Music invites a response; emotional, spiritual and communal. Music in Worship invites that response and allows us to offer our music back to God in return, whether in congregational hymns, worship songs, 4-part harmony anthems or Taizé chants, to give a few examples. Diversity is our strength. We recognise that people’s response to different kinds of music in worship can be very varied in a congregation which holds all age groups and all musical tastes, and it is precisely because our experiences of music are so individual that we hope to meet the varied needs of the congregation in worship.
Music at our 11.00am morning services at St John’s can vary from a service with traditional organ hymns played on our unique Conacher organ, to a service with more contemporary music, played and sung by our unique music group. Our 4-part harmony choir The Rastrick Voices, may also join us for special services
Contact details: Pam Dimbleby
ORGAN
Our lovely 3 manual orchestral organ (Conacher Opus 15700) may be the only surviving Conacher organ from the early days of cinema. The invention of the motion picture camera in 1890 gave us the “Silent Era” of the movies. Films remained silent until 1927 and during that time were often accompanied by a cinema organ.
Our organ was initially installed in the Central Cinema, Harrogate in 1920. The publicity at the time states that the Central Cinema had, “…full orchestral music with the accompaniment on the Grand Organ”. In those days it had a set of chimes and possibly drums and other percussion. It still has a tremulant!
The organ remained there for 35 years before being moved to St John’s in the mid 50s, playing for regular services, special services and concerts. Long may it continue to do so!
Recently, our lovely Conacher organ has undergone a refurbishment, ensuring that this King of Instruments will continue to sound, both in our worship and in wider opportunities. Details of the refurbishment can be found on the Organ’s dedicated page
Details of the present specification are listed in the National Pipe Organ Register: Ref: RO1134 (when it was at Harrogate) and RO1135 (as it is now at St John’s.)
ST. JOHN'S MUSIC GROUP
The St John’s Music Group consists of instrumentalists and singers who usually play for the All-Age worship and our joint Benefice services. We offer something different, as with our present line-up of piano, two violins, viola, woodwind and singers we differ from people’s usual concept of a church music group. In addition to some of the Sunday services, we provide music for other occasions, from secular jazzy Christmas songs as part of the Christingle celebrations to pieces at a concert. We are always happy to welcome new members.
Contact details:
ST. JOHN'S VOICES
The Rastrick Voices is a 4-part harmony choir with members from across the Rastrick Benefice (St. John’s & St. Matthew’s). We come together to rehearse at various times during the year. The choir is predominantly singers from our two churches but is open to anyone wishing to join us for and singing at special services and events. These might be as varied as an important service in the Church’s year, Choral Evensong, Nine Lessons and Carols, a concert, or even a trip out to the Beamish Open Air Museum to ‘dress up’ and sing as the choir in the charming Pit Village Chapel.
If you think you would like to join us, please contact Pam Dimbleby:
