SANCTUARY RINGERS - Handbell Choir practices on Monday evenings from 7:00 - 8:30 pm in the Z-room at church.
We play during the worship service about once a month. We did play during the Hanging of the Greens Service on the 1st Sunday of Advent, 28 November 2010. Those seasonal selections can be viewed here:
Please click on the titles below if you’d like to see us ring some of our latest presentation.
We are currently raising funds to purchase an additional octave of handbells. If you would like to make a donation or require further information, please contact the church office .
We were invited to help celebrate the 500th anniversary of the church bell Große Glocke Maria Krafft at St. Ursula in Oberursel on Sunday, August 24th, 2008. From the newspaper review: The bell is a sign of a successful community. Before they swung the bells, six handbell ringers donned white gloves, and sorted their 25 bells on a long, cushioned table. Then with both hands they picked up the instrument like a chalice and moved it in a harmonic gesture away from their body in a straight line. Well-tempered, warm sounds filled the church. The musicians created a pizzicato sound by striking the bells either onto the table or with mallets on the outside. The Sanctuary Ringers of Trinity Lutheran Church in Frankfurt electrified about 80 listeners in the church of St. Ursula…..
If you would like additional information about Sanctuary Ringers or are thinking about joining us, please talk to Jerrode Marsh, Rita Flohrs, any of the other handbell ringers, or contact the church office.
SANCTUARY CHOIR is one of Trinity Lutheran Church’s most active groups. The choir provides music regularly for Sunday morning worship services, by singing introits, prayer responses, benedictions, communion music, and anthems. The choir sings a variety of music—everything from traditional anthems and standard hymns, to Taizé choruses and excerpts from oratorios and motets, in German, Latin and English. The choir sings both a cappella and accompanied, and is occasionally enhanced with special stringed or brass instrumental accompaniment.
Sanctuary Choir is frequently asked to appear at community events within the Frankfurt area. The choir’s most popular event is the annual Advent Vesper service, held each year on the 3rd Saturday of Advent, to a standing-room only congregation at the Alte Nikolai Kirche on the Römerberg.
The choir presents special Advent and Christmas music and provides descants to the Christmas Carol singing. This year’s Vesper is Saturday, 10 December, at 17.00. Guests come from as far as Nürnberg and Suttgart to experience this tradition so come early and get your seat! The choir has also participated several times in the Nacht der internationalen Kirchenchören (Night of international church choirs) and in the closing worship services in the ecumenical Pfinsgtenfest (Pentecost Festivals). The choir has performed at Frankfurt Newcomers Festivals in the Wiesbaden Kurhaus, the Schloss Biebrich and at the Römerberg. Last year the choir participated in a festival concert with other international church choirs in the famous Basilika in Seligenstadt am Main.
Sanctuary Choir is committed to music ministry and bridges many of the programs within Trinity. Evangelism, Worship, Outreach, Fellowship and Education are all very important components of the music ministry at Trinity. The choir has performed for weddings, baptisms and funerals of Trinity members. It has also given benefit performances for the Frankfurt Bahnhof Mission. It regularly gives donations to Outreach Projects, such as the Tuyomoyo Project in Tanzania and memorial funds for neighboring English-speaking churches. Weekend choir retreats are occasionally held to foster friendships, strengthen musicianship, and to develop and spiritual growth and musical leadership.
Scholarly seminars about sacred music have been presented for the congregation and frequently choral or vocal workshops will be held for the choir members, which feature world-class professional singers who bring their knowledge about singing and performing to the group.
The choir also regularly gives full-length concerts and has recorded several CDs. Sanctuary choir has performed several classical works with professional orchestra, and has also presented two concerts of American music, both jointly with Trinity’s children and youth choirs. The most recent concert was called “How Can I Keep from Singing: a portrait of American Sacred Music” and was performed in 2009 and professionally recorded on CD. Any of the concert CDs can be obtained from the church office for a donation of €10.
Rehearsals for Sanctuary Choir take place Wednesday evenings from 7.30 to 9.30 in the Utatu Room.
Whether you have had no prior choral experience at all, or years of singing in a choir, you will find challenge and joy by joining the choir rehearsals. We take time each week to briefly share concerns and lift one another up in prayer and then use the rest of the evening with musical rehearsal, preparing for worship, concerts or community events. Please join us at any time of year!
For questions, contact Jerrode Marsh, Director of Music at jerrode.marsh@yahoo.com or contact the church office.
Open Door - Youth Choir is Trinity’s choir for youth from grades 7-12. OPEN DOOR rehearsals have been suspended. Please contact Jerrode Marsh, Director of Music if you are interested in this program.
TRINITY’S WORSHIP BAND is always looking for members who can play with us regularly or on an occasional basis. If you’re interested, contact Praise Band Leader Jan Steinbach via the church office.
ARE THERE ANY MORE GUITARISTS OUT THERE? The Worship & Music committee currently knows of four guitarists in the congregation who are willing to play for informal services, such as the annual picnic, or special services like Youth Sunday. But we’d like to know if there are any others that we could call on from time to time to play for these services, usually together with other guitarists. (You don’t have to play alone!) Please contact Jerrode Marsh now if you are interested.