2021-Q1. Music Director Staff Lead Report

Krishan Power, Music Director

The first quarter of 2021 presented many challenges for worship and music. We have continued refining our recorded services to better suit the needs of our congregation. Programming a variety of service types, between traditional and contemporary, has allowed us to meaningfully explore different types of worship and ritual. Our Lenten series, the Gifts of the Dark Woods, was particularly meaningful for our Covid time of isolation and riding out the rest of the winter. 

In Q1, we began recording anthems with a quartet, singing masked on individual microphones. Such a setup cannot replace the choral sound, of course, so it is far more idiomatic to program harmonized arrangements of pop music. I have endeavoured to program and record selections that are well-known, appealing, and fit the service theme exactly.

Contract negotiations are in progress for September 2021 to June 2022. I'd like to thank the leadership council for their support of my work and for finding some way to make choral music a continuing part of McDougall United. I am happy to remain at McDougall, and I am grateful to those continuing to guide our community through the rest of this difficult period.

One of my main concerns moving forward, as we continue to pull out of gathering restrictions, is the masking requirement for singers. Aside from the difficulty of singing masked, it would be essentially impossible to perform or record music properly with a masked choir. When we recorded Sonica in the fall using an area mic, unmasked, we were already having some problems achieving the right clarity of sound. Masking the choir would exacerbate these issues. To use individual microphones (which do work with masks) instead of an area mic, a small-group quartet setup is the best of a poor choice- any larger group would have far too many tuning and balance issues, which is something we're already struggling with in our much smaller quartet. The masking and choral setup issue is something to keep in mind as we plan our full relaunch.

Thanks so much,

Krishan