New year, new decade – pretty exciting stuff! (Or, you know, totally arbitrary….try explaining why today of all days is the “new year” to a 3-year-old!) So today, 12 resources for a thoughtful, organized year – I hope some are helpful to you. Happy New Year!
I’ve been holding out on this post because…it seems obvious? Like making a hymn set should be really straight-forward, and why didn’t I try it sooner? But maybe you’re like me just a few months ago: I thought creating hymn sets – also know as medleys and song sets – would be tricky. And I …
An Easy Way to Create Hymn Sets (plus 10 Sets to Get Started) Read More »
Hymnals and screens often get a knee-jerk response. Supposedly, either hymnals are for old fogeys or people staying true to the faith. And either screens are for people who hate hymns or people who want to use current tools in the church. But if we get past the surface arguments, we can explore what the …
Hymns: In Hymnals? On Screens? (Paperless?!) on Music and the Church Ep. 40 Read More »
Let’s talk about earplugs. Do you wear them to church? To concerts? To rehearsals? Until recently, I didn’t wear them – and I didn’t know that “musician’s earplugs” existed.
I love hymns. I can sing hundreds from memory. I’ve been a church musician for 20 years, always in churches that used “traditional” hymnody. I even did a PhD dissertation focused on Christian congregational music. BUT. I don’t love hymnals.
We work harder than you think, calling doesn’t always look conventional, and other things your church leaders wish you knew. Throughout the past year of interviews, I asked people extra questions and this one drew the most passionate response by far: “What do you wish people knew about your job?”
Last summer, I was the new kid in town. I started my new position at a church in June, right after the program year ended and people scattered to their summer travels. But I wanted to get to know everyone involved in the music program, especially choir members and handbell ringers. And I didn’t want …
The Best Thing I Did At Church Last Summer (And Why I’m Doing It Again) Read More »
One of my main goals as a choir director creating community in the choir. That might seem strange, since many of the choir members have known each other for decades, whereas I’m the new kid in town. But even though their social roots go deep, my actions still affect the sense of community.
Here’s what I wish organ students did all the time in the early years of learning: Book an hour – just one hour – at as many local churches as will have them, and register complicated music as fast as they can.
Every Sunday morning when the sermon begins, I duck out of the sanctuary, walk down the hall to the nursery, and start singing.