Membership in Covenant’s choirs means so much more than just singing and performing. John McFarlane, a choir member since 1976, said the choir gives him a support group, a place of belonging and a way to give back.
“The choir is like our big small group,” he said. “It’s people who you know well enough to share your trials and tribulations. It’s really comforting to know you have that support.”
John said that participating in choir is one of the gifts he can give back to the church. “I get more out of worship and the music when I’ve learned it. I offer it as part of what I can give to the worship experience.”
Coming to Covenant
John and his wife Suzanne church-shopped for a place with good music and chose Covenant when they moved to Austin in 1976. John’s active participation over the years landed him on the committee that hired Tom Brown, Covenant Director of Music Ministry.
“Tom does a wonderful job in selecting a broad variety of music. It’s very eclectic, and at the same time very approachable. It’s not an accident when the words in the music are directly from the Bible verse of that day’s sermon or that they lend additional meaning to the service,” John continued. “Tom’s got a brain with about 1,010 songs in it!”
John pointed out that choir has added special music Sundays every few years. “First we had jazz, then gospel. We then added the GraceNotes Christmas concert and maybe a spring concert. It literally takes decades to build the complexity of the program we have.
“Both Jazz and Gospel Sunday are a lot of fun,” John said. “There’s the potential to get in a rut with music. Those two Sundays take the rut and plow it over. They are like a breath of fresh air.”
John finds it amazing that several of Austin’s best jazz musicians truly enjoy Jazz Sunday. “They keep coming back, year after year, with smiles on their faces. They like this gig! I think part of it is Tom Brown’s arrangements. I think he sorts through several hundred pieces of music every summer and finds things for GraceNotes and for the Sanctuary and Chancel Choirs. Much of what makes our choirs work so well is Tom’s musicianship.”
GraceNotes
No story about John and his music participation at Covenant would be complete without a stanza on GraceNotes, a group he started in 1993 and directed for three years. Initially formed to perform a Broadway show as a fundraiser for a trip to Estonia, the group, though it did not perform the show, did stick together and perform in the community.
“We were originally eight people, six of us were married couples: the Pollocks, the Horns and the McFarlanes. We had such a good time performing songs from Music Man that we decided we’d continue singing. Later, we asked Tom to shepherd us when we were part of the concert series at First Presbyterian. It worked so well we asked him to stay on.”
What makes GraceNotes so much fun, according to John, is that it gives the group’s members the opportunity to do high quality, challenging music.
John’s Musical Life
John has had many musical roles throughout life, from playing in the band, the choir and the orchestra in high school to marching in the Longhorn Band in the 60s during the legendary Vincent Dinino’s tenure. He has played alto sax, bassoon, guitar, banjo and even the glockenspiel. He was recruited by Kay Roth to assist with children’s music when his kids were young. “I actually played some roles in the kids’ musicals. I’ve been the whale; I’ve even been God!” And he’s played guitar during mission trips to Zambia and at Men in the Word.
“Some Jazz Sundays I get to play my banjo,” John added. “I had somebody comment after one of those services ‘I guess it’s hard to be sad when you’re playing the banjo.’ It is a very happy instrument!”
May John’s singing and the rest of the Sanctuary choir bring a smile to your face and happiness to your heart during Jazz Sunday and all year long!
