West Bethany & the Beautiful


SOUND OF MUSIC


“Music is important to this community because it is the foundation of our faith. There are so many people here who love to participate in making music, finding meaning, fulfillment, and renewed spirit as they do so. One person remarked to me, after not singing for a number of months due to the Coronavirus, ‘Now that I am singing again, I think I will survive this.’” – Donna Mack Shenk, Director of Pastoral Services at Landis Homes


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esidents at Landis Homes have noticed a wonderful upgrade to the visual and sound quality coming out of West Bethany Chapel.


Te upgrades have been a long time in the making, and residents and others will benefit from them for years to come.


Over the past few years, the operation and quality of the audio and video equipment caused some frustration. Despite the aging technology, the volunteers in the chapel did a great job with what they had, but it was clear that the system needed an upgrade.


Stu Landis, Director of Technology, said, “Te cameras and other parts of the video system were 15 years old. Te cameras served us for a long time, but video technology has greatly advanced in that time. Residents noticed the out-of-date cameras when the campus deployed Senior TV. With most channels in high definition, the residents noticed the in-house West Bethany channel was a poorer quality.”


Along with the cameras, the microphones have been replaced and a few more were purchased. Te controller for the cameras and the video mixer was upgraded, and the audio mixing board was replaced. Tese changes have provided audio and visual equipment that is more reliable and no longer appears inferior to other channels on Senior TV.


“Te volunteers can feel better about the quality of the production they’re putting out,” Stu said. “It also gives them the ability to livestream events such as memorial services to the internet so family and friends can also view. It gives greater quality to the music programs, devotions, announcements, sermons, and other special programming. It is so timely that we have been able to make these improvements.”


Te improvements came about when Mary K. Bucher became involved in the music program. She and her late husband, Glenn Bucher, moved to Landis Homes in the winter of 2014. She quickly became involved in the women’s chorus and other chapel music programming.


“I grew up in a home where music was important. I’ve been involved in choral music all of my life and did some short stints directing church choirs,” Mary said. “But after Glenn passed away in 2019, and the pandemic began, I realized how much more the virtual performances were important to our community. I also found out that there were budget limitations for improving the chapel sound system.”


20 • Landis.org | FLOURISH | Summer 2021


CULTIVATING GROWTH


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