The Lutheran church and Good Shepherd has a strong history of music! In December of 2025 Good Shepherd hired Music Director Parker Hinnenkamp!

Parker's hope to build the music ministry into a community will include children's music and lessons, small group ensembles, including vocal and instrumental, and a variety of styles of music incorporated into worship!

We encourage you to get involved!

Music in Worship

Music at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd is integral to the work of worship. Through hymns, psalms, liturgy, choral music, and instruments, music helps the assembly pray, proclaim, listen, and respond together. Our musical life is rooted in the conviction that worship belongs to the gathered people and that excellent music serves that participation rather than replacing it.

Hymnody is central to this work. Singing together places the words of faith in the congregation’s voices, joining individuals into a common proclamation. We value the breadth of the church’s song, drawing on historic Lutheran chorales, the wider ecumenical tradition, global hymnody, and music composed for the church today.

Musical choices begin with the text: what we sing, why we sing it, and how music can help a text be heard, understood, remembered, and carried beyond the service. Clear leadership, thoughtful pacing, attention to breathing and phrasing, and sensitivity to the room's acoustics and sensory experience all help make congregational song genuinely participatory.

LCGS Choir

The LCGS Choir gathers each Sunday at 8:45 a.m. in the sanctuary. The choir sings anthems throughout the church year and serves as a musical leader within the congregation, supporting hymns, psalms, liturgical responses, and other service music.

The choir’s purpose extends beyond preparing an anthem for Sunday morning. It is a place for singers to learn the church’s music together, develop their voices, deepen their understanding of sacred texts, and strengthen the congregation’s song. Singers bring different levels of musical experience, and the ensemble grows through the shared work of listening, breathing, phrasing, and making music together.

We would love to have you join us. If you are interested or have any questions, see Cantor Parker on Sunday morning, or send him an email at music@lcgsduluth.org. There are no auditions, and all are welcome to come to rehearsal and try it out!

Instruments of the Sanctuary

The sanctuary at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd houses a Hamburg Steinway grand piano from the early 1950s and a Möller pipe organ, Opus 11813, built in 1991. The two-manual, 20-rank organ was designed for the Good Shepherd sanctuary and includes Great, Swell, and Pedal divisions, with a tonal palette ranging from foundational principals and flutes to strings, mixtures, and reeds. It supports congregational singing and provides a substantial instrument for organ repertoire, accompaniment, improvisation, and service playing.

Our instrumental resources also include three octaves of handchimes, two timpani, and a large collection of rhythm and percussion instruments. Together, these instruments extend the congregation's musical life beyond organ and piano and create opportunities for children, adults, ensembles, and musicians with a wide range of experience to participate in worship.

A Growing Music Ministry

The music program at Good Shepherd continues to grow with a clear purpose: to cultivate music of high artistic and liturgical standards while making music-making increasingly participatory, intergenerational, and accessible. Excellence and participation belong together. Careful preparation, strong musicianship, thoughtful repertoire, and meaningful opportunities for people to contribute all serve the same goal: worship in which the congregation is not merely an audience for music but an active musical body.

As the program expands, we are creating opportunities for people of different ages, abilities, backgrounds, and levels of musical experience to make music together. Choirs, instruments, congregational singing, guest musicians, and other forms of participation all have a place in that vision. Music is not an accessory added to worship after the rest of the service has been planned. It carries texts, shapes prayer, marks the movement of the liturgy, gives voice to the assembly, and helps form a community in faith. At Good Shepherd, we seek to take that responsibility seriously and with joy.

Music Lessons for All Ages, Abilities & Backgrounds – Taught with Care

Have you — or someone you love — ever wanted to learn piano or organ?  Now’s a beautiful time to begin.

Parker MacIver Hinnenkamp is offering private lessons for children, teens, and adults, including beginners, returning players, and those with disabilities or learning differences. Lessons are tailored, patient, and grounded in the joy of music — whether you're learning for fun or hoping to play in worship someday.

All are welcome. Lessons are accessible, creative, and filled with grace.