Carr drives music at his parish

Brendan Carr slides out from behind the piano bench and tells the parish choir there will be extra rehearsals for Confirmation and they have to practice that one tricky piece.

Then he has one more announcement: Rehearsal is canceled because he's playing his last high-school band concert as a graduating senior.

Some of Brendan's classmates at LaSalle Institute in Troy have after-school jobs in grocery stores and fast-food restaurants, but his work is a little different: He is the music minister at St. Mary's Church at Clinton Heights.

Notable childhood

Brendan has always been interested in music. In the first grade, he received a small keyboard for his birthday, and his parents set him up with piano lessons. He quickly became interested in guitar and added instruction in that. A natural outgrowth, he said, was the bass guitar.

In fifth grade, he picked up the violin; in ninth grade, he was tapped to play baritone horn in the school band. The next year, he followed the suggestion of a teacher to try the cornet.

And just when he thought that might be the end, his interest led him to the flute, which he started playing earlier this year.

Parish music

When he entered high school, Brendan joined the music ministry at St. Mary's as a guitarist. In early January 2004, he received a frantic call from a member of the group. The music minister had quit, she said; would Brendan play piano for that evening's Mass?

"I said I'd give it a try," he said.

He did more than that. When none of the candidates who applied for the position fit the role, Brendan continued to fill in through Lent, at Easter services and into the summer. His responsibility expanded from playing the piano to selecting music, rehearsing the choir and seeing to other aspects of the job.

"Over time, I got more and more into the position, and got into picking music and adding in my own songs," he recalled.

Final pick

By early summer, the parish stopped looking outside for a music minister and hired Brendan.

"After I'd been here for a while, I realized that it, maybe, was the work of the Holy Spirit," he said.

As St. Mary's music minister, he is responsible for playing at all weekend Masses, choosing the music for the liturgical seasons, sitting on the liturgy committee, running weekly choir rehearsals, and writing arrangements for the choir, guitarists and other instrumentalists.

He also plays for weddings, funerals, holy days, festivals and holidays.

Church music

Brendan's experience has given him a number of insights.

"Music, in the context of liturgy, should encourage people's ability to understand why they're there, to be prayerful and concentrate on the Eucharist," he said. "You don't want the music to be so out-of-control or intrusive that it almost hinders that function of the liturgy."

To choose the proper music, he studies the Scripture readings, picks out key themes and ideas, and matches those with appropriate songs and hymns.

That's the easy part, he said. What's harder is staying within those themes while catering to a wide demographic and range of musical tastes, and also staying within the ability of the congregation to sing.

"At certain times, you want to be somber, and certain times you want to be joyous," he explained. "I have to think about what part of the Mass a song is appropriate for."

More to come

Next year, Brendan plans on attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy to study engineering. As a result, he can continue as music minister at St. Mary's. He feels called to his work.

"As Christians, we are about serving others," he explained. "Jesus served others, and He told His Apostles to go out and serve others. This fulfills my duty as a Christian. It's fun being up there. If I had the option, I'd never want to stop."

(Being a high-school music minister poses challenges for Brendan Carr. Every Sunday, he has to be at church before 7 a.m., and he must make up schoolwork when playing at funerals causes him to miss classes. He hopes his appearance behind the piano at church encourages more young people to be involved at St. Mary's, either through joining the choir or picking up a recorder, guitar or other instrument. At LaSalle Institute, Brendan is involved in symphonic band, marching band, and the music ministry, which plays at Masses and prayer services throughout the year.)

(6/9/05) [[In-content Ad]]