Choir rooms need a lot more than chairs and a piano to function well for musicians—they need storage for anthems, places for information (like a white board), and most important of all: a flat surface for cookies. Listen for 11 choir rehearsal space essentials, plus two bonus ideas.
Since the summer, I’ve had a book outline up on the wall in my son’s bedroom. Little snips of index cards, stuck to the wall with blue painter’s tape. I often think about this book project (it’s one of two I’m working on—this one is based in my doctoral research on music in fundamentalist Christianity). …
Theologian and musician Tanya Riches discusses the new book, The Hillsong Movement Examined: You Call Me Out Upon the Waters, which she co-edited with Tom Wagner. This collection of 15 essays is the first scholarly book about Hillsong Church, a Pentecostal church with roots in Sydney, Australia. In our interview, Tanya discusses music at the church, …
The Hillsong Movement Examined with Tanya Riches, on Music and the Church Ep. 8 Read More »
Why use social media? Because it’s is a way to share your and your church’s ministry with others, especially people in your congregation. Today’s interview is with David Sinden, the Organist & Director of Music at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in St. Louis, Missouri, and co-host of the podcast All Things Rite and Musical.
Should you organize your music alphabetically or by acquisition number? If you keep a spreadsheet, what categories should you use? Crawford and I discuss the pros and cons of various organization systems.
You don’t have to sing out loud in order to sing. You can sing silently. I call it “inner singing,” just like we have the terms “inner speech” or “inner monologue” to describe the silent but very real flow of words in our heads.
Interview: Dr. Carrie Allen Tipton is a musicologist who hosts the podcast Notes on Bach, sponsored by the Bach Society Houston. Notes on Bach is a monthly series of interviews with scholars and musicians who work with Baroque music and issues around music like theology. Today, we discuss the benefits of bringing a researcher’s mindset to the ministry …
Interview: Contemporary worship music is often billed as the same style of music people listen to outside of church. But Dr. Mark Porter’s new book, Contemporary Worship Music and Everyday Musical Lives explores how this is often not the case, and argues against the idea that music is a neutral canvas.
Interview: Dr. Swee Hong Lim and Dr. Lester Ruth discuss their new book Lovin’ on Jesus: A Concise History of Contemporary Worship. It’s an exploration of the origins of contemporary worship—including contemporary worship music. In our conversation, we discuss the implications their research has on church music today: What should traditional church consider if they …
Interview: Dr. Yun Kyong Kim, organist and choir director at Christ Episcopal Church in Dayton, Ohio, discusses her approach to directing a choir while also playing the organ, planning her repertoire and hymnody, and crafting organ recitals to make the most of an instrument’s unique sound and acoustic space.