Teen serves church through music Ready to rock by leading

Eric Lebel took what he learned at the Music and Liturgy at the Pyramid Lake program last summer and shook things up back at his parish.

The 15-year-old parishioner of Our Lady of the Annunciation in Queensbury suggested the parish start a contemporary music group. Eric wanted to recreate there some of the same feelings he experienced up in the Adirondacks.

"My experience at Pyramid Lake was amazing," he said. "I really enjoyed the community feel from everyone there. I was very impressed with the musical talent that the participants showed and how they wanted to use that talent to bring glory to God during Mass. I figured that there must be people like that in our parish as well."

Modern notes
Eric met with his pastor Rev. Joseph Busch and the parish's music director, Sue Wright, and pitched his idea for the contemporary choir. Both the pastor and music director agreed that the time was right at Annunciation.

Soon there were 20 people signed up and participating in weekly Friday night rehearsals. The contemporary choir includes vocalists as well as conga drums and electric guitars, Mrs. Wright said. 

On Christmas Eve the group led the music during one of the evening's Masses. In the coming year they will lead sung prayer during the Sunday morning Masses on a biweekly basis.

Both Eric and Mrs. Wright have been impressed with the welcome the contemporary choir has received from the parish.

In addition to the new music and instruments, the contemporary choir leads the music from the front of the church rather than, as traditionally, the choir loft. In December at the group debut, Eric was nervous about reactions from parishioners to this change.

"I noticed how the congregation participated much more enthusiastically when we were playing in the front," he recalled. "The congregation really enjoyed the music, because when it was all over, they applauded us. I was worried about the reaction from the parishioners, I didn't know how they would react to such a major change in the parish, but most of them obviously enjoyed it."

New wineskins 
Mrs. Wright said that change can challenge parish communities. 

In the coming year, Annunciation members will see the elimination of the 11:30 a.m. Mass and the creation of one at 10 a.m. The change in Mass times as well as the addition of contemporary music can be a lot for parishioners to adjust to, Mrs. Wright said. However, she pointed out, that change can be a beneficial thing for the parish.

"Prior to the contemporary choir the congregation left Mass during the recessional," she said. "Now people stay until the end of the song and they applaud. We need to be open to change especially when it's coming from the youth of the Church."

Mrs. Wright said that Eric's vision to bring contemporary music to Annunciation shows the difference one person can make in a community. "This one change impacted so many people," she said. "Now there are young people in church who weren't there before."
Mrs. Wright said she hopes that other young people come forward in their parishes with ideas just as Eric did. "I can't say enough about him," Mrs. Wright said. "He goes out of his way to offer to help."

Brass beginnings
Before leading the contemporary choir, Eric played the trombone in the choir. He also plays the piano and is involved with music groups at his school and writes for his school's newspaper. He attended Music and Liturgy at Pyramid Lake last summer because of his interest in music.

Music and Liturgy at Pyramid Lake is a week-long summer learning experience for youth. Led by a team of liturgical musicians and youth ministers, young people learn about liturgy, repertoire, music in Catholic worship, leading music at liturgy and planning music. 

(The tenth annual session of Music and Liturgy at Pyramid Lake will take place July 19-23. For more information, visit the Pyramid Lake website at www.pyramidlife.org or the National Association of Pastoral Musicians Albany chapter website at http://albanynpm.com. You can also email Marie Bernadett at [email protected], or Richard Putorti at rputorti@ nycap.rr.com.)

(1/8/09)