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What's on this page:

• Children's Choirs
• Hand Bell Choir
• Upcoming Events
• Director of Children's Music
• Organist and Choirmaster
• The Bells of St. Michael's
• A View of the Belfry
• Historic Chiming Clavier

Praise Band

The Praise Band includes guitarists, bass, keyboard, flute, percussion, other instruments, and singing for the 6:00 pm Sunday service weekly Rehearsals are at 5:00 pm Sundays. Strong proficiency on the instrument is required.

E-Mail Lee Kohlenberg if you are interested auditioning for the Praise Band.

St. Michael's Choirs

St. Michael's Music Program Welcomes New Members! 

Consider giving your talents to Him

as part of the music ministry!

Adult Choir

Director: Lee Kohlenberg

Rehearsals:  Wednesdays 7:00 - 9:00 pm
The Adult Choir is a group of 30-40 adult singers which leads and adorns the 10:30 am congregational music and offers some of the finest choral music written to support the lessons week by week.  Special events included Messiah (complete), Choral Evensong, Lessons and Carols, and special music for Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.  Chamber Choir is a select group from the full choir.  The Chamber Choir sings music from the Renaissance and 20th Century of more challenge.  Call Lee Kohlenberg at 724-7569 prior to joining.

The Chamber Choir

Director:  Lee Kohlenberg

Rehearsals:  Wednesdays 9:00-9:30 pm

The Chamber Choir is a group of 12 -18 chosen from the Adult Choir which sings music from the Renaissance and the 20th Century of more challenge

6:00 Praise Band

Director:  Lee Kohlenberg

Rehearsals:  Sundays 5:00 - 5:40 pm

The 6:00 Praise Band is a group of 10 - 12 experienced instrumentalists and singers who lead the congregational music each week for the 6:00 pm service.  The group welcomes new members in the following areas:  Electric Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Drummers, Singers, Melody Instrumentalists (flute, oboe clarinet, violin, viola, cello). Call Lee Kohlenberg (724-7569) for details.

St. Michael's Choirs for Children and Youth 2008 season

New Cherub Choir (age 3)

Director:  Elsie Kohlenberg

Rehearsals:  Thursday afternoons from 4:30-5:00
Calling all three-year-olds to join the new Cherub Choir. "Miss Elsie" will introduce singing in a group with games and a Bible story.  All are Welcome!  Please contact Elsie Kohlenberg at 852-5247 for more information.

Training Choir (ages 4, 5, and 6)

Director:  Elsie Kohlenberg

Rehearsals:  Tuesday afternoons from 3:30-4:30
This choir sings for church monthly and focuses on learning the basics about singing, matching pitch, rhythm, and worship.  Included are weekly Bible stories and snacks.  Contact Elsie Kohlenberg at 852-5247 for more information.

Junior Choir (grades 2-5)

Director: Rosemary Serpa

Rehearsals:  Tuesday afternoons from 3:30-4:30 pm. 
The choirs focus on on learning the hymnody, spiritual songs, and liturgy of the church in addition to learning music reading, preparing monthly anthems, and music for the Christmas Pageant, Palm Sunday, and Easter.  Contact Rosemary Serpa at 330-4118 for more information.

Youth Choir (grades 6-12)

Director:  Rosemary Serpa

Rehearsals:  Tuesday afternoons from 4:00 - 5:00 pm

St. Michael's Hand Bell Choir

Ages 8 to 108 welcome to join! We meet at 6:00 pm on Wednesdays in the Belser Building (14 St. Michael's Alley).  Hand Bells were originally developed as a way to learn to play tower bells. We meet on to celebrate our love for our Heavenly Father through the joy of hand bell music. Contact Jeanne Martin at 557-6134 for more information.

