Annual Report from Phillip Morgan, Director of Music

Our wonderful Chancel Choir has continued to be absolutely top notch and to grow throughout
the last year. Their hard work has truly been unparalleled. The Chancel Choir has provided
special music and leadership in worship for 48 Sunday services, one Maundy Thursday service,
and one Christmas Eve service, preparing 65 anthems for worship services.

The past year presented, for the first time in my tenure as music director, new opportunities for
the Chancel Choir to collaborate with other musical groups both choral and instrumental. In
January the Chancel Choir joined with the Central High School Advanced Womens Chorus, the
St. Stephens Baptist Church Choir, and Voices of Kentuckiana in a concert with the Louisville
Orchestra honoring the life of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 2016 also featured
the joint presentation of the sacred oratorio Elijah by Felix Mendelssohn with the choir of
Second Presbyterian Church in May. In the same weekend the chancel choir recorded several
anthems to be featured in a promotional video for the Glory to God hymnal that was shown at the
2016 General Assembly.

In 2017 a major goal will be to continue these collaborations of our musical ensembles.
Currently there are also preliminary plans to combine in a festival with the J.W. Tiggs Chorale
and the handbell ensemble of St. Stephen Baptist Church, and hopefully we will welcome the
Louisville Brass in Advent for the festival anthem Gloria by Randol Alan Bass.

Other highlights of the year have definitely been the opportunity to lead worship through choral
music which has acted as the framework for Sunday morning worship. The choir was absolutely
stunning singing spirituals and works by African American composers during the dramatic
readings from the Cotton Patch Gospel by Clarence Jordan on Palm Sunday. Also our annual
musical service during Advent presented well loved carols for choir by John Rutter.

Several people have sung with the Chancel Choir in 2016, and I would like to thank them for all
of their hard work. I know that even though several of these people have moved away from us
physically, they are still very much a part of who we are as a choir. Members of the 2014
Chancel Choir were (* denotes a new member since February 2016):

Laura Atkinson Trevor Johnson

Melissa Atkinson Paul Kempf
Molly Atkinson Eileene MacFalls
Charlie Baker Larry Moore
Richard Barnett Stacey Moore
Katie Cobb Debbie Moore
Haley DeWitt Carol Noffsinger
Ann Deibert Mario Ransan*
Marie Ellis* Bryan Reiff
Carole Gnatuk Giselle Smith
Robb Gwaltney Charles Stanford
Amanda Horton Susan Stanford
Cecily Johnson Jason Steigerwalt
Craig Johnson Hagan Zoellers*
I would also like to thank members of the Central Orchestra who have continued to improve.
Members of the orchetra provided service music for several 12 Sunday morning services and for
the Good Friday service as well as hymn accompaniment several more times throughout the year.
Because of such a small number of players this past year has seen the orchestra members playing
in various solo and ensemble combinations. Im so thankful for their dedication in practicing and
rehearsing independently and their commitment to providing music for worship.

Members of the Orchestra in 2016 are:

Charlie Baker Trevor Johnson
Carole Gnatuk Lisa Kolb
As music director, I believe that our volunteer music ensembles are the biggest part of our
musical worship at Central. I am committed to growth and continued care of both the choir and
orchestra.

Last year saw the development of an idea that I have shared in the annual report since becoming
music director in 2013. For three months we experimented with a Handbell Ensemble. We were
fortunate to be able to borrow the set of handbells from St. Francis in the Fields Episcopal
Church for a period to see if this would be a potential avenue worth exploring for Central. It was
a wonderful success with 11 people participating! Because of the nature of handbells and the
skill they require I was also able to make this a multigenerational activity with members as
young as 5th graders. We discovered that this was perhaps the best, and completely unexpected,
blessing of this group. It was astounding, refreshing, at times hilarious, and mostly completely
touching to see 10 year olds, 70-somethings, and lots of people in between go through the same
process of learning starting at the same fundamental skill. Sometimes 70-somethings helped 10
year olds and sometimes 10 year olds scolded 70-somethings for missing G5 one too many
times.

I am committed to making a Handbell Ensemble a long-term reality at Central, and others have
joined in my vision to achieve that. The biggest challenge is that, unlike a choir or an orchestra, it
requires acquisition or purchase of a costly set of handbells and supplies. Now that I know this
type of ensemble can work here and I have seen the numerous benefits, the next step is to create
a plan to fund this endeavor. This is a top priority in 2017, the further development of Central
Ringers: a multigenerational Handbell Ensemble.

In the next year I hope to create even more opportunities for participation in our musical
experiences here at Central, particularly for children and youth. I intend to find a way to get the
children of our congregation involved in what is already a vibrant music program. Performance
is not the end goal but rather to teach our children how music is a big part of faith formation and
foster the love Central Presbyterian has for music at an earlier age than weve previously dealt
with before.

Also in 2016 I was asked to participate in two great activities in service to the larger church. In
June of last year I had the privelage of conducting the choir of nearly 400 at our denominations
Youth Triennium. I also agreed to serve on the planning team for the 2017 Music & Worship
Conferences at Montreat on which I will continue to serve through June of this year. These
oppurtunities have been incredibly rewarding to me and I have grown so much from each of
these.

Thanks to generous donations to the Music & Arts Fund, we were once again able to have the
Rascals of Ragtyme for our annual Mardi Gras service as well as a various musical guests
throughout the year. Thank you so much for your financial gifts that sustain this level of music in
our worship.

It has been a terrific year! I cant wait for the next. Hopefully there will be traditions that we love
and look forward to each year. And hopefully we will present something in a new light that
touches one among us. It is an honor to be here among you. Let these words of Fred Pratt Green
inspire our tuneful worship together.

When in our music God is glorified,

and adoration leaves no room for pride,
it is as though the whole creation cried
Alleluia!

How often, making music, we have found

a new dimension in the world of sound,
as worship moved us to a more profound
Alleluia!

So has the Church, in liturgy and song,

in faith and love, through centuries of wrong,
borne witness to the truth in every tongue,
Alleluia!

And did not Jesus sing a psalm that night

when utmost evil strove against the Light?
Then let us sing, for whom he won the fight,
Alleluia!

Let every instrument be tuned for praise!

Let all rejoice who have a voice to raise!
And may God give us faith to sing always
Alleluia! Amen.

Submitted by Phillip Morgan, Director of Music

February 2017

When In Our Music God Is Glorified. Words: Fred Pratt Green. 1972 by Hope Publishing Co. Reprinted with
permission. Onelicense.net # A-702327