(RNS) — After a beloved choirmaster of a Texas church died in 2020, her congregation wanted to honor her in a unique way.
The committee of Cross Tracks Church, a United Methodist congregation in the Austin suburb of Liberty Hill, dedicated a memorial garden to Louine Noble and has outfitted it with bright-colored, weather-hardy instruments that children can play outside the church and its preschool.
“We were given a donation in her honor, and it kind of started the ball rolling for doing something special that would unite the preschool and the Sunday school kids with our church,” said Pam Turner, co-chair of the restoration team for the church’s historic chapel, which is located near the new garden on a six-acre campus.
Louine Noble. Courtesy of Percussion Play
While the 300-member, predominantly white church has the more typical piano and organ inside its newer worship center — built in 2014, when the congregation outgrew the chapel — its leaders decided to pay tribute to Noble and provide a new musical play space to the children.
Turner learned about the concept of outdoor musical instruments when she took her grandkids to a nearby park and saw them there.
“Ninety percent of the time, Texas has wonderful weather,” said Turner. “We wanted to make a pretty area that would enhance the chapel but be fun for the children.”
The church’s outdoor instruments were created by Percussion Play, a United Kingdom-based company that was recognized by Queen Elizabeth with an Award for Enterprise in 2021.
Jody Ashfield, right, founder of Percussion Play, and his father and co-founder Robin Ashfield. Photo courtesy of Percussion Play
Jody Ashfield, CEO of the company located south of London, said religious customers are a small part of their business but overall, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in interest in making music in the open air. Sales to religious organizations, such as churches, camps and Christian and Jewish preschools, have increased 70% between March 2020 and March 2022.
“The instruments just encourage all sorts of different people to play together regardless of their kind of background, regardless of the language and regardless of age,” he said. “The whole congregation can get together and kind of play outside. Music transcends all of the sort of boundaries that we find in day-to-day life.”
