Donald Schell
MMC Founder, Chair of the MMC Board of Trustees since 2014
San Francisco, CA
[email protected]
Donald Schell’s forty plus years experience as an Episcopal priest has included work as a university chaplain (with a daily, sung liturgy), as vicar of small-town mission church in Idaho, and (with Rick Fabian) as founder and rector of St. Gregory of Nyssa Church, San Francisco. In all these settings Donald has found music essential to building liturgical community and touching people’s hearts for mission. Since beginning Music that Makes Community as a project of All Saints Company, Donald worked with a network of clergy and church musicians recovering and renewing community-based practices of learning and sharing singing. In 2007, just after launching Music that Makes Community as a project, Donald joined All Saints Company full time in order to consult, publish, and lead workshops on the discoveries made at St. Gregory’s and develop Music that Makes Community workshops and network. For the program year beginning September 2014, Donald is serving as Interim Rector of Christ Church (Episcopal), Portola Valley, California. Donald has written My Father, My Daughter: Pilgrims on the Road to Santiago and has contributed chapters to Searching for Sacred Space, to What Would Jesus Sing? and to Music By Heart: Paperless Songs for Evening Worship.
Rachel Kroh
Executive Director
Brooklyn, NY
[email protected]
Rachel Kroh first encountered MMC as a participant at the January, 2011 Music that Makes Community event in New York City. Her experience at that event inspired Rachel to build a practice of leading song at St. Lydia’s, where she was Community Coordinator from 2009-2014. It also inspired her to incorporate singing into her work as an artist, leading visitors to a gallery show of her paintings in singing songs she composed after attending MMC. As a “natural” rather than a trained musician, Rachel feels especially grateful to the work of MMC founders and leaders for identifying and teaching a practice of song leading that everyone can access. Rachel holds advanced degrees from Yale Divinity School and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and you can see her artwork at rachelkroh.com and heartellpress.com. She runs the Music that Makes Community office out of her art studio in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY.
Jacob Slichter
MMC Board of Trustees Member since 2014
Brooklyn, NY
[email protected]
Jacob Slichter is a professional musician, writer, and teacher. He trains song leaders, deacons, and drummers at Saint Lydia’s and Not So Churchy, two congregations in Brooklyn, New York. He teaches nonfiction in the creative writing in the MFA program at Sarah Lawrence. He is also the author of So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star, a memoir that details his experiences as the drummer for Semisonic, a band best known for their 1990s hit “Closing Time.”
Cricket Cooper
MMC Board of Trustees member since 2014
Pittsfield, MA
[email protected]
Cricket Cooper has loved liturgy and church music since her earliest memories, growing up in Baltimore, MD. This love has moved her to and through myriad expressions of worship, from a Roman Catholic guitar mass group, to summer camp Vespers, into an Episcopal church choir, and then seminary. She has served parishes throughout New England and the Midwest since she was ordained in the 1980’s, as her passion has expanded from music performance to music inclusion. This is work that deeply satisfies and delights me, and I am honored to be a spark in the bonfire that is Music That Makes Community!
Paul Vasile
MMC Board of Trustees member since 2014
New York City, NY
[email protected]
A versatile and energetic leader, Paul Vasile shares his passion for music from a wide range of traditions and styles, encouraging the congregation's active participation in worship. He is a gifted teacher and has served as a visiting lecturer in Sacred Music at Eden Theological Seminary and The Chandler School of Theology and has developed and taught many unique education programs focused on the connections between music and spirituality. Additionally, Paul’s wonderful compositions of sacred music have gained considerable attention in performances by choirs and congregations throughout the United States. He has written a substantial amount of liturgical music, including pieces for choir, solo voice, service music, Psalm settings, arrangements and instrumental music, several of which are included in the new hymnal of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Glory to God. Paul’s wide-ranging talents and musical interests also provide frequent opportunities to perform as a pianist, conductor and concert organist.
Currently, Paul is the Associate Director of The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation in New York City, a non-profit that provides offers mentoring, career guidance and performance opportunities to talented young pianists from around the world. He also serves as a freelance church musician, most recently serving as Minister of Music at Park Avenue Christian Church (Disciples of Christ/United Church of Christ) and Artistic Director of Arts at The Park, a church-sponsored concert series presenting some of the region's finest performers and ensembles.
Scott Weidler
MMC Board of Trustees member since 2014
Chicago, IL
[email protected]
Scott Weidler has served the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as Program Director for Worship and Music since 1995. For 13 years, he was also Cantor at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Chicago where Music that Makes Community was put into action. Scott has also served congregations in Pennsylvania, New York, and Florida in various music and teaching positions. Scott has degrees in education, music, and liturgy from Concordia College, Seward, Nebraska, Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio, and the University of Notre Dame. He resides in the Rogers Park neighborhood on Chicago’s north side with his partner, Zia Ahmad.