Click here to view 2022-2023 meeting schedule
Next Meeting March 20, 2023 – 7:30pm @ Shadyside Presbyterian Church (5121 Westminster Pl, Pittsburgh, PA 15232) – Richard Fitzgerald, DMA, Director of Music and Organist at Saint Joseph Cathedral, Columbus, OH; “Improve Your Improv” a workshop.
Click HERE for live stream link
A Message From The Dean…
Dear friends and colleagues,
The death of our beloved colleague Mark Nurnberger has caused me to think about the legacy that we
leave in the parishes and institutions that we serve. Church musicians typically become involved in
parish life well beyond our officially prescribed duties. We get to know families, and celebrate with
them everything from birth thru life commitments thru death. We become personal friends with many
in the community, which connects us with a deeper bond than that of someone hired solely to make
music happen.
I’ve often wondered if anyone will remember us when we are gone, either from end of employment or
end of life, and wish that there were a record for future generations of our service and commitment to
the parish family. Is there an official record in your church or institution of those who have served?
Do you have access to it? Does the community know the names of those who have led their worship,
taught their musicians, served in ministry, helped them celebrate life events?
I am proposing that as a way to honor those who have served before us, we gather names, dates, and
pertinent information for a historical record that becomes part of parish archives, including names of
musical leaders, directors, organists, choir members, choir librarians, vocalists and instrumentalists.
This could be an accessible public document kept with parish records. With so many parishes
combining or closing, we should remember those who helped us to use our musical gifts to praise God.
It is important to be remembered as part of an institution’s legacy and leadership, just as Mark was our
dean in the years 2003-2005, in addition to all the lives he has touched with his music ministry.
Ken
Kenneth Danchik, FAGO
Dean