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MUSIC AT FIRST CHURCH

Music is a wonderful gift from God.  Our earliest recorded Hebrew scriptures reveal that music has been central to worship from the beginning.  Throughout the Old and New Testaments, we are instructed to “sing a new song to the Lord,” and to “praise God with strings and pipe!”  This rich tradition continues around the world and here at First Church.

         

CARILLON SUNDAYS

With all the changes in our personal and church family routines, our carillon provides an opportunity for some level of “normalcy” during this difficult time. I am pleased to tell you that our wonderful carillonneur, Tanya Lukyanova, will continue to play the carillon on the first Sunday morning of the month through the summer. Specific time will be announced, so that, if you would like, you can come to the church and listen from your car. I also see this as a nice gesture to the neighborhood.

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The Organ

The pipe organ has rightly been called “The King of Instruments.”  Reigning over our sanctuary from the rear gallery is a glorious instrument built in 1962 by Austin Organs, Incorporated, of Hartford, Connecticut.  The organ, consisting of 3,135 pipes in five divisions, is played from a console of three manuals (keyboards) and pedals.  It is a versatile instrument, capable of accompanying choirs, leading the congregation in song, and displaying organ literature of all historical periods in concert. Capable of everything from a subtle murmur to thundering bombast, it is one of the largest pipe organs in the region, its value second only to the building and property.