Gary Padgett, the pastor of St. James in Louisville, said that even with all the prerecorded concerts and worship services available, it was important to the church to film its own music in house. Mr. Hines said he hoped that those who do turn up — whether it is 100, 50 or 10 scattered throughout a space limited to 125 people — connect with the simplicity. When his soloist got laryngitis, Mr. Hines figured out a way for her to sing — by transposing the work down three semitones. For this year’s service, he rewrote bass and tenor parts for altos and sopranos so it would work with the choristers who agreed to sing. He will rely on the pipe organ to fill in the missing instrumental parts.

Source: New York Times December 20, 2020 15:00 UTC