Music

Organist & Music Director: Associate Professor Bruce Steele AM FAHA
The music of the Sunday morning service draws on the best in liturgical tradition with an openness to contemporary developments. While hymns are generally chosen from the latest Australian Hymnbook, many are taken from the best contemporary writers and composers.

The music is led by choir members and organ, and the congregational singing is dedicated and enthusiastic. Since its foundation in 1951, over the years, North Balwyn Uniting Church (formerly St Aidan’s) has enjoyed a strong liturgical and general musical tradition based on a SATB choir and pipe-organ. Each service is planned so that music and spoken word are integrated.

The singing of the lectional Psalms has a central place in the service. North Balwyn’s Psalms, original settings of the complete Psalter for cantor and congregational response by the Music Director, was launched by the Rev Peter Blackwood in 2005. The translations are modern, the chants are simplifications of ancient forms and the responses frequently allude to well-known tunes.