It will be a night of firsts Sunday when Westminster Presbyterian Church hosts its Easter cantata.

The performance will feature a hammer dulcimer, an instrument not usually featured in religious music, and its player, who doesn't usually perform in public.

That's because the cantata, “Come Walk With Me,” is out of the ordinary itself, said Barbara Galloway, choir director at Westminster.

“The thing that drew me to this cantata is that it uses such a mix of styles: classical, Appalachian, bluegrass and Celtic folk idioms. It's a nice mixture of all these different genres to tell the Passion story and the Resurrection of Christ,” said Galloway.

“In those, the dulcimer plays quite a bit throughout. It's not tied to being in an ensemble,” she said.

The cantata was written by Pepper Choplin and first published in 2011.

“We just love him. He is very innovative. He doesn't do things in the traditional way, ” said Galloway. “He really has a new vision of anthems that's very different.”

A cantata uses music and words to tell its story. In addition to instruments and a 20-member choir, said Galloway, “there will be a narrator and other speakers representing people in Jesus' life, they will be offstage where people can't see them. There's a little bit of staging, but there's no costumes or anything like that.”

In addition to a mandolin, Choplin's music calls for a dulcimer, a wooden instrument about half the size of a dining room table with strings stretched across its trapezoidal shape that are played with small hammers.

Because of the Appalachian and Celtic influences in the music, Galloway said, “The mandolin is more for the Appalachian and bluegrass style. And the dulcimer he has sprinkled throughout, and it has this haunting quality to it.”

It isn't quite the instrument you expect to see playing in a group, said Galloway, and the dulcimer player, Sondra “Soni” Laughead, has never done anything like this before.

That's true, conceded Laughead of Butler Township. “I've played in public before, but not happily. I'm a closet performer,” she said.

The retired elementary school teacher said another choir director and fellow dulcimer player put Galloway in touch with her.

“She thought I could do it,” said Laughead. “I'm not sure that's the case, but I'm going to do the best that I can.”

Although she's been practicing along with a compact disc of the cantata that Galloway gave her this month, Laughead said that's no substitute for playing with other instruments. The timing, knowing when to come in with the other players, is crucial, she said.

She also worries that the dulcimer's sound might get lost in the large space of the church.

“It's bell-like,” Laughead said, referring to the dulcimer's sound. “It's just like a carillon of bells. The sound is really bright and beautiful, but I don't know what it's going to do in a large room.”

Laughead said she hasn't practiced very much in the last three years because of some health issues, but since Galloway and a piano player dropped by earlier in the month to help her practice, she's feeling more comfortable about playing.

The choir, speakers and instrumentalists didn't get a chance to practice together until this week.

“To really put it all together, we have just two full practices. That's kind of due to the fact that they are all volunteers,” Galloway said.

“We'll just have to work until we've got it right,” Galloway said.

<b>WHAT:</b> “Come Walk With Me” cantata<b>WHEN: </b>7 p.m. April 1<b>WHERE:</b> Westminster Presbyterian Church, 420 N. Main St.<b>COST:</b> Free

• Westminster Chancel Choir• Instrumental ensemble: Joan Eisenreich, piano; Holly Steck, digital strings; Sarah Neubert, flute; Kelly Johnson, oboe and English horn; Sondra Laughead, dulcimer; Steve Soley, guitar and mandolin.• Narrators: Ed Galloway, Dale Shandick, Kevin Hall and Tom Koegler