Music at First Parish of Watertown
Music at First Parish engages our community and adds a spark to every listener and participant!
As part of weekly church services, we share in singing hymns.
Services are enhanced by either piano or guest musicians who express a wide variety of styles that include Classical, folk, jazz, ethnic and world music, as well as popular music and music composed by contemporary artists. Those artists are often part of our congregation or friends from the musical community in the Boston area.
First Parish has an adult choir that rehearses weekly and sings at a church service once per month.
We have a full rock and roll band that plays at some services, too!
There are times that our music director hosts a family choir event, usually on multi-generational services, in which people learn the music prior to the service and then share the songs at that service. We have a wide variety of talent in our congregation and have had some wonderful youth and children singing at church services.
Charlyn Bethell, Music Director
Guy Urban, Accompanist
Musically Speaking Blog
Updates and reflections from Charlyn Bethell, Music Director
Musically speaking
February 2nd is a day filled with history from the British Isles, as Candlemas, Imbolg, and/or Groundhog Day. It is exactly half-way between Winter solstice and the Spring Equinox. Its roots are from the pagan and Christian beliefs about the end of Christmastide and...
Muscially Speaking – December 2019
Music and Hope. Perhaps there is always hope when there is music. I don’t think that there HAS to be music for there to be hope. Music just might make it easier. This makes me think of what it is like singing in a hospice choir. (Jean Gauthier started the Wayfare...
Musically Speaking November 2019
Ah, for Musical Memories! Take a moment and sing a song in your head. It can be from a Broadway musical, a motown hit song, R & B, country, jazz, hip-hop, rock n roll, or from classical repertory. It could be a song the choir sang last week or a hymn from a...
Musically Speaking – October 2019
“……….For me, it’s singing. Because when I’m singing, I’m breathing. When I’m terrified that the meeting is going to fall apart, when someone I trust and look up to is giving me feedback that’s hard to hear, or when I’m about to knock on someone’s door or engage in...
Musically Speaking – September 2019
Happy fall and welcome (back) to First Parish! At this time in our church life, we are embracing some things very new with our interim minister and in the letting go of the way things used to be. We are certainly fortunate to have Wendy Bell along this journey with...
Choir Schedule
Rehearsals are on Thursdays 7:00 to 8:30 pm in the First Parish Sanctuary. Please be on time!
We warm-up on Sundays prior to singing at a service at 9:30 am.
Watch emails for last-minute inclement weather cancellations.
Contact Info:
- Charlyn: oboechar@gmail.com; 857-222-6284
- Guy: 857-389-2421
From The Directors
Our good friend Chris Jolliffe was a guest musician here, singing three songs that he wrote. A number of people expressed interest in Chris’ music, so below are a few samples of his songs, including “I Never Went Fishing With My Uncle Dave”, which he sang at the service.
Anyone who is interested in talking to Chris or finding out more about his songs can contact him at:
cjolliffe5@yahoo.comHere are some of his songs:
I Never Went Fishing With My Uncle Dave