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Brookside Congregational Church
About Brookside Congregational Church
 
Room to Grow,  Room to Serve,  Room for You


Music

Brookside's Music ministry plays an active, vital role in worship each week, and provides an opportunity for participants to "serve the Lord with gladness" through their love of music and their faith.

There are many ways to get involved:
Chancel Choir
Children's Choir
• Carillonneurs (bell ringers)
• Music Committee

About the Brookside Sanctuary Organ


Chancel Choir
photoRehearsals: Twice weekly
Weds. 7:30 to 9 p.m. in the Choir Room and
Sun. 9 a.m. in the Sanctuary

This dedicated group of people includes teenagers to senior citizens.

The Chancel Choir participates in Sunday services through through late May/early June. Watch future Chronicles for further information.

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Children's Choir
photoRehearsals: Every Sunday

through December 20
Sun. 11:15 - 11:45 a.m. in the Choir Room

Children ages 4 and up are invited to join Brookside's Children's Choir, which will sing on Thanksgiving Sunday (November 22), December 6, and Christmas Eve.

Parents should bring their children from Church School to the Choir Room for the rehearsal. At the beginning of the rehearsal the children will have a snack followed by singing songs, playing rhythm instruments, and creating an art project.

Watch future Chronicles for further information.

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Carillonneurs - Ring a Bell?
(All ages)

Before church on Sunday mornings, volunteers provide about 10 minutes of bell music for arriving worshipers. Our nine bell Smyth Chime is a musical instrument that is relatively easy to use; but you do need to read music and be able to climb the rather long flight of stairs to the bell tower.

If you'd like to know more, please contact us.


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The Brookside Sanctuary Organ

photoThe organ was built in 1933 by the Austin Organ Company, Inc. of Hartford, Connecticut, using a significant amount of pipework from the church's existing 1902 Hutchings-Votey Opus 1505 organ. When the congregation relocated from the downtown to the current site in 1959, the organ was moved. While the move involved dismantling the organ, it was essentially unchanged except for a row of previously visible pipes that was placed out of sight in the new location. Austin Organ Company moved the organ.

The organ as it existed in the early 1990's functioned very reliably, due to the dependable mechanisms for which Austin organs are known. However, tonally it lacked much. Many organs built in the 1920's and 30's had a voicing style that was characterized by a dull, opaque sound. The 1933 Brookside Sanctuary organ had those characteristics. In addition, when the instrument was relocated in 1959, in spite of the fact that organs are custom designed for the room in which they are housed, no effort was made to regulate the instrument to the new room.

Most organs built in the 1930's have ceased to exist, because necessary tonal renovations have resulted in entirely new instruments. Since much of the Brookside Sanctuary organ's pipework and all of the mechanisms is of very high quality, to discard everything would not have been responsible stewardship of our resources.

photoIn 1993, with the assistance of Robert Leslie of New England Organ Service, Brookside developed a three-phase plan for rebuilding the sanctuary organ, which would first address the tonal limitations of the instrument, while planning for the eventual replacement of the 1933 console and the need to re-leather the entire mechanism. Phase 1 had as its purpose to enlarge the tonal pallet of the organ by enhancing the bass and treble areas of the sound. Phase 2 would complete the tonal enhancement begun in Phase 1 and replace the console. Phase 3 would re-leather the mechanism.

Phase 1 was completed in 1995 and included extensive regulation of 31 ranks of the sanctuary organ and the addition of eight new ranks. Robert Leslie did all the regulation, while the new pipes were supplied by Austin Organ Company.

Phase 2 was initiated in 1998. Six stops, containing 402 pipes, were transported to Austin Organ Company in Hartford, Connecticut and revoiced. In addition, 183 new pipes made by AR Schopp's Sons, Inc. were added. The pipe transportation, final regulation, and construction of two new windchests were spearheaded by K. R. Bengtson of Laconia, New Hampshire.

photoThe new drawknob console, which was made possible by a generous donation from the family of Mary Schow, was designed and built by Dudley Terrill of the Terrill Organ Company of Bow, New Hampshire. The three keyboard manuals have bone naturals and rosewood sharps. The pedal board has maple naturals and rosewood sharps. The keydesk and trim are walnut. The stop action contains Harris drawknobs and tilting tablet couplers. The combination action/stop processor is a solid state Peterson system with 99 levels of memory. The white woodwork is matched to the other colonial architectural features in the sanctuary.

Brookside is excited to announce the beginning of the third and final phase of the organ restoration project: releathering the entire sanctuary organ. Currently, Brookside has raised about $30,000 to fund Phase 3 of the project. A generous donation of $19,000 was given by Dr. and Mrs. Robert Lord in honor of the Rev. William Donoghue, recently retired Pastor of Brookside Church. We hope to initiate this project during the summer of 2007.


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Brookside Congregational Church
2013 Elm Street ~ Manchester, NH 03104
Telephone: (603) 669-2807 ~ Fax: (603) 668-9041

Sunday morning worship and Church School: 10:00 a.m.

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