SUBCOMMITTEE CO-CHAIRS:

• Kristin Jones: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 301-572-0896 (work, direct line)
• Hardee Mahoney

Subcommittee Members:

Clinton Anderson, Greg DuRoss, Timothy Elig, Jan Fetter-Degges, Marc Ford, Jeffrey Franke, Doug Hansen, Matt Jarvis, Timothy Johnson, Kristin Jones, Phillip Kronstein, Brad Latham, Hardee Mahoney, Kevin Montgomery, David Park, Jason Rios, Jean-Luc Santos-Sansfaute, Stephen Schembs, Robert Sheavly, Amy Whitford, Gregory Zitterkob, and Emil Zuberbueler

Topics Addressed at Last Meeting:

Date of Last Meeting: June 2, 2008

Tim Hagy attended to provide input on music requirements. Doug Hansen prepared questions on choir, orchestra and space. Tim provided an overview of music at St. Thomas’ over the years. St. Thomas’ was originally a mission of the Church of the Epiphany, a well-moneyed Episcopalian parish that was, and is, noted for music. The Dupont Circle area was growing and it was decided that another well-healed parish was needed there. St. Thomas’ highlighted music throughout the years as a priority of the parish. Tim described photos of the choir rehearsing in the ‘50s with a full orchestra.

We looked at photos of the interior of the old St. Thomas’ (these photos are kept in the Sacristy) to demonstrate the acoustic qualities of the high, vaulted ceiling, which “fractures” the sound into the arched chambers and reverberates it back down in “quadraphonic” sound. Tim pointed out that the old church “went in for beauty,” drawing architectural inspiration from the 19^th Century Oxford movement, which sought to restore the Anglo-Catholic high church traditions (pre-Reformation) using gothic principles that produced a musically “very live space.” The choir sat up front in split stalls: “cathedral” fashion, and were robed. Tim noted that part of our heritage is having a fine music program a musically astute congregation.

The organ was at the front of the old St. Thomas.’ The first organ owned by the parish was a Moeller, which is not a distinguished make. By the ‘60s, the Moeller was no longer working. We engaged Paul Calloway, the organist/choirmaster at the National Cathedral to consult with us. He recommended a new instrument and turned to a pre-eminent organ builder in Boston: Aeolian Skinner. The new organ was installed in 1963. It had 40 ranks of pipes which were placed in the worship space to have a direct sound. The swell box occupied about half of the existing St. Thomas’ office space. This top-notch organ was, unfortunately, destroyed in the 1970 (?) fire.

St. Thomas’ existing organ is a rehabbed Moeller that was custom-installed. According to Tim, this Moeller is “no joy to play.” He rates it as a “0” on a scale of 1-10. The tone is loud and aggressive and the instrument does not make pleasing tones. Specific criticisms of the current organ include: limited tonal color, small size, irregular voicing (varying sound levels from pipes), “ugly” (buzzing) reeds, not a pretty sound. Tim strongly recommends we look into a new organ because it doesn’t make sense to hold onto an instrument that was not good to begin with. It has only 12 ranks and only one pedal stop. Moeller pipe work is poor to begin with. They used cheap materials, not much tin or lead. The heavy economizing on materials results in poor musical quality. We might be able to sell this organ or sell the pipes for scrap.

On the other hand, our piano and harpsichord are first rank. The piano is good quality and relatively new. The harpsichord was built by Thomas Wolfe, a renowned organ builder. The Smithsonian has offered St. Thomas’ $30,000 for it and Wolfe would like it back as well. Tim does not recommend selling the harpsichord. It will continue to appreciate.

Tim looked into purchasing an Aeolian Skinner from an Episcopal cathedral in Kalamazoo that was sold to a fundamentalist purchaser that did not want the organ. It was slightly larger than the Aeolian Skinner St. Thomas’ had previously. The cost was $200,000, but the cost to purchase, pack, ship, and rebuild would have been $750,000 up to $1.5 million. The high cost of rebuilding an organ during a move also argues against keeping our current Moeller, if our plans should require the organ to be relocated. This holds true even for moving the Moeller to a new location within our existing building.

