Monday March 17, 2008

Singing praises of Easter

By JADE CHAN

THE Sanctuary choir members of Trinity Methodist Church Petaling Jaya’s (TMCPJ) were busy fine-tuning their performances as they rehearsed for the church’s upcoming Easter cantata entitled The Wondrous Cross recently.

“A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment; in our case it is the choir singing with musical accompaniment like piano, organ, guitar, drums and violins,” said choir conductor Deborah David.

“The musical work presents a simple message about the meaning of Easter – the last days of Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection – in a musical form.”

Volunteer musicians: Church members will be playing the piano, organ, guitar, drums and violins to accompany the choir’s singing.

It’s not about the Easter Bunny, but a contemporary musical setting that presents an all-encompassing story of the sacrifice of Jesus for all our sins,” she said.

David, 26, said the choir had been putting up Easter and Christmas performances for the past 10 years.

The sanctuary can accommodate 800 to 1,000 people.

“The cantata has a two-fold purpose. Firstly: evangelical to invite non-Christians to learn about the faith. Secondly, for social concerns, to collect funds for the church’s outreach programme.

“Our collection this year will go towards assisting needy patients who require funds to help pay for their dialysis treatments.”

TMCPJ’s production comprises 40 people ranging from those in their late teens to young-at-heart 70-somethings, many of whom comprise family members.

Among them is the Tan family – daughter Isabel, 18, plays the violin; mother Margaret, 52, plays the organ; father Jeffery, 51, sings the tenor in the choir.

“We’ve been ‘offering’ our talents for the past four to nine years. The only difference is that the music has become more complicated,” said Margaret.

Isabel, a Methodist College student, and Margaret also play at their church friends’ weddings upon request.

While Isabel is formally trained in playing violin and piano, and Jeffery has been singing in church choirs for over 20 years, both said that they don’t have a preferred instrument or genre to sing.

Husband-and-wife pair John and Yoko Raj have been part of TMCPJ’s church choir for five and 17 years respectively.

“I’ve been singing throughout my school to university days. I guess it’s my passion for singing that has kept me going till today,” said Yoko, 52, who sings alto.

“I only joined the church choir when I was pushed by a previous conductor, but it’s an activity I enjoy doing,” said 59-year-old John, who sings bass.

Admission to the cantata is free and open to non-Muslims only.

TMCPJ is locatedat 6, Jalan 5/37, PJ. The one-hour performance will be held on March 23 and 30 at 8.30pm at TMCPJ’s main sanctuary.

For details or to contribute to the outreach programme, call 03-7956 5986.