Park's "Day in Our Village". The Schola has performed at the Infant Welfare Society Holiday Housewalk, Celebrations at Home at the Merchandise Mart, the Ernest Hemingway Centennial, the Symphony of Oak Park & River Forest Holiday Concert, the Light Opera Works production of "The Duchess of Chicago," and Handel Week's "Judas Maccabeus." The Schola Choir has performed Mahler's Symphony No. 3 with The Symphony of Oak Park & River Forest.
Grace Children's Choirs is committed to bringing music education to a diverse community of children. Tuition is free, and financial aid for tour fees is available. New choristers are invited to join us at any time. If you are interested, please contact Randi Ravitts Woodworth.
Rehearsals are held in the choir room,
sanctuary and other rehearsal spaces at Grace Episcopal Church,
924 Lake Street, Oak Park.
Tuition is free. An administrative fee is
charged to cover expenses. Financial aid is available on a
confidential basis. No child will be refused admittance for
financial reasons.
Repertoire is the same for Schola and Scholars, and
includes sacred and secular music, as well as indigenous folk
songs from the world repertoire. Questions or comments regarding
repertoire or any aspect of the music curriculum should be
directed to Dennis Northway.
A Spring Tour is undertaken each April by the Scholars. Tour
information is disseminated in January and payment of tour fees
is required by the end of March.
Conductor: Dr. Dennis Northway is well-known in Chicago music
circles as one of the city's premier conductors of children's
choirs. He was associated for nearly a decade with the Chicago
Children's Choir, and served for three years as associate
professor of choral activities at Vander Cook College. A published composer and enthusiastic teacher of
musicians of all ages, he is a frequent clinician on topics in
choral music and music education. In Oak Park, he is Parish
Musician for Grace Episcopal Church, where he serves as organist
and conducts the adult and treble choirs. Dr. Northway holds a
Doctorate in Choral Conducting from Northwestern University,
where he also attained candidacy for a Ph.D. in Musicology. He
received his Masters Degree in Church Music from Concordia
University, River Forest, and his undergraduate degree from the
University of Missouri, St. Louis, where he studied organ, voice
and music education.
Click here for the Madrigal Choir Schedule
The
Madrigal Choir was founded in 2001 by Dennis Northway, Parish Musician of Grace
Episcopal Church in Oak Park, Illinois. The group began as an outgrowth of
Schola, a children's church and community choir Northway started in 1995 upon
assuming his position at Grace. A core group of a
dozen experienced Schola singers entering their high school years constituted
the new choir. Now numbering some 24 singers, they have established a
position for themselves within Grace Church and the wider community.
The founding of the choir was designed to allow high-school-age singers, both
parish and non-parish members, to participate in an advanced choral endeavor
within a faith-based setting. The choir rehearses unaccompanied, standing
in a circle in the Grace Church sanctuary, a tuning fork the only musical aid,
reinforcing the excellent sight-reading skills necessary to function at this
level of musicianship.
The Choir's core repertoire consists of unaccompanied motets and madrigals from
the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries. The full scope of the
repertoire engages the singers with lyrics in Latin, Italian, Hebrew, English,
French, German, and Spanish as standard practice.
The choir sings regularly for worship at Grace Church, both at Sunday services
and Christmas and Easter services. Also central to the concept of the
Madrigal Choir is the opportunity to reach out to others. Musical
engagements this year include the 16th Annual Jewish Christian Clergy Retreat,
the Empty Bowls anti-hunger fundraiser in Oak Park, and a Chicago diocesan
conference on working with youth. In addition, in 2005 the choir toured
to Washington D.C. to sing evensong at Washington National Cathedral, and
morning service for St. Columba Episcopal Church. Ladies of the Madrigal Choir also sang in the Chorus
of Virgins for a performance of Judas Maccabaeus for the festival for Handel
Week, Inc.
Past years' activities have included a Taize service for a national symposium on
Christian formation for the Episcopal Church, a 9/11 commemoration benefit for
the Villa Scalabrini retirement community, and (non-musical) participation in
Habitat for Humanity. In Spring 2004, Bishop
Neil Alexander of the Atlanta Diocese invited the group to sing at the Cathedral
of St. Philip and the choir embarked on a whirlwind three-day tour of the area.
In addition to two services at St. Philips and evening mass at the Catholic
Cathedral of Christ the King, the choir performed three
concerts for students at area schools.
The Madrigals also sponsor concert events several times a year. Each
December, they perform a holiday "Boar's Head Feast," a highly
anticipated event. Staged in the gothic splendor of Grace Church
Sanctuary, some 100 guests enjoy a scripted production and feast with holiday
music, much
toasting, and costumes from the Renaissance era. In 2004, in addition to
two performances at Grace, the choir was engaged by the Hinsdale Chapter of
Lyric Opera of Chicago to perform this event.
The Madrigal Choir Executive Director is Silvano Brugioni the Artistic Director
is Dr. Dennis E. Northway. The Priest-in-charge of Grace Church is the
Rev. Shawn Schreiner.
