The Episcopal Diocese of New York is a hotbed of music development, performance and innovation. On any given Sunday, hundreds of different styles of liturgical music fill Diocesan churches — enough to provide any music lover with a new experience and revelation for years of Sundays to come.

Bishop Catherine Roskam explained that music programs at a number of Diocesan congregations are “on the cutting edge of liturgy at the heart and soul of the Gospel ... speaking in different vernaculars,” with no two churches doing exactly the same thing.

To give a very limited sampling (and so you do not have to wait for Sundays to discover these treasures on your own), ENY has compiled a taste of the exciting musical symphony available at these church doorsteps.

Christ Church, Tarrytown
At Christ Church, a steel drum band, Steel Passion, has been adding an eclectic vibe to the music played at services. Several members of Christ Church played in a local steel drum group. As these pan players — as steel drummers are referred to — began to retire and move out of the area, the musicians gave the pans to the church. Parishioners excitedly formed a group in 1991, Steel Passion, and began playing together not only at church services but also for outreach and fund-raisers.

Currently, the group has eight pan players and one percussionist, and one of the musicians is from the original local band. The other members come from Christ Church, Tarrytown, and also from three other Episcopal churches in Westchester: St. Mary’s, Scarborough, St. Paul’s, Ossining, and St. Joseph of Arimathea, Elmsford. They practice in Christ Church’s parish hall, every Wednesday night and from time to time hold a Saturday afternoon workshop.

“Some have had musical training and some have not, but all have real passion for the sound,” explained Kathy Hamilton, coordinator of Steel Passion.

The band plays twice a year in church and performs in group homes, at fund-raisers for the American Cancer Society and volunteer firemen and headlines street fairs, birthday parties, and weddings. The group averages 25 performances a year. A highlight for Steel Passion was playing with Pete Seeger at a fund-raiser for University Settlement Camp in Beacon.

The group doesn’t charge for outreach work and performances, but there is a fee for parties and other events, which pays for the costs of tuning, equipment and training.

“Almost any music can be translated” for steel drums, Hamilton explained. “It’s fun to play and fun to listen to.” The band’s repertoire encompasses everything from “Amazing Grace” to Christmas carols to a number of songs from the hymnal.

For teachers, arrangers and pan builders and tuners, Hamilton explained that members of the Caribbean communities, especially Trinidad, in the area are wonderful resources. “There is so much available in the Bronx, Brooklyn and even up around here” in Westchester County, she said.

Christ the King, Stone Ridge
Christ the King, Stone Ridge has an interesting way of spicing up the music at services during the summer. In July, with the Sunday services combined into a 9 am liturgy, the church brings back its Guilty Favorites Hymn Segment for the summer. During this segment, parishioners submit song selections they would like to hear at the next service, and one is chosen each week as the offertory hymn.

The Guilty Favorite Hymns Segment was started three years ago at the suggestion of Dr. Vahe Keukjian, a parishioner.

The Rev. Robert Magliula, rector at Christ the King, explained, “In summer there is no choir, so there is a greater flexibility of what sing. Parishioners are very enthusiastic about having some say. It is much more laid back, and gives people more incentive to come. It’s just a fun thing to do.”

The suggestions number around seven or eight each week and include songs from the regular hymnal that are never used and some songs from older hymnals like the 1942 edition. Other hymns include those from Methodist and Baptist traditions, including “Take My Hand Precious Lord” and “How Great Thou Art.”

Christ the Redeemer, Pelham
Christ the Redeemer features four music groups at its liturgical services: the Cherub Choir for children grades Kindergarten through second grade, the Junior Choir for youth in third through eighth grades and the adult Senior Choir.

The Cherub Choir, which has 14 members, sings once every six weeks at the 10 am liturgy, and the Junior Choir, with around 20 members, sings once a month at the 10 am service. The Senior Choir, with 24 singers including five professionals, is the primary musical leader for all liturgies from mid-September through mid-June. The fourth musical group is the Schola Cantorum, an all-male group that performs all plain-song chants.

The leader of this active music program is Kevin Jones, the Organist and Choirmaster at Christ the Redeemer. This fall will be the start of his third season at the Pelham church, having previously served at Christ’s Church, Rye, and St. Paul’s, Staten Island.

The key to the success of the program is to get parishioners involved and keep them involved, Jones explained.

“The question was how to get suburban kids out to do anything else they could possibly do,” he said, considering their activity-filled schedules. Attendance for practices on Sundays after church was sporadic, he explained. The answer was establishing a parish-wide weekday program, named The Ark.

The Wednesday program begins n the early evening with the children’s choirs practice. “The curriculum is grade-based and includes singing, vocality and memorizing various psalms,” Jones said. “It becomes more complicated for the older children, in terms of musical, vocal and spiritual goals.”

After children’s choir practice, there is evening prayer and a catered dinner for everyone. Following dinner there is an adult education forum, a women’s connection group, committee meetings and various parish events. The evening closes with compline.

And the new system seems to be working well. The children’s choirs have doubled in size in one year.

“And we’re still growing,” Jones said. “This is a good start. I had a lot of trepidation about the church going from mid-size status to a full music program, but it has been integrated into part of the parish, and so far so good. We’ve been having very good attendance.”

Last year, for the church’s 160th anniversary, all three choirs participated in the celebration and sang pieces written specifically for them.

Epiphany, Manhattan
The focus at Epiphany is “worshipping with all five senses,” the Rev. Jennifer Linman, Assistant, explained. At this Upper East Side church, Sunday evening services are accompanied by modern music, meaning techno/blues/funk/world music, not the usual fare one thinks of for “contemporary” church music. Linman explained that she and the volunteers write some of the songs for the service and also add new beats to old hymns. This music is “actually fresh and comfortable” for younger people, she explained, so church doesn’t feel like stepping back into the 19th century. She added, “Just because you don’t like organ music doesn’t mean you can’t be a Christian.”

Grace Church, Middletown
Donald Boyer has been Choir Director at Grace Church in Middletown for two full years and leads an adult choir with 15 members, several of whom are professionals and the rest are volunteers.

“We lean toward traditional Anglican music but mix in contemporary music, spirituals and lighter styles,” Boyer said. The group uses several collections as sources for music, including The New Church Anthem Book, Advent for Choirs, and many other compilations from Oxford University Press.

“In general I find that you must mix the music to keep everybody happy,” Boyer said. “We sing Anglican chants to the psalms, but I am finding people don’t like to do that.” As a remedy, Boyer plans to incorporate a hymn tune from sources like The Portland Psalter, or have the choir sing the Anglican chant and the congregation sings just the refrain.

At the once-a-week choir practices, Boyer uses the Voice for Life program, which introduces choir members to four-level voice training and music theory. “It opens up doors for some who don’t think they can be in choir,” he explained.

Grace Church, Nyack
Robert Barrows, Organist and Choirmaster leads the Grace Church Choir, an auditioned volunteer group of 30 members.

“A vested choir has existed here at least since the Oxford Movement and possibly since the church’s founding in the 1850s,” he explained.

The choir’s repertory is drawn from the traditional Anglican sources, Elizabethan to the present, as well as from German, Italian and Spanish early baroque, high baroque, classical and romantic repertory.

There is also the Parish Choir with 12 members that leads the family service.

The parish has two youth choirs: the Junior Choristers for grades 1-3 and the Choristers for grades 4-10, which uses RSCM-graded materials and other works from sources such as Sacred Harp. Both youth choruses sing on their own and in conjunction with the Grace Church Choir.

“As to starting a youth choir,” Barrows explained, “get the best leadership you possibly can, and give them real, challenging music to do. Also make sure that they have a real liturgical function. They know instantly whether or not they’re being taken seriously!”

Heavenly Rest, Manhattan
Mollie Nichols has been Music Director and Organist at Heavenly Rest for nearly 16 years. As music director, she explained, “My main goal is that music be an integral part of the liturgy and not an end in itself. For me, music serves as a form of prayer.”

The Manhattan church has an adult choir and children’s choir, both of which lead the main 10:30 services on Sunday and holiday services. The adult choir is mixed professional and volunteer, and the children’s choir often sings with the adult choir as trebles, the high soprano voices. The church also features a hand bell choir of high school students and adults, who plays at special festival services.

Nichols works hard to use the musical talents available at Heavenly Rest as often as possible. This includes having concerts during the year in conjunction with evening services. She added, “In addition to our Lessons and Carols service in December, we have utilized a similar format during Lent by interspersing Bach excerpts from Passions and Cantatas with readings from the Bible and meditations from various spiritual writers. The Bach movements sung by our youth and adult choirs and are accompanied by chamber orchestra.”

To keep both adults and youth interested and involved in the church’s music program, Nichols incorporates art projects and games into the practices that are a modified form of the Royal School of Church Music program. The youth also put on Bible-based musicals in the spring. And the choral groups also look forward to yearly trips. Next spring, the group will travel to England, the first overseas trip.

“I try to keep the standards high but also make it fun for them and me,” she said. “A sense of humor is important.”

For the future, Nichols would like to see the addition of an evening service with contemplative music. Also, she added, “I am experimenting with separating boys and girls in choir this fall, continuing to build the hand bell choir, which I hope can do some outreach in the coming year, and I would like to develop ways to involve those who enjoy singing but don’t have the musical skills to learn difficult music on a weekly basis.”

Holy Trinity, Manhattan
Holy Trinity, Manhattan, a parish committed to worship, service and music, has a semi-professional choir of 20 that sings during the 11 am choral Eucharist on Sundays. And for the third year, children in grades 4-6 sing as a choir at the family-oriented Eucharist at 9 am. Dr. Stephen Hamilton, who teaches at Hunter and Queens Colleges, is Organist and Choir Master.

Hamilton explained that the choir performs “a wide range of very good music: Bach Mozart, Ned Roram, Ireland, Wood, Hunter. And the children also sing classical music, with some contemporary as well.” But it is all “very good music,” he emphasized. Also on occasion, he uses Lift Every Voice and Sing.

“There was a big push to establish the children’s choir,” Hamilton explained, “and maybe we will start another choir for youth as the year progresses.”

St. Andrew, Staten Island
The Rev. Michael Delaney, Priest-in-Charge at the Church of St. Andrew, has enthusiastically embraced the blossoming music program at his parish. He along with the church’s choral director, compose original music for the choirs, including the youth choir. The church is a wonderful setting for traditional music because of its age: the church will soon celebrate its 300th anniversary, and it is the oldest continuously-used church building in New York City.

St. James’, Goshen
Br. Thomas Mark Liotta, BSG, began as Music Director at St. James’ in 1990 with a choir of five. Having started basically from scratch, Liotta has had remarkable success and now directs an all-volunteer choir of 19.

“When a few new people came to join, it was discouraging because we couldn’t do anything” with such a small group, Liotta explained. The dwindling numbers had many saying that it wasn’t possible for St. James’ to have a choir, so Liotta took bold steps.

“I spoke at the Eucharist saying there was the danger of no choir at St. James’,” he recalled. And in response, which Liotta characterizes as “almost a miracle,” new members started joining. “I took it to the congregation,” he described.

And it would have been a great loss to the church to not have a choir. “It is almost an integral part of liturgy itself,” Liotta said of a choir. “The choir should never be a show piece. It must be a part of the prayer of Eucharist; not just sort of an appendage. The mission is to add beauty to the Eucharist.”

“We started slowly,” Liotta explained, and he gradually introduced greater difficulty in the music. “It took about five years for the choir to be trusting enough to do a cappella work, and they have since maintained a level of quite good proficiency both in choral literature and styles of music.”

Music selections range from baroque to contemporary. The family Eucharist features modern and hymnal music with piano accompaniment, and the main service is a choral Eucharist.

In the mid-1990s, Liotta began a cherub choir for children ages 6-11, which now has 12 members. They rehearse between services and sing at the family Eucharist an average of five times during the year and at Christmas.

Liotta noted the “interesting dynamic of choir itself. They are sort of support for one another.” The St. James’ choir features four sets of husbands and wives and one father and daughter.

“They are a community, yet they are not seen as a closed club,” he added. “The choir has to be seen as in partnership with worshipping community.” Choir members are “leaders in one sense yet co-worshipers with congregation in another.”

St. James the Less, Scarsdale
“We’ve grown quite a bit,” Fiona Southerland said excitedly. The Music Director at St. James the Less in Scarsdale added, “We’ve worked really hard to bring in a lot of new families, and so far it’s been working.”

St. James has an adult choir, which Southerland describes as being a “very stalwart group of people who sing almost every Sunday.” There are 20 members with four professionals, and they sing regular hymns as well as big works, like Vivaldi’s Gloria.

The church has also had a children’s choir for the past three-and-a-half years. Southerland started with six children, and now has 51 singing. There are separate boys and girls choirs, but all youth from second to 12th grades sing and practice together.

“This goes along with the Anglican tradition,” Southerland explained, “and it changes everything. Rather than having younger kids singing cute little pieces, they sing real things like Mozart and Bach. And they have the pride of being able to do adult classical music.”

She continued, “Children have to be challenged, want to be challenged, want to have to rise to occasion and find that they can. Every piece is a learning tool, so they are always thinking about it and always challenged.”

Southerland counts this program style as the reason for the success of St. James’ choirs. “This is what makes a program really grow, so it is not a sing-a-long.”

The girls sing all together at Eucharist, except occasionally when senior girls do very demanding pieces. The boys’ chorus often sings with the girls, but the boys also get opportunity to sing and lead worship by themselves.

By instilling in the youth singers the importance of leading worship and being attentive during the service, Southerland has found that they are “learning about liturgy, the Prayer Book and the whys and hows of our liturgy.”

The parish also has added hand bell choir to the music program, and the group includes parishioners from 12 to 80.

Another exciting development for the parish is the acceptance of the St. James’ choir as resident choir of St. Alban’s Cathedral in St. Alban’s, England for one week in August 2005.

St. Mary’s, Mohegan Lake
The music program at St. Mary’s is focused primarily on families, with a family liturgy and a family musical band. The music selection is constantly changing, drawing from different traditions and featuring a lot of props. In addition, St. Mary’s has a bell choir. For the more traditional church-goers, St. Mary’s has a Wednesday evening service done in plainchant.