The conference has passed, but we leave this page as a reference. Videos of its various segments are available on AAM’s YouTube Channel.

Virtual Conference: Monday, June 14, 2021

This event is brought to you by AAM with the help of the department of Lifelong Learning at Virginia Theological Seminary

Hosting Local AAM Gatherings (last revised on Tuesday, June 8, 2021)

Maybe, just maybe, some areas of the country will be able to have in-person gatherings for watching the June 14 conference together. All kinds of conversations, plans, and new friendships might come out of this informal time spent together around our shared purpose of making music for the Episcopal Church. Some groups may have a vaccinated-only policy, others may still be under orders to keep socially distant, no matter your vaccine status. Some may be able to offer food and drink, or make plans for dinner afterwards, and others will ask you to bring a brown bag lunch.

Are you interested in inviting a small group of musicians in your area to a watch-party? Contact Sonya Sutton at ssutton@anglicanmusicians.org so that we can list you here. And think about anyone in your area who is not already a member of AAM and invite them too!

The following places are hosting a Watch Party for the Virtual Conference. (This list is being updated regularly, so please check back for possible additions.) For those in:

Atlanta, GA – contact Dale Adelmann, dadelmann@cathedralATL.org

Click the + to see Atlanta’s additional short registration form link & other pertinent info from Dale Adelmann

Please fill out this short registration form for the Cathedral https://cathedralatl.tpsdb.com/OnlineReg/1647

Feel free to ignore the optional questions our registration system generates automatically, but we do need to know (1) who & how many people are coming, to select & set up an appropriately-sized space for our meeting, and (2) whether or not you want the boxed lunch that we are offering for $12, supplied by the wonderful chef who is affiliated with the Cathedral kitchen. There are vegetarian & gluten free options – the chicken salad option is “not your mama’s!” — and lunch will include fresh baked bread, cookies, and bottled or sparkling water. Lunch needs to be reserved & paid for in advance by Wednesday, June 9 … there will be an opportunity to make your lunch selection & pay online after you complete/confirm your Cathedral registration form. The conference schedule includes just a half-hour break for lunch, so this will make lunch easy … in my opinion it would be worth the price even if it only included her fresh baked bread and cookies!
Baltimore, MD — contact Ken Brown, kbrowndc@aol.com
Boston, MA — contact Richard Webster, rwebster@trinitychurchboston.org
Burke, VA — contact Steve McBride, steve.mcbride@good-shepherd.net — Lunch provided by R. A. Daffer Church Organs, Inc.
Charlotte, NC — contact Alan Reed, alan@stje.org
Chicago, IL — contact Stephen Buzard, sbuzard@saintjamescathedral.org
Cincinnati, OH — contact Stephan Casurella, scasurella@cccath.org
Clearwater, FL — contact Dr. Matthew Estes, matthewe@churchofascension.org
Delaware — contact T.J. Thomas, tthomas@stpeterslewes.org
Denver, CO — contact Michael Boney, michael@sjcathedral.org
Indianapolis — contact Michael Messina, mmessina@trinitychurchindy.org
Knoxville, TN – contact Jason Overall, joverall@stjohnscathedral.org
Lynchburg, VA – Peggy Haas Howell, peggy@stjohnslynchburg.org
Memphis, TN — contact Kristen Lensch, klensch@msn.com
Missoula, MT — contact Nancy Cooper, CooperN@mso.umt.edu
Mt Lookout, TN — John Wigal, jwigal@gslookout.com
Pittsburgh, PA — contact Alan Lewis, alewis@calvarypgh.org
Richmond, VA — contact Scott Hayes, shayes@allsaintsrichmond.org
St. Louis, MO — contact David Sinden, dsinden@specstl.org
St. Paul, MN — contact Richard Gray, St. John the Evangelist, richard.gray@stjohnsstpaul.org
Spartanburg, SC – contact Brennan Szafron, bszafron@churchofadvent.org
Washington, D.C. — contact Bobby Stubbs, All Souls, organplayer89@aol.com

VIRTUAL CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Note: This schedule is subject to change. Revised June 11, 2021 at 6:43 p.m. EDT

11:00 a.m.		Welcome and President’s report: Dr. Marty Wheeler Burnett. Treasurer’s report: Jason Abel. Election results, recognition of outgoing officers, and other AAM business.
11:45 a.m.		*Feeding Ourselves in Order to Feed Our Flocks: Spirituality for Musicians in This Time of Change and Healing* Led by The Rev’d Barbara Cawthorne Crafton, an Episcopal priest and author who heads The Geranium Farm, an institute for the promotion of spiritual growth. The Rev. Barbara Cawthorne Crafton is an Episcopal priest and author. She has served a number of churches in New York City, including Trinity Church, St. John’s-in-the-Village and St. Clement’s in Manhattan’s theater district, as well as St James, the American church in Florence. She was a maritime chaplain on the New York waterfront, and served as a chaplain at Ground Zero after 9/11. A spiritual director, Crafton leads retreats and teaches throughout the United States and abroad. Her many books include Come Here, Jesus! (about the many different ways in which Jesus has been seen by Christians), Called (about vocation) and The Alsolife (about the life that lies beyond this one) as well as many books of essays, daily meditations and poetry.
12:15 p.m.		*Put Me In, Coach! Coaching Relationships for Musicians and Clergy that Support a Healthy Church* Panelists: Marilyn Keiser, Erika Takacs, and Rees Roberts In a Church that is witnessing decreasing staff sizes in many places, musicians and clergy often struggle to find supportive voices in the difficult but rewarding work of parish ministry. Many musicians feel alone, as they navigate working relationships with clergy and parishioners, not to mention seek to build thriving music programs. Full-time assistant clergy positions are somewhat rare these days, and many new clergy are plunged right into rector positions with little experience. Parish ministry can feel very lonely at times. But lack of experience and loneliness in ministry can be helpfully countered by the presence of coaches who are willing to walk with a musician or priest as they navigate the challenges of ministry, while also helping them be the best ministers they can be in their particular parish situations. In this panel discussion, we will hear from two musicians and one priest about their helpful experiences with coaching as they have ventured into the complex but satisfying work of parish ministry. As a follow-up to this panel presentation, a survey will be sent to all participants, soliciting feedback as the PCDC (Professional Concerns and Development Committee) strives to encourage the role of coaching to strengthen working relationships within the Church.
12:45 p.m.		Break NOTE: Due to technical considerations, the webinar will stop at the lunch break (12:45). Everyone will be disconnected, so you will need to login again for the start of the next session at 1:15. Please simply use the same Zoom link to join the webinar each time. The Zoom link is found in the email confirmation you received from EventBrite when you registered for the conference or from the reminder email that is being sent a day or two before the conference. Please check your spam/junk folder if you don’t see it in your inbox.
1:15 p.m.		*Featuring AAM Composers* *(A Call for Video Submissions!)* Members who have a published work that they would like to share, one that might be useful during this coming year of rebuilding choirs and music programs, are welcome to submit a five-minute video which includes either a performance, or the composer playing through and talking about their music. Include information on the piece’s availability for download/purchase.If more submissions are received than there is time for during the conference itself, all videos will be available to view on AAM’s YouTube channel. Before May 20: send your video, five minutes or less, to Jon Johnson
2:00 p.m.		*Introducing New AAM Members* *(A Call for brief videos using FlipGrid)* More than 100 new members have joined AAM in the past two years, but without an in-person conference there has been no opportunity to welcome them at our annual New Members’ Reception. Getting to know our colleagues in AAM is a much-valued part of the organization.New members are invited to prepare a brief video, using the FlipGrid app. Tell us about yourself, and let us know what questions you have or how colleagues in the organization can be of help. Brent Erstad (Music Director at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia, and St. John’s Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C.) will contact new members and give them further instructions. We’ll see a few of these videos, and all conference participants will learn more about how to use FlipGrid in order to interact with new members.
2:15 p.m.		*Upcoming Conferences* Organizers for the Richmond (2022) and Dallas (2023) conferences, postponed during this time of COVID, will share information about their updated plans for actual in-person conferences. We can’t wait.
2:30 p.m.		*Honoring Susan Markley* AAM’s long-time—and only—employee will be retiring at the end of 2021, and we will take time to look back at her many years of service to this organization and celebrate all the ways she has helped it to flourish.
2:45 p.m.		*Bringing Our Best Selves to our Vocation: Safeguarding Our Profession in a Time of Uncertainty* The Rev. Dr. William Bradley Roberts, facilitator; Marilyn Haskel and Dr. Stephan Griffin, panelists Some analysts make dire predictions about the future of the Episcopal Church. That translates into uncertainty about the future of the profession of Episcopal Church Musician. Will our own church survive in the next 50 years? During that interval will the profession of Church Musician be stable or disappearing? Even the best statistics don’t tell the whole story, however, because the downward trend of congregations is not inexorable. The Holy Spirit is still at work, inspiring and directing us. Church leaders, both lay and ordained, when following the Spirit, can have a dramatic impact on the future of both the Church and the vocation of Church Musicians. How might we begin now to make that happen?
3:15 p.m.		Break NOTE: Due to technical considerations, the webinar will stop at the afternoon break (3:15). Everyone will be disconnected, so you will need to login again for the start of the next session at 3:30. Please simply use the same Zoom link to join the webinar each time. The Zoom link is found in the email confirmation you received from EventBrite when you registered for the conference or from the reminder email that is being sent a day or two before the conference. Please check your spam/junk folder if you don’t see it in your inbox.
3:30 p.m.		*Getting Back Into Vocal Shape* Drs. Lydia Beasley and Jacquelyn Matava, staff singers at St. Mark’s, San Antonio, share their strategies for reawakening individual voices and developing healthy group singing.
4:00 p.m.		Address by the Right Rev’d Neil Alexander, Chaplain to the Association of Anglican Musicians, retired Bishop of the Diocese of Atlanta, and recently retired Professor of Liturgy and Theology at the University of the South, Sewanee.
4:30 p.m.		Break
4:45 p.m.		*Evensong from Washington National Cathedral* A service of Evensong, offered on AAM’s behalf by the Cathedral’s professional choir, under the direction of Canon Michael McCarthy. Organists Tom Sheehan and George Fergus will offer an extended prelude to showcase the cathedral’s 189-rank E.M. Skinner organ. Repertoire for this traditional Evensong will include music by Trevor Weston, Richard Wayne Dirksen, Maggie Burk, David Hogan, and Richard Shephard. Washington National Cathedral has set the standard for video production of worship services during the past year, and hearing magnificent music in a magnificent space will surely make us all the more grateful for live music when that becomes safe again. ▶︎ Follow this link ◀︎ to watch the Cathedral Evensong. The prelude begins at 4:45 p.m., the service at 5:00 p.m.