Church musicians from 24 states and the Virgin Islands participated in the 55th annual Sewanee Church Music Conference July 12–18 at Dubose Conference Center in Monteagle, Tennessee. Robert Delcamp, professor of music, University of the South, planned and directed the conference.
Heading the faculty were Bruce Neswick, organist and choirmaster of the Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta; Harold Pysher, associate to the rector for music and liturgy at The Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, Palm Beach, Florida; and the Rev. James F. Turrell, assistant professor of liturgics and the history of liturgics at the School of Theology, University of the South, Sewanee.
In a variety of workshops Dr. Neswick covered plainchant and Anglican chant techniques while Dr. Pysher demonstrated hymn playing as well as anthem and psalm accompaniment. Keith Shafer, director and organist at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Augusta, Georgia, discussed Episcopal basics that were especially helpful for those who are new in the Episcopal Church. Shafer also presented new psalm settings. Mark Schweizer of St. James Press, Shafer, and Neswick led anthem-reading sessions. Neswick also demonstrated choir training and audition techniques with choristers from the Blair Children’s Chorus of Vanderbilt University and choristers from St. George’s Episcopal Church in Nashville.
Dr. Turrell led the daily services using Rites I and II and various musical settings of liturgy. Pysher and Neswick accompanied the services on the organ. Turrell also presented a series of lectures on such topics as “Singing a New Song: Church Music & the Renewal of Liturgy” and “The Seven Deadly Liturgical Sins (and what a church musician can do about them.)”
Two organ recitals were highlights of the week. Pysher and Neswick performed on both, the first being played on the recently enlarged Casavant in All Saints’ Chapel at the University of the South. The second recital was held in the Chapel of the Apostles at the School of Theology in Sewanee. Its focus was on hymns, sung by the audience and each followed by a solo work, an improvisation, or an organ duet based on the hymn.
The 153 conferees formed the choir for two services in All Saints’ Chapel. Evensong used George Dyson’s Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis. The anthem, “Christ, mighty Savior,” by Craig Phillips was commissioned for this conference and sung during Evensong. Another commissioned work was Michael Burkhardt’s set of organ variations on the hymntune “Hanover.”
In the university service on Sunday morning Schubert’s Mass in C provided the settings of texts for the Holy Eucharist. The anthem at the Offertory, “Intende voci orationis,” was also composed by Schubert. All these settings had orchestral accompaniment.
Bruce Neswick composed the setting of the psalm. The service was framed by Widor’s Andante sostenuto from the Gothic Symphony and Guilmant’s Allegro vivace from Sonata No. 2 played by Pysher. Pysher was the organist for the service, and Neswick directed the choir. The service concluded with the ringing of the bells of the Leonidas Polk Memorial Carillon.
