Our Music Program
When I began discerning a call to be the Rector of St. Paul’s, I quickly that our music program is vital to the life of our congregation. Usually, when vestries appoint rector search committees, they try to balance the ministries and demographics represented by the chosen few. Looking back at the names of the committee members, I can now see that they were diverse and balanced, but, at the time, it felt like every member of the search committee was in the choir.
Only two of the nine actually sang with the choir, but the love of our music program was so strong among all the members that I was left with an overwhelming sense that at St. Paul’s music is as important as anything we do. In the eight years that I have served as your Rector, I have had that sense confirmed time and time again, and I am grateful for it.
For more than nine years, our music program has grown, deepened, developed, and expanded under the leadership of Jack Cleghorn. Before that, Charlie Rigsby led our program for eighteen years, helping us become the vibrant program we know and love. During Charlie and Jack’s tenures and the decades before them, our program was led and supported by legends of our church like Jennifer Brown, Linda Kelly, Sara Sharp, Ann Rye, Paul Summerlin, Mildred “Pee Wee” Crow, Frances Lindloff, and many more.
Given that Jack was a student of Charlie, it has been nearly thirty years since our program has been led by someone truly new to us. That sort of stability is important but not exceptional. This summer during a family trip to England, I noticed that since 1541 there have been only twenty-one organists and choirmasters at Durham Cathedral. During that same time, there have been forty-three deans of the cathedral. Churches that take great pride in their music program and that allocate funding accordingly do not have the opportunity to search for a new director very often, so we had better make the best of it.
As a church, we are in a great place to be searching for our next music director. Our choir is phenomenal. We are leaders in the choral landscape of northwest Arkansas and across the Episcopal diocese. We sing excellent music that attracts good volunteer and paid choir members. We have benefitted from high-quality choral instruction and pedagogy. Our children and youth program has been important to our parish for decades. We have developed strong relationships with the University of Arkansas and the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas. Most of all, a spirit of love, mutual concern, and pastoral support undergirds our music program.
We also know that northwest Arkansas is a great place to live and work. The landscape is beautiful. Cultural resources abound. Corporate investment is extraordinary. The university attracts bright people and shapes our wider commitment to higher learning. The ethos of this place is as attractive, accessible, authentic, and compassionate as anywhere else. Our only challenge will be sharing the good news of our church and Fayetteville with potential candidates.
Sometimes searches for a key position like this one quickly focus on fixing a problem. If a congregational system is full of rancor and in-fighting, the search for a new leader becomes a one-note attempt to quell division. If a leader departs and leaves a congregation in a tough spot, the church tries its best to make up for the absence by quickly plastering over the cracks rather than doing the deep work of examining the situation and planning for the future. In our case, however, I do not believe that we are dealing with rancor, nor do I think we are in a tough spot. We are building upon strength and success. We are in as good a place to be searching for our next music director as I could imagine.
We will begin that search process immediately, but, because of our strength and health, we also have the opportunity to be deliberate. I am grateful that Carol Nave has helped build a team of choral conductors who are willing to work with all our choirs. Juan Garcia has agreed to serve as the interim director of our children and youth choirs, and he will be leading our Choir Club and conducting at the 8:45 service. He already has a great relationship with those choirs, and his willingness to be a consistent presence is a great asset for us. Additionally, a team of four excellent choral musicians—Franco Basili, Emily Guadagnini, Diana Hopkins, and Carla Summers—will take turns leading our adults on Wednesday nights and during the 11:00 service. And Carol will be the anchor not only playing the organ but also holding the entire program together.
At its next meeting, the vestry will be asked to appoint a search committee to help and advise me in the work of finding and hiring our next music director. We need a group of four or five individuals who represent diverse involvement in our music program and who have specific gifts for identifying and evaluating candidates. If you have those gifts or know someone else who does, please email me and share those names.
Next week, we will publish a parish-wide survey to help the search committee narrow its focus. I hope everyone who has a relationship with our church and our music program will complete it. We want to know what aspects of music at St. Paul’s are most important to us, and what are the most important qualities to look for in our next music director.
This week, though, I want to invite you make some space for reflection, appreciation, and prayer. Carol suggested that to send out a survey right now—less than a week since we said goodbye to Jack—might inhibit our ability to reflect more openly on who we are and what we need. Tom Trenny’s visit this weekend and the hymn festival on Saturday are the perfect chance for us to celebrate what we love about music at St. Paul’s and to remind ourselves that we are starting this process from a position of real strength.
In your prayers this week, make space to celebrate what you love about music at St. Paul’s. Give thanks to God for our music program and everyone involved in it. Pray for Jack and Grace as they transition to a new chapter of their lives, and pray for our parish as we, too, experience a transition. Ask God to give you and others in our church a faithful perspective of gratitude and hopefulness as we begin searching for our next music director. As Lowell Grisham, my predecessor, remarked this week, calling Jack Cleghorn to St. Paul’s was one of the best decisions he made as our Rector. I want us to be sure that ten years from now we can say the same about whoever is next.
Yours faithfully,
Evan D. Garner
