The month of May began our Celebration Sundays. May 17 was Choir Celebration Sunday and we recognized those choristers and bell ringers for their dedication of 5, 10 and 20+ years of service. Hymnals were distributed to those choristers promoting to Cantate Choir and awards were given for Perfect and Best Attendances.

The Board of Music held their annual Music Scholarship auditions on May 27 and three young musicians were awarded scholarships: Ethan Wu ($1000), Matthew Chiu ($500) and Evan Cogswell ($500). Thank you to Norma Vaughn for providing an additional $1000 to support two scholarships of $500 each. This generous donation was made in memory of Norma Vaughn’s late father James McBride (Lay Musician and Minister) and her brother Howard McBride (a cellist). The scholarship winners played for our congregation in the winter and spring of 2010.

Our annual Summer Choir Camp was held at the Singing Hills Christian Conference Center in Plainfield, New Hampshire from August 23-26. It was a tremendous success. Twenty-four choristers participated and the cost was $150 per chorister ($110 for the second child) – a $37 increase from last year. Our mission craft project was No-Sew blankets to be given to the Women’s Prison as Christmas gifts for their children. Thank you to Linda Fraleigh who helped with the preparation and organization details of this camp; Charlene Dann for her leadership in the craft sessions and opening and closing prayer circles; Peggy Hartman for leading the Handbell sessions and chaperoning; and to the following chaperones: Katherine Jalbert, Courtney King, Judith Pederson, Amy Thompson Jones and Jenny Giguere; and an additional thank you to Brian and Flo Fisher for driving our choristers to and from New Hampshire safely.

Our Choir and Bell Program remained strong in numbers this year. Cherub (27); Caroler Choir (14 - doubled in size from last year); Cantate (15); Cantabile (13); Chancel Choir (28 - had two members retire this year); Adult Handbell Choir (14); Mallets Choir (8). Ribbon Development was less this year because of several choristers working on harder ribbon levels. I expect to see more ribbons awarded in the fall of 2010.

The Choral and Bell activities of our choirs were extensive this year: The Handbell Choirs attended two separate bell festivals: February 28 "Handbell Festival’ in Willimantic (Mallets) and March 20 "Spring Ring" in Windsor (Adult Bell Choir). On April 17, our church hosted the Chorister’s Guild’s Annual "Festival of Singing Children" and two members of our Cantate Choir participated. On December 5, our Cantate and Cantabile Choirs sang at the Cookie Walk, and on that same day, participated in a Choir Trip to Boston where they sang Christmas Carols at the Faneuil Hall MarketPlace. On April 30, our Chancel, Cantate and Cantabile Choirs performed a concert called "Glory in Springtime" where they sang Vivaldi’s "Gloria" and a secular program of springtime and gospel pieces. Several members in the audience made note that this was the best concert they had attended at First Church in years!

Due to Sue Falotico’s resignation as Director of the Mallets Choir in April of 2009, Peggy Hartman agreed to be the Director of the Mallets Choir starting in September of 2009, in addition to her role as Cherub Choir Director and piano accompanist. Sue Falotico agreed to continue her role as Director of the Adult Bell Choir and piano accompanist. Thank you to Sue and Peggy for a wonderful job with the bell program this year!

The funding of our section leaders this year was as vulnerable as the previous year. Music Board agreed to fund two of our four section leaders again through our annual music budget. Thus, there was a significant decrease in the overall spending of certain line items, such as special musicians and new bell and choral music. Thank you to our section leaders for your dedication to this music program: Virginia Kousen, Soprano; Lola Elliott-Hugh, Alto; Joel Garcia, Tenor (Sept.-Jan) and Michael Ersevim, Tenor (Feb.-June); and Christopher Stone, Bass. Joel Garcia took a leave of absence from his role as Tenor Section Leader from February-June and Michael Ersevim agreed to hold this position through June. Thank you to Michael Ersevim for conducting the Chancel Choir for several worship services and to Dick Dann for being the substitute organist.

Our music ministry continued to thrive as we welcomed back the Hot Cat Jazz Band on Homecoming Sunday, the Constitution Brass for our annual Festival Service of Nine Lessons and Carols and our triumphant Easter Services, and the hosting of Hartford Chapter’s Pipescreams.

Our Music at the Meetinghouse Series had an overwhelming financial support from its "Friends." This year in particular, we received a grant from the Greater Hartford Arts Council for $1000 which helped make our programming even more possible under the hard economic times. Attendance overall this year was low (50-100) people. Music Board has talked about changing the spring and fall times to encourage better attendance. The series included:

Thank you to Linda Fraleigh for her dedication with the signage (pick-up/posting/return) of the "Greater Hartford Arts Council" Sign and Budget Printers for their minimal fees for our MMH signs.

Thank you to the Music Board for organizing our yearly fund-raisers: The Cookie Walk in December and Munson’s Candy for Easter. These fundraisers were very important to help fund the miscellaneous needs of our music program that could not be fully supported through our yearly music budget due to funding of two of our section leaders.

Our music database program is still a work in progress. For me personally, the benefits of having this database program have proven to be a great resource for choral planning this year. Thank you to Brian Fisher and Al Reid for all your time and dedication to cataloguing our music. Approximately 1800 anthems and responses have been added thus far.

In closing, I would like to especially thank my music assistants, Sue Falotico and Peggy Hartman for their directorship roles with the bells and Cherub Choir and their excellent piano accompaniment throughout the year. Also, I would like to thank Rosemary Richter, Peggy Hartman, and Alison Franklin for their role as Head Choir Parent. We could not run this large program without their assistance. I would like to thank the members of the Board of Music, especially Courtney King, Chairperson, for their continued support; Al Reid, Choral Librarian; Ann Shenk, Bell Music Librarian; Brian Fisher, Choral Library Database Librarian; Chris Hernandez, Bell Table setup; Allen Shenk and Bruce Munshower, Concert risers setup; and the Church Council, Personnel Committee, and the church office staff. It has been a great joy working with all of our ministers. I look forward to another year of serving this church in its music ministry.

Respectfully submitted,

Angela R. Salcedo