Chancel Choir
The FPC Chancel Choir provides musical leadership weekly at the 10:30 a.m. service and special services throughout the year. Rehearsals are 11:30 a.m. on Sundays. No formal music background is required to join.
Everyone is welcome to be a part of our music. If you or your child would like to join our choir, handbells or Grace Notes, please contact the church office.
The FPC Chancel Choir provides musical leadership weekly at the 10:30 a.m. service and special services throughout the year. Rehearsals are 11:30 a.m. on Sundays. No formal music background is required to join.
The memorial gift of Mrs. Lou Della Crim and her family.
The pipe organ at First Presbyterian Church, Kilgore, Texas was built in 1949 by the Aeolian-Skinner Pipe Organ Company of Boston, Massachusetts, and was designed in collaboration with G. Donald Harrison, president and tonal director of the company, and Roy Perry, who was the organist-choirmaster at First Presbyterian Church from 1932 to 1972. The organ contains over 4,000 pipes, and was the memorial gift of Mrs. Lou Della Crim and her daughter, Pauline, and her sons, J. Malcom, John T. and Liggett. Most notable among the organ’s features is the “Trompette-en-Chamade” set of pipes (the first such set of pipes ever built in the United States) located beneath the chancel window. These pipes are intended to create brilliant fanfares played against the full organ.
In addition to the exposed pipes that are visible to the eye, the organ contains four large chambers of pipes located behind the large zinc facade pipes on either side of the choir. Pipes constructed from various kinds of metal and wood within these chambers range in size from that of a pencil to 32’ in length, and are designed to imitate such voices of the orchestra as the strings, flutes, French Horn, English Horn, Bassoon, Oboe, Trumpet, Harp and Chimes, as well as creating classic organ tone. Two sets of pipes of Roy Perry’s own inventions are the shimmering “Harmonic Spitzflute Celeste,” and the brilliant “Carillon” mixture, which is voiced to imitate the sound of breaking glass. The organ is known as an “American Classic Organ,” meaning it is capable of playing any type of organ literature from any country or period in history, although it excels especially in playing American music of the 20th Century and in accompanying the great choral literature and hymns of the church. Many of the world’s greatest concert organists have performed on it through the years, and guests from all parts of the United States continue to make annual visits to First Presbyterian Church, Kilgore, to experience its unique and exquisite beauty.
The Handbell Choir rings in worship throughout the year and occasionally accompanies choral ensembles. The handbell choir meets on Thursday evenings throughout the year.
The church bus will be by to pick up children at Primary School, Chandler and Kilgore Intermediate School on Wednesday afternoons during the fall and spring semesters. The children arrive at the church for an afternoon full of music, recreation, snacks, Bible stories, worship, and prayer. The choir sings in worship at least twice each semester and their annual Christmas Program highlights the season for the entire church family.
Music Leaders: Missy Leppert and Gala Strunk
If your child is interested in becoming a Grace Notes member please call Jo Little, Interim Director of Children's Ministry (903-522-1429).
Information Packets may be picked up at the church office
(903-984-1502)
