What happened to Thanksgiving worship?
Has our society become so secular that nobody wants to go to church on Thanksgiving morning? Today, on this particularly lonely Thanksgiving in the midst of COVID, I cannot help thinking back to the wonderful Thursday morning services we used to have, back in the “good old days.” Often a few churches combined efforts, with one church and its minister, organist and choir hosting one year, and another church the next. Later on, the idea of an ecumenical, more community-oriented service took hold, and that, too, was a nice way to celebrate a special time of giving thanks to God – and, in fact, despite the ecumenical nature, there still was a focus on God as the giver of all gifts.
Somehow, in the past few years, it has become more and more difficult to find any kind of worship service commemorating Thanksgiving. The few that exist are not only ecumenical, but more focused on all the good things we, or the sponsoring organization, have done for each other, or for the community. One could hardly call these services worship, as the thanksgiving is directed at us rather than at Almighty God, the creator and giver of life.
This year, with no one going to church, and everything being on-line, I thought surely I could find somehow, somewhere a Thanksgiving worship service, preferably on Thursday morning, or at least Wednesday evening. After all, I was not limited to my own community, as on-line worship has no geographical barriers. I searched the internet, not limiting my search to my own denomination, but including several of the more liturgical traditions – Presbyterian, Episcopal, Methodist, Congregational, Catholic. But all to no avail.
So the conclusion seems to be that Thanksgiving worship is dead, that this holiday has become, like so many others, all about getting together with family (which we can’t do right now), about celebrating our community, about the turkey, or, worse, about hurrying off to start our Christmas shopping on Black Friday. God is lost in the shuffle again – and yet, He is the only reason we have anything for which to be thankful.
Elizabeth Brown
Here are three very short Christmas improvisations to share. All of my music, audio or score, is Public Domain.
I recorded these in 2017 at the Second Church of Christ, Scientist, Evanston.
The organ is an 80 stop Allen built in 2005, a three manual and pedal instrument with a floating Solo division.
The photo was taken street side, Kings College Chapel, Cambridge.
Have a joyous and thankful Christmas!
Robert Neuenschwander
On the third Sunday of every month, October through May, from 7 to 8 p.m. (CST), Phillip Kloeckner is presenting a series of practical, skills-based workshops designed to launch or advance your preparations for portions of the SPC, CAGO, AAGO, and FAGO exams. Each month, he will explore a single topic chosen from a variety of levels of the AGO Certification Exams with strategies and resources offered for additional practice and skill development.
Conducted via video conferencing, participants may also choose to play for the class from their home/church pianos or organs as a means of engaging with the subjects more deeply.
You do not need to be a candidate for Guild certification to participate. Anyone with an interest in exploring the skills being highlighted is welcome to attend. Although these workshops began in October, it is not too late to join in now.
These workshops are free of charge.
Please send an email to Phillip at phillip@cioa.global, or call him at 773-309-1769, to request a phone or computer link to the broadcast of the workshops
The schedule of dates and subjects are as follows:
October 18: Keyboard Harmony/Music Theory 101: Brush up on your ability to think harmonically, analytically, and functionally as you play (Support for transposition, modulation, harmonizing melodies, and improvisation)
November 15: Sight-reading: Learn strategies to develop the ability to sight-read reliably and receive materials with which to practice, from simple to more complex.
December 20: Transposition: Learn multiple techniques to assist you in developing this skill with applications to a variety of hymn styles
January 17: Modulation: Learn to modulate from one hymn to another in the AGO Certification Hymn Manual
February 21: Organ repertoire for SPS/CAGO: Send your requests about which pieces you are preparing/would like to address during the workshop.
March 21: Figured bass: Learn the rudiments of the figured bass system and receive material to practice
April 18: Adapting piano/orchestral accompaniments to the keyboard: From Ave Maria to Elijah
May 16: Accompanying anthems, solos, and psalms, with reference to certification requirements
Phillip Kloeckner, DMA, is artistic director of the Chicago International Organ Academy (cioa.global), and has been teaching these subjects to organists around the world for more than 25 years. He has served on the faculties of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and the University of Chicago. He earned degrees from Swarthmore College, the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, and Rice University. Questions about the series should be directed to phillip@cioa.global or 773-309-1769
I’m a member of the North Shore AGO chapter and would be interested in finding a home for some of the music that I’ve accumulated over 40 years. I’m hoping to retire sometime mid- to late-2021 (i.e. no precise date yet; “Covid-influenced”), and I’ve been using some of this “Covid time” to do a major downsizing of my choral, keyboard and handbell music. I’m giving up about 3 file cabinets full of single copies of choral octavos and handbell music, most of it sacred and very usable in a church setting (it also includes music that I accumulated while I was a college/university choral director), in all voicings and difficulty levels and in a variety of styles, and it includes a limited amount of secular literature. I’m holding on to most of my organ literature but am giving up some of that as well. I also have a limited amount of classical piano and sacred & secular vocal music. All of this music is for the taking—I’d just be glad to see others be able to make use of it.
Interested people can look at the music at my church (Trinity Lutheran on Golf in Skokie/Evanston) in a “socially distanced” chapel with a piano, or they can take it to look it over and return what they can’t use. The former option might make more sense—there’s a lot of it!
If you know of any musicians who might be interested in looking at the music or can suggest a way that I can advertise the music, please let me know.
Dan Dauner