Jean Martin, Director of Hand Bells

Jeannie directs the Hand Bell Choir. She teaches music at St. Andrew’s Math and Science Magnet School and has an impressive background as a music educator for the past 19 years in several schools and churches in this country, and through the military, around the world. She graduated from the University of Missouri-Conservatory of Music with the BME degree in Choral Conducting. Her masters degree, from the same school, is in vocal performance, plus she has done post graduate study at the University of Maryland. She holds a South Carolina certificate in general music, choral, and band for grades K-12. She has an upbeat personality, a love for children and their learning, and a love of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

E-Mail Lee Kohlenberg if you have any questions about your child’s participation in this very special ministry.

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Lee Kohlenberg, Organist & Choirmaster

Lee Kohlenberg is in his 18th year as Organist-choirmaster at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, Charleston. In his 39 years in full-time church music he has served, among others, St. Stephen’s Episcopal, Sewickley, PA, and The Cathedral of St. James, Chicago, IL. Lee’s work and life centers on serving God by preparing and equipping individuals and choirs to be leaders in worship and preparing special events to build up the Body of Christ and proclaim the Gospel through music.

The son of a Texas musician and music teacher, he began being a weekly church organist in 1959 (9th grade), and holds a Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Sacred Music Degree from Union Theological Seminary, New York, NY. He has played recitals in many of the large churches along the eastern seaboard, including The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, NYC, St. Thomas Church, NYC, St. Bartholomew, NYC, St. James, NYC, and National Cathedral in Washington, DC. Although an active and experienced organ recitalist, he has spent most of his time, focus, and energy on choral directing, with children’s groups as young as age 4, teenagers, and adult choirs with members up through age 85. He teaches private voice and directs musicals for both children and adults. His diverse musical tastes have led him to prepare and conduct major works with orchestra, including classical composers, such Bach, Haydn, Bruckner, Britten, Vaughan Williams, and Brahms as well as Broadway musicals such as Godspell (4th production this April) and Jesus Christ, Superstar in 1975 and 2000.

In addition to 19 years of experience with primarily traditional hymnody and the finest of classical choral music, he has spent the last 17 years in parishes who want fine choral and organ music and also contemporary praise music, which he has leads weekly and arranges for choir and instruments. He also leads the praise team for a weekly Sunday evening service and plays children’s songs for a weekly children’s Eucharist.

Outside of St. Michael’s Lee served as director for the Diocesan Choir Festival in 1988 and has, as an 15-year singer in The Charleston Symphony Chorus, been substitute accompanist and section rehearsal leader. He has played three times on the Piccolo Spoleto series, a series which he has coordinated for a total of 8 years. He has also served as a coordinator for the Festival of Churches Piccolo Spoleto series for the last four years. In the American Guild of Organists’ Charleston Chapter he is in his second year as Dean, having served for several years on the Executive Board. He also served as Dean Sub-dean, and Board member in Chicago and Pittsburgh.

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The Kenneth Jones Pipe Organ at St. Michael's Church 1994

Click here for the specs of the organ at St. Michael's

The Bells & Ringers of St. Michael's

Bell Tower Open House

St. Michael's Ringers are seldom seen, but always heart.  We ring for Sunday services, weddings, funerals and special events.  Come be a part of the Tower Bell Band at St. Michael's.

Bell Ringing is a team activity.  We work hard at what we do, and we are a friendly, close-knit group.  Change ringing is intellectually challenging and good exercise, too. Practice times are Thursday evenings at 5:30 and when we have beginning ringers, Sunday afternoons at 5:30 pm.

We will be having Open House in the Ringing Room after the 10:30 service and at 5:00 pm before the 6:00 service on Sundays, August 13 and 20.  Please join us, meet the ringers, and watch a ringing demonstration!

