Music Ministry
Music at First Baptist Church
The Music Ministry of First Baptist Church represents a long tradition of utilizing music education and training for our church family to enable weekly worship and outreach to our community. All are welcomed to opportunities and training for faith formation, stewardship of gifts, and participation in the Christian communities of our ensembles.
The Music Ministry sponsors musical groups for every age group in our congregation. For adults and youth, extensive ensemble offerings for both singers and ringers allow all people of all abilities to engage and offer their God-given talents in worship. For children, transportation from most schools and a coordinated program of musical training, Christian formation, supervised recreation, and refreshments on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons make possible the involvement of the youngest members of our church family in creative and educational activities that enable them to be active participants in the musical, worshiping, and missional life of our congregation.
The goal of our Music Ministry is equipping disciples to be lifelong worshippers. We hope you’ll join us and find your calling!
Choirs
Chancel Choir
Rehearsals: Thursday evenings, 7:00-8:15 PM in the Adult Choir Room
As the primary vocal ensemble of the church, the Chancel Choir has a rich tradition of worship leadership and music making. They sing a broad spectrum of literature, including classical choral literature, spirituals, and new settings. All youth and adults are welcomed and encouraged to join our singing family! No audition is required, but joy and smiles are!
Preschool Music Activity
Rehearsals: Tuesday afternoons, 3:30-4:00 in the downstairs Music Room
Boys and girls ages four and five are invited to come and join this group. Marching, skipping, hopping, singing, crawling, tapping, and clapping all happen every Tuesday afternoon. This is a time of joyful musical exploration and discovery. These children learn how to match a pitch with their voices and how to feel the beat within their bodies. The goal of the Music Ministry at FBC is for our children to grow to become life-long lovers of music and life-long worshippers of God, and Preschool Music Activity is a great place to start!
Children’s Choir 1
Rehearsals: Tuesday afternoons, 4:30-5:00 in the downstairs Music Room
Children in grades 1-3 are welcome to join us for Children’s Choir I as part of our Tuesday After-School program. We build on skills begun in Preschool Music Activity. Along with continued pitch and rhythm exploration this group will begin learning the fundamentals of reading music, and what it means to be a worship leader. They will lead in worship several times during the year. On Tuesdays you can find this group making a joyful noise, singing silly songs and anthems for worship, playing rhythm games, accompanying themselves on Orff instruments, learning about hymns, and generally having a great time.
Children’s Choir 2
Rehearsals: Wednesday afternoons, 4:15-5:00 in the downstairs Music Room
Choir II affords older elementary students in Grades 4-6 an opportunity to develop choral technique and to regularly participate in worship. They also continue to study the content, purpose, and meaning of the corporate worship of FBC while simultaneously honing their vocal and music theory skills. In tandem with their Christian Life studies, Choir II singers not only expand their musical lives, but their spiritual and worship lives.
Youth Choir
Rehearsals: Wednesday evenings, 5:10-5:55 in the Adult Choir Room
The Youth Choir is a group of middle-school through college-aged young men and women.
Handbells
First Baptist Henderson has one of the largest collections of handbells and handchimes in captivity. Our handbell ensembles ring three sets of bells made by Schulmerich Carillons of Sellersville, PA. The original set, purchased in 1967, now spans six octaves. The second set was added in 1974 and is four-and-a-half octaves. The third three-octave set was added in 2004. The ensembles also use two sets of Malmark handchimes: one five-octave set and one three octave set. In all the collection includes 246 bells and chimes.
Evening Adult Ringers
Rehearsals: Wednesday evenings, 7:00-8:00pm in the downstairs Music Room
The Evening Adult Ringers meets on Wednesday evenings for a rollicking time of ringing and fellowship. They have given benefit concerts which raised over $500 for A.C.T.S. (Area Christians Together in Service), $2000 for ALS research in memory of a former ringer, and $2000 to help fund a successful kidney transplant for a current ringer. Go Team!!! We always have room for one or two more ringers!