Madrigal Concerts and Other Musical Events
Events/ Sponsors
Full Concert for concert series / St. John Episcopal, Lockport IL
Chorus of Virgins for Judas Maccabaeus / Handel Week, Incorporated
Evensong / Washington National Cathedral
Jewish Christian Clergy Retreat / (6 major area denominations);
2004 Empty Bowls (fundraiser) / Explore the Arts Alliance, Park District of Oak
Park;
2004 Madrigal Concert / Holy Innocents Episcopal Academy, Atlanta GA;
2004 Madrigal Concert /Woodward Academy, Atlanta GA;
2004 Boar's Head Feast /The Madrigals;
2001-2003 Trial By Jury (Gilbert & Sullivan) / The Madrigals;
2003 Taize Evening Prayer Service / National Episcopal Symposium, Oakbrook;
2003 Mahler Symphony #3 / Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest;
2003 Madrigal Concert / Midwest Kodaly Music Educators Association;
2003 Twelfth Night Concert / United Lutheran Church, Oak Park;
2002-2004 This is My Country (fundraiser) / Cavaliers for Villa Scallabrini
Retirement Center;
2002 CSO Holiday Concert / Orchestra Hall Lobby, pre-concert/intermission;
2002-2004 Day In Our Village Main Stage, Scoville Park / Village of Oak Park;
2002, 2004 Infant Welfare Society Housewalk Oak Park;
Church Services
Grace Episcopal Church - Oak Park, IL
Regular Sunday Services - 2001-2006
Evensong, Washington National Cathedral, 2005
The Passion of St. John (Northway) - 2002, 2003
The Passion of St. John (Byrd) - 2004
The Cathedral of Saint Philip - Atlanta, GA; 2004
The Cathedral of Christ the King - Atlanta, GA: 2004
First Baptist Church - Oak Park, IL; 2002
First Presbyterian Church - Wheaton, IL; 2002
Click here for the Adult Choir Schedule
An Historic and Distinguished Past
An Exciting and Challenging Present
Eternal Rewards
Since 1879, Grace has prized its adult choir, which was originally a choir of men and boys, and is presently a mixed ensemble of men and women who love to contribute to the song of this congregation. The choral program reflects the parish's membership; multi-cultural, with a wide stylistic variety of repertoire. The core is, of course, Anglican of the English Cathedral and collegiate traditions. However, on any given Sunday, you will also hear jazz, a Bach Cantata, spirituals, music from the Sacred Harp tradition, music from the Taize community, or authentic Gospel strains. We are always seeking people who want to be part of a great tradition and an exciting future!
The "Rhythm" of The Choir
The adult choir generally sings two anthems, one at the Offertory, and the other during Communion, during the 10:30 a.m. Eucharist on the three Sundays of the month when the Children's Choirs are not singing. We rehearse on Thursday nights beginning promptly at 7:30 p.m. We also undertake larger choral works in support of special liturgies, such as occasional Festival Evensongs and during Holy Week and Eastertide. Our basic repertoire, as mentioned already, is designed for a broad range of musical experience and skill. None of our singers is a paid professional, so there is no need to be intimidated if what you feel called to do is just raise your voice in praise of God. In fact, we understand our music not as performance, but as a ministry that supports and encourages the congregation in its liturgical worship. If you would like to know more, leave a message for Dennis Northway, parish musician, at (708) 386-8036 ext. 12, or just come to a rehearsal and check us out.
A Distinguished History
As soon as the parish was founded, it is clear that music was to be a high priority for Grace Church. Already in the 1890's there were significant numbers of men in the Grace Choir, as historic pictures suggest. This special place is evidenced, in that, there are by far more early pictures of the choirs of Grace church than any other component of its early history. The selection of Organist/ Choirmasters in the early history of Grace Church show, by their credentials, that music was a priority. Grace engaged organists who hailed from major Eastern Churches and even England! Many of Grace's early Organist/ Choirmasters were trained by the finest organists of the day. Letters survive from organ "superstars" like Joseph Bonnet, T. Tertius Noble and Marcel Dupré to the organists of this parish. Grace Church is also the first "church job" of the young Leo Sowerby.
The Grace Movement Choir was started some 12 years ago by Claudia Sloan, in consultation with parish musician, Dr. Dennis Northway, who together envisioned offerings of movement to accompany music or words. Claudia coordinated the choosing of music and selection of dates as well as communicating with the rather loose group of dances, which has expanded and contracted over the years. When she passed away two years ago (2006), she left a fund to help support the movement choir and ensure its continuation. Currently DeLacy Sarantos is the " organizer" and the group functions quite loosely. Most of the current members of the group are not members of Grace The music and dates are chosen by times that most of the group is available. Choreography and rehearsals are again scheduled when the people participating can get together. The group strives for creative physical expression of the liturgy. All have done some dance, but that is not necessary. We would welcome anyone who feels called to participate. The time commitment is not considerable - we try to do 3 or 4 Sundays a year, and each one calls for only 1 or 2 sessions of planning and rehearsal. Also choreography is based on what the participants are physically able to do and is a group effort. If you would like to discuss participation, please contact DeLacy Sarantos at 708-524-0975 or Parish Musician Dennis Northway at 708-386-8036 x 12.