The bell tower of St. Michael's Church

By 1751, the English Colony of Charleston, South Carolina had outgrown the Parish Church of St. Philip's. The Colonial Assembly divided the parish and built St. Michael's with a large steeple to contain a ring of bells and a clock. The steeple also served as a navigational landmark for the harbor and as a look-out tower during the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, War Between the States, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II as well serving as a fire look-out tower until the late 1890's. The ring of eight bells with a tenor (the largest bell) of 17.5 cwt.(1945 lbs.) was cast in 1764 by Lester and Pack of London. When the British retreated after the Revolutionary War, they stole St. Michael's bells as a prize of war. The bells were recovered in London and returned to the joyous citizens. Later, two bells cracked and were sent back to England to be recast. When the War Between the States began, the state government confiscated bells and recast many as cannon. While the bells of St. Michael's were not recast for artillery, they were sent inland and were cracked when the shed in which they were stored burned during the burning of Columbia, South Carolina. At war's end, the Vestry reclaimed the metal and had the bells recast in London at the original foundry. The new frame was incorrectly installed by the local workmen, and the bells could not be rung. From 1868 until 1993 the bells were only chimed. After the 1989 hurricane, the Vestry again sent the bells back to London to the original foundry, now named The Whitechapel Bell Foundry Ltd., to have all the fittings replaced. A new wooden frame was fabricated and in 1993, the bells were returned to Charleston and rehung by Whitechapel, the original founders. Local ringers are now learning this ancient and uniquely Anglican art form and the bells again ring out over the city with the sounds of Change Ringing.

The Ringers

Historically, The Anglican Church has produced several musical art forms. One of those is change ringing on tower bells. The English derived a method by which bells can be rung in an orderly, rhythmic fashion. At St. Michael's, the ringers represent all ages and occupations. Neither musical knowledge nor unusual physical strength are necessary and new ringers are always welcome! The eight ringers (one ringer per bell) stand in a circle as shown and watch the relative positions of the colored part of the rope (the sally) as it moves up and down. Each ringer pulls the rope at the proper time. Each ringer learns the sequence of rope pulls. The ringers strive to have the intervals between each bell sound be equal. This gives rhythm and clarity to the sound.

Saturday Practice

Members of the St. Michael's Tower Bell Ringers, The Charleston Young Ringers Guild, and the St. Cecilia Ringers Guild of Stella Maris join together for practices. Practice begins with handling lessons for beginners. The more advanced beginners ring practice rounds and call changes. The senior band practices methods near the end of the three-hour session. The ringers use a Cummins simulator to avoid disturbing the neighbors. The simulator allows the bells to swing with tied clappers. An electronic eye mounted on the bell wheel sends a signal to the simulator at the proper time and the simulator rings the correct note on a speaker in the ringing room. At the end of Saturday practice, the clappers are untied and the band rings on open bells.

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A View of the Belfry

Four of the bells, numbers 8, (foreground-left), 1, (background-left), 2, (background-right), and 3, (foreground-right) have been rung up and are awaiting the ringers' pull to begin the ringing. The other four bells are outside the view of the camera. The bells are behind the large louvers in the octagonal section of the tower. Bells one through five are named for the orders of the angels. Bells six, seven and eight are named for archangels.

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A View of the Historic Chiming Clavier

Washington McLean Gadsden chiming the bells of St. Michaels

The chiming clavier, located one floor above the ringer’s room and one floor below the bells, dates from the late eighteenth or very early nineteenth century. Even though the bells were rung full circle by pulling ropes until the Civil War, this device seems to have been used when there were insufficient ringers. A bell does not ring unless it actually swings. A chiming device such as this strikes the clappers against the stationary bells. The ropes shown were tied to the clappers unlike the ringers’ ropes which are attached to the wheels. The eight bells may e chimed by a single person, but to be rung, the bells require one ringer per bell. This clavier, though extant, is no longer in use. Chiming is now performed from a keyboard in the choir loft. Simple melodies arranged for 8 diatonic notes are chimed on the bells before the service on Sundays during Advent and Lent.

Washington McLean Gadsden, shown here, chimed the bells for 61 years, retiring on October 1, 1898. He died July 20, 1899.

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