Making a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord

Music is an important expression of faith in our spiritual life at Hickory Neck. We use songs from two sources: The Episcopal Hymnal 1982 and the Hickory Neck Hymnal, a collection of more contemporary spiritual songs used at our 9 a.m. service. Hickory Neck is blessed with the services of

Four music-making organizations 
• The Parish Choir
• The Praise Band
• The Children’s Choir
• The Choral Scholars

Two Pipe organs 
• A small 2 rank instrument in the Historic Chapel built by Temple Organs
• An 11 rank pipe organ in the new building which started as a Victorian instrument in 1901

a Yamaha Clavinova and a Baldwin Hamilton studio piano.

Dr. Ed Godshall is our organist and choirmaster

Hymns are sung by the congregation without accompaniment at the 8 a.m. Eucharist. The 9 a.m. Eucharist is alternately led by the musical forces of our Praise Band and by the Parish Choir under the direction of Dr. Godshall. Dr. Godshall plays the organ at the 11:15 Eucharist and directs the Choral Scholars during the William and Mary school year.

Praise Band

Praise Band, L to R: Tom Kelly, Sue Banks, Mary Jo Smith, Phyllis Faas, Paul Casanave, Cheryl Matthews,Nancy Aschiero, Mayes Matthews, Mark Paul, Don Seeterlin.

The Praise Band includes guitars, flute, recorder, drums, washtub, string bass, and keyboard all played by dedicated members of the Parish family under the capable leadership of Nancy Aschiero and the organizational leadership of Phyllis Faas. Mandatory reharsals are held at 7 p.m. on the Friday evening before the Sunday mornings on which the Praise Band plays, the second and fourth Sundays of the month. New members are always welcome and those interested should speak directly to Nancy or Phyllis.

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Parish Choir

Choir, left to right: Jim McGee, Mayes Mathews, Randy Tanner, Suzanne Olsen, Bill Teale, Laurie Brown, Tara Best, Lewis Sherman, Ed Godshall, Ed Joyner, Bunky Garfield, Joy Tanner, Alison Bailes, Jennie McCray, Cheryl Mathews, Carol Smith, Alita Small, Linda Becker. Not in photo: Bert Geddy.

On the first, third, and fifth Sundays of the month the music at the 9 am service is led by the Parish Choir under the direction of Dr. Godshall at the organ. The Parish Choir consists of more than 15 volunteers who are all members of the Hickory Neck community. Many have little or no formal musical training; music reading is taught and the music sung on Sunday morning is learned in the weekly Thursday night rehearsals which start punctually at 7:30 p.m. The musical repertory is some of the formal music of the Episcopal Church as well as more contemporary items.

The Parish Choir was first an informal group that sang twice yearly for the major festival services of Christmas and Easter. Since the fall of 2005 the choir has been a year-round activity; the ensemble sings from September through June and takes a summer break in July and August. The choir sings for special services on Christmas Eve and during Lent and Holy Week.

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Choral Scholars

Choral scholars, front row: Sara Aviles, Lucy Mathias, Jessica Thurnes, Rob Landicho (Choral Scholars’ Director); Back row: Peter Carlson, Dustin Smith, Lindsey Hayes (Choral Scholars’ Co-ordinator). Not in photo: Christian Pelfrey.

The 11:15 service features more traditional music than the 9 a.m. service. During months when The College of William and Mary is in session, musical leadership is provided by the Choral Scholars, an ensemble of eight music students from the College. The Choral Scholars sing more formal repertoire, including music by such composers as Gibbons, Tallis, Farrant, Wood, Vaughan Williams, Byrd, Rutter, and Mozart. This ensemble also assists with special evensongs during Lent and with services during Holy Week.

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Organs

The leadership of Hickory Neck Church has seen to it that both the Historic Chapel and the new building are furnished with suitable pipe organs.

The Historic Chapel acquired a small pipe organ in the 1980s. This instrument was originally built as a demonstration model by Temple Organs. When it was demonstrated at Hickory Neck, the decision was quickly made to purchase it for the historic building. This organ has three stops from two ranks of pipes. The stops are 8′, 4′ and 2′; they are conveniently divided at middle C. The eight and two are derived from the stopped flute rank and the 4′ is an independent principal. The instrument is completely unenclosed which enables its sound to reach the widest possible area of the room. The instrument has one keyboard and a small pull-down pedalboard.

When the new building on the Hickory Neck campus was being planned, there was the hope that a suitable pipe organ could be acquired for the new worship space. Fortuitously, Old Donation Episcopal Church in Virginia Beach was looking for a new home for its pipe organ which had been obtained from the Organ Clearing House in 1980.

A committee of Hickory Neck Parishioners auditioned the organ which had originally been built by Jesse Woodberry in 1901 and decided it what just what the new building needed. Since Old Donation needed to clear the space for their choir, the instrument was soon dismantled and put into climate controlled storage until the new building at Hickory Neck was ready. Advice on where the organ was to be placed in the new building was sought and it was agreed that the perfect place acoustically would be front and center in the worship space so that the sound of the instrument would reach all the corners of the room; to that end, the front of the new chapel space was designed to accept the instrument.

During the last few weeks of work on the new building and before the dedicatory service, the organ was removed from storage and reassembled in its new home by Ron Tindall. It was first used at the Consecration service on Saturday 24 June 2006.

Specification:

The organ was totally renovated and revoiced in 2007 by Central Pipe Organ Services under the direction of Stephen Hunt and Donald Clarke.
History of the organ can be found here.

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