New Ringers
Rehearsals: Wednesday afternoons, 3:30-4:15pm in the downstairs Music Room
Come down to the Children’s Music Room on any Wednesday afternoon and you will experience organized chaos! A room full of 4th through 6th graders with bells in their hands can be seen and heard each week learning how to ring. These ringers are introduced to all the varied skills required for ringing handbells and for later participation in The Bell Ringers. Skills are broken down and taught step-by-step. No prior experience is required but regular attendance is helpful and speeds the learning process. This group rings in programs during the Advent and Spring seasons and occasionally participates in worship.
The Bell Ringers
Rehearsals: Sunday afternoons, 4:30-6:00pm in the downstairs Music Room
One of the largest youth handbell programs in the United States, The Bell Ringers of The First Baptist Church have concertized and taken part in major handbell festivals from Florida to the Canadian border since their founding in 1969.
In addition to regular participation in the worship services of their own church, The Bell Ringers have made an annual appearance in Duke University Chapel for over four decades providing music for a Sunday morning Advent worship service. In recent years, The Bell Ringers have performed in Hill Hall on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill for the North Carolina Music Teachers Association, the Greensboro Coliseum for the annual meeting of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and on several occasions in joint concerts with the North Carolina Boys Choir. In 2010 the group performed for the state convention of the North Carolina Federated Women’s Clubs.
The thirty-four seventh through twelfth graders who make up the group have from three to eight years of experience and training in handbell ringing.
Summer Ringers
Short-term intergenerational group.
Sanctuary Organ
The first organ housed in the present building of The First Baptist Church of Henderson was a 9-rank Austin organ installed in 1926 to coincide with the dedication of the sanctuary. By the late 1960’s, the growth of the First Baptist Music Ministry had exceeded the usefulness of such a small instrument. The installation of the present Möller organ was combined with renovation and expansion of the Sanctuary Chancel, completed in 1968. The resulting instrument was both eclectic and versatile, including an exposed German positiv, a motorized hydraulic lift for console maneuverability, and a high-pressure English Festival Trumpet. On October 31, 1999, the instrument was dedicated to the memory of the church’s long-time and beloved Organist and Music Associate Mary Lou Young, who served this congregation faithfully from 1959-1998.
The only additions made to the instrument over the next several decades were in the late 1970’s: at 32’ Untersatz resultant, a composed 32’ Reed Cornet, and a Zimbelstern. By the beginning of this decade however, deterioration in the organ’s original pneumatic switching system had progressed to a near-critical point. In late 2001, Minster of Music Phil Young and Associate Minister of Music Mark Hopper began to design a series of additions to the instrument, which, coupled with a control system renovation, would not only expand the capabilities of the organ in recital, but would open a new world of possibilities in service playing. This dream became reality in late 2003 with a generous gift from Hallie Frank Mills Pegram to underwrite the entire project.
The final design would address several deficiencies in the organ. The existing swell would be completed with a new 4’ principal and a full reed chorus at 16’, 8’, and 4’ pitch levels. A new expressive choir division would add many color and soft expressive stops. This division would be made up of antique pipework from several sources, including a french horn from the 1920 Æolian organ at Mt. Sinai Temple in Stamford, Connecticut, and an open wood flute from an 1892 organ. The great division would be expanded to include a reed chorus and a 16’ violone to round out the principal chorus. A contract was signed in March, 2004, with Grooms and Payne, Ltd., of Louisa, Virginia. Replacement of the control and console system took place during Lent, 2005. The reconfigured swell and choir divisions were installed in the fall of the same year, and additions to the great division were installed in spring, 2006. Final work on the instrument was completed in May, 2006.
Other Instruments
First Baptist Henderson also has a full complement of pianos. Children’s ensembles enjoy the 5’3” Boston grand in the Children’s Music Room. A 6’1” Boston grand serves both as the rehearsal instrument for the Adult Choir Room and as a performance instrument for the Clyde A. Jeffcoat Memorial Assembly Room. The Sanctuary houses a 7’ Baldwin grand given by the Wester family. The church has also preserved and maintained one of its original instruments, a 19th Century Knabe cabinet grand piano.
Worship is also enhanced by a Zuckermann kit harpsichord, built in 1972 by First Baptist’s long-time Minister of Music Philip M. Young.