Tim provided guidelines on creating a room where music is enhanced, rather than deadened. This requires acoustics, meaning hard surfaces, a high ceiling (preferably a barrel or other vault; ribbed vaulting is best), no carpet and no acoustical tile. The hard surfaces can include stone or tile. These acoustical qualities improve the sound of the instruments, choir, people in the pews and the organ. Architectural forms built around lots of open space and lots of glass are not a good choice acoustically. The sound waves do not bounce off the glass, they pass through it. So there is no reverberation.

Concerning placement of the choir, many churches have moved away from vested choirs placed up front. Singers and instruments convey best when “speaking” directly to the central axis. To support congregational singing, the organ and choir are most often placed at the back of the space facing toward the center, or at the front, facing the center. Balconies can be used without affecting acoustical results, but that separates the choir from the congregation. In our existing worship space, there are no acoustical elements that need to be preserved.

Several locations were suggested for field trips, including Universalist National Memorial at 16^th and S, which has a good ceiling and hard floors and walls, and All Souls, which has a 3-sided balcony. The St. Rose of Lima was also mentioned. A parish in Falls Church was described, which is semi-circular in layout, with ½ fixed pews and ½ chairs with kneelers on the back. In addition, Kevin is compiling reviews of several churches and will post them on the list serve. He has photos of three and is working on another couple. Kevin also presented a book titled “God’s House is Our House.” He will post sections of interest on the Resources section of the Growth Web site and will enlarge some of the church designs to share at our next meeting. Jean-Luc will provide a list of Web sites of interest.

We continued our review of Jeff’s list of considerations and specifications. We covered elements of the Sanctuary and choir requirements, for which Tim remained to add his thoughts. The group was united in saying we love the St. Thomas’ altar, not kneeling at communion, having no communion rail, and a clean and contemporary worship space. We need to continue to offer parishioners the option of using a kneeler. We discussed the lectern (Ambo) and pulpit and their roles in the proclamation of the Word. Kevin remarked that he sees the sermon as part of the proclamation of the Word, rather than distinguishing between directly quoting scripture vs. discussing or commenting on it. Regarding seating for celebrants, we feel we need to provide flexibility.

Use of an incense burner was discussed. One comment was “don’t just set it there.” The current room is rather small and the style of the current thurible doesn’t fit the space. A clay pot with sand was suggested, along with censing the space and then taking the thurible outside. We were reminded that use of the thurible represents the prayers of the saints, a very appropriate presence for worship. We discussed whether burning incense is gaining or losing adherents currently, and decided we need to think beyond what is currently popular in our planning.

We defined what “seasonal decorations” covers, including the color of the Ambo hanging, brocade or other Altar covers and runners, the Advent Wreath, Easter flowers, the Nativity Scene and the Stations of the Cross.

We discussed the choir, including number of members. Tim recommended 15-40. Regarding space for the director and accompanists, Tim recommended space for a full orchestra. If we have adequate space, we can rent the room for recording (we rented space to do the recent CD recording at a fee of $650). The organ choice will be determined largely be the space. Tim commented that a tracker organ is the most reasonable in terms of long-term maintenance (e.g. over 100 years). A tracker organ uses traditional, lever-driven pipe stops rather than electric stop control. There is a great difference in terms of stop control. The down side is that you cannot move the console.

Next Meeting

Monday, June 16, 7:00-8:30, St. Thomas’ Upper Room

Agenda Items for next meeting: Preserving the sacred nature of the space and honoring the heritage of the church, along with continuing to review the list of specifications of elements of the worship space. We will also discuss trips to visit parishes.

Feedback Needed from Parishioners: Please let the Worship Space subcommittee know if you would like to volunteer to visit a church in the area and report back on worship space layout and elements. We need to get organized and moving on this immediately. We welcome your ideas and help!! Look for the “Talk to Me About Worship Space” badges and speak to our members at coffee hour.