Music Director
Music director and organist Pam McAllister
Pam McAllister
Pam has served our music-loving congregation as organist and choir director for over twenty years. Under her enthusiastic direction, the senior choir has grown from a handful of singers to a hearty 30+ voices, and our children’s choir adds an extra touch of sweetness once a month. [See Music Ministry page for more.]Pam believes that it is our birthright to sing together, whether our voices are trained or squeaky, soaring or froggy. During her job interview in 1988, she was asked, “What would you do if someone wanted to join the choir, but they really couldn’t carry a tune?” Pam answered, “If they had true spirit and desire, I’d open my arms and say ‘Come, sing with us!’” Fortunately, this hypothetical predicament has been avoided, but the attitude of openness has prevailed.
Embracing a wide range of musical expressions, Pam has nurtured the involvement of many musicians in our community, both singers and instrumentalists. In worship, music is the vehicle that carries us from hymns of praise, through meditative prayer songs, then, lifted up, out the door boldly singing of the principles by which we try to live our lives. And sing, we do – everything from 60s folk songs to Taize chants and the old favorite hymns of our faith.
Background: Pam grew up in a music-loving family in rural western New York, the child of “social gospel” activists, leaders in the local Methodist Church. At 15, she became a professional church organist, following in the footsteps of her maternal grandmother, a lifelong church musician who also accompanied silent movies. At Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA, Pam served as the organist for the required chapel services on campus. After moving to NYC in 1974, she continued as organist and choir director at several churches.
A self-confessed “hymn nerd,” Pam uses the hymnal for her daily meditations and is a serious student of sacred music history. Since 2007, she has been a columnist for The Progressive Christian, a national magazine, writing meditations and prayers based on hymn texts. She is a member of the Hymn Society and the American Guild of Organists – NYC chapter.
Pam is also the author of nine books, an award-winning play, and numerous poems, essays, articles, and stories. Her most recent books are The Bedside, Bathtub, and Armchair Companion to Mark Twain (Continuum, 2008) and Death Defying: Dismantling the Execution Machinery in 21st Century U.S.A. (Continuum, 2003). In 1982, she edited the anthology Reweaving the Web of Life: Feminism and Nonviolence. For more information about Pam’s writing, go to her website at www.PamMcAllisterAuthor.com