Our Mission
At Ascension, the mission of our music program is to glorify God, enhance the beauty of our Liturgies, and inspire spiritual growth. We seek to honor the historical musical treasury of the church while embracing a variety of styles of music that bring life and vitality to our Liturgies. We offer opportunities for members to develop and share their varied musical talents in an atmosphere of welcome and fellowship.
Adult Choir
The choir is composed of adults, some of whom are former youth choir members. They sing at Liturgies from September through May, including major holidays and additional services such as Choral Evensong and Advent Lessons and Carols. The choir repertoire includes a variety of musical styles.
Handbell Choir
The handbell choir rings about once every 6 weeks during the program year (September through May). They ring our 3 octave set of handbells and our 3 octave set of handchimes.
Instrumentalists
Instrumentalists are part of our music program. They play at various Liturgies year round. We have folks who play guitar, bass, mandolin, flute, violin, and recorder to name a few. All instruments are welcome and our congregation welcomes those talents as part of our Liturgies.
Additional Opportunities
Beyond liturgical music, we offer additional opportunities for performing, playing and fellowship for our instrumentalists and vocalists. We have monthly jam sessions in the parish hall and we host recitals in the nave. We have a Mardi Gras Jazz Night each Shrove Tuesday. We are always seeking and discovering new ways to connect and make music together.
Our Instruments
Organ: Much of the music at our Liturgies is led and supported by our Dobson pipe organ, Op. 30. Dedicated in 1980, the organ is a reverse tracker with 2 manuals and 33 ranks and has 1642 pipes in total.
Pianos: We have a 1922 Model M Steinway Grand in our nave. Additionally, we have a Yamaha G2 Grand in the Parish Hall and a Model K Upright Steinway is in the music office.
Handbells: We have a 3-octave set of Malmark handbells and a 3-octave set of Malmark handchimes.
For more information, please contact Joel Bolen. email