LIVE Audio & VIdeo FROM SERVICES

As a professional church musician since 1993, I focus on vibrant congregational song. I have served large, medium and small congregations in both urban and suburban settings across several denominations as choir director, organist, pianist, and liturgy planner. Much of my work has occurred within multicultural, liturgical worshipping communities. Since 2021, I have served as Director of Music & Organist at First Church, Congregational in Fairfield, CT, after eight years at Advent Lutheran Church, Manhattan. I am a past Dean of the Greater Bridgeport (CT) Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, as well as a member of the UCC Musicians’ Association, the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians and the American Choral Directors Association, where I serve as Treasurer of the Connecticut Chapter). I have given organ recitals in New York and Connecticut.

I am available for workshops, consulting, short organ recitals, and clinics on choral techniques, liturgy planning, and congregational song.

• philosophy of church music

• choral work

(photo credit: Tom Taylor)

Worshipping amid a pandemic: Audio & Video from services

This content was created in 2020, as churches faced the unprecedented challenge of moving services online. After briefly experimenting with livestreaming from our church building, Advent chose to livestream (Facebook Live) from people’s homes, with almost all music prerecorded. This allowed us to capitalize on the sense of intimacy created by worshipping at home in family units, and to provide a quality offering with minimal technical glitches. We wished to create something different, rather than do an inferior version of a typical Sunday service in our 1901 Tiffany Studios-designed sanctuary. We also wished to keep staff and volunteers off of mass transit at the height of the pandemic in New York City. I (with the assistance of some volunteer soloists and instrumentalists) began recording audio of hymns, songs, postludes, and offertories from home. For congregational repertoire, Advent’s wonderful Communications Director, Kevin Bowen, added the voice of our Pastor, Rev. Danielle Miller (who presides at each service), and created videos with lyrics, in addition to the music and lyrics found in our PDF bulletins. All keyboard parts, as well as all male vocals, recorded by me in Garage Band on my home Johannus Op. 7 organ or Yamaha G2 piano. Female vocals: Rev. Danielle Miller. Strings and guitar: Scot Zoid. No audio editing except for balance and reverb.

Church Music Workshops Given

Revitalizing Your Church Choir (and You). Association of Lutheran Church Musicians Hands, Hearts, and Voices Workshops. New York, New York: September 2018.

Planning Music & Liturgy for Life Passages. Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University. New York, New York: February, 2014. 

Church Music & Lutheran Worship for Pastors. Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University.  New York, New York. January, 2013.

Prayers for Peace in 20th Century “Classical” Music. Seminar for “The Classroom Revisited”, Regis High School Alumni Association, New York, New York. April, 2012.

Music and the Church: Historical Development & Promising Practices. Seminar for “The Classroom Revisited”, Regis High School Alumni Association, New York, New York. April, 2010.

Quality Music for Small Church Choirs. Workshop for the Greater Bridgeport Chapter, American Guild of Organists, Bridgeport, Connecticut. June, 2009.

Global Music & the Church. Workshop for the Greater Bridgeport Chapter, American Guild of Organists, Bridgeport, Connecticut. September, 2006.