Greenbank Church
Links to our Music Organisations
The Church Choir The Youth Choir Age Gap - The Praise Band Musical Recitals
Music has always played a major part in the life of the parish and its liturgy, and Greenbank Parish has been served by a number of fine musicians.
The longest tenures to date have been Mr. Charles Dorman who presided over Greenbank’s music with twenty-one years' devoted service from 1925-46, and Mr. Wm J McKee with twenty-three years’ service between 1973 and 1996. They both provided stability in the Congregation’s Praise and their legacies continue to flourish to this day.
Our Organist and Choirmaster
Since
January 2005 the post of Organist and Choirmaster has been held by Alan
Mathew,
LGMS.
He was previously Director of Music at The Broomknoll
Church in Airdrie,
Lanarkshire from 1999-2005.
One of his primary objectives is to provide opportunities for our members and the wider community in our Parish to make music for the glory of God, irrespective of age or experience.
As well as Organist here at Greenbank, Alan participates in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum daily organ recitals Series. These recitals are held daily – Monday to Saturday at 1pm, and Sundays at 3pm. Details of Alan’s recitals at the Kelvingrove and here at Greenbank are available by clicking the link above, or by clicking here.
Alan is responsible for the direction of the music in the Church, which includes the development and co-ordination of the various musical activities within the Greenbank congregation (eg. The Senior Choir, The Junior Choir and the Praise Band) and the development of the Music Ministry at Greenbank (eg. The Recital Series, Reflections Services, sung liturgy at Communion Services). He is also the person you will see at the console of our Church's 3-manual organ for our regular Sunday services.
On a weekly basis Alan conducts the Church Choir rehearsal from September through to May on Thursday evenings in the Church Session House. The Greenbank Junior is also lead by Alan, and meet weekly in the Church Halls. Please click the links above for more information on our Church Choirs and Praise Band.
Music in our Church
At
Greenbank, we believe that Music plays an important part in our Worship of
God. Greenbank aim's to be a user friendly church, with varying styles of
music and worship. We use traditional 'Presbyterian' music, modern and
contemporary music, unaccompanied singing, congregational 'part' singing,
choruses and responses which form part of the Liturgy.
We have many talented musicians in the church organizations, and many of
them perform as part of our services. For example, the BB band plays for
parades and sometimes joins with the organ to give us stirring hymn tunes.
"Stand up, stand up for Jesus" has an extra dimension when accompanied by
trumpets!
Once a month, on the third Sunday at 3pm we gather for “Reflections @ 3”. These are services lead by the Choir and our Organist and are designed to be quiet and reflective. We vary the styles and themes of these services, but approximately half of these services are Choral based, using the tradition of Choral Evensong as a base – with a sung Magnificat, Nunc dimittis, Psalm and Lord’s Prayer and an Introit and Anthem.
The Greenbank Recital Series is an integral part of the Music Ministry and is organized by Alan, our Organist and Choirmaster. We open our doors to our Community and relax in the quiet atmosphere of the Church to wonderful music, then have time for fellowship over a “cuppa” in the transept area afterwards. These recitals are proving very popular and they are an exciting development in our Music Ministry – check the Church Calendar for precise dates.
The Church Organ
Our main sung worship is lead by the three manual Allen Digital Organ (Model
MDS-60). In the mid 1990's it became apparent that the pipe organ in
use at Greenbank was in need of major restoration. Unfortunately, the
cost of repair was prohibitive and the congregation began searching for
other options. After an extensive search (that brought some
'interesting' possible solutions) the congregation decided to replace the
old pipe organ with a state of the art digital organ. If you look on the
side pew in the Centenary Chapel you will find a remnant from the old pipe
organ (an organ pipe!).
Installation of the Allen Organ Console
at Greenbank Church was completed in 1996. It features the
equivalent of 57 Stops (72 Ranks) of pipe organ quality sound. In
addition, a 36 sound Smart MIDI system features orchestral sounds like
strings, woodwinds, piano, harpsichord, bells and percussion. This organ
was manufactured during the 25th anniversary of the Allen Digital Organ.
Listed below is the registration:
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The Clavinova
The
Clavinova was purchased a few years ago, to help widen the variety and scope
of the music here at Greenbank. The Clavinova is capable of many
functions. It can reproduce the sounds of thousands of different instruments
from a Grand Piano to the Bagpipes! It also has lots of synthesizer
sounds, and memory banks of rhythms and backing music.
We use the Clavinova to accompany the Church Choir, modern hymns and worship
songs and for smaller gatherings in the Church, like the Healing Service
held in the Centenary Chapel.
We hold Copyright Licences from CCLI. We have licences for song words reproduction, music reproduction, a video
licence and a Performing Rights Society Licence. If you do any copying you
should let
the Choir Secretary know as
she have to send off a list every year.
Links to our Music Organisations are
The Church Choir The Youth Choir Age Gap - The Praise Band