Trinity’s Youth Define The Sound Of Joy, And Capture It On CD

By Shannon Hicks

The youth of Trinity Episcopal Church in Newtown have worked on a project that has brought out their love of music and the holiday season and will help fund efforts of the group when it participates in Youth WorkCamp next year. The sounds of Christmas have arrived at Newtown’s Episcopal church a little early this year.

The Sounding Joy: Christmas Carols from the Youth of Trinity Episcopal Church is the culmination of a group effort between students of the church’s seventh and eighth grade Sunday School students, Sunday School teacher David Kellogg, musician Dean Snellback, and musician Jim Allen. The seven-song CD contains six familiar songs and one original song, “Blessed Dreamer,” which was co-written by the Newtown resident Mr Allen and the students/musicians on the recording. It is a lovely blend of original thoughts by tomorrow’s adults and traditional carols that most people already know.

The CD will receive its public debut this weekend. It will be available for purchase, at $10 each, at Trinity Church during the 18th Annual Holiday Festival.

Children of Trinity were invited to participate in the project, and the group began working together on weekends during October. Some of the singers are members of the church’s choir, but the project was open to anyone who wished to participate.

Eighth grader Stewart Tabler said this week that he decided to participate because “it sounded like fun, and it would be the first time for me to record in a studio.”

“Blessed Dreamer” was co-written by Jim Allen and the singers, based on a seventh and eighth grade Sunday School class taught by Amy Dent and David Kellogg. Mr Allen, a youth minister at Trinity, sat down with the singers and asked them to talk about what Christmas means to them.

“All these images came to mind and he wrote them down, and then he went home and wrote this song,” said Leland Kellogg, David Kellogg’s wife and the mother of one of the young singers on the CD. “The kids just loved it. They couldn’t believe these were their words.”

Several of the older students joined Mr Allen in completing the song’s arrangement.

Grace Kellogg mentioned that some of the singers “were a little nervous” to be in the studio.

“It felt important to be doing the recording there,” she said. “It took a little practice, but we got it.”

Stewart Tabler said the recording process wasn’t too difficult for the singers.

“We got to hear what we sounded like right after we sang, and we could change it if we didn’t like the sound,” he said.

“There weren’t very many retakes,” he was quick to point out, “but when there was it was for a good reason, like somebody laughed.”

The CD was recorded a few weeks ago in Mr Allen’s home studio, The Music Workshop. Production assistance came from parishioners Dean and Margot Snellback, Mr Kellogg, and Michelle McBride.

“There was a lot of excitement about this CD,” Grace Kellogg said this week. The Head O’ Meadow School third grade student was one of the singers on the CD and also one of its narrators. The concept of the CD is based on the classic gospel story of Joseph, Mary, and the birth of Christ. Grace, along with 8-year-olds Joseph Gulia and Johnny DiBenidet, offers the story between songs on the CD. The songs on the CD are interspersed with narrative taken directly from the gospel.

The Sounding Joy features the youth singing, joined by some of their parents and teachers, and surrounded by guitars, piano, mandolin, accordion, tin whistle, and other instrumentation. Beyond the original song, the tracks include “Joy To The World,” “Silent Night,” “The First Noel,” “Angels,” “Angels We Have Heard On High,” “We Three Kings,” and “Deck The Halls.”

According to Mr Allen, all proceeds from The Sounding Joy will help fund the Youth WorkCamp in 2004, a home repair and human service project that takes place annually in more than 60 towns and cities across America. Young people from many different parts of the country converge on an area where the need is especially severe. They work together building wheelchair ramps, painting houses, and making other home repairs for those in often desperate need.

Next summer Trinity will send a youth group to Canton, Ohio, a city of 86,000. Many elderly and unemployed residents there are suffering from an economic downturn that has closed local plants and businesses. The youth of Trinity Church, along with several adult leaders, will bring their enthusiasm, energy, and plenty of tools and paint brushes as they seek to serve those in need. Proceeds from The Sounding Joy will help make this all possible.

Stewart Tabler plans to be among those who attend WorkCamp next summer. Until now he has been too young to participate.

“I’ve been told that it’s a lot of fun,” he said, “but that it’s also cool to see that you can help someone who can’t do something for themselves.”

That is something that sounds very good.

Copies of The Sounding Joy are also available through the Youth Ministry Office at Trinity Church. Call 426-5678.