THE MUSIC MINISTRY
Music is a vital part of our Sunday morning worship. We have a strong group of dedicated adult singers, an active children’s group and an accomplished organist and choir director. We use both the Pilgrim Hymnal and The New Century Hymnal for our worship. With these two we have a wide selection of hymns and service music from the early years of the church as well as additions from the last several decades. The variety of music is an enhancement to our message of welcome and faith. Our Austin organ was built and installed in 1904 and is a two manual, (9 rank) pipe instrument with chimes. It was extensively refurbished in 2004.
Brian Parks Music Director.
Brian Parks is a member of the American Guild of Organists and serves on the board of the Waterbury chapter. He became Director of Music here in September 2008. He is currently Visiting Instructor in Music at Wesleyan University, teaching Ghanaian Drumming during Professor Abraham Adzenyah's sabbatical. He also serves on the faculty of Naugatuck Valley Community College. A native Atlantan, he took up pipe organ in Fall 2007, and has since concertized throughout Connecticut and will perform in the Spoleto Festival's L'Organo Series in Charleston, South Carolina this June. He holds two degrees in composition, a Bachelor of Music from Berklee College of Music and a Masters of Arts from Wesleyan University. He studies pipe organ with Ron Ebrecht and continues composition studies with Ron Kuivila. He has performed and competed as a concert pianist throughout the United States and Europe, and his compositions have been performed by the FLUX Quartet, Anne Rhodes, Richard Gard's College Choir, the Higganum Service Choir and by members of Wesleyan's African Drumming Ensemble. He will present piano and organ music of Tom Johnson as well as his own compositions when the composer visits Yale University and Wesleyan University this Spring. He teaches organ and piano, and interested parties can call for information on the Church phone, 860 345 4304.
The Adult Choirs
The Higganum Service Choir is dedicated to providing a meaningful musical experience in worship. They sing a cappella and with organ accompaniment. Throughout the past eighteen months, they have performed sacred music ranging in era from the 16th Century to new compositions by Maxfield Heath and Director of Music Brian Parks. Participation in the choir is welcome to anyone, church member or not. Interested parties may join the choir on a seasonal basis.
The Higganum Concert Choir is a sizeable group that prepares larger works from the classical canon for special service and out-of-service concert presentations. The group formed in late 2009 to present substantial excerpts from Handel's Messiah, with Janet Simone Parks conducting and Brian Parks accompanying with an orchestral reduction for pipe organ.
This first-ever event took place on Christmas Eve, 2009. Soloists came from the church membership and the larger community. The Concert Choir has also presented work by Felix Mendelssohn, J.S. Bach, and John Rutter and will be performing Tertius Noble's "Go to Dark Gethsemane" and T. Dubois' "Requiem" for the April 2nd Good Friday service.
The Children's Music
This group is made up of the children of the Sunday School and is led by our music director. The children meet most Sundays after worship. There are student instrumentalists as well as singers. The children love it!
Our Pipe Organ
Our Higganum Congregational Church organ, Opus 109 of the Austin Organ Company, was a gift in 1904 of Mrs. Hezekiah Scovil in memory of her husband. It has two manuals and nine ranks of pipes. It is one of few such pipe organs with original specifications intact, including tibia and narrow string stops which were hallmarks of its designer, Robert Hope-Jones. The then vice-president of Austin, Jones later became famous as the father of the “unit organ”, and eventually Wurlitzer theater organs used to accompany silent movies.
In 1946 the organ was restored, and a new console allowing electro-pneumatic action was installed. (The original console was against the wall, under the pipes.) The following year a 25-note set of chimes was installed, donated by the Spencer family. More recently in 2001, the organ chamber ceiling and walls were repaired, the organ completely overhauled, and chimes repaired to fit Opus 109 for many more years of harmonious service.