On This Date in Nativity History
22 March 2020
On this date, the Corona Choir sang at their first Mass. The Choir, composed of Alison Fram, Sara Prince, and Kathryn Stinard, (in the photo, l to r) provided music at Masses throughout the pandemic, until their last Mass, 5 September 2021. Here, Alison Fram answers some questions from the Nativity History Project about the Choir.
NHP: How did the three of you get together and formed the choir? Who suggested it?
AF: When it became clear that public Masses would be suspended in March of 2020, our Masses began to be live-streamed and we had to keep to the 10-person limit. Fr. Bob’s idea was to invite Sara, Kathryn, and me to provide music for the liturgies. I had already been asked to be a lector for the Masses, so I was able to join them in singing since I’d already be present for each Mass.
NHP: How often did you practice? Had any of you sung in Mass before?
AF: Sara and Kathryn are both directors of Nativity choirs, so they’ve been an active part of our parish’s music ministry. I sang in Nativity’s Youth Choir when I was in high school and had recently assisted with singing for some ministry events. When we began singing together, Sara would send out the music lists ahead of time, and we would meet an hour before Mass to practice.
NHP: Were you concerned about health issues by singing in Mass during those early days of the pandemic?
AF: There were a lot of questions and unknowns in the early days, but thank God we remained safe and healthy. We all did our best to keep each other safe and took precautions as needed.
NHP: Anything else of interest to readers?
AF: That first year, we also led the music for all of the Triduum services and Easter, so we met with the priests to review the music and liturgies. The three of us said that it was so surreal to be in the empty Church during Holy Week and Easter, imagining all the people praying along with us and singing with us from their homes.
