Music in a Pandemic

by Milt Warkentien, Music Coordinator 

We began the year with recorded worship, using soloists and small ensembles. As we came together for outdoor worship at Easter and began worshipping in the sanctuary in June, it was nice to play with other musicians and to see the congregation in person. We learned to adjust how many in a group, what proper spacing might be. The biggest achievement was trying to give the PoP community the wide variety of music they were used to. I’m extremely thankful for all the musicians, and sound and video people. Their willingness to roll with the changes that keep occurring are unbelievable. 

Handbell Ringing During a Pandemic

by Caryn Josephson 

I love ringing handbells! When the pandemic shut everything down in 2020 and group ringing wasn’t feasible, I took the opportunity to try something new — solo ringing. My first 2 solos involved playing bells on the table. The next thing I tried was a ‘bell tree’ – where the bells are strung together and hit with mallets. David Johnson used his engineering talents to construct a “tree” to hang the bells from. Playing solos is fun, but I missed being part of a group. Fortunately, a lot of composers started to come up with “8 bell” arrangements that could be safely played by 4 people. We could once again have the experience of ringing as a group. It was such a joy this fall to be able to once again play together as a full